Muscovites between idolatry and rejection in the 70s after the death of Stalin

“Comrade Stalin” died exactly 70 years ago, and in Moscow, as in the rest of Russiathe memory of the Soviet dictator is ambiguous, between those who see him as a competent despot and those who see him as a bloodthirsty leader.

memory of Stalin It also gained relevance in the midst of the offensive in Ukraine.

And the fact is that the operation launched by President Vladimir Putin is seen in Kyiv and in the West as the embodiment of Stalinist imperialism. And repressions against the ill-wishers of the Kremlin in Russia reminiscent of some Soviet methods.

This Sunday morning over a thousand fans Stalin As AFP journalists found out, they met on Red Square in Moscow to lay thousands of flowers on his grave, located near the walls of the Kremlin.

Some carried red flags Soviet Unionand other portraits of the irreconcilable leader, who was born in Georgia in 1878 under the name of Joseph Dzhugashvili.

“Without the return of Stalin to Russianeither we Russians nor other indigenous peoples of Russia will survive,” Vladimir Kvachkov, a 74-year-old retired GRU colonel, told AFP.

“We would be happy to see such a leader again,” adds another pensioner Yuriy.

Stalin came to power in the 1920s and died March 5, 1953. During this time he transformed USSR in a great totalitarian state, he ordered the creation of a cult of his own personality, executed hundreds of thousands and sent millions to the Gulag.

But some Russians still defend him. According to them, he did USSR fundamental superpower in defeating Nazism in 1945. A victory that today is celebrated in Russia with militant splendor.

Using rhetoric referring to the Stalinist era, the Russian authorities are increasingly calling for the prosecution of “traitors” or “foreign agents” who oppose the conflict in Ukraine.

Glory to the Soviet Union

Unlike the creator USSRLenin, whose monuments still stand in the cities of the country, the authorities have not yet planned to re-install the monuments to Stalin, dismantled after his death and at the beginning of the “de-Stalination” policy.

But they did not mind that militant groups, often associated with the Communist Party, erected several monuments in honor of their “comrade”.

Bust erected in early February Stalinwas installed in Volgograd, formerly called Stalingrad, in honor of the decisive victory of the Soviet troops in this city.

“People have different views on Stalin”, says Pyotr Sokolov, a retired history teacher, in an interview with AFP on Saturday in Moscow.

“First of all, the elderly are treated with preference, as if they have forgotten about the repressions. Young people hardly know this, and middle-aged people are divided, ”he sums up.

The Kremlin does not deny Soviet repression, but downplays it in schools and the state press, portraying it as a tragedy with no real culprit. In parallel, he glorifies the geopolitical and military power USSR.

An example of measures to improve Soviet Union This was the dissolution at the end of 2021 by the authorities of Memorial, a public organization that worked to pass on the memory of the repressions.

But in the private sphere, many do not forget about it.

“My great-grandmother did not escape the repressions of 1945. She was imprisoned until her death Stalin”, says Tatyana Koznetsova, a 25-year-old scientist.

“For 70 years (of his death), we do not celebrate anything, we remember the repressions. And, of course, it is terrible to see what is happening today, ”he justifies. (AFP)