Joseph Stalin Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===In the Soviet Union and post-Soviet states=== {{see also|Neo-Stalinism|Nostalgia for the Soviet Union}} Shortly after his death, the Soviet Union went through a period of [[de-Stalinization]]. Malenkov denounced the Stalin personality cult,{{sfn|Conquest|1991|p=314}} which was subsequently criticised in ''Pravda''.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=592}} In 1956, Khrushchev gave his "Secret Speech", titled "[[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences]]", to a closed session of the [[20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Party's 20th Congress]]. There, [[Khrushchev Thaw|Khrushchev denounced Stalin]] for both his mass repression and his personality cult.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=314|2a1=Volkogonov|2y=1991|2pp=577–579|3a1=Service|3y=2004|3p=594}} He repeated these denunciations at the [[22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|22nd Party Congress]] in October 1962.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=594}} In October 1961, Stalin's body was removed from the mausoleum and buried in the [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]], the location marked by a bust.{{sfnm|1a1=Volkogonov|1y=1991|1p=576|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=594}} Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=595}} Khrushchev's de-Stalinisation process in Soviet society ended when he was replaced as leader by [[Leonid Brezhnev]] in 1964; the latter introduced a level of re-Stalinisation within the Soviet Union.{{sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=315|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=595}} In 1969 and again in 1979, plans were proposed for a full rehabilitation of Stalin's legacy but on both occasions were halted due to fears of damaging the USSR's public image.{{sfn|Conquest|1991|p=315}} Gorbachev saw the total denunciation of Stalin as necessary for the regeneration of Soviet society.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=596}} After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, the first president of the new Russian Federation, [[Boris Yeltsin]], continued Gorbachev's denunciation of Stalin but added to it a denunciation of Lenin.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=596}} His successor [[Vladimir Putin]] did not seek to rehabilitate Stalin but emphasised the celebration of Soviet achievements under Stalin's leadership rather than the Stalinist repressions.{{sfn|Service|2004|pp=596–597}} In October 2017, Putin opened the [[Wall of Grief]] memorial in Moscow, noting that the "terrible past" would neither be "justified by anything" nor "erased from the national memory".{{sfn|BBC, 5 June 2018}} In a 2017 interview, Putin added that while "we should not forget the horrors of Stalinism", the excessive demonization of Stalin "is a means to attack [the] Soviet Union and Russia".{{sfn|Rutland, 13 June 2019}} In recent years, the government and general public of Russia has been accused of rehabilitating Stalin.{{sfnm|1a1=Nemtsova, 17 May 2021|2a1=Lentine, 25 June 2022}} [[File:RIAN archive 535278 Laying flowers and wreaths to Iosif Stalin's grave at Kremlin wall.jpg|thumb|left|[[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] activists from the [[Communist Party of the Russian Federation]] laying wreaths at Stalin's Moscow grave in 2009]] Amid the social and economic turmoil of the post-Soviet period, many Russians viewed Stalin as having overseen an era of order, predictability, and pride.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=598}} He remains a revered figure among many Russian nationalists, who feel nostalgic about the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II]],{{sfn|Service|2004|p=7}} and he is regularly invoked approvingly within both Russia's far-left and far-right.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=599}} Polling by the [[Levada Center]] suggest Stalin's popularity has grown since 2015, with 46% of Russians expressing a favourable view of him in 2017 and 51% in 2019.{{sfnm|1a1=Taylor, 15 February 2017|2a1=Luhn, 16 April 2019|3a1=BBC, 18 April 2019}} In a 2021 poll, a record 70% of Russians indicated they had a mostly/very favourable view of Stalin.<ref>{{cite news |last=Arkhipov |first=Ilya |date=16 April 2019 |title=Russian Support for Stalin Surges to Record High, Poll Says |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-16/russian-support-for-soviet-tyrant-stalin-hits-record-poll-shows |work=Bloomberg |access-date=8 October 2020 |archive-date=3 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003223316/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-16/russian-support-for-soviet-tyrant-stalin-hits-record-poll-shows |url-status=live }}</ref> The same year, a survey by the Center showed that Joseph Stalin was named by 39% of Russians as the "most outstanding national figure of all time" and, while nobody received an absolute majority, Stalin was very clearly in first place, followed by another Soviet leader [[Vladimir Lenin]] with 30% and Russian poet [[Alexander Pushkin]] with 23%.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.levada.ru/2021/06/21/samye-vydayushhiesya-lichnosti-v-istorii/|title=САМЫЕ ВЫДАЮЩИЕСЯ ЛИЧНОСТИ В ИСТОРИИ|date=21 June 2021|website=levada.ru|access-date=1 July 2021|archive-date=30 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210630032506/https://www.levada.ru/2021/06/21/samye-vydayushhiesya-lichnosti-v-istorii/|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Coynash, 22 June 2021|ps=. "The renowned Levada Centre has carried out a survey to find out whom Russians would name as the "ten most outstanding national figures of all time". While nobody received an absolute majority, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was very clearly ahead, being named by 39% of the respondents."}} At the same time, there was a growth in pro-Stalinist literature in Russia, much relying upon the misrepresentation or fabrication of source material.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=x}} In this literature, Stalin's repressions are regarded either as a necessary measure to defeat "[[enemies of the people]]" or the result of lower-level officials acting without Stalin's knowledge.{{sfn|Khlevniuk|2015|p=x}} The only other part of the former Soviet Union other than Russia where admiration for Stalin has remained consistently widespread is [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], although Georgian attitudes have been very divided.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=597}} A number of Georgians resent criticism of Stalin, the most famous figure from their nation's modern history.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=7}} A 2013 survey by [[Tbilisi State University]] found 45% of Georgians expressing "a positive attitude" to him.{{sfn|Bell, 5 March 2013}} A 2017 [[Pew Research]] survey had 57% of Georgians saying he played a positive role in history, compared to 18% of those expressing the same for [[Mikhail Gorbachev]].{{sfn|Masci, 29 June 2017}} Some positive sentiment can also be found elsewhere in the former Soviet Union. A 2012 survey commissioned by the [[Carnegie Endowment]] found 38% of Armenians concurring that their country "will always have need of a leader like Stalin".{{sfn|Bakradze|Gudjov|Lipman|Wall|2013}}{{sfn|''The Moscow Times'', 2 March 2013}} In early 2010, a new monument to Stalin was erected in [[Zaporizhzhia]], Ukraine.{{sfn|Snyder, 26 May 2010}} In December 2010, unknown persons decapitated it and it was destroyed in a bomb attack in 2011.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2011/01/1/5740807/ |title=У Запоріжжі підірвали пам'ятник Сталіну |trans-title=Stalin Monument Blown Up in Zaporizhzhia |access-date=1 January 2011 |archive-date=14 December 2018 |language=uk |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181214115447/https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2011/01/1/5740807/ }}</ref> In a 2016 [[Kyiv International Institute of Sociology]] poll, 38% of respondents had a negative attitude to Stalin, 26% a neutral one and 17% a positive, with 19% refusing to answer.{{sfn|''Ukrayinska Pravda'', 4 March 2015}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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