Putin praises Stalin for creating a superpower and winning the war

[formerlurker]

Vladimir Putin praises Stalin for creating a superpower and winning the war
The nation listens, as Mr Putin embarks on his annual televised question-and-answer session in which he emphasised the 'positive aspects' of Stalin's rule
Tony Halpin in Moscow 31 Comments

Joseph Stalin sent millions to their deaths during his reign of terror, and his name was taboo for decades, but the dictator is a step closer to rehabilitation after Vladimir Putin openly praised his achievements.

The Prime Minister and former KGB agent used an appearance on national television to give credit to Stalin for making the Soviet Union an industrial superpower, and for defeating Hitler in the Second World War.

In a verdict that will be obediently absorbed by a state bureaucracy long used to taking its cue from above, Mr Putin declared that it was “impossible to make a judgment in general” about the man who presided over the Gulag slave camps. His view contrasted sharply with that of President Medvedev, Russia’s nominal leader, who has said that there is no excuse for the terror unleashed by Stalin.

Mr Putin said that he had deliberately included the issue of Stalin’s legacy in a marathon annual question-and-answer programme on live television, because it was being “actively discussed” by  Russians.

The final part of the four-hour broadcast focused on questions selected by Mr Putin from among two million submitted by Russians. He told viewers: “I left this question in, because I understand what a fiery issue it is. And the problem is: you say something positive and someone will be unhappy; you say something negative and someone else will be.
...
During the television programme, Mr Putin demonstrated his populist instincts by lashing out at Russia’s billionaire class for their vulgar displays of wealth. His comments came after a scandal in Geneva, when an elderly man was critically injured in an accident after an alleged road race involving the children of wealthy Russians in a Lamborghini and three other sports cars.

“The nouveaux riches all of a sudden got rich very quickly, but they cannot manage their wealth without showing it off all the time. Yes, this is our problem,” Mr Putin said. “In Soviet times, some of our rich showed off their wealth by having gold teeth. The Lamborghinis and other pricey knicknacks — they are today’s gold teeth.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article6943477.ece

[SVPete]

Let's be honest ... yes, the USSR won its side of WW2, and yes, much of the USSR's ascent to becoming a super-power happened during Stalin's reign. But ...

* Stalin's willful blindness to Hitler's intent brought the USSR to the brink of defeat in 1941 and 1942;

* Stalin's foolish purge of the Red Army's officer corps was another cause of the USSR's near defeat and helped make its victory far more costly than it should have been;

* A major contribution to the USSR pulling back from the brink of total defeat and eventual victory was the weapons and other machinery from the West that resupplied what was lost and filled in the production gap during the move of much of the USSR's industrial base east of the Urals; the USSR produced better tanks, fighters and close support aircraft than the West sent, eventually, but the materiel from the West played a key role in making that "eventually" possible;

* The US and the British (the home islands and the Commonwealth) forced Germany to fight on multiple front, preventing concentration on the USSR; the Atlantic, the Med, North Africa, Western Europe all diverted men, resources and talent from fighting the USSR (as the USSR diverted the same from those fronts).

* Whether from Stalin personally, the Army leaders who survived being less capable or just the Russian culture, the Russian Front was fought and won using a meat-grinder approach that worked, but was very costly in Russian blood and materiel;

* Putting it simply, the Bolshies lucked out; they inherited an industrial and educational core from the old regime that would have made Russia a world power, with or without the Bolshies; if anything, Lenin and Stalin probably delayed that process with their purges of technical, managerial and agricultural people;

* Stalin lucked out, part 1 - WW1 and WW2 created a rarefied power atmosphere, diminishing, dismantling and demolishing four major world and regional powers (the British, France, Germany and Japan);

* Stalin lucked out, part 2 - the one remaining world power, the US was sympathetic to and trusting of the USSR, entering into alliance with the USSR and not being vigilant in counter-espionage;;

* Stalin lucked out, part 3 - between them, Lenin and Stalin probably slaughtered 20 or 30 million innocents, people who were not there to fight Germany, people who didn't produce food for that fight, people who didn't produce industrial goods for that fight, creative people who didn't contribute to that fight or the rise to world power.

Vlad II over-simplifies Russia's history and exhibits a selective memory.