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Stalin still evokes love and hate on 130th anniversary of birth

© RIA Novosti / Go to the mediabankJoseph Stalin
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Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader whose long reign brought World War II victory, but also the deaths of millions in gulags, continues to conjure up mixed emotions 130 years after his birth.

Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader whose long reign brought World War II victory, but also the deaths of millions in gulags, continues to conjure up mixed emotions 130 years after his birth.

A poll by the All-Russian Public Opinion Center to coincide with the anniversary found that 37% of Russians were "positive" about Stalin and 24% "negative".

"Admiration" was expressed by 3% of respondents, while 11% felt either "fear" or "repulsion" at the mention of the one-time seminary schoolboy's name. Of those described as "the younger generation", 38% said they were indifferent to Stalin, while 35% of the elderly continued to respect him.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev recently said that there could be no justification for the crimes of the Stalin era.

"Millions of people died as a result of terror and false accusations...But we are still hearing that these enormous sacrifices can be justified by the ultimate interests of the state," he wrote in his blog in late October.

"I am convinced that neither the goals of the country's development, nor its other ambitions should be achieved through human suffering and losses," Medvedev said. "It is important to prevent any attempts to vindicate, under the pretext of restoring historical justice, those who destroyed their own people."

His words were echoed over a month later by the other half of Russia's ruling tandem, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who called the Stalin system of rule "unacceptable."

"There was repression," he stated in his annual question and answer session with the public. "This is a fact. Millions of our citizens suffered from this. And this way of running a state...is unacceptable."

But Putin also pointed out that Stalin had led the Soviet Union to victory over Nazi Germany,

"Whatever anyone may say, victory was achieved. Even when we consider the losses, no one now can take umbrage at those who planned and led this victory," he said.

While opinion over his legacy may be mixed, there is no doubt that Stalin, along with Hitler and Mao Zedong, was one of the most iconic figures of the 20th century.

Born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili in the town of Gori in Georgia on December 21, 1879 (although other sources say he was born on December 18, 1878), the future Soviet leader grew up in a poor family.

His mother was deeply religious, and entered Stalin in a local church school in 1888. From there the young Stalin earned a scholarship to the Tiflis Theological Seminary. It was while undertaking studies for the priesthood that he joined a secret organization aimed at securing Georgia's independence from Russia. More significantly, it was also where he would first be introduced to the ideas of Karl Marx.

Expelled from the seminary in 1899 for preaching Marxism to his fellow students, Stalin began work as a journalist for a socialist Georgian newspaper. In 1902, he was exiled to Siberia for his role in organizing a strike at a factory. Upon his release he joined the fledgling Bolshevik Party and met Lenin for the first time in 1905, but was again exiled to Siberia, this time for life, in 1913.

Following the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II, the Provisional Government granted an amnesty to political prisoners, and Stalin returned to St Petersburg where he took up the position of editor at Pravda.

His subsequent support for Lenin's opposition to the Provisional Government won him the title of Commissar of Nationalities after the Bolsheviks had seized power in October 1917.

"You know, to pass so quickly from an underground existence to power makes one dizzy," Lenin reportedly joked.

However, Stalin showed no signs that he would struggle to adapt to a position of authority, moving quickly to establish himself in the Bolshevik hierarchy and becoming General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party in 1922.

Despite Stalin's new position as "Lenin's mouthpiece," the ailing father of the Bolshevik Revolution disapproved of the Georgian, writing shortly before his death that he would prefer to see someone, "more tolerant, more loyal, more polite, more considerate of his comrades" succeed him.

It was not to be, however. In 1945, following Lenin's death and a brief power struggle with Leon Trotsky and his supporters, Stalin took control of the Soviet Union.

The 1930s saw the Soviet Union enter a period of political repression and purges known as the 'Great Terror.' The Communist Party, the Red Army and the secret police themselves were purged of 'disloyal' and counter-revolutionary members, and many executed following short interrogations. Paranoia reigned supreme, not least in the Kremlin itself.

The outbreak of WWII saw Stalin reportedly taken by surprise and enter a period of depression and shock, and little was heard of the dictator for the first days of the war. However, he soon recovered and inspired the Soviets to push the Nazis out of the U.S.S.R.

"Not a step back," was Stalin's slogan, and it was often literally enforced, with Soviet troops in some cases ordered to shoot to kill retreating soldiers. After the war, many Red Army men who had fallen into the hands of the enemy were sent to Gulags, the system of prison camps set up in the harsher areas of the Soviet Union.

Stalin consolidated his power after the conclusion of 'The Great Patriotic War' and his cult of personality began to grow.

In 1953, as he was reportedly contemplating a purge of Jews from the Soviet Union, he began to suffer from high blood pressure. On March 5 of that year he passed away at his dacha.

A complex character whose favorite piece of music was reportedly a record featuring dogs howling along to an orchestra and who frightened one of the last reporters to interview him by drawing dozens of ferocious wolves on a scrap of paper, Stalin's philosophy can perhaps be best summed up by a quote from the man himself: "I trust no one, not even myself."

MOSCOW, December 21 (RIA Novosti)

 

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