What do "most" Russians think of Stalin nowdays.

Its being projected to those of us in the west that Stalin was a evil
man, if he was or not i cannot say , as the winner of the war writes
his version of politicaly correct history, if we consider the USA to
be the "winner" of the cold war...........then they have been in
charge of the history - well thats my opinion anyway.........

So how do the younger Russians and older Russians think about Stalin
in this modern day ?   or are they already being influenced by
political correct history?

Hello bluekat,

Thanks for an interesting question.  

With the opening up of Russian society has come one of the hallmarks
of modern democratic society -- the public opinion poll.  And sure
enough, Stalin has been a topic of interest to both the Russian people
and to the world at large.

A poll was conducted earlier this year by the Russian Center for
Public Opinion (known by its Russian initials, VCIOM) regarding the
attitudes of Russians towards Stalin.  A Pravda article on the poll
can be found here:

http://english.pravda.ru/society/2003/03/06/44072.html

In brief, it reports:

--Stalin's popularity is increasing.  "... it is an obvious fact that
there are more and more people who positively estimate the role of
Joseph Stalin in the history of the state..."

--More than half the population adore him.  "...53% of the questioned
think that Stalin's role in the history of Russia was great..."

--About a third have a negative view of Stalin.  "...Number of people
who negatively estimate the role of the leader is almost twice as less
and makes up 33%..."

--A big factor for younger people was that Stalin's Russia was a
superpower.  "...younger generations especially respect Stalin for the
fact that in the times of his rule the Soviet Union was a super power
respected and treated with fear all over the world..."

Beyond that, it appears that many people long for a time under Stalin
when society functioned in an orderly and oddly even-handed fashion.

I hope this gives you the type of information you were looking for. 
If you find you need additional information, just post a Request for
Clarification to let me know, and I'll be happy to assist you further.

Peace on Earth, for the new year and beyond...

pafalafa-ga

thankyou very much, a interesting answer

With the opening up of Russian society has come one of the hallmarks
of modern democratic society -- the public opinion poll.
Public opinion polls were always there. Russian society were more
democratic in nature than it is now. Well, at least since 1975. I have
lived in Russia 24 years and I could express my opinion freely which I
can not say about google. Here, the world is rotating around money and
nothing else. Money is not democratic in nature so you have to think
about your society.
Thank you.

thats quite interesting that you say russian society was more
democratic in nature than it is now, at least since
1975..................what makes you say this ?

you also mentioned google.........could you expand on what you mean?

thanks for your coments, look forward to hearing further opinions from you.

I had lived in Russia for 24 years. I could express my opinions, my
thoughts freely. Nobody has put me in prison, nobody killed me for
what I think. Moreover, Russia had been giving me free education, free
medical insurance, free housing. Now? It is the same as USA.

I live in US now. I can not express my thoughts in US, I can not make
enough money even to pay for the housing. I can not travel freely.
Sometimes, I do not even have money to buy a piece of bread. Is this
what your freedom is all about?
I can not find a job and at the same time I watch your TV and see how
you are glad and happy about everything. This is a simple lie. As far
as I know, the majority of Americans have very hard time to earn money
even for their housing.

Morally, Russia was far better than it is now. What is your morals,
Americans? Money? Are you all Christians? I do not think so. Money is
your God whom you serve.

I was born and lived in the Soviet Union for many years. I think what
mapname-ga meant by "since 1975" is the new "democracy" which
officially began with Gorbachev's perestroika in 1985 (not 1975 -
which was pretty dark era, when dissidents were thrown in jail all the
time and when for just reading Solzhenitsyn's book you could get
arrested and tried for treason). I would argue that in the Google
community "the world is rotating around money" simply because: 1) the
amount of money involved is very small (for the quality and the deapth
of research for most answers provided); 2) everybody can peruse the
Google information for free; 3) the Google community has become a true
public forum. As for Stalin, he is the worst thing that happened to
what used to be the Soviet Union. Under his rule, TENS OF MILLIONS of
brightest and innocent people died there, with him knowing about it.
It was impossible to find a family in 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s that would
not be affected, directly or indirectly, by the Stalin regime. It is
his evil power that still attracts many people to him (much like
Hitler, but with a big difference, to the rest of the world, that
Stalin, being a tyrant, was not a "world agressor", which is also
untrue, as he invaded the Baltic countries). As for the polls in
Russia, I would not give them much credibility, as most of them are
rigged and manipulated anyway. Also think about this: those who chose
to read communist papers, are communists in their minds. What do you
think their opinion is about communism?... As for democracy in Russia,
now everybody can speak freely over there, without fear to get
arrested on an anonymous call. Just look at all the media, read
Russian internet sites, the prime example being www.compromat.ru with
shocking revelations about the key business and political leaders. Is
there anything like that here, in the US? And how do you define
"democracy" after all? Thanks for reading...

I can say only about my experience. I had read Solzhenitsyn's book
before "Perestroyka". I had been listening to "Voice of America" radio
before "Perestroyka". Nothing happened to me. The morals and living
were better in 1975-1991. After 1991, everything became very bad. All
good people became bad. If before 1991, only minority was steeling and
it was hidden from me. After 1991, everybody is steeling everything
everywhere. I have never been attracted by Communist party or any
party at all. But, in 1975-1991, I was feeling good about myself. Now,
being in US, I feel bad about myself because simply I can not make
enough money to feed my family. I think what happened is that the
morals of Russian are better than those of Americans. Russian are
strong enough to say truth about themselves, Americans are not strong.
So, what happened is that Russians told the world about Stalin that he
was evil and everything. You think that was Americans who discovered
that? Of course not. It was the opinion of Russians. So, Russia lost
because they are morally better. Jesus died because He was morally
better than any other person. So, this is was what happened.

The amount of money involved in google, I think, billions of dollars.
How can anyone start such a company without a credit, without a "good"
relations with the "needed" people?

I have posted a free comment here, my comment was removed. Why? 

I also do not know about Stalin. I was not living at that time.
History can tell you everything you want to hear. You want to hear
that Stalin is good, ok, you can find that. You want to hear that
Stalin was evil, ok, you can also find that. I think you need to
distinguish between Stalin as a person and Stalin as a an image. The
image of Stalin was the image with which Russia defeated germans,
Russia launched first Sputnik, Russia had built and opened schools,
universities. Communists put my grand-grandfather into jail. But,
then, he was sent directly to war. Even though, my grandmother had
been living through the whole war and the hunger and she had a good
opinion about Stalin. I believe to my grandmother more than to any
written history.

I would define democracy as the rules created by people where people
have a right to express themselve. Being and living in US, I can not
express myself. I think it is the US who has TOTALITARISM and not
Russia. Look at the world influence that USA has. Look at american
schools. They all promote Nationalism and Totalitarism and that the
American nation is the best in the world.

Many Americans do not have any rights that Russian people had during
the Soviet time. Americans think that Russia had communism and that
communism is totalitarism. But, this is simply a misconception. Russia
had never had communism. Even though, morally, Russia is far better
than US. There were very good people in Russia who followed
communist's ideals. Those ideals are the ideals of democracy! Now, the
only God for all the world is money. Money is everything. Who pays
money to google this company is at the top in all search listings.
What kind of democracy is that? Can money serve democratic society? I
do not see democracy in US. I simply do not see it. I have lived here
for 5 years and I do not see democracy here.

Thankyou all for your coments.

I must agree that the Usa is not a true democrasy at all, although it
very much percieves itself to be that, I dont particularly like
americas ways, but what is the alternative system..........I think
demcrasy is a very corrupt system, its corruptness was first exposed
by adolf hitler, in his original speeches in the 1920's      see link 
  http://www.hitler.org/     for all his speeches in english, he
exposed the corrupt way the system worked in so called
democrasies............im not a hitler lover or neo..........but read
his original speeches  before he even ever came to power!

Its also interesting the true economic/ political system he had in mind.

As for your coment- "that Stalin is good, ok, you can find that. You
want to hear that
Stalin was evil, ok, you can also find that. I think you need to
distinguish between Stalin as a person "

I would have to agree with you on that, the media seems to highten the
evil thing very much about Stalin, in fact it seems they seem to over
do it alot, when one looks for the true facts that 10-20 million died
from him.........then it is hard to find true evidence, its almost as
much evidance which supports the 6million figure that evil hitler
killed

Its seems very hard to find much info about stalin in a positve way,
but i do not believe he was evil, maybe he thought different or maybe
he made some mistakes, but then again who has not.

I once read the opinion of some history people , and there un biased
opinion was that out of churchill , roosavelt and stalin, that stalin
had the best strategic mind!!!

It will be interesting to see where russia heads in the future.


anyway all for your coments, and i hope your situation in america
improves............i wish you all a happy new year

A interesting note- the reseachers answer quoting the "Pravda" is that
 that when Stalin first started out before becoming leader of russia
that he worked for the Pravda newspaper in russia..............how
strange is that !!!

I once watched a Russian TV program in which young Russians (about
10-12 years old) were asked who Lenin was. Nobody knew among them.

Oh, boy, this is getting good... In the late 70's, when I lived in the
USSR, banned from all jobs, watched by KGB, visited by local police on
a regular basis, because of my affiliation with the activists of
emigration, I started tutoring. So, one of my students once told me
that whatever the scientists say about the Earth being round is not
true - in reality, it is flat. I asked him: "What about tons of
evidence - age-old experiments, proven theories, round-the-world
scientiic expeditions, pictures from space, after all?" He grinned
knowingly and then lectured me on how corrupt the scientists were.

Sure, Stalin had the "best strategic mind" - he made a deal with
Hitler, his best buddy and another "best strategic mind", to give him
Poland, in exchange for the Baltics and to postpone the Nazi invasion
to the USSR by 2 years. He also was "smart" enough to annihilate the
top Soviet generals before the WWII beheading the Soviet Army, "smart"
enough to disregard the reliable intelligence about the date of Nazi
invasion (the Soviets practically lost their entire aviation within
the first few days - my father saw that happen and barely escaped
death on the ground in 1941).

As for the Jews - Holocaust never happened and 6 million never died in
concentration camps. All these photos were made up (like
http://www.ushmm.org/, http://www.remember.org/,
http://www.holocaust-history.org/ and 1000's more).

What else? Ah, the media is controlled by the Jews which is why "the
media seems to highten the evil thing very much about Stalin".

Happy New Year to you on your flat Earth!

Heil Hitler and Stalin!..

Again, misconception. Stalin did not know what "Heil" means. He would
understnad "Privet" or "Zdravia Zhelaiu". Why do you flat everything
down?

I would tell you that thinking that Earth is flat globally is the same
thing as thinking that Stalinism = Communism. Communism is an ideal
society. And, people like you flat everything down.

I know the fact that you have mentioned here about Stalin's strategic
minds. It is written in a new history. But, there are some facts that
are controversial with the flat expressions.

For example, Stalin killed all bright people. Well, have you asked who
build Moscow State University and several other similar buildings
which is very hard not to notice even now if you visit Moscow.

Another example, Stalin was against computer science and was thinking
that it was not a science. Again, facts tell me different story. It
was Stalin who ordered to build missle defense system around Moscow
with the most solid and reliable computers in the world.

Science was at the top during Stalin regime. Now? Of course not. In
the past, the Russian doctor's degree had so much priveligies, it
would gave you largest apartments, largest Russian car and respect.
Now? Of course not.

The facts are the opposite to the flat statements that were made about Stalin.