Iosif Dzhugashvili died, but Josef Stalin is still alive. 65 years have passed since the death of, to say the least, one of the bloodiest tyrants the history of mankind, but his cult is not filed as history.
For example, Russian sociologists report endemic revival of the mass admiration for Stalin’s personality. Will this trend have any impact on Belarus which is full of Stalinists and so heavily dependent on Russia?
According to Belarusian historian Ihar Kuznyatsou, persons who make a god of Stalin have forgotten about millions of wrecked lives.
“Stalin means not only repressions, but also heavy losses during the Second World War. Therefore, the revival of his cult in Russia is nonsense. In Belarus, the situation is different. By the moment, there has been no public opinion polling for the Belarusians’ attitude to Stalin, but I can say that the number of his supporters in Belarus may be lower than in Russia.”
According to the historian, the reason for that is our mentality.
“In the depth of their hearts, many persons see the criminal nature of Stalin, but they hardly speak about it in public. So why is the support growing? After all, people begin to forget these crimes, there are many products whitewashing Stalin and Beria. And unfortunately, a need of a ‘steady hand’ is being observed. Vladimir Putin is in Russia. Alyaksandr Lukashenka is in Belarus.”
Belsat asked Minsk residents about Stalin; some of them called him an ‘interesting person’ and a ‘man who put the country to rights’.
Belsat.eu
