"Stalin will no longer be a hero"

A quarter of young Russians aged 18 to 24 did not hear anything about Stalinist repressions. This is stated in the VTsIOM survey. At the same time, more than 90% of Russians know what "Stalin's repressions" are, and about half - 43% - believe that they were "a forced measure that allowed Stalin to ensure order in society and in the country."

Not so long ago, Stalin headed the list of outstanding personalities in world history according to the "Levada Center", ahead of Vladimir Putin, Alexander Pushkin, Vladimir Lenin and Peter the Great.

Portraits and images of Stalin adorn the lobby of the Moscow metro, they were carried by the participants of the Immortal Regiment campaign, billboards with Stalin hung in Russian cities during the celebration of Victory Day, in Novosibirsk and several other cities want to establish its bust.

Promotion "Immortal Regiment"

In sympathies, Russian officials were publicly recognized more than once. The Governor of the Stavropol Territory Vladimir Vladimirov holds in his office a portrait of Stalin in the uniform of Generalissimus and a bust on the desktop "out of respect for his merits and personality strength." The governor told reporters that, looking at Stalin's images, "he expects to feel the aura of his strength and perspicacity."

Historian Boris Sokolov is sure that every fourth young Russian aged 18 to 24 has not heard anything about Stalinist repressions, the state is to blame. In school and university textbooks and publications dedicated to the Soviet era, emphasis is on its achievements, and repression is mentioned in passing, on -duty phrases. Therefore, a significant part of the youth, who studies history very superficially, does not remember the Stalinist repressions and does not understand why this knowledge is important and necessary:

We must adequately evaluate the Soviet regime and the Soviet past

“We must know about repressions in order to adequately evaluate the Soviet regime and the Soviet past,” says Boris Sokolov. - We must realize that there was not only Gagarin, free medicine and education, but also mass repressions. There were more than 40 million dead in the war, which was not a grand victory for the Soviet people, but a grand tragedy. And at school, all this is presented as huge achievements.

Stalin headed a list of influential historical personalities

The number of victims of Stalinist repressions is calculated by millions, they touched almost every Russian family. Nevertheless, even the descendants of the dead sometimes justify these atrocities and admire Stalin, who "put things in order in the country", and his "strong hand".

A significant part of the population believes that the repressions were justified, and accepts Putin's dictatorship

“A significant part of the population believes that many repressions were justified, that a strong ruler should carry out repressions that are often directed against real enemies,” says Sokolov. - The thinking of Russians and the entire Russian elite, including the Russian power, is not the imperial - not national, but imperial. And in this imperial thinking, Stalin is seen by such a builder of the Empire, who has achievements, but there are no crimes. This led to the fact that the majority of the population quite accepts the real dictatorship of Putin. Of course, the scale of his repression is not comparable to the Stalinist. But if at some point they suddenly reach them, the people will accept this and approve.

The history teacher from Arkhangelsk Mikhail Copeca explains the increased popularity of Stalin with state support for this phenomenon, and ignorance of the youth about the Stalinist terror - poor vision of the lessons:

The pendulum of history swayed, and we observe the trend for "restoralization"

- As for the fact that the youth knows nothing about repressions, this is quite strange, because there has been information about them in school textbooks for a long time, and it simply cannot disappear from them. And when the studies say that a quarter of young people does not know about this, it occurred to me that these young people simply did not attend history lessons or ignored them for some reason, ”the historian says. -In the current conditions, this issue is discussed in the 9th and 11th grades. I think that every teacher who fulfills state standards should dwell on this issue. Now the pendulum of history has swore to the right, and we are observing the trend, which can be called the word "restoralization". Stalin is fashionable, stylish, youth, we came to such a sad outcome. The time will come - and this will all be a thing of the past, the pendulum will swing the other way. Stalin will no longer be a hero. It would be nice to happen during our lifetime.

"Stalinist repressions", author - Igor Obrosov

The director of the Gulag Museum of History Roman Romanov recalls that officially Stalinist repressions in Russia are condemned. There is a concept of state policy on perpetuating the memory of victims of political repression , museums of victims of political repression are operating in the country, and monuments and monuments are erected. Despite this, discussions are still underway in Russian society, who was Stalin - a bloody tyrant or a brilliant ruler.

It is impossible to cross out from memory, this happened to our people

-For some people, this is still an open wound, and someone thinks-it all needs to be forgotten, time heals, let this forgetfulness cure us. This is a natural mechanism of psychological protection against injury: violence, unpleasant, injuring situations are replaced from the consciousness of ordinary people. Absolutely the same thing happens in the national consciousness. But this point of view is inferior, it is impossible to cross out of history. No matter how it is replaced from memory, no matter what the “secret” stamps are, all this is pressing. This happened to us, with our people, these are our ancestors, it is just a national injury at the genetic level, which needs to be realized in order to confidently stand on your feet and build the future, ”Roman Romanov believes.

Polls about the attitude to Stalin are carried out in Russia regularly. In January 2017, the Levada Center found out that the Russians are all better about Joseph Stalin, Leonid Brezhnev and Vladimir Putin. The approval of Stalin reached a historical maximum in 16 years that sociologists associated with the request of Russians to strict policy.
If with "admiration", "respect" and "sympathy" to the Secretary General of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) to Stalin in March 2016, 37%were attributed to Stalin, then in January 2017 this number increased to 46%.