Russians Celebrate Birthday of Mass Murderer Stalin
Imagine, if you will, Germans celebrating Adolf Hitler's birthday by placing thousands of flowers on his grave. Of course, there is no grave for Hitler, and such a display of affection for such a monster would be considered as extremely offensive. Yet, today, in Russia, thousands gathered to celebrate the birthday of a dictator who was far more murderous, and reigned much longer, than Hitler. That would be Josef Stalin, of course. The Edmonton Journal carried this story by AFP today:
Russian Communists placed 4,000 red carnations on Stalin's grave beside Kremlin walls Tuesday to celebrate what would have been the Soviet dictator's 131st birthday. Communist supporters raised 80,000 rubles (about $2,600) in a fundraising drive with the slogan "Two carnations for Comrade Stalin," organizer Igor Sergeyev told the Interfax news agency.
Carrying a red flag and led by Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, they piled the flowers beside a bust of Stalin that stands on his grave and round its neck.
Imagine "Two carnations for Der Fuerher." The AFP story continued...
Zyuganov on Tuesday called for the "re-Stalinization" of Russian society in an open letter to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who has frankly criticized the rights abuses of the Soviet era. The leader warned against a draft law, proposed by the presidential council for the development of civil society and human rights, which would ban the glorification of Stalinism. Full article at edmontonjournal.com...
"Stalin ruled for almost 30 years," notes Radio New Zealand. "He led Russia to the status of a great power and defeated Germany in World War II. He died in 1953. Stalin was voted Russia's third most popular historical figure in a 2008 nationwide poll."
What Radio New Zealand fails to point out, however, is that Russian - then the USSR - became a great power by means of brutal repression of its own people and the sometimes bloody oppression of the eastern half of Europe after WWII. While Russia was certainly an important ally in the fight against Hitler's Germany, Russia alone did not defeat Germany. Stalin was quite happy to maintain the Non-Agression Pact of 1939 with Hitler before he realized.
RELATED:
Russia Admits Stalin Ordered 1940 Massacre of Poles Wall Street Journal
Josef Stalin statue removed from hometown in Georgia The Telegraph UK
Film 'The Soviet Story' Reveals The Horror of Communism YouTube
The Age of Totalitarianism: Stalin and Hitler HistoryGuide.org
Famine and Genocide in Soviet Georgia faminegenocide.com