The YABLOKO party expresses its resolute protest against
the intensification of officials attempts to express their
warm feelings to for Joseph Stalin's personality. Any impulses
toward this mean virtually only one thing: rehabilitation
of Stalin's autocratic governing for justification of the
present [governments] policies of "tightening of the
screws".
Glorification of the tyrant has nothing to do with the memory
of the Great Patriotic War and victories of the people. And
praising Joseph Stalin in connection with these victories
means to forget that:
- millions of our fellow citizens died in the war due to
his personal fault;
- it was he who bore the responsibility for the ungifted and
immoral foreign policy which largely caused the war;
- millions of people, not only during the war period, became
victims of his errors, maniacal suspicion and criminal negligence.
And hundreds of thousands of those in whom he saw only a potential
threat to his personal power were among these victims.
Reprisals affected most of the state apparatus. Only in six
months (from October 1936 to March 1937), about 2,000 employees
of ministries were arrested, this was in addition to the arrests
in such ministries as the Ministry of the Defense, the Interior
and the Foreign Affairs Ministries, as purges and arrests
in these ministries were, as a rule, never reported. 20 people
out of 28 members of the Council of People's Commissars [the
Cabinet] were arrested. After a speedy trial over Marshal
Mikhail Tukhachevsky, commanders Ion Yakir, Yeronim Uborevich
and other representatives of the high commandment of the Red
Army in June 1937, the army lost over 36,000 of officers.
Among those shot there were three out of the first five Soviet
marshals, three out of four commanders of the first rank,
all 12 commanders of the third rank, 60 out of 67 corps commanders,
133 out of 199 division commanders, all ten admirals, all
17 military commissars and 25 out of 28 corps commissars.
No war could have brought such damage to the officer corps
of the army.
However, the bulk of political prisoners were certainly farmers
and workers, many of whom, if survived by the war, could have
become good soldiers. They were accused of fight against collectivization,
non-implementation of work norms in collective farms, being
late to work, sabotage, etc. Even entire nations were subject
to reprisals.
If we, the citizens of Russia, forget about this, as Stalinists
offer us today, we will be in disgrace in front of the whole
world as a nation without any self-respect.
When officials of such a high rank as Vice-Premier Dmitry
Rogozin support the idea of returning the name of Stalin to
the city of Volgograd and [Chair of the Federation Council]
Valentina Matviyenko and [head of the Central Electoral Commission]
Vladimir Churov say that a referendum should be conducted
on this issue, they think least of all of historical justice.
The Battle of Stalingrad is part of the world history, as
well as the heroic defence of besieged Leningrad. However,
if we speak about returning of previous names to these cities,
then we can speak only about their original names, as it was
in case with St. Petersburg. And in case of Volgograd this
should be Tsaritsyn. And without any referendum.
After all, if [head of the Central Electoral Commission]
Vladimir Churov counts the votes, there is no doubt that 146
per cent will vote for returning Joseph Stalins name to Volgograd.
It willl be done in accordance with the saying attributed
to Stalin: "Those who cast the votes decide nothing,
those who count the votes decide everything".
The YABLOKO party demands to put an end to the Stalinist
sabbath around the anniversary of the victory at Stalingrad.
To make it, as President Putin have said, so that Russia "would
always be victorious", first we must get rid of the salves
complex, which Stalin instilled in the people and condemn
the executioners.
Sergei Mitrokhin
Chairman
See also:
Overcoming
Stalin's Legacy
Human
Rights
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