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Stalinisation of the Russian society targets "tightening of the screws"

Statement by the YABLOKO party

February 6, 2013

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

 

February 6, 2013

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