Putin's love of Stalin should terrify us all
When Britain released the satirical film the Death of Stalin in 2017, Russia accused the British Government of waging a psychological war by seeking to insult Soviet history, and banned it almost immediately. Ironically, the Kremlin itself is now engaging in a psychological campaign against its own citizens using Stalin's legacy.
Last week, a statue honouring Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was unveiled in Moscow's metro station. This is not the first time that Vladimir Putin has sought to glorify the authoritarian leader. More than 100 such statues have been erected across Russia. These monuments are emblematic of a decades-long Kremlin-led effort to rehabilitate Stalin's image.
In 2015, for example, when his government took over Russia's last intact Gulag, the 'Perm-36' memorial complex, it replaced content about the lives and struggles of prisoners with content honouring the guards and the camp's role in World War II timber production. Likewise, since 2020, Moscow law enforcement has prevented demonstrations commemorating victims of the Great Terror.
In 2021, the government forcibly shut down Memorial, an organisation which documented Soviet human rights abuses, arguing that 'Memorial besmirches our history [by making] us – a generation of victors and the heirs of victors – to justify our history.'
In 2023, Putin introduced new mandatory high school textbooks that effectively absolved Stalin of blame for the effects of Stalinism while unequivocally praising his successes. As Stalin himself stated: 'education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it.' In 2024, the government even began rescinding symbolic acquittals granted under Gorbachev and Yeltsin to millions of falsely accused defendants whom Stalin's regime tortured and killed
These moves collectively reveal the regime's effort to rehabilitate a totalitarian dictator – one who orchestrated mass attacks and deliberate starvation against his own citizens, condemned millions to death in Gulag labour camps, and perpetrated atrocities across multiple countries during World War II – as a national hero.
This makes perfect sense for Putin, who is capitalising on and amplifying Stalin's popularity to justify his own imperial ambitions in Ukraine.
The two leaders have much in common. Both have committed horrific war crimes, both seek the subjugation of Ukraine, both demonise and persecute internal opposition, both control the information space entirely, and both see their citizens as replaceable pawns to be manipulated and taken advantage of.
This overlap is no accident. Putin has shaped his rule in the shadow of Stalin's, and it is thus imperative that he reinforces positive public opinion about his reign. It seems to be working, with 39 per cent of Russians naming Stalin as 'the most outstanding figure of all times and nations' in 2021. Through these domestic information operations, nationalism has steadily risen in Russia as well, with 70 per cent of citizens regarding Stalin as a 'great leader' in 2019.
To effectively respond to Putin's orchestrations, the UK must confront the realities of public opinion. Sending tales about Western democracy will not resonate with the Russians – London must instead appeal to nationalism by portraying Putin as a weak leader who destroyed Russian glory with his war in Ukraine.
As the Kremlin basks in the glow of its recent Victory Day celebrations, the UK should revive old jokes about Stalin, unsettling the image of power and historical legitimacy that Putin seeks to construct. Effective information operations could show Russians how their country went from a nation of international respect and prestige to a global pariah. The UK should demonstrate that instead of 'Making Russia Great Again,' Putin has 'Made Russia Weak Again.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
23 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
4 safe places should World War Three start
British Army Chief, General Sir Patrick Sanders (pictured), recently warned the UK to train and equip a 'citizen army' to ready the country for a potential land war. The Chief of General Staff said Britain's army is 'too small' and urged ministers to 'mobilise the nation' in preparation for a wider conflict against Russia amid the invasion of Ukraine . More recently tensions heightened between the United States and Iran, after a drone attack killed three American soldiers. With Russia and China warning the US against a 'cycle of retaliation' after Joe Biden threatened to target their ally, MailOnline takes a look at the five places on Earth that could be safe in the event of World War III. Wood Norton, Worcestershire. With only a small radio mast and a security barrier in sight, you would perhaps miss the huge network of tunnels running deep into the Worcestershire forest. Originally bought by the BBC at the beginning of World War II, the bunker's initial purpose was to be a hidden base for the broadcaster in the event a crisis in London. According to GloucestershireLive, Wood Norton is used as a training base for sound engineers and technical staff at the broadcasting company. The bunker also has a mast which would continue broadcasting messages from the BBC if the UK were ever to go into crisis mode. Also referred to as PAWN, Protected Area Wood Norton, the site is hidden deep in the Worcestershire hillside, boasting several storeys of architecture underground. The broadcaster outlined in documents released, also known as the War Book, in 2016 that the base would be utilised in the event of a grave attack on the UK. The facility is reportedly able to house up 90 BBC staff - including 12 news editors and sub-editors - and also boasts a ping-pong table. Raven Rock Mountain Complex, Pennsylvania. The Raven Rock Mountain Complex has maintained an air of mystique ever since they began building the facility in 1948. Dubbed 'Harry's Hole' after President Truman, who gave the project the go-ahead, the Pennsylvanian facility first opened its doors in 1953. Raven's Rock was constructed with the intention of being a 'centrepiece of a large emergency hub' according to Garret Graff, author of Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government's Secret Plan to Save Itself - While The Rest Of Us Die. Boasting 100,000 feet of office space, the bunker could facilitate up to 1,400 people. The base also has two 1,000 foot-long tunnels as well as 34-ton blast doors to help reduce the impact of a possible bomb attack. Even though the site was placed into standby mode by President George H.W. Bush in 1991, $652 million worth of upgrades were pumped into the site following 9/11. According to Graff, the underground city was kitted out with 27 new fuel tanks in 2012, with both having the ability to carry 20,000 gallons. Presently, the bunker is thought to have a whopping 900,000 square feet of office space, as well as the capacity for between 3,000 to 5.000 government employees. Family members would not be permitted to reside in the base. He said: 'Families would have been prohibited from Raven Rock — as they would have been from effectively all of the Doomsday bunkers. Athough in recent years as the veil of complete secrecy has lifted, family members of Raven Rock personnel are allowed to visit it for specific ceremonies. So at the very least, family members today can picture where their relatives will spend Doomsday, even as they're barred outside.' Peters Mountain, Virginia. Peters Mountain, situated in the vast Appalachian Mountains of Virginia has been there for some time, functioning as an AT&T communications station. When you spot the sight you can even see an AT&T logo painted on a helicopter landing pad. It serves as one of several secret centres also known as AT&T project offices, according to The New York Post. These facilities are essential for the US government's continuity planning. The centre tucked away in Appalachia has the ability to house a few hundred people. According to Graff, the bunker has received renovations costing $67 million in recent years. He stated that an attack on Washington were to occur, it would potentially be used as a relocation site for intelligence agencies. Cheyenne Mountain Complex - NORAD. Although Peters Mountain and Raven Rock were kept under wraps from the public, one bunker has always been public since its inception. Cheyenne Mountain Complex, which is located in El Paso County, Colorado, is a defense bunker for the United States Space Force. Better known as the headquarters for NORAD, (North American Aerospace Defense Command), the site was constructed in the 1950 in response to Cold War paranoia. The five chambers within the extraordinary bunker all have reservoirs for fuel and water - and in one section they reportedly even have an underground lake. Almost $40 million was invested into the facility in order to kit it out with the best technology, including 15 console displays and three room-sized Philco 212 computers. In the midst of a crisis, the Cheyenne Mountain Complex can hold up to 1,000 people a month. The facility, which costs an eye-watering $250-million a year to run, was on the brink of closure prior to 9/11. Although it was briefly put on standby mode in 2006, the Obama administration opted to breath a new lease of life into the base.
The Herald Scotland
28 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Yes we should stand firm, but let's not make Russia our implacable foe
It is always dangerous to confuse leaders with countries since all of the former are mortal. Trump is not America. Netanyahu is not Israel. Putin is not Russia. In every case, the channels have to be kept open to a different future, rather than entrenched in assumptions of mutual assured hostility. Indeed, Russia offers the best possible example of that. Somehow, out of the Cold War madness, it produced Mikhail Gorbachev who saw that the system he presided over was unsustainable. That opened the way to co-existence and I feel fortunate to have lived through that interlude in history. At the moment, such reconciliation seems a pious hope. The objectives of the strategic defence review, with talk of 'immediate and pressing danger' are pretty Russia-specific. The threat may no longer be of Soviet hordes appearing with snow on their boots, but the message is much the same. Read more by Brian Wilson It is difficult to dissent from the premises on which this rhetoric is based. Vladimir Putin's actions in Ukraine are deplorable with no guarantee that he will stop there. Cyber attacks and destruction of energy infrastructure are among the new weapons of war in which Russia is prominent. On these grounds alone, it seems prudent to enhance our defensive capacity, which quickly translates into more money. Three per cent of our national wealth does not sound unreasonable, so long as it is spent on the right priorities. If the rest of Europe is doing it, then so should we. There is a difference, however, between sensible preparedness and an entrenched state of mind which refuses to recognise the perspective of the assumed enemy or prioritise diplomacy over polarisation. If nobody in government is recognising mistakes of the past, then they are missing a large part of this story. One of my Russian memories was created on a very specific date: August 17, 1998. As Trade Minister, I was in St Petersburg to open what was billed as the largest-ever UK trade show in Russia. Unfortunately, nobody came, apart from schoolchildren to pick up the freebies at the deserted exhibition stands. For it was also the day that the rouble collapsed. At that moment, the Russian economy was apparently in a state of terminal crisis. Under the Yeltsin regime, corruption had been rampant, state assets were stolen wholesale and vast sums were finding their way into western banks while Russia's coffers ran dry and the poor paid the price. Far from being treated as the criminals they undoubtedly were, the newly-minted Russian oligarchs and their ostentatious wealth were welcomed with open arms in the West. On the basis that it took a thief to catch many thieves, Vladimir Putin stepped into that void and, in what seemed a miraculously short time, restored economic order. In short, the West treated the break-up of the Soviet Union as an opportunity to be exploited rather than a very fragile new reality to be nurtured with care and respect. That was also the approach taken on foreign policy with an immediate push to extend the boundaries of the EU, and more significantly, Nato, as close as possible to the borders of Russia when it might have been prudent to apply a little more circumspection. This is an impossibly complex subject to be definitive on. The rights of former Soviet republics to seek collective security had to be balanced against Russia's fears of encirclement. As Putin's reign in the Kremlin continued, it became increasingly likely that he would exploit the latter whenever the occasion demanded. I saw some of this behaviour in negotiations over routes for pipelines which would carry oil and gas out of the former Soviet republics to the West. Short of having CIA stamped on their foreheads, it could not have been more obvious that some of those involved certainly did not have Russia's interests at heart – or indeed have any regard for them at all. There was far too much interference in what Russia still regarded as its own rightful sphere of influence. The more that perspective was disregarded, the more likely it became that nationalist sentiments would come into play, under a leader who knew exactly how to exploit them. Ukraine was always likely to be in that front line. In 1954, when dissent was not encouraged, Crimea was transferred from one Soviet republic (Russia) to another (Ukraine), which flew in the face of prior history. Once the Gorbachev genie was out of the bottle, Russian hostility to this arrangement soon emerged. Diplomacy might have forestalled the potential for trouble. Mikhail Gorbachev (Image: PA) In an upheaval as traumatic as the break-up of the Soviet Union, it was inevitable that not all the borders of new states which emerged would be clear-cut. Continuous international support for resolving these incipient conflicts peacefully, without becoming partisans in them, might have saved a lot of subsequent trouble and without a war based on what Kruschev and the Supreme Soviet decided for whatever reason in 1954. None of this in any way excuses the war that Putin has prosecuted in Ukraine though it might imply that negotiation is the only route to a solution. Neither does it call into question the need to defend our own population against the ambitions of any potential foe. The danger is that, around that objective, narratives are created from which it then becomes difficult to escape. We should be sure they are being written with due regard to past history and also future potential for peaceful co-existence. Brian Wilson is a former Labour Party politician. He was MP for Cunninghame North from 1987 until 2005 and served as a Minister of State from 1997 to 2003.
The Sun
31 minutes ago
- The Sun
Clearest vid yet of daring Op Spiderweb shows 35 Ukrainian bomb drones blowing up plane after multimillion dollar plane
DRONE after drone can be seen hammering Russia's nuclear bomber fleet and turning it into flaming wrecks, new footage released by Ukraine shows. Operation Spiderweb can now astonishingly be seen in the clearest picture yet as 35 of the kamikaze craft spiral down onto the doomsday planes. 16 16 16 Kyiv's daring raid destroyed 41 Russian planes - costing an estimated $7bn (£5.4bn) to Moscow's coffers and humiliating Vladimir Putin. New footage released as Ukraine doubles down on embarrassing Vlad shows the kill shots for dozens of the drones - with bombers left burning on the tarmac. Kamikaze drones line up their target and then spiral down onto the planes. Footage cuts out just as the drones blow themselves up. But other drones from the swarm already in the air capture the moments wings, cabins and fuselage are bombed. One clip shows a drone descending down onto a bomber, as an identical one can be seen burning in a heap behind it. Another, shows a row of planes burning in a line along the side of the runway. Several drones are able to fly so close to the planes without any Russian defences that they can land on them. Red and orange flames erupt into black smoke on the runways as the next craft in the swarm looks for its target. Ukraine's spy agency which conducted the attack - the SBU - employed 117 drones in the daring operation to target Tu-95MS and Tu-22M strategic bombers, and A-50 spy planes. Moment Ukraine's 'Spiderweb' trucks rumble into position before drone blitz The fresh drone strike footage comes after other footage emerged on Wednesday showing the trucks carrying the craft beginning the operation. Clueless lorry drivers then parked the containers next to Russian airbases - where they sat and waited in plain sight. Nondescript shipping containers parked in laybys and verges had attracted little attention - before their lids blew open and the drone swarms poured out. Russian civilians stood in awe as they saw the drones zoom out of the containers and head in the direction of the bases. 16 16 16 The targeted air bases were: Olenya in the Arctic Murmansk region, Belaya in the Irkutsk region of Siberia, Dyagilevo in Ryazan region, and Ivanovo-Severny in Ivanovo region. Footage caught one truck self destruct as Russian civilians climbed into it. Each of the 117 drones had its own dedicated pilot and Russia had little defences to protect its bases and stop them. The covert drone plot - 18 months in the planning - targeted four airfields deep inside Russia, and is reminiscent of the most daring raids of WW2 that turned the tide against the Nazis. Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky oversaw the operation and said: "It's genuinely satisfying when something I authorized a year and six months ago comes to fruition and deprives Russians of over forty units of strategic aviation. "We will continue this work." 16 16 16 In Putin's first appearance since the attack, the tyrant did not mention the attack. Instead, in a meeting with officials, he branded Zelensky's government as 'terrorists' for killing civilians. Something the Kremlin dictator has done on an industrial scale in Ukraine's cities. Putin talked about attacks by Ukraine on Russia's rail network - which led to two train crashes and killing civilians. 16 16 16 Satellite pictures have also confirmed the destruction - with burnt wrecks of ash and metal left lying on the tarmac. Some debris has been hastily removed - perhaps in an attempt to conceal the scale of the destruction. Despite the humiliating blow, Putin has laid out ridiculous demands for peace in Ukraine. The deranged tyrant's negotiators said an end to the war would only be agreed if Kyiv surrenders huge chunks of territory and accepts limits on the size of its army. 16 16 16 Despite being left red-faced by the mammoth assault, Putin's mouthpieces shamelessly gave his terms for a ceasefire during a second round of direct peace talks in Istanbul on Monday. Its first section contained Moscow's "basic parameters of a final settlement". The sham proposal demands Ukraine withdraw its troops from four eastern regions that Russia only partly occupies at the moment. It also ordered that the international community recognise Crimea as Russia's sovereign territory - after they annexed the peninsula in 2014. Who is The Spider? By James Halpin, foreign news reporter It remains unclear who quarterbacked Ukraine's incredible drone strike operation for their spy agency - the SBU. But Vladimir Putin's goons have accused a Ukrainian ex-DJ of being the spy behind Operation Spiderweb. Desperate to save face, Russian war bloggers have named the man they think ran Ukraine's operation inside the the country as Artem Timofeev. Artem, 37, is a former Ukrainian DJ and is believed by the sleuths to have owned the lorries used to carry the containers to the strikes. One pro-Russian blogger said: 'Artem is now wanted in connection with a terrorist attack in Irkutsk region. 'Four lorries were registered in his name, and one of them was the source of the drones that launched [in an attack on a Putin airbase].' Artem's wife Ekaterina Timofeeva, 34, is also suspected to have aided him. According to pro-Kremlin Russian media, Ekaterina describes herself as a 'witch' and is the author of B-list erotic novels.
