Latest news with #historicaljustice
Russia Today
2 days ago
- Politics
- Russia Today
Russian Communists want Stalin rehabilitated
The Russian Communist Party (CPRF) has set the goal of restoring the reputation of Joseph Stalin, adopting a resolution calling for 'historical justice' for the one-time Soviet leader. According to the document supported at a party convention held this week, the criticism of the Stalin era and his policies leveled by his successor, Nikita Khrushchev, was 'misdirected' and 'politically motivated.' In its resolution, the CPRF distanced itself from Khrushchev's assessment of what he called Stalin's 'personality cult.' In 1956, Khrushchev, who himself played a significant role in the political oppression of the Great Terror – a period of mass repressions in the USSR in 1930s – denounced during a famous Communist Party congress the crimes of his former boss and the cult of personality he cultivated during his reign. He also introduced a policy of 'de-Stalinization,' removing memorials to his predecessor around the country. Stalin's legacy still divides opinion inside modern Russia. Some revere him for his leadership through World War II, while others view him as a tyrant responsible for the death of imprisonment of many. Russia's modern Communist Party views Stalin in an increasingly positive light. In 2021, the Communists in Nizhny Novgorod Region announced their plans to construct a museum dedicated to him. 'Stalin is a symbol of victory, the commonwealth of fraternal nations, the power and greatness of the Power that ensured peace in the world and kept it from World War III,' the head of the local party branch, Vladislav Yegorov, said at the time. According to Yegorov, the Nizhny Novgorod Stalin Center should become the first step towards opening similar museums across Russia. The party also organized the erection of monuments to Stalin throughout the country. At the latest convention, the CPRF also adopted another resolution calling on President Vladimir Putin to rename the city of Volgograd back to Stalingrad. Long-time CPRF party head Gennady Zyuganov has long advocated for such a step. He made a similar appeal ahead of the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War in May. According to the CPRF resolution, Volgograd Region should revert to its 'historical' name as well. The Kremlin has so far not commented on the initiatives.
South China Morning Post
20-06-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Japanese American museum blasts Trump order as threat to ‘truth and democracy'
A prominent museum preserving the legacy of Japanese American incarceration during World War II has condemned US President Donald Trump 's new directive requiring national park sites to flag content deemed critical of the country's history, calling it a dangerous attempt to whitewash past injustices and dismantle democratic values. Advertisement The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) said the policy – which it traced to a May executive order titled 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History' – would suppress uncomfortable truths and erase the legacy of marginalised communities, including the more than 10,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned during World War II at sites such as Manzanar and Minidoka. 'JANM is deeply disturbed by this new directive, especially at historical sites like Manzanar and Minidoka where Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated during World War II,' said Ann Burroughs, the museum's president and CEO, in a statement posted to social media on Thursday. 'The widespread dismantling of federal agencies that support our work and the attempts at the wholesale erasure of history will not help us achieve a more just America.' Burroughs warned the initiative formed part of a broader campaign to 'suppress historical narratives that challenge [the administration's] preferred version of events' and to 'erase the contributions of people of colour, women, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and other marginalised communities from the American story'.
