An opinion poll shows that a majority of Russians think Soviet leader Josef Stalin was the “most outstanding person” in history.
The survey by the Levada Center released Monday said 38 percent chose Stalin, in a stark contrast to just 12 percent in 1989 when Russians were beginning to discover the crimes of the Stalin regime. The poll of 1,600 people has a 3.4-percent margin of error.
Scholars estimate that under Stalin more than 1 million people were executed in political purges. Millions more died in the vast prison camp system or as a result of mass starvation and deportations.
But an increasing number of Russians now admire Stalin as a strong leader who led their country to victory in World War II.
(AP)
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3 Responses
Strong leaders do not have to kill or lock up their opponents.
Russians…. just can’t figure them out!
With enough propaganda anything is possible! The real reason is that WW2 was the only real victory for USSR in 20th century. Since Stalin was in charge he is credited with saving the world from Nazism. The fact that Stalin was helping Hitler from 1933 to 1941 with food, army training and other resources was always ignored in Russia.