> Chris Doss wrote:
>
>> This is also the first generation who, when asked about Stalin, neither
>> say "He was a hero!" or "He was a murderous villian!" but rather
>> "Stalin, whatever."
http://english.pravda.ru/main/2003/03/06/44072.html However, now we can say whatever we wish about Stalin. But nevertheless, it is an obvious fact that there are more and more people who positively estimate the role of Joseph Stalin in the history of the state. According to the last opinion poll held by the Russian Center for Public Opinion (VCIOM), 53% of the questioned think that Stalin-s role in the history of Russia was great. Number of people who negatively estimate the role of the leader is almost twice as less and makes up 33%. Certainly, we should interpret opinion polls concerning different problems rather cautiously. But this time results of the poll seem to be trustworthy. It is well known that in the minds of majority of the Russian population the name of Joseph Stalin is associated with order in the country. We often hear that all people were equal under Stalin, nobody stole and (this is one of the key arguments) prices were constantly reducing. At that, these cliches were knocked not only into the heads of older generations, but even of younger people. We should say that younger generations especially respect Stalin for the fact that in the times of his rule the Soviet Union was a super power respected and treated with fear all over the world...
Breakdown by age available? http://www.wciom.ru/vciom_e/magazine/digest/bottom.asp Stalin and Others. Higher Authority Figures in the Public Opinion of Modern Russia
In his paper Boris Dubin analyses one of the bearing details in the design of modern Russian identity ("the Russian myth"), the legend of the Great Russian Power projected into the past. This legend is conceived as a mechanism of preserving the culture and social consciousness under the specific belated and "catching up", traditionalizing modernization, a mechanism that supports closed and protective character of the social system of the Russian society. The figures of Stalin and other representatives of higher authorities in Russia (from Khrushchov to Putin) acquire their meaning within the framework of this design depending on its modal arrangement and meaningful content. The article points out and examines on a vast base of public opinion polls during 1989-2002 the following components of mass significance of Stalin's image: Stalin and the soviet state ("Power"); Stalin and the Great Patriotic War, the victory over fascism; Stalin and the mythology of Russia's "specific way"; Stalin and the metaphors of authoritarian leadership ("the iron hand", "established order"); Stalin as a personification of total super-power (extraordinary control of power, exempted from law and morality). Special attention is paid to such form of negative significance of Stalin's figure as combining in his mass image, in the art and literature of 1960-90-s that were supporting this image, such demonic features of exclusiveness and out- of-normativeness that reject and exclude each other. http://www.ukraine.com/forums/showthread.php3?threadid=5413