--- Yoshie Furuhashi <critical.montages at gmail.com>
wrote:
>
> > Critique of ideology is very important to the
> Marxian
> > critique in general. I don't think people in
> > Palestine or Russia are in a privileged position
> where
> > social relationships are transparent, whereas it
> is
> > only the American and West European masses who are
> > ideologically blinded. If many Russians have a
> > positive attitude towards Stalin's legacy, or if
> many
> > Palestinians harbor anti-semitic sentiments, then
> of
> > course that is worth understanding, but not
> supporting
> > or justifying.
>
Stalin's high posthumous approval ratings have nothing to do with ideology. It is very simple and can be understood with 5 seconds of reflection. Djugashvili turned the USSR into a superpower, increased GDP by something like 300%, was respected and feared around the world, and crushed Nazi Germany. Of course he's popular. The famine was mostly in Ukraine. The Terror was mostly inside the CP, and most people supported it as what they perceived as a necessary means to protect them and the country from corrupt elites and traitors. The deportations of nationalities mostly took place in the context of their real or supposed Nazi collaboration, and so nobody really cares. Moreover, that generation -- which is Russia's Greatest Generation -- really did believe that the Great Stalin was leading them to create Heaven on Earth. It would be surprising if he weren't posthumously popular.
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