After nearly 60 years underground, a statue of Joseph Stalin now greets commuters in a Moscow subway station, reigniting debate over how Russia remembers its most polarizing leader. The installation that debuted this month is a replica of a relief removed during the city's 1966 campaign to repudiate Stalin's brutal legacy of violence against his own people, 72 years after the Soviet ruler died. It depicts Stalin gazing ahead as children and workers offer him flowers, reports the AP. Already, the New York Times notes, the artwork has quickly become a popular spot for photos and tributes.
Kremlin officials have been reviving parts of Stalin's record to foster national pride and project strength, particularly since its war on Ukraine began—suggesting victory there will be another in the nation's history of triumphs. Since President Vladimir Putin took office, at least 108 monuments to Stalin have gone up, despite the mass purges that included the killings of more than 700,000 people during Great Terror of 1936 to 1938 alone and the expulsion of ethnic groups. Although Putin has denounced Stalin and acknowledged his atrocities, he told filmmaker Oliver Stone in 2017 that "excessive demonization of Stalin has been one of the ways to attack the Soviet Union and Russia."
An opposition politician who started a petition to take down the new monument warns about rehabilitating Stalin, per the Times. "The creeping re-Stalinization of the country is dangerous not only for society, as it justifies the largest government atrocities in the country's history, but also for the state," said Lev Shlosberg. "Sooner or later, repression consumes the government itself." A pensioner said she was "very happy that our leader got restored" while visiting the monument, crediting Stalin with winning World War II. "Yes, there were many mistakes, but everybody makes mistakes," Liliya Medvedeva said.
- An opinion piece in the Moscow Times suggests reasons for Stalin's comeback here.
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