Putin calls for balanced assessment of Stalin

MOSCOW, (Reuters) – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir  Putin weighed into a fierce national debate on the legacy of  Soviet leader Josef Stalin yesterday, calling for a balanced  assessment and saying he was not all good or bad.

Russians historically yearn for strong rulers and many still  feel deep sympathy for the Georgian-born iron-fisted leader.  They like Stalin for turning an illiterate peasant nation into  an industrialised nuclear superpower and for crushing Nazism.

The Communists, Russia’s largest opposition party, plan  lavish celebrations of Stalin’s 130th birthday later this month  and his grandson recently sued a newspaper for accusing Stalin  of ordering mass murders.

“If you say you are positive (about Stalin’s rule), some  will be discontented. If you say you are negative, others will  grumble,” Putin said during an annual marathon question-and-  answer session with the Russian people.

“It is impossible to make a general judgment. It is evident  that, from 1924 to 1953, the country that Stalin ruled changed  from an agrarian to an industrial society.”

Echoing millions of Russians, Putin praised Stalin’s leading  role in winning World War Two.

“You know, if we return to the issue of human losses, noboby  can now throw stones at those who organised and stood at the  head of this victory, because if we’d lost this war, the  consequences for our country would have been much more  catastrophic.”

A new school textbook, compiled with the help of an  historian from Putin’s ruling United Russia party, mentions the  repressions but also depicts Stalin as a talented manager.

Admitting achievements under Stalin, Putin, who served in  the feared KGB secret police in Soviet times, also scolded him  for his bloody purges and his decimation of the peasantry as a  class during his forced collectivisation.

“The positives that undoubtedly existed were achieved at an  unacceptable price. Repressions did take place. This is a fact.  Millions of our fellow citizens suffered from them,” Putin said.

“Such a way of running a state, of achieving results is  unacceptable, this is impossible. We have not only lived through  the personality cult but also witnessed mass crimes against our  own nation.”