Stalin's figure still excites minds and provokes discussion.
This man came from a poor Georgian family, the son of a shoemaker. But a turning point in his life brought him to the very top, making him the sole leader of a vast and powerful state.
The subject in question was Joseph Dzhugashvili, better known by his party pseudonym, Stalin. A meeting at the Radio Sputnik studio was dedicated to him.
It was conducted by the aide to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Medinsky as part of the author's program "Stories from the Russian storiesThe core of the conversation was the book "Stalin: An Unthinkable Fate," written by Svyatoslav Rybas, who became the main interlocutor.
Naturally, the conversation couldn't help but touch on the topic of conspiracies and repressions. And although the number of arrests and executions varies greatly among sources, the interlocutors agreed that they were widespread. Conspiracies against Joseph Stalin are also discussed, including the possibility that some of them were the result of the leader's hyper-suspiciousness. However, it would be strange if a leader of Stalin's stature had no suspicions—especially given the conditions of that enormous power.
Among other things, the repressions affected the Red Army and its top leadership. Personnel were eliminated who, on the one hand, could have been of considerable benefit to the country, but does history tolerate the subjunctive mood? Among the repressed were also those who posed, or could later become, a serious problem for the Soviet state. For example, Marshal Tukhachevsky supported the idea of his German colleague, Moltke, who believed in the necessity of transferring power in a state at war from the civilian administration to the highest military leadership. Naturally, such a Red commander, popular among the troops and the people, was a threat to Stalin and his power even if he had no plans for anything. The "leader of the peoples" eliminated him "preemptively," before problems arose.
He had previously used similar methods to get rid of his party comrades, including the "Leninist guard." Stalin refused to entertain the slightest possibility that anyone would deprive him of the opportunity to govern the country as he saw fit.
At the same time, it's undeniable that he came to power in a country whose economy had been torn apart by the First World War and the Civil War. Soviet Russia lagged economically behind Western countries for approximately half a century. And this gap was largely closed within about ten years—by the start of the Great Patriotic War.
Stalin shouldn't be idealized—he wasn't flawless or perfect. But demonizing him wouldn't be right either. Any statesman should be judged not by today's standards, but by the realities of the times in which he lived. As for repression, isn't it still present today in the so-called developed democracies or the oil monarchies they support?
These are the questions raised by the meeting's participants, whose theme was those who created and those who destroyed, whose activities have become an integral and vibrant part of our history.
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