Choice
The Russians are voting for the Greatest Russian of all time, and a Georgian is currently in fourth place. The BBC tells us:
"Stalin made Russia a superpower and was one of the founders of the coalition against Hitler in World War II," says Sergei Malinkovich, leader of the St Petersburg Communist Party.
"In all opinion polls he comes out on top as the most popular figure. Nobody else comes close. So for his service to this country we can forgive his mistakes."
Not only is Mr Malinkovich prepared to forgive Stalin's "mistakes", he also wants the man who is regarded as one of the most bloodthirsty tyrants of the 20th Century to be made a saint.
As I was interviewing him, he held a small neatly framed icon of Stalin's face.
I'm not sure if Stalin would like to be made a saint of the church-y kind, admittedly he went to some sort of theological education but overall I doubt that his life showed much of love for the church. And seriously, this guy is a Communist Party leader? What is he doing with icons? Hasn't he read Marx and Lenin? Or for that matter, Stalin himself? I have a book by Stalin - it's in Swedish (and printed by the Communist Party in 1935, so it isn't some sort of way to throw dirt at Stalin), but I'll translate to the best of my ability what he says:
"The Party can't be neutral to those who preach religious prejudice, to the reactionary priesthood, which is poisoning the consciousness of the working masses. Have we crushed the reactionary priesthood? Yes, we have. It is a shame that we haven't currently eradicated it completely."
"The Party can't be neutral to religion and it operates an anti-religious propaganda against every kind of religious prejudice, as the Party is pro-science and the religious prejudice is against science, as all religions are against science."
This is from an interview by American communists with Stalin. In the same interview, Stalin also concludes when the Americans say that some "good communists" disagree with the concept that all new members of the Party should be atheists that he doesn't know of any such "good communists" and asserts that they hardly exist.
Let's hope Pushkin wins the poll instead.
"Stalin made Russia a superpower and was one of the founders of the coalition against Hitler in World War II," says Sergei Malinkovich, leader of the St Petersburg Communist Party.
"In all opinion polls he comes out on top as the most popular figure. Nobody else comes close. So for his service to this country we can forgive his mistakes."
Not only is Mr Malinkovich prepared to forgive Stalin's "mistakes", he also wants the man who is regarded as one of the most bloodthirsty tyrants of the 20th Century to be made a saint.
As I was interviewing him, he held a small neatly framed icon of Stalin's face.
I'm not sure if Stalin would like to be made a saint of the church-y kind, admittedly he went to some sort of theological education but overall I doubt that his life showed much of love for the church. And seriously, this guy is a Communist Party leader? What is he doing with icons? Hasn't he read Marx and Lenin? Or for that matter, Stalin himself? I have a book by Stalin - it's in Swedish (and printed by the Communist Party in 1935, so it isn't some sort of way to throw dirt at Stalin), but I'll translate to the best of my ability what he says:
"The Party can't be neutral to those who preach religious prejudice, to the reactionary priesthood, which is poisoning the consciousness of the working masses. Have we crushed the reactionary priesthood? Yes, we have. It is a shame that we haven't currently eradicated it completely."
"The Party can't be neutral to religion and it operates an anti-religious propaganda against every kind of religious prejudice, as the Party is pro-science and the religious prejudice is against science, as all religions are against science."
This is from an interview by American communists with Stalin. In the same interview, Stalin also concludes when the Americans say that some "good communists" disagree with the concept that all new members of the Party should be atheists that he doesn't know of any such "good communists" and asserts that they hardly exist.
Let's hope Pushkin wins the poll instead.