Stalinization as a New Russian Reality

Photo by Steve Harvey on Unsplash

Comparisons of Vladimir Putin’s regime to Joseph Stalin’s era are so popular and widespread not only because of the external similarity of their political practices and symbols. The revival of the old Soviet anthem in 2001 was in fact a wake-up call for many, who at the time saw Putin as nothing more than a liberal imperialist. In those days, however, few people saw the desire of the Russian leader to revive Soviet symbols as an attempt to regain the legacy of his bloody predecessor.

After February 24, 2022, such assessments proved true because Putin unleashed the most brutal act of unprovoked aggression in Europe since 1939. He also transformed himself into a dictator at home – a 21st century Stalin, resorting to lies, misinformation, violence and paranoia as never before.

If one compares Joseph Stalin’s invasion of Poland on September 17, 1939, and the current almost paranoid hatred of the Russian elites toward the Poles, the historical parallels seem even more obvious.

For Stalin, the Polish question was a deeply personal problem. During the Soviet-Polish war in 1920, Stalin was serving as the member of the revolutionary military council of the South-Western front, one of two prongs of the Red Army’s invasion of Poland. In early August 1920 the South-Western front was attacking Lviv, the Polish stronghold in Galicia, while…