Email Interview with Thomas Wolfe
Associate Professor of History at the University of Minnesota
Specialist in the Soviet Union and post-communist Russia
February 4, 2015
Why did so many Soviet citizens admire Joseph Stalin despite all of the horrible atrocities that he committed in his leadership? How was this unreserved support achieved?
The vast majority of people in the country didn't know enough to really get a good picture of what he was doing, and most importantly he was the leader of their country in the worst war in Russian history, a war that they won at an enormous cost of people and economic assets.
Why did so many Soviet citizens, during the leadership of Joseph Stalin, lack their freedoms of speech and expression? How did the repressions of many of his citizens serve to promote Stalin's political agenda?
Russian society had only known these freedoms for a few short years in their entire history. One could ask, why should they want this? Many Russians believed that these freedoms just caused confusion and unrest. The Tsar believed that the people didn't need these freedoms. This was not something that Lenin or Stalin felt strongly about. Don't forget that Russian society in the early part of the 20th century was NOT urban, mostly rural, very poor, and uneducated. These people did not care about these freedoms. They wanted to eat. Stalin was a paranoid leader who feared that his country was about to be invaded by enemies of socialism, and ended up trusting only a few of his colleagues to do the work he thought needed to be done to protect the Soviet Union.
How does the leadership of Joseph Stalin continue to affect the lives of Russians today?
He is the most recent model of the "strong leader" that so many Russians admire. He is important because Putin is trying to occupy this historical position.
Are you aware of any neo-Stalinist groups currently existing in Russia, and if so, what are the main principles and actions of Joseph Stalin that these groups or individuals support?
Depends what you mean by neo-Stalinist. There are people who publicly praise him, but the vast majority of people today know of his crimes. They are looked upon as loonies by most people, but that doesn't stop many people from admiring a "strong leader".
The vast majority of people in the country didn't know enough to really get a good picture of what he was doing, and most importantly he was the leader of their country in the worst war in Russian history, a war that they won at an enormous cost of people and economic assets.
Why did so many Soviet citizens, during the leadership of Joseph Stalin, lack their freedoms of speech and expression? How did the repressions of many of his citizens serve to promote Stalin's political agenda?
Russian society had only known these freedoms for a few short years in their entire history. One could ask, why should they want this? Many Russians believed that these freedoms just caused confusion and unrest. The Tsar believed that the people didn't need these freedoms. This was not something that Lenin or Stalin felt strongly about. Don't forget that Russian society in the early part of the 20th century was NOT urban, mostly rural, very poor, and uneducated. These people did not care about these freedoms. They wanted to eat. Stalin was a paranoid leader who feared that his country was about to be invaded by enemies of socialism, and ended up trusting only a few of his colleagues to do the work he thought needed to be done to protect the Soviet Union.
How does the leadership of Joseph Stalin continue to affect the lives of Russians today?
He is the most recent model of the "strong leader" that so many Russians admire. He is important because Putin is trying to occupy this historical position.
Are you aware of any neo-Stalinist groups currently existing in Russia, and if so, what are the main principles and actions of Joseph Stalin that these groups or individuals support?
Depends what you mean by neo-Stalinist. There are people who publicly praise him, but the vast majority of people today know of his crimes. They are looked upon as loonies by most people, but that doesn't stop many people from admiring a "strong leader".