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Pastimes : My House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lazarus_Long who wrote (5630)	3/6/2003 12:19:55 PM
From: Original Mad Dog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7689

REVIEW & OUTLOOK FROM THE ARCHIVES: March 5, 2003 Stalin's Legacy How much has the world changed since Joseph Stalin's death 50 years ago today? Sometimes it's difficult to say. On one hand we have the Baltic states free and about to enter NATO and the EU. On the other we have in place Stalinist regimes like North Korea and Iraq and -- just like half a century ago -- useful idiots defending them in the name of "peace." Le plus ca change? Life on this planet was greatly improved, of course, by the death of the man whose real name was Joseph Vissariononich Dzhugashvili. But it is worth pausing for a moment on the legacy of this son of Georgian peasants who gained absolute power in the Soviet Union and used it to massacre millions. It seems sometimes that he's still with us. That both Kim Jong-Il and Saddam Hussein are Stalin's political offspring is indisputable. The North Korean regime was set up by Kim's father, Kim Il-Sung, under Stalin's tutelage, and it was under his guidance that the first Kim launched the Korean War in 1950. Saddam's Stalinist pedigree is stronger. While the dissolute Kim inherited a tyrannical apparatus created for him by papa, Saddam's attachment to Stalin is a personal and deeply felt commitment. Many who have been to Saddam's personal library attest to it being replete with books on Stalin . The Iraqi has crammed on the great man's techniques of terror and studiously applied them. From the use of show trials and purges to the cult of personality, Stalin lives on in Saddam. Stalin had members of the Western glitterati proclaiming Soviet moral equivalence with the democracies -- think of Lillian Hellman's malevolent quip, "If you knew what I knew about American prisons, you would be a Stalinist, too." Saddam also has legions of celebrities saying the West has no moral authority to depose him. If history is any guide, however, Saddam should not put much faith in such support. Soon after Stalin's death it became chic to denounce him, especially among Marxists who did not want their ideology smeared by association with such a monster. This ritual renunciation only enabled the continuation of the canard that Stalin had betrayed "pure communism." As depressing as all this might be, however, we should remember that the good news outweighs the bad. We hear that some Russians, nostalgic for the dead dictator, are gathering in Moscow to mark his life. Had a bunch of people gathered during Stalin's time to celebrate a dead czar, he would have simply had them rounded up and shot, without remorse. We can't think of a better example of how life really has improved, in Russia especially. Updated March 5, 2003