igest [image: Profile photo for Dima Vorobiev] <https://www.quora.com/profile/Dima-Vorobiev> Dima Vorobiev <https://www.quora.com/profile/Dima-Vorobiev> Former Propaganda Executive at Soviet Union (1980–1991)Updated Jun 10 <https://www.quora.com/Did-Stalin-help-build-modern-day-Russia/answer/Dima-Vorobiev> Did Stalin help build modern day Russia? <https://www.quora.com/Did-Stalin-help-build-modern-day-Russia>
“Did Stalin help build modern-day Russia?” Short answer Among individuals, it’s an absolute, resounding “yes”. No one else among our statesmen of the last 100 years influenced what Russia is today as much as Stalin. ------------------------------ LONGER ANSWER Ten Most Profound Ways of How Stalin Shaped Up the 21st Century Russia 1. Geography Apart from Crimea, Russia’s modern borders were decided by Stalin. Among the most important changes, he broke off Russia entire Kazakhstan in 1936. However, he added Eastern Prussia, southern Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands. He also snatched from Finland parts of their territories, including Pechenga/Petsamo with much nickel ore and some fjords superb for hiding our nuclear submarines. The little republic of Tuva was also annexed in 1944. 2. Military might When President Putin so confidently punches above his weight in international matters, time after time, he does this thanks to the residual glory of Stalinism. Our nuclear might, the ferocious reputation of our army, the missile technology—all of these are Stalin’s babies. 3. Statism, 365/24/7 The tentpole role of the State in our civilization is as old as the walls of the Kremlin. But before Stalin, it was largely confined to the ruling elite. The rest of us lived our lives in the shadow of Tsarism as we saw fit. Totalitarianism imposed by Stalin atomized the entire society and made all of us servants of the Communist state. To me as little, it seemed strange that in foreign countries some people work for other individuals and get paid privately. How medieval and impractical! After the short chaos of the 1990s, working for the government, one way or another, made it back as a default career choice for the majority of Russians. Do you have a son climbing the ladder in a state-owned petroleum company? Or a daughter manning a desk in the tax or customs office? Nowadays, that’s who makes their Russian parents proud. 4. High priest of technocracy Stalin made a hard-working, unassuming bureaucrat a role model for his successors. All more or less successful occupants of the Kremlin, including Putin, have been faithful to it. If some in the Kremlin tried their hand at charismatic flamboyance, like Khrushchev and Yeltsin, or grand unorthodox visions, like Gorbachev, the nation turned against them. Putin’s power instincts, no matter what, dictate him to never abandon the persona of a smart, perceptive, shy desk jokey. Like Stalin, he’s the perfect General Secretary. He feels no need to flash his power and wealth or decorate himself with bling and exquisite titles. Shapeshifting and blending with the scene is wiser than fireworks and grandstanding. 5. Language Officialese predates the Communists. But you find little of it in the works of our pre-revolutionary authors, or speeches of imperial politicians. The generation that grew between the world wars, the first one to become 100% literate, soaked the oblique, bloated, wooly vocabulary of Communist communique and Pravda editorials as their own. And they handed it down to us, their sons and grandsons. Check out the language of the Kremlin <http://en.kremlin.ru/> and our Foreign office <https://mid.ru/en/>. This is the language we switch to when we talk to our State or sense its presence. 6. Republic of spies Stalin himself distrusted spies. They were a creed who viewed the world the way he did himself and used the tools of power he knew best. The more useful they got the more dangerous they became. But KGB/MGB/NKVD/GPU, the way the world knows them, is Stalin’s baby. It grew to an imposing beast that two decades ago filled the vacuum left by the Communists. They were the only ones who retained the skill set, the organization, the mutual trust needed to rein in the mess post-Soviet Russia became in the 1990s. Putin is an anti-Communist, but he’s an unrepentant, proud alumnus of the Soviet-era secret police. Without Stalin, there would be no Putinism. 7. The War Stalin presided over an epic, improbably victory over the best army of the 20th century in WW2. For lack of alternatives, this became a pinnacle of our civilization. That’s the best we could do over an entire millennium. President Putin made the WW2 victory our national day, a centerpiece of our government-endorsed nationalism. “Denying”, “falsifying”, and “belittling” it is nowadays criminal offenses in Russia. The only allowed version of it is the one aligned with the story bequeathed to us by Stalin himself. 8. Economy Our petroleum bonanza started after Stalin’s death. But it was Stalin’s economic policy in the previous decades that made it possible. The major was his two waves of industrialization. The first, in the 1930s, was based on robbing private peasants, sale of national treasuries, and shrinking private consumption. It was highly successful and helped us outcompete Nazi Germany in the wartime economy. Staling also started the second one, in the late 1940s and 1950s, on the back of all technologies, plants, and equipment we confiscated from Germany and Japan in 1945. This gave us the space breakthrough and the nuclear triad. Also, the epic colonization of Russian provinces by the means of slave labor in the Gulag project was indispensable. The oil and gas we pump up are situated so far and in so inhospitable places that we couldn’t access them unless Stalin’s generation did such heavy lifting for us. 9. Culture The things people around the world typically associate with Russia are brought to us on Stalin’s watch. Uniformed army men singing in the choir and doing breakdance? Check. Furry Russian ushánka hats? Stalin was one of the first to wear it. Ruby stars atop the Kremlin towers? Stalin ordered them. The high marks of Russian fine art and literature—Bulgakov, Shostakovich, Prokofyev, Sholokhov? Happened under Stalin. 10. Demography Russia is dying out. Many other developed countries do, too, but our demographic decline is largely caused by Stalinism. The expedited collectivization of the late 1920s, early 1930s not only broke the back of our 100-million strong private peasantry. It triggered the mass exodus from the countryside and massive disruption of the traditional lifestyle. Birth rates dwindled much earlier than in other agricultural countries. Health care improved, but that wasn’t enough to compensate for the disappearance of the fountain of demographic abundance that was the old-time peasantry. And then the cosmic blood-letting of WW2. Right now, we experience a new demographic trough as a far echo of WW2 losses. This catastrophic loss of human lives happened because of Stalin’s fateful decision to get a common border with Germany in 1939. Add to that his failed bet that Hitler wouldn’t be such an idiot to attack us in June 1941 so totally unprepared for a big, ugly, protracted war. ------------------------------ Below, a vision of Stalin in the modern world by Orthodox Stalinist Gennady Zhivotov. As you can see, Stalin underwent an about-face transformation in Putinist Russia. He’s no longer a radical progressive making the world better by tirelessly promoting “peace and social progress” (our post-WW2 name for Marxian Socialist revolution). Now, he does a “Rio Jesus the Redeemer” as an icon of deep Conservatism. Just like President Putin, he says: “Don’t listen to the progressives who stir trouble and call you to move along. In the name of God, everyone, just STOP!” Picture (c) Gennady Zhivotov 17.6K views View 636 upvotes View 11 shares -- Anda menerima pesan ini karena Anda berlangganan grup "GELORA45" dari Google Grup. 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