-Caveat Lector- 'He was more of a psychopath than Hitler' ROBERT HARRIS'S novel Archangel is set in present-day Russia, where Stalin is seven times more popular than Yeltsin. Dissipated former Oxford historian Fluke Kelso, in Moscow for a conference, discovers Stalin's secret notebook. It reveals Stalin had an illegitimate son, whom Kelso sets out to find. Harris puts the posthumous influence Stalin still wields over Russia in context by a fellow historian's address to the conference: "Professor I.A. Kuganov estimates that some 66 million people were killed in the USSR between 1917 and 1953 - shot, tortured, starved mostly, frozen or worked to death. Others say the true figure is a mere 45 million. Who knows? "Neither estimate, by the way, includes the 30 million now known to have been killed in the Second World War. "To put this loss in context: The Russian Federation today has a population of roughly 150 million. Assuming the ravages inflicted by communism had never occurred, and assuming normal demographic trends, the actual population should be about 300 million. "And yet - and this is surely one of the most astounding phenomena of the age - Stalin continues to enjoy a wide measure of popular support in this half-empty land. His statues have been taken down, true. The street names have been changed. But there have been no Nuremberg trials, as there were in Germany. There has been no process here equivalent to deNazification. There has not been a Truth Commission, of the sort established in South Africa. "And the opening of the archives? 'Confronting the past?' Come, ladies and gentlemen, let us say frankly what we all know to be the case. That the Russian Government today is scared, and that it is actually harder to gain access to the archives now than it was six or seven years ago. You all know the facts as well as I do. Beria's files: closed. The Politburo's files: closed. Stalin's files - the real files, I mean, not the window-dressing on offer here: closed. I can see my remarks are not being well received by one or two colleagues. "All right, I shall draw them to a conclusion with this observation: that there can now be no doubt that it is Stalin rather than Hitler who is the most alarming figure of the 20th century. "I say this not merely because Stalin killed more people than Hitler - although clearly he did - and not even because Stalin was more of a psychopath than Hitler - although clearly he was. "I say it because Stalin, unlike Hitler, has not yet been exorcised. And also because Stalin was not a one-off like Hitler, an eruption from nowhere. Stalin stands in a historical tradition of rule by terror which existed before him, which he refined, and which could exist again. His, not Hitler's, is the spectre that should worry us. "Because, you know, you think about it. You hail a taxi in Munich - you don't find the driver displaying Hitler's portrait in his car, do you? Hitler's birthplace isn't a shrine. Hitler's grave isn't piled with fresh flowers every day. You can't buy tapes of Hitler's speeches on the streets of Berlin. Hitler isn't routinely praised as 'a great patriot' by leading German politicians. Hitler's old party didn't receive more than 40 per cent of the votes in the last German election. "But all these things are true of Stalin in Russia today . . ." Archangel, by Robert Harris, published by Hutchinson. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
