The glorious Russian nation won that war for all Humanity. Casualties were astronomical- about 27 million Soviet people of all nationalities died. Military and civilians- they all were soldiers of light in that Holy War. Every man, woman and child of Russia from Marshal Zhukov to the last little kid gassed by Germans in Eisk orphanage fought to the death with unbelievable courage and honor. And yes, that's true- the overwhelming majority of them considered Joseph Stalin their leader, their savior and their captain. They went to battle with his name and that was their right. I am not debating here his blunders an his mistakes. Obviously, those casualties could be much smaller if it wasn't for his deeds before the war. BUT the overwhelming carnage was DUE TO GERMANS and only to them: they killed the Russian civilians and bombarded children; they developed the machine of death, not Stalin. Murderers are more responsible for the actual murder than those whose mistakes (and yes, even malice) lead to the possibility of murder, is that not?
One of the most malicious slanders of the current Western interpreters of that war is the postulate that those two totalitarian powers were equally evil, that it was a collision of the dark forces on both sides, that Communism is the same as Fascism and that Allies were really the saviors of Humanity. This bizarre perception not only insults the intelligence- it insults the Humanity itself, it insults all those heroes who died in that battle too. Yes, Stalin and his system bore a resemblance to the Hitler's machine but Russian people, unlike Germans never surrendered their soul. Russian civilization endured and even transformed such a horrible ruler as Stalin while Germany and Europe eagerly sold their soul to the Devil and enjoyed it. Europe died in Auschwitz, like one Spanish writer said. Russia survived. Stalin, in his relentless efforts to rule his tragic Utopia again and again could notice that his goals were unachievable, that Russian people, the people of the Soviet Union were not cattle or slaves and never will be, that he had to acknowledge that at least for himself, that the country and its spirit were more powerful than his malice. And in the war he understood that with all the great clarity.
Maybe one of the most tragic paradoxes of that war was that in order to win Stalin had to temporary let go and unleash the inner historical spirit of liberty and honor of the Nation he abused and that Nation in its Noble Fury and Gratitude elevated him up on its wave when it crushed the forces of darkness once and for all. The logic of the just cause, the extraordinary circumstance made a twisted dictator an agent of goodness in a way that maybe never happened before on such scale in the history of Humanity. In the Holy War the better people won. On that day, May 9, 1945 Russian people were the best in the world and their sacrifice made their leader Joseph Stalin honorable and inseparable forever from that Victory. They molded together for better and for worse.
We take from history not ashes but fire. Russian people, Russian nation demonstrated their full capacity to decide for themselves whom to honor and whom to curse. They proved it again when they destroyed Stalinism in 1956 and when they sent a first person into Space and when they fairly recently 'pacified' Georgia after her aggression. It was their victory in the WWII and it is surely up to them to use any posters they would like to put out. Historical fairness and proper justice though dictate that it would be proper to show the faces of those who contributed. Stalin contributed, no doubt about that. He is as much a part of Russian tragic history as Philippe II is a part of the history of Spain and Henry VIII is a part of the history of England. There is no way to forget him or to hide him or to pretend he never existed. He was there and those who put his portraits on the walls on that day honor their lives and their reality the only way they know how. That must be respected. If they put out those posters- fine. If they don't- also fine. Nobody should tell them what to do.
The Gulag Archipelago was written as a warning to others, not for us here to gloat on the Russian tragedy. After we read it and we know what happened should not we admire the amazing Russian people who on their own got rid of that monstrosity? Would we here be able to do the same if we had something like that? Are we up to the type of a challenge they were facing? So far it does not seem like that; we here are in love with the lowest level of jingoism and immaturity- the very vices Hitler exploited to make his Germans the barbarians they were. We better look in the mirror and see ourselves before there are Sarah Palin's posters on every corner. How about them apples?
So, no, I will not put a portrait of Joseph Stalin on my wall. But if I go to Russia, now as a foreigner and I see people with his portraits on the walls on that May 9th I will offer them gratitude for saving my life and leave them alone. They earned it.
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