From March 5, 2020--Today in History, March 5 1953--Thoughts on Josef Stalin on the Anniversary of his Death
Today in History, March 5, 1953--67 years ago today, Soviet Dictator Joseph Stalin died.
Born Josef Djugashvilli in the Capitol of Georgia, Tblisi, he changed his last name to Stalin (translation, Steel) after leaving his Orthodox Monastery where he trained for the Priesthood.
His rise to power was accompanied by a River of blood as most people know. You may have read of his genocide against Ukraine. What's notable is the manner in which his reign as a virtual Czar resonated the dark side of Russian/ Eastern culture, the Paranoia and scheming in particular. He demanded total loyalty, or you were killed or forced into exile. Regularly he would purge his own government, executing the very people who over years assisted his rise, just because he was having a bad moment. There were two camps, friend and enemy. Enemies were taken to the basement of Lubyanka Prison run by KGB, and were shot in the back of the head. Some were cremated alive.
Before WWII, out of sheer paranoia, he had the majority of the leading Officers of the Red Army rounded up and jailed or killed, accusing them of being German Agents, thus decapitating the Military right on the eve of the Nazi invasion called "Operation Barbarossa". Stalin, the master manipulator, like Shakespeare's Richard III, also with a withered arm, who did not expect Hitler to throw out their Pact, locked himself in his room for several weeks in a near catatonic state, paralyzed in the face of the threat to the Soviet Union. But for the bravery of the Russian people and the Army, Hitler might have won WWII.
After the War, with the advent of the Nuclear Age, the Cold War, and dissent within his ranks, Stalin became even more paranoid, unleashing his KGB head Lavrenti Beria in a reign of terror against anyone accused of disloyalty, wrecking, or sabotage, in a National bloodbath. He had his Doctors arrested or killed because he believed they were plotting to kill him.
When he finally collapsed, on the floor after being allowed to lie there for hours still alive by his "aides", his inner circle, got drunk when he died and celebrated the death of the monster whom they hated in secret.
To me, what is most notable is not just the terror, the death toll or the suffering. It's that no one even tried to hold him accountable for his crimes until he was safely in the ground and not a danger. And, it had to be done in secret because so many Russians believed (and still do) in Stalin's "Cult of Personality". To attack Stalin publicly was to incur the wrath of the Russian People, and an act of suicide.
I have no commentary or analysis, you can make your own. His story speaks for itself
