Memory and Freedom
The Stalinism Discussion in the Soviet Union and Russia
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Ever since the “thaw”, the treatment of Stalin and Stalinism has been an indi-cator of contemporary politics. “Anti-Stalinists” call for freedom and reforms, “Stalinists” for order and a strong state. The Putin regime’s history policy fits this model. Falling back on Stalin and the Soviet Union’s victory in the Sec-ond World War is supposed to legitimise Putin’s authoritarian rule. Anti-democratic politics are accompanied by a mythical idealisation of the totalita-rian past. But this national-Stalinist spirit is threatening to turn on its creators. To ward off this threat, President Dmitrii Medvedev and Prime Minister Vla-dimir Putin, for reasons concerning domestic and foreign policy, are now positioning themselves as “anti-Stalinists.” Soviet history is once again the setting in the battle over the country’s future.
(Osteuropa 4/2011, pp. 55–70)