“…according to [our] polls, there is no stigma associated with Stalin today. In fact, many Russians hold ambivalent or even positive views of him. For example, one-quarter or more of Russian adults say they would definitely or probably vote for Stalin were he alive and running for president, and less than 40 percent say they definitely would not. A majority of young Russians, moreover, do not view Stalin — a man responsible for millions of deaths and enormous suffering — with the revulsion he deserves. Although Stalinism per se is not rampant in Russia today, misperceptions about the Stalin era are. Few of the respondents to our surveys could be classified as hard-core Stalinists, but fewer still are hard-core anti-Stalinists. Most Russians, in other words, flunk the Stalin test.”
From “Failing the Stalin Test”
Sarah E. Mendelson and Theodore P. Gerber
From Foreign Affairs, January/February 2006
David, if Stalin was so ruthless and the people of Russia would vote him in over those currently in power, what does that say about the current leaders? I think you can look at it from another angle and say that the leaders of modern Russia fail the Stalin Test too.