Posted by Dan Ewert : 3/09/2003 09:29:00 PM (Archive Link)
March 5th marked the 50th anniversary of Joseph Stalin’s death. Fewer people have more deserved to die. Uncle Joe, of course, was responsible for the deaths of millions of his own citizens; 20-30 million by most estimates and that doesn't count those who died because of backwards economic or agricultural programs... that's around 100 million. He was a ruthless murderer who violently eliminated any opposition to his regime, whether it was real or perceived. You wouldn’t know it from the obituary the New York Times published in 1953, though. The writer practically drooled over the man and his accomplishments. There’s only about three instances where anything remotely negative is mentioned but they’re glossed over. I especially like the parts that credit him as a great war leader during WWII. Never mind that Stalin’s purging of the officer corps prior to the war left him with no qualified commanders and that his trust in Hitler resulted in his forces getting caught with their pants down. True, in 1953, we didn’t know of all the atrocities Stalin had committed. Still, though, we did know that communism was a threatening, virulent ideology and that Stalin had done much to nurture its development and spread. Given that alone, the Times’ love note to Joe is embarrassing at best.