Stalin the mass-murdering rationalist
As the New Russia continues to take shape, the Old Russia’s getting a makeover. Case in point: the latest Russian school textbooks go a long way toward exonerating Stalin for all that pesky mass-murder stuff, emphasizing the work he did to save the Soviet state, and instructing teachers to emphasize that all Stalin’s actions were “entirely rational.” What makes this all the more fascinating is that Prosveshenije, the textbook company that’s released this magnum opus, is the same one that for years had a monopoly on Soviet textbooks: i.e., they’ve got a lot of practice in making the past whatever it is that the present needs it to be.
Tags: olenkov, russia, soviet union, stalin, textbooks
September 11th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Perhaps they referenced the ‘best practices’ of Japanese school textbook authors, who categorically deny any of the atrocities that’s won their nation so much good will throughout Asia. Sadly, it’s a strategy that works.
September 12th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
You did realize Olenkov is almost the same edge as Stalin, or was that a coincidence. It still seems a little odd that Stalin is being rehabilitated; instead of some more apt person as say Peter the Great. Putin is from St. Petersberg isn’t he.
September 15th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
@Jw — indeed.
@Narciso: “edge” –is that the word you want to use? I’m not sure I understand the question.