Should Stalin quote, statue be returned to Moscow subway? New debate over Soviet dictator

Should Stalin quote, statue be returned to Moscow subway? New debate over Soviet dictator

STEVE GUTTERMAN
Associated Press Writer
October 27, 2009

MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow subway station is the newest focus of Russia's bitter dispute over the legacy of Josef Stalin, whose outsize shadow still haunts the nation more than 50 years after his death.

Critics of the Communist era were outraged when old Soviet national anthem lyrics praising Stalin were restored to a rotunda in the Kurskaya station this summer. Now there is talk of putting a statue of the dictator back where one used to stand, facing commuters entering the station.

Moscow's chief municipal architect Alexander Kuzmin, who raised the idea of returning the Stalin statue last week, said there was nothing behind it but a desire for historical accuracy.

Subway officials have said the same thing about the gold-colored lettering unveiled in August, which proclaims that "Stalin raised us to be true to the people, inspired us to labor and heroic deeds."

But opponents say the changes are part of a campaign to rehabilitate Stalin and hold up an image of his iron-handed rule as a positive example for Russia today.

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