Stalin Regains Place of Honor in a School

A bust of dictator Josef Stalin was unveiled Saturday in a Russian school to applause from local Communists and protests from teachers opposed to honoring the memory of a man responsible for the deaths of millions.

NTV television, in a report from the southern Urals city of Chelyabinsk, said it was the first time a memorial to Stalin had been restored in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“We should give our young people absolutely correct and objective information about our past,” Communist lawmaker Gen. Valentin I. Varennikov told teachers after the unveiling.

The memory of Stalin, whose systematic terror against the Soviet people led to the deaths of millions in executions or labor camps, was muted by the Communist Party after his death in 1953.

But amid the chaos of democratic reforms, many today recall his rule as a period of progress and pride, and honor his role as commander in the victory over Nazi invaders in World War II.

“This is a patriotic action,” school principal Sergei Alabshin said, although NTV said most of his staff disagreed.

“It was because of his command that the Soviet Union achieved victory in World War II,” one schoolgirl told NTV.

But liberal protesters held a demonstration outside the school. “Those who are for Stalin today are simply trying to blame the present government for all their troubles, saying it was much better to live under Stalin,” one man said.