Lil’ Stalin Pop-Up Book Coming Soon
Here’s what’s cookin’ in the latest Ministry of Education-approved Russian history textbooks:
Stalin was an “effective manager,” taking Russia from the plow to the atomic bomb in just a few years. His repressions were necessary to mobilize for war and industrialize Russia so quickly. In general, the ratings of past leaders goes like this: Khrushchev is bad because he weakened the government; Brezhnev is good because he restored it; Gorbachev and Yeltsin are both bad because they let the Soviet Union fall apart; Putin has been Russia’s best leader because he restored strong “vertical” power (which was established by Stalin).
