I wonder if the Kremlin’s rehabilitation of Stalin together with dismissal of Stalin’s crimes against non-Russian populations (e.g., the Holodomor), is partly meant to support and exploit the rise of Russican “ethnic consciousness” and counteract the resurgence of non-Russian ethnic nationalism both in non-CIS post-Soviet states like Georgia and Ukraine and also inside the CIS itself.

Paul Goble, in his blog “Window on Eurasia” at http://windowoneurasia.blogspot.com, has explored the rise of Russian “ethnic consciousness” as well as the resurgence of non-Russian ethnic nationalism in the CIS (Chechens, Bakshirs, Ingush, etc.). Offhand, I don’t recall if Goble discusses the Russian dismissal of the Holodomor.

But back to Stalin: I mention the rehabilitation of Stalin in connection with the rise of Russian “ethnic consciousness,” because Stalin, besides being responsible for the Holodomor, had also reimposed Russification in Ukraine (I think) and also, during World War II, restored to Russian Orthodoxy its former cultural (but not political) standing and reintroduced Czarist-style recognition of the military officer corps.

Stalin’s restoration of specifically Russian cultural traditions was meant to win the support of ethnic Russians in resisting the Nazi invasion, since such Russians might have been ambivalent about Stalin himself.

So I speculate whether the Kremlin’s rehabilitation of Stalin ‘the Russifier’ together with a dismissal of Stalin’s crimes against non-Russian populations (like the Holodomor), is part of a Kremlin plan to reassert a specifically Russian national identity to win over present-day ethnic Russians, even if such present-day ethnic Russians might be ambivalent toward the current Russian government.

Sorry for the long post. But I wanted to discuss the above issues and also call attention to Paul Goble’s blog about Russian politics.

Finally, Natalia, thanks for these outstanding columns on the Holodomor, on both Global Comment and on your personal website. These columns go far in explaining to Americans what is going on in the former USSR.

and really: it’s like…-is- it Stalin who said something about how one person’s a murder, a million’s just a statistic? something of that sort?