Sunday, December 28, 2008

Stalin Still Has That Tyrannical Charm

I posted the other day about Hollywood's fascination with Che Guevera. Despite being a conformist anti-artist known to hunt down creative types and have them put to death, Che t-shirts are seen ubiquitously.

Seems the Russians have the same problem with Josef Stalin. He was voted third most popular Russian. His resume': "millions of Soviet citizens perished from famine during forced collectivization, were executed as 'enemies of the people' or died in Gulag hard labor camps during Stalin's rule which lasted for almost 30 years until his death in 1953."

Trivia: His real last name is Jughashvili, he was born a serf in Gori, Georgia and choose his nom de guerre, Stalin, because it means "steel". More like steal.

At the top of the list was 13th century prince Alexander Nevsky, who defeated German invaders, followed by Pyotr Stolypin, a prime minister in the early 20th century known for agrarian reforms and a clampdown on leftist revolutionaries.

Source: Reuters

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