Stalin - For the good of the State essays

Stalin - For the good of the State essays Assessing Russian Reactions to Stalin's Time Overcoming all of the problems that were inherent during the Stalin years is something that will take generations for the new Russian Federation to accomplish. The inefficient bureaucracy; brutal suppression of individuality, creativity, and opposing viewpoints; personal abuse of authority and exploitation of the lower classes; and the sheer power of a government which struck complete terror into the very core of an entire nation is a seventy-year habit that Russia must work diligently to reverse. Hochschild relates a saying that perfectly describes how the average person felt during Stalin's time (and even into modern times): "If you live with the wolves, you must howl with the wolves" (9). This illustrates how the population sought conformity and belonging. The purported reason for all of the atrocities committed was for 'the good of the State', but in reality, Stalin was the state. Everything else served to support and serve him. In his need for unassailable control, he determine d that he was so great that there must be opposition, and it must be rooted out. And rooted out it was, even if it had to be created by arresting, imprisoning, exiling, and executing the innocent. To this day, still found among the people of Russia, is that desire to belong and conform, but more so is the tendency to be afraid to mention the terrible things that went on during Stalin's rule. How does one describe an entire nation in denial? The answer is: Not very easily. Organizations are springing up in the wake of glasnost and perestroika, and the removal of censorship once rampant in the USSR. These organizations are serving as a means of the displaced, the separated families, and the victims of Stalin's brutalities to comfort, reassure, inform, and remember all that was not only lost, but violently taken away. ...