Stalin

11 Stories

City to Put Flagpole in Lenin's Place
Giant Lenin
No Longer
Watches City
Jun 8, 2025 1:05 PM CDT

Giant Lenin No Longer Watches City

75-foot statue was installed in Kyrgyzstan in 1975

(Newser) - A colossal statue of Vladimir Lenin that towered over the Kyrgyz city of Osh has been taken down, closing a Soviet chapter with little ceremony or protest. The 75-foot monument, which dates to 1975 when Kyrgyzstan was part of the Soviet Union, was removed last week, the AP reports....

Thousands of Stalin Victims Found in Mass Grave

Up to 8K bodies were buried at site near airport in Odessa, Ukraine

(Newser) - The horrors of the first half of the 20th century left plenty of mass graves scattered across Ukraine—and historians believe they have uncovered one of the largest yet. Researchers say between 5,000 and 8,000 bodies are in 29 graves at a site detected during work to expand...

5 Lines From Jeff Flake's Speech Against Trump

President 'uses words infamously spoken by Josef Stalin to describe his enemies'

(Newser) - Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake on Wednesday gave the speech he's been promising to give about President Trump, one in which he finds it chilling that Trump borrows a phrase from Josef Stalin to describe the media as the "enemy of the people." CBS News has the transcript...

Stalingrad Could Exist Once More

Volgograd, one of Russia's biggest cities, has undergone several name changes

(Newser) - The city today called Volgograd, which with 1 million people is one of Russia's largest, has gone through several name changes in its recent past. For more than 300 years it carried on with the name Tsaritsyn, but after it became home to one of history's deadliest battles—...

Russian City Changes Name —6 Days a Year

Volgograd will be known as Stalingrad again ... sometimes

(Newser) - Tomorrow, the Russian city of Volgograd will be Stalingrad once again—temporarily. That's because the city's government unanimously voted to change the city's name six days a year to mark milestones in the country's victory in World War II. Tomorrow is the 70th anniversary of the...

Putin Calls for Stalinesque 'Leap Forward'

Without mentioning the dictator by name

(Newser) - It's probably a safe bet that plenty of Russians did a double-take yesterday when Vladimir Putin said the country needed another "leap forward" in industry and defense. It's an unmistakable echo of Stalin's "great leap forward," though Putin didn't mention the dictator by...

Russia Blames Stalin for Polish Massacre

He ordered killing of 22,000 in Katyn

(Newser) - A rarity out of Russia today: Official condemnation of Josef Stalin. The lower house of parliament censured Stalin and blamed him for ordering the massacre of 22,000 Polish officers during World War II, Reuters reports. It's not exactly news that Stalin did so, though for decades the Soviet propaganda...

Minister Skewers 'Stalinist' Journo Over McItaly Rip

Guardian 's Fort shops organic with 'heavy wallet and light conscience'

(Newser) - After a British writer ripped into the Italian government for not only allowing but wholeheartedly endorsing a new line of McDonald’s burgers linked to the Italy’s famous cuisine, the country’s agriculture minister fired right back, attacking the writer as “Stalinist” and for “baying at the...

One Place Stalin Can Win a Popularity Contest? Russia

Some may have tampered with web ballot, but brutal leader in Kremlin's top 12

(Newser) - An effort to celebrate Russian nationalism has turned up an uncomfortable number of votes for Josef Stalin, the Wall Street Journal reports. The dictator blamed for the deaths of millions of Russians often led during 3 months of Internet balloting for the nation’s top historical figure, but was pushed...

Gorbachev Goes Easy on Putin, for Now

Ex-leader defends prez, even as Kremlin rolls back democracy

(Newser) - Gorbachev remains pals with Putin, even as the Russian prez pares back reforms that Gorbachev holds dear, the Wall Street Journal reports. The former leader reserves his blame for the Kremlin, and spares Putin, calling him "a very normal person"—even after Moscow shut down Gorbachev's political party...

Young Stalin Follows His Rise From Street Thug

Seminary dropout used 160 aliases as criminal

(Newser) - Drawing on previously classified material, Simon Sebag Montefiore's new biography, Young Stalin, follows the despot through his formative years, from Georgian street tough to the Bolshevik revolution. In a "morbidly fascinating" account, he describes how the young Josef Djugashvili dropped out of a seminary, assumed 160 aliases, robbed stagecoaches,...

11 Stories
Most Read on Newser