Paul Goble
Staunton, Oct. 19 – Vladimir Putin is justly criticized for his Stalinist approach to rule; but in most cases, his approach is analogous to the late Soviet dictator. However, there are exceptions in which the current Kremlin ruler is reviving activities that almost precisely those that Stalin promoted and even subsequent Soviet leaders dropped after his death.
One of those involves the parades of athletes through Red Square, a practice started in 1919 under Lenin but became annual in 1931 after Stalin had consolidated power and then was immediately dropped in 1953 after he died (moscowtimes.ru/2024/10/19/v-rossii-vozrodyat-stalinskie-sportivnie-paradi-a145389).
In October 2023, Putin said he favors such celebrations because they can help make sports “a norm of life” for three out of every four residents of the Russian Federation. Now, now he has directed the sports ministry to organize the first of these revivals of a Stalin practice in 2025.
Such Soviet sports marches in Stalin’s time resembled similar marches in Hitler’s Germany, and this parallel contributed mightily to the conclusion that the two regimes, despite their hostility at one level, were manifestations of the same totalitarian approach. Putin’s revival of these celebrations will likely lead many to draw comparisons with fascist regimes.
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