Why Russians Love Stalin but Hate Yeltsin and Gorbachev

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Do you know that many Russians still love and long for Stalin? 

Do you know that most Russians still hate Yeltsin and Gorbachev?

Do you know the reason why?

The answer is quite simple. It relates to our previous posts and can be summed up in two words: slave mentality. 

So what is it about Stalin, Yeltsin, and Gorbachev that evoke strong emotions in Russians?

Read more to find out.

More after the jump.

To the rest of the world, Stalin will forever remain a horrible tyrant who is responsible for deaths of millions of people. He ruled by terror, physically eliminating anybody who might oppose him, and built a personality cult that lasted until his death. He established communist governments throughout Eastern Europe,  encouraged citizens to spy on each other, and had millions of people sent to Gulag systems for crimes they did not commit. 

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However, all these crimes, no matter how brutal and severe, have no effect on ordinary Russians. To them, he is dearer than any other Russian leader in history. You can still hear from time to time an oh-so-common line from the older generation, "Too bad there is no Stalin now for you". 

In the Carnegie poll in 2012, 42 percent of Russian respondents named Stalin as the most influential historical figure. Stalin is still alive and well on May 9th when his pictures are displayed as a prominent sign of Russian victory in the WWII.

However, Gorbachev, the person who helped to dissolve the evil Soviet Union, who won several awards and brought Russia out of the cold war, was ranked the most unpopular Russian leader of the past century. Just 14 percent of respondents of a state-run survey named him as the leader, whose policies in the past 100 years resulted in Russia developing in the proper direction.

Even Yeltsin, the first Russian president, got more votes than Gorbachev. Still, Boris received only 17 percent of the votes in the same poll. Source

So, what exactly is wrong?

We know that Russia was never a free country and Russian people never experienced democracy. Even during the most democratic times, Russia was still pretty authoritarian. Yeltsin failed to instill democratic institutions and eradicate corruption.

Since Russians are used to all of the abuse they routinely get from the authority and their government, considering their mental state (including slave mentality and Stockholm syndrome), Russians respond well to authoritarian regimes, something that both Gorbachev and Yeltsin failed to provide. If both of them killed and jailed as many people as possible, then their popularity would soar. 

Although Gorbachev had no chance to be popular, to begin with: many Russians consider the dissolution of the Soviet Union the worst thing that ever happened to their country. 

Yeltsin was infamous for his drinking habits and he was way too democratic to Russian taste. In fact, now Yeltsin is still blamed for all kind of problems that Russia was experiencing in the 90s. 

Needless to say, people want to believe whatever makes them comfortable. If the truth makes them uncomfortable, they will go into denial mode.

Stalin is still popular for the same reason. Yes, he killed, tortured and sent many millions of people to GULAG. But, as one Russian woman told us, "So what? He did the right thing. Maybe all those people should be sent to Siberia!"

It will take many, many generations of Russians to change that mentality. Here is your moment of zen: