Sixty Years after Stalin
Mute was the marble. Mutely glimmered the glass. Mute stood the sentries, bronzed by the breeze. Thin wisps of smoke curled over the coffin. And breath seeped through the chinks as they bore him out the mausoleum doors. Slowly the coffin floated, grazing the fized bayonets. He also was mute- his embalmed fists, just pretending to be dead, he watched from inside. He wished to fix each pallbearer in his memory: young recruits from Ryazan and Kursk, so that later he might collect enough strength for a sortie, rise from the grave, and reach these unreflecting youths. He was scheming. Had merely dozed off. And I, appealing to our government, petition them to double, and treble, the sentries guarding this slab, and stop Stalin from ever rising again and, with Stalin, the past. I refer not to the past, so holy and glorious, of Turksib, and Magnitka, and the flag raised over Berlin. By the past, in this case, I mean the neglect of the people’s good, false charges, the jailing of innocent men. We sowed our crops honestly. Honestly we smelted metal, and honestly we marched, joining the ranks. But he feared us. Believing in the great goal, he judged all means justified to that great end. He was far-sighted. Adept in the art of political warfare, he left many heirs behind on this globe. I fancy there’s a telephone in that coffin: Stalin instructs Enver Hoxha. From that coffin where else does the cable go! No, Stalin has not given up. He thinks he can cheat death. We carried him from the mausoleum. But how remove Stalin’s heirs from Stalin! Some of his heirs tend roses in retirement, thinking in secret their enforced leisure will not last. Others, from platforms, even heap abuse on Stalin but, at night, yearn for the good old days. No wonder Stalin’s heirs seem to suffer these days from heart trouble. They, the former henchmen, hate this era of emptied prison camps and auditoriums full of people listening to poets. The Party discourages me from being smug. ‘Why care? ‘ some say, but I can’t remain inactive. While Stalin’s heirs walk this earth, Stalin, I fancy, still lurks in the mausoleum. -Yevgeny Yevtushenko
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L. C. Rees:
March 6th, 2013 at 6:12 am
Strategy as humor:
Anthony Beevor writes in The Second World War, “For Stalin, the main purpose of the Yalta conference was to force acceptance of Soviet control of central Europe and the Balkans. He was so confident of his position that he felt able to torment Churchill in a preliminary meeting, by suggesting an offensive through the Ljubljana Gap…Churchill must have been deeply irked as Stalin twisted the knife with mock sincerity.”
The triple punchline: 1) Stalin knew Churchill’s Peninsular War-flavored “indirect approaches” from the sea against Europe’s (mountain-girded) “soft underbelly” were nonsense 2) Britain couldn’t afford nonsense unless subsidized with more American boys to feed Smiling Albert 3) Churchill knew Stalin knew his strategy was silly and that, after Italy, we weren’t giving Churchill any more American troops to kill. Churchill’s odd opposition to an attack through the only gap in southern Europe large enough and with good enough transport infrastructure for large forces could be usefully deployed (the Rhone Valley), the spectacularly successful Operation Dragoon, either shows how hypocritical a strategist Churchill was or how inept. Stalin, despite being Evil Incarnate, was a strategic pro playing against amateurs.
joey:
March 6th, 2013 at 5:55 pm
Excellent post.
I have a question, do you think he was psychopathic, in the sense we understand today?
Jose Angel:
March 6th, 2013 at 6:19 pm
I think Stalin made Russia a non-viable nation/society, condemned forever to the lowest birth rates in the world but also to millions of their people leaving their country, a depopulation process that impedes their economy, stagnates the country´s future. Hitler/Stalin together crippled Russia for generations to come.
Mr. X:
March 6th, 2013 at 10:32 pm
On the subject of tyranny: to all ZenPundit .mil readers: check out #StandWithRand on Twitter and http://israndpaulstilltalking.com
That is all.
Mr. X:
March 8th, 2013 at 5:02 am
LGF thinks ZenPundit readers and everyone who looked at the essay Creepy State are stupid.
John B. Wells on Coast to Coast AM, Business Insider and other crazy tin foil hatters made up the 2 billion rounds purchases.
http://www.businessinsider.com/homeland-security-serving-warrants-mrap-2013-3
The Washington Times and other crazy right wingers made up those armed pregnant women and kids targets:
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/high-tide-and-turn/2013/feb/28/dhs-training-practice-targets-featuring-children-p/
AP reporting 1.6 billion of those rounds doesn’t matter.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/homeland-security-bullets_n_2688402.html
The 2,700 + MRAPs are all for the U.S. Marines. That YouTube video of the MRAP being showed off by a DHS guy in El Paso, Texas? Doesn’t exist. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0pS9aw5pcJo
These are not the drones you’re looking for, Sen. Paul! You’re insane! Sens. McCain and Graham said so! Stop appealing to those damn libertarian college kids and get off my shrinking GOP lawn!
Zen, I sincerely hope you’ll pull a Rand Paul and publish the Creepy State Part Deux.
Sincerely, Equis