The Communists of Krasnoyarsk pursuaded the municipal administration to raise a Stalin monument – this was reported by the news agency “Interfax”. The decision was made by the advisory commission of the municipal administration as a reaction to a proposal of an initiative group of the Communist party, which had already been brought in more than half a year ago.
In earlier times the monument stood in Markovskiy Place; it was later pulled down. They are now going to erect a monument in the center of the town again – on the Place of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
“The decision was based, among others, on the opinion that Stalin was a remarkable personality in the history of Russia”, said the head of the town administration.
In the meantime, on the 21st of April, the Krasnoyarsk “Memorial” organization filed a petition with Petr Pimashkov, the mayor of Krasnoyarsk, urging him not to allow the re-erection of the Stalin monument. “The monument will become a source of permanent political tensions”. The “Memorial” organization expressly pointedout that “we will never ever accept the raising and the existence of such a monument in our town”.
We recall theat a dispute came off in Volgograd not long ago about the erection of a monument to the honout of J. Stalin, who was the head of the Sovietunion from 1923 to 1953. We must not pass over in silence the fact that the composition of sculptures by Zurab Tseretel included, besides Stalin, the figures of Winston Churchill and Theodore Roosevelt, the heads of Great Britain and the USA – the partners of the Sovietunion during the anti-Hitler Coalition.
The desire not to see Stalin on a pedestal was justified by the fact that he was one of the cruellest despots of the 20nd century, who caused a lot of harm and misfortune to the peoplesof his country. In the end, the erection of a monument in Volgograd was stopped, because the local budget did not dispose of the necessary financial means.
Already in earlier times they had intend to place Tseretel’s sculptures on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow, later in Yalta. In both cases they had to refrain from the idea of realizing this project, due to persistent protests of the public.