Nizhny Novgorod Communists open a Stalin Centre

On 8 May, members of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) will lay the foundation of Stalin Centre, which according to the founders will be the largest in Russia. CPRF’s local branch announced that the centre is set to function as a museum of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Centres honouring Stalin, who is responsible for the unlawful imprisonment and murder of millions of people, are going to be established all across Russia.

According to the party gazette, the construction of the Stalin Centre is part of the development plans of the town of Bor. In 2020, the oblast’s first Stalin memorial was opened in Bor.

As stated by CPRF’s Nizhny Novgorod oblast department secretary Vladislav Yegorov, Stalin symbolises “victory, friendship of fraternal nations, the power and greatness of the state, which enabled world peace and prevented the outbreak of World War III.”

The initiative was supported by party leader Gennady Zyuganov.

According to Yegorov, the establishment of the Stalin Centre in Nizhny Novgorod oblast is the first step in opening similar museums all over Russia. “It gives a strong impulse for the patriotic upbringing of the younger generation, and for the fight against the distortion and rewriting of history,” the leader of the local Communist party said.

A time capsule will be placed in the foundation of the building, marking the passing of 100 years since Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany.

Expositions dedicated to Stalin have already been opened in Moscow, Volgograd, Vladivostok, and other Russian cities.

During the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union that took place from 14 to 25 February 1956, the new leader of Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev, partially exposed Stalin's cult of personality, and indirectly condemned some of his political choices.

In its verdict no. 979-1 of 24 December 1989, the Congress of People's Deputies of the Soviet Union condemned the secret protocols of the Hitler-Stalin pact and declared them void from the moment of their signing onward.

Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) was a dictator of the USSR. His radical and inhumane policies resulted in ideologically motivated mass repressions, in which millions of innocent people lost their health or lives. Joseph Stalin signed the secret Hitler-Stalin treaty (also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) with Adolf Hitler on 23 August 1939. As a result, the USSR occupied the Baltic states in 1940 and attacked Finland, Poland, and Romania, occupying the territories of these states. The secret treaty enabled Germany to occupy Western parts of Poland and gain freedom of action in Western Europe.