Account: On the Conversion of Stalin's Daughter to the Catholic Faith

[mdgspencer]

see www.catholicherald.co.uk/comentandblogs/2012/02/17/stalin-the-catholic/

 

[houston1]

see www.catholicherald.co.uk/comentandblogs/2012/02/17/stalin-the-catholic/

Thanks for sharing. The article was interesting.

houston1

 

[Latias]

I am glad Ms. Dzhugashvili found solace and fulfillment in the Catholic Church. I felt like I lost that just two years after my Confirmation.

This description reminded me of another article, from the pages of a Communist publication, “Revolutionary Democracy”, which was given to me on the 45th anniversary of his death by an Indian friend and fervent admirer of Stalin, whom I had known from my Cambridge (where else?) student days. After reading this account I felt astonished that anyone, most especially my gentle, scholarly and humane friend, could possibly admire a man, whose associates – more accurate, for Stalin, than the word ‘friends’ – and personal doctors were so petrified of him, so paralysed with fear, that none of them dared to help him during the three days he lay helpless and semi-conscious after his stroke.

I too am an unashamed admire of Stalin, and I bear his banner with honor and with great pride. I cannot possibly see him a negative light, especially when he industrialized the Soviet Union, collectivized agriculture, instituted socialism, defeated the fascist incursion, and built a nuclear weapon. There was indeed grievous suffering, huge mistakes, and discouraging setbacks before the Soviet Union was able to experience the joy of triumph that occurred after the Battle of Kursk, Operation Bagration, the Battle of Berlin, and the Red Army Victory Parade. Stalin has primarily been a victim of Western propaganda that exaggerates the deaths in the Soviet Union by an order of a magnitude and inculpates him in the most callous deeds such as ascribe the deaths to famine in the Soviet Union to his malevolent machinations. Moreover, the Yagoda and Yezhov (not Stalin) were primarily responsible for the Great Purge in 1936-1938 since they were involved in a conspiracy to sow discontent among the Russians by executing innocent people by convincing Stalin that the counterrevolutionary problem was much larger than it was; it was when Beria took over as the head of the NKVD that the number of the executions dropped drastically.

I also saw him as courageous since he was not afraid to use the might of the Soviet State to suppress the enemies of socialism, especially when World War II was imminent. Stalin truly was a great revolutionary who fought for the liberation of the Soviet people and those who were oppressed by colonialism.​

I started to cleave to this more closely and embraced political positions that staunchly held before I converted when I began felt isolated when I was unable to find some fellow Catholics that are able to sympathize with my perspective or shame similar to values that I had and it seemed that the Church repudiated everything that I stood for. Most of the Catholics I know are primarily concerned with abortion and gay marriage. I, moreover, was left with the impression that I could never truly be contrite and repentant.

I suppose the Indian man was just a person who was disillusioned by capitalism and imperialism, and saw many redeeming aspects of the socialist states. If one sees the Soviet Union as a counterbalance to Western capitalism and imperialism, then one has to respect and admire the architect of the Soviet State - Joseph Stalin.