92. Today, reflecting on two dictators
His full name was Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, later known as Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin.
The leader who governed the Soviet Union from 1924 to 1953.
He initially began positively, recognizing the need for collective leadership. However, he quickly centralized power and, within six years, transformed into a dictator by the 1930s.
The man gradually established the party's official interpretation of Marxism as Marxism–Leninism, which became known as Stalinism.
When the bulletin “The heart of the comrade-in-arms and continuer of the genius of Lenin's cause, of the wise leader and teacher of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union, has ceased to beat due to cerebral hemorrhage” was released, it was devastating news.
People mourned, viewing it as a loss for the nation.
His body was temporarily displayed in the Hall of Columns, drawing thousands who lined up in the snow to pay their respects.
The crowd was so dense and chaotic that some individuals were trampled, pushed against traffic lights, or suffocated. It is estimated that 500 people died while trying to see Stalin's body.
The body was embalmed and later placed beside Vladimir Lenin's. The mausoleum attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors.
A man who caused the deaths of millions of his own people through famine and purges received unwarranted glory because the Iron Curtain limited public awareness of his deeds.
It was no secret that Stalin had been the authoritarian ruler and dictator of the Soviet Union for nearly 30 years; however, this is a common pattern among dictators. People often only realize the extent of their actions once severe harm has been inflicted.
The man who led the country to victory in World War II was suddenly viewed as a less-than-likable figure. So much so that in 1961, only eight years after his death, the Soviet government chose to relocate his remains from the tomb.
However, soon after Stalin's death, people began to acknowledge that he was responsible for the deaths of millions of their countrymen.
Nikita Khrushchev, who became the first secretary of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union's premier, led a movement against the false memory of Stalin through his policy called “de-Stalinization.”
Only three years after Stalin's death in February 1956, Khrushchev gave a speech at the 20th Communist Party Congress exposing the falsehood of Stalin's greatness and revealing numerous Stalin's atrocities, but he took no additional steps.
In 1961, justice was finally served to the dictator when, during the 22nd Party Congress in October, a dedicated party official, Dora Abramovna Lazurkina, declared:
“Comrades, I could only survive the hardest moments because I kept Lenin in my heart and always asked him for guidance. Yesterday I asked him again. He appeared before me as if he were alive, and he said: "It is unpleasant to be next to Stalin, who did so much harm to the party.”
Khrushchev understood the moment had arrived and directed that Stalin's body be removed. The body was discreetly taken from the mausoleum without any ceremonies or fanfare and buried roughly 300 feet away from the mausoleum, near the Kremlin wall, concealed by trees.
Stalin's name was also removed from public buildings and streets, and Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd.
The date was October 31, 1961.
Now comes a democratically elected dictator.
Her full name was Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi Nehru.
She inherited the country from her father, both virtually and in reality, after a brief gap following his death.
Ruling the country with an iron fist – the only woman in her cabinet – for 15 long years, she ensured, through her license-raj policies and dictatorial methods, supported by enough sycophants, that even the newly independent nation couldn’t realize its full strength and potential.
People existed within a pretend democracy, even with defiant expressions.
To cling to her chair and assert her dominance, she went so far as to create demons of various shapes and sizes in different states.
She even turned the country into a prison for 19 months, resulting in thousands of people being killed, hundreds widowed, and entire generations' dreams crushed.
However, history suggests that demons have historically consumed their creators.
And she was shot and killed by three Sikh members of her bodyguard as she was walking in the garden of her New Delhi residence.
The date was October 31, 1984.