A new poll shows that respect among Russians for Soviet dictator Josef Stalin’s 31-year rule has reached the highest level in almost two decades.
Seventy percent of Russians believe that Stalin’s rule was good for the country, according to a poll by the Levada Center. Of the 1,638 people surveyed, 51% view the Communist leader positively, a big jump from the past year when 40% said the same.
The amount of people who view him with admiration, respect, or sympathy is at its highest level since the Levada Center began asking people the question back in 2001.
Further, 46% of those surveyed said that the violence Stalin used against his own people was either “definitely” or “to some extend” justified. That number is up from 37% last year.
Stalin killed millions of people during his reign, including hundreds of thousands during the “Great Purge” from 1936 to 1938. Many of Stalin’s political adversaries were imprisoned and executed. Hundreds of thousands were also killed in Gulags, Soviet concentration camps.
Stalin ruled the country from 1924 until his death in 1953.
