In the Anglophone West, some may have been disillusioned by the electoral defeat of figures like Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn, and concluded that democratic socialism is too “weak” for the tasks at hand, turning to more authoritarian strains instead. Stalinists long for a “strong” left that wins at any cost-one that isn’t afraid to fight dirty, or to use harsh and autocratic methods against its enemies. We can find the key word in Bair’s comments: strength. So how, we might ask, do otherwise intelligent people find themselves drawn to Stalinism, then and now? What is the appeal? By themselves, these figures are fairly marginal, but the politics Stalin represents-admiration for dictators, disdain for democracy and debate, and a fast-and-loose approach to human rights and the historical record-are far more widespread. Even the Slovenian (quasi)Marxist Slavoj Žižek has dabbled in Stalin apologia, notoriously declaring “better the worst of Stalinism than the best of the liberal-capitalist welfare state” in his book Trouble in Paradise. Asatar Bair, who recently annoyed Fox News by calling Stalin “one of the great leaders of the 20th century” who had “the strength to make tough decisions that have no easy answers.” At Montclair State University, Grover Furr has written more than a dozen books defending Stalin from various criticisms, and in Europe, historians Ludo Martens and Domenico Losurdo have each written one ( Another View of Stalin and Stalin: The History and Critique of a Black Legend, respectively). Among them are tenured academics like Dr. Others, though, are quite serious about their Stalinism, and see the USSR of the 1930s and ’40s as something to admire and imitate today. Some are just online trolls and contrarians who use Stalin’s image for shock value in absurd memes-Stalin turning SpongeBob’s ‘Goo Lagoon’ into a ‘Goo Lag,’ and so on. Spend enough time on the socialist left, and you’ll eventually encounter this vocal minority of latter-day Stalinists.

Strangely, though, he still has living supporters. Ioseb Besarionis dze Dzhugashvili, better known to the world as Josef Stalin, has been dead for almost 70 years now.

Another view of stalin by ludo martens