Stalin’s Role in Putin’s Russia

• Amber Kirste, International Relations, University of Delaware

• Holly Myers, Languages literatures and Cultures, University of Delaware

The Soviet past is a complicated and convoluted topic for any scholar, but also for the Russian people. With the politicization of Russian history, it is hard to determine what precedents have been set for modern-day Russia and what policies draw from the past, are drawn from historical inventions, or are modern-day inventions. In this thesis, I argue that though there are continuities and changes between the post-war Stalin era, the current president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, has used Stalin’s image to continue his policies. This use of Stalin is not meant to reinstitute Stalinism entirely but instead to place Putin as the direct successor to Stalin.