#20 - JRL 8360 - JRL Home
Subject: Putin and Beslan
Date: Fri, 10 Sep 2004
From: "Marc Jansen " <M.C.Jansen@uva.nl>

There is an analogy, that might be of interest to your readers, between Putin's words on September 4, after the Beslan tragedy, and Stalin's words during the collectivization campaign around 1930. I have Putin's words only in the English translation. This is what he said: "We showed weakness, and the weak are trampled upon."

And this is what Stalin said on February 4, 1931: "To reduce the tempos means to fall behind. And those who fall behind are beaten." ( The translation is from the book by Erik van Ree, The Political Thought of Joseph Stalin, London 2002, pp. 103-104.)

The quotations are very similar, and in the Russian original might be even more similar. In fact, in the same speech Stalin uses the word "weak" as a synonym for having fallen behind.

I don't want to say that Putin is a Stalinist. But it is quite possible that he had Stalin's words in mind when he gave his reaction on the Beslan tragedy. As a matter of fact, he originates from the KGB, and Stalin's quoted words are winged in those circles.

Marc Jansen
East European Studies
University of Amsterdam, Netherlands