An account of how Stalinism was dismantled in the Soviet Union, published more than seven decades after the tyrant’s death, should be one of those books you pick up to discover, or rediscover, the past. But 26 years into Russian President Vladimir Putin’s rule, the University of Cambridge historian Mark B. Smith’s "Exit Stalin: The Soviet Union as a Civilization, 1953–1991" reads more like a manual — a means of decoding Russia’s recent past and perhaps even getting a glimpse of its future trajectory.

Smith’s history is not the first to meet this fate. When I began writing a new biography of my great-grandfather, Nikita Khrushchev — the Soviet premier who initiated de-Stalinization in 1956 — in 2000, it was already more than a history book, because criticism of Khrushchev’s actions (which many called a betrayal) were running rampant in Russia. By the time the book was published in Russia in 2024, its relevance was inescapable.

This was, after all, nearly two decades after Putin began his slow rehabilitation of Stalin’s image, telegraphing his plans to unravel whatever messy progress Russia had made toward democratization. And it was just two years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which ushered in not only a protracted war against Ukraine’s people and infrastructure, but also a sharp crackdown on dissent within Russia.

Russians today can face punishment for all manner of mundane, seemingly nonpolitical acts. An unruly garden, for example, can get one’s land confiscated. Cleaning carpets in a courtyard, transferring plants in one’s car or allowing noise or odor to emanate from one’s flat can lead to hefty fines.

There is little distance between such arbitrary rules and Kremlin paranoia. The head of the Kremlin’s unironically named Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights has warned against the use of smart speakers, which can be used to spy on their owners. He also recommended, with total sincerity, using brooms or mops for household cleaning, because vacuum cleaners apparently can also facilitate surveillance.

This paranoia is codified in the Kremlin’s ever-expanding list of prohibitions, which includes internet phone calls (like those made using WhatsApp and similar messaging services), a growing number of websites, public gatherings that might even remotely resemble protests and the use of foreign words (such as on business signage).

Tightening restrictions on abortion are particularly reminiscent of Stalin, who outlawed it. But perhaps Stalinism’s loudest echo is contained in the “foreign agent” label, which has become almost the equivalent of the Soviet-era designation “enemy of the people” — a term Khrushchev banned as part of his de-Stalinization effort.

When the foreign-agent law was enacted in 2012, it was applied to individuals or organizations that receive international funding. Now, it is being used increasingly broadly, with thousands of people, including longtime Kremlin........

© The Japan Times