The Red Square faithful

Celebrating the 130th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Stalin, some Russians still reminisce about the glory days of communism. What lessons can we learn from Stalin's command economy and the prophesied end times? Will Russia experience a resurgence of economic power and influence?

Red Square in Moscow, Russia was visited by hundreds of elderly people carrying Soviet flags and placards bearing Stalin's image. They were, apparently, dreaming of bygone days of communism. These individuals were educated before perestroika, the reforms spearheaded by Mikhail Gorbachev which ushered in the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Perestroika lifted the ban on criticism toward Stalin's reign over communist Russia from 1924 until his death in 1953. Those faithful to Stalin see him as a creator, a thinker, and a patriot according to an NPR article dated December 21, 2009 – 130 years after Stalin's birth.

The article conveys that the people gathered in Red Square were there "to praise Stalin for transforming the country from an agrarian society into an industrial superpower." It seems they are forcibly turning a blind eye to the massive food shortages that were caused by rapid industrialization, as well as the staggering numbers of human lives lost throughout Russia and the surrounding region.

Perhaps they should consider the Holodomor, meaning death by starvation, of 1932-1933 in which millions of Ukrainian inhabitants of the rich farmland of Little Russia, due to the command economy of Stalin, wasted away and died as a direct by-product of the trade policies initiated by Stalin's Soviet government. Estimates range from 2.6 to 10 million fatalities brought about by this unprecedented Ukrainian peacetime tragedy.

President Dmitry Medvedev is quoted as saying, "I am convinced that no national development, no success, no ambitions can be achieved at the price of human suffering and death." But, will Russia come to truly believe in and apply this mantra in the years just ahead? Will the nations of this world, including Russia, satiate their desire for power and world domination or, rather, is there a time coming when mankind will repeat – yet one more horrifying time – the mistakes and atrocities of the past?

The Bible speaks of a time when a federated Europe will rise from the ashes of the Holy Roman Empire, a time when ten kings will acquiesce their power to a single super-leader (Revelation 17:12) who will rally the world through a trading combine, making many rich (Revelation 18:9-14). However, this new world order will prove to be unsustainable, as it will be a union of iron mixed with ceramic clay (Daniel 2:41). This worldwide trading combine will no doubt include Russia, among other nations, but this alliance will not last.

Russia will, yet again, seek to gain wealth, power and prestige as well as exercise ambitious motives to increase her wealth. This trading alliance will come crashing down and Russia, as well as Euro-bloc countries, will turn on the deceptive religious system guiding the European super-state's plot. The Bible speaks of the identity of the Ukrainian Russians as the ancient Medes. You can learn more about this in the May-June 2000 Tomorrow's World article titled "What's ahead for Russia?" Jeremiah 51:8-13 shows plainly the system known as Babylon, this false religious system with its roots in Rome, being attacked by the Medes, once this system comes apart at the seams.

In stark contrast between the command economy of Joseph Stalin and its resultant pain, suffering, and death is the wonderful agrarian society to be ushered in by the triumphant return of Jesus Christ to earth in the not-too-distant future. His return will bring a time of peace enveloping the world in joy, prosperity, and agricultural abundance.

To learn more about this time of blessing and restoration that will insure Holodomor never happens again, read our booklet The World Ahead: What will it be like?