EVGENY LEBEDEV: As a child of the USSR, I fear these pictures of Stalin show where Britain is heading...
There is a photograph taken in 1937 which shows Stalin walking along the Moscow canal with three lieutenants.
Yet in a version issued 12 months later, only two can be seen. The missing man is Nikolai Yezhov, a Soviet commissar who, executed in a purge, had vanished not just from office, but from the photo, too. Plucked from history by Stalin.
I left the USSR and came to Britain in 1988. When I did so, I left a country of censorship, conformism and authoritarianism for a free-thinking land of rules and democratic debate.
Now I fear this nation heading in the same direction as the one I left. The comparisons are clearly visible: a zealous revolutionary spirit, an egalitarian ideology and the desire to rewrite national myths.
After the November revolution, the Soviet Union set about erasing Tsarist history. Statues were toppled, books were burnt and the Romanovs themselves executed in 1918. Under Stalin, the new Soviet Tsar, newspapers were muzzled and critical voices were silenced.
A photograph taken in 1937 which shows Stalin walking along the Moscow canal with three lieutenants, but was later doctored to edit out Nikolai Yezhov (seen on the right)
This image shows how the photo looked when later edited: Nikolai Yezhov, a Soviet commissar who, executed in a purge, had vanished not just from office, but from the photo, plucked from history by Stalin.
For ideologues, the ends justify the means – and history and culture are the most powerful tools of all. After Stalin’s death, his legacy was whitewashed and the regime attempted to erase much of his rule from the records.
For decades, we never knew the true extent of the gulags and the executions. In the 1991 revolution, history repeated itself. Statues were pulled down and places renamed.
The apartment block in which I grew up on Romanov Lane was targeted by protesters. The plaques immortalising its famous Soviet residents were vandalised with swastikas overnight.
Millions are not dying in labour camps or civil war in modern Britain, yet worrying echoes of the censorship and groupthink abound. And I’m sorry to say that Black Lives Matter, a laudable movement for racial equality, risks abolishing freedom of thought and democratic debate in a land that has traditionally been its defender.
Statues are pulled down and plaques are graffitied by people who will not rest until our public spaces are free of any reference to our complex history. Yesterday, we all saw the tragedy this has led to – the boarded-up statue of Sir Winston Churchill in Parliament Square and far-Right thugs patrolling the area spoiling for a fight.
People stand next to the boarded up Churchill statue at Parliament Square in London on Saturday, will calls now increasing for the possible removal of the monument
In the eyes of Black Lives Matter protesters, Sir Robert Peel and William Gladstone are no longer reforming liberal premiers, but villains through association with their slave-owning family.
Our history is being rewritten before our eyes. Free individuals are forced to submit to the revolution. The pressure on individuals, organisations and brands to declare their support for a movement that aims to undermine British culture and history has been immense.
The removal of potentially offensive episodes of the comedies like Fawlty Towers and Little Britain from streaming platforms also demonstrates the one eternal truth of revolutions – zealots lack a sense of humour.
Lack of historical memory in modern Russia is serving to rehabilitate Stalin as a popular and strong leader, while the contributions of British military and civilian leaders are being distorted or overlooked.
Today’s heroes will be tomorrow’s villains. To admit the flaws in our public figures should not cover up the immense contributions people like Churchill and Gladstone have made and I have seen for myself the perils of whitewashing history.
I fear that in the breakneck pursuit of equality and justice, some of what made Britain truly great will be lost. Let the people go uncensored, let the children see the complex reality of our history and let the monuments to the memory of those who came before us stay up.
As a child of the Soviet Union I can tell you: the liberties you take for granted should be protected.
Save Sir Winston! Sign the Mail petition urging Boris Johnson to publicly promise that Churchill's statue will NEVER be torn downBy Michael Powell and James Heale and Mark Nikol for the Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday today calls on our readers to help block any attempt to remove the statue of Sir Winston Churchill from outside the Houses of Parliament.
Our petition urges Boris Johnson to make a public pledge that the monument to Britain's celebrated wartime leader will never be moved after it was attacked by anti-fascist and Black Lives Matter protesters last weekend.
Churchill's granddaughter alarmed war veterans, MPs and historians yesterday by suggesting the iconic sculpture may be safer in a museum.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan had the statue in Parliament Square boarded up with large metal sheets on Friday amid fears it would be targeted by protesters – a move Mr Johnson branded as 'absurd and shameful'.
Please enter your details here to sign the letter below
Activists daubed the words 'was a racist' under Churchill's name on the statue during angry anti-racism protests last weekend.
His granddaughter Emma Soames told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that she felt 'extraordinarily sad that my grandfather, who was such a unifying figure in this country, appears to have become a sort of icon through being controversial'.
She said if people were 'so infuriated' by seeing the statue, it may be 'safer' in a museum.
But Churchill's grandson Nicholas Soames swiftly condemned any attempt to move it from the spot the former PM had chosen before he died in 1965.
'I will have nothing of taking statues down and putting them in museums,' he said.
People stand near the boarded up Churchill statue at Parliament Square in London yesterday
Sir Nicholas told protesters to 'read your history and grow up', and said it was 'rubbish' and a 'lunatic representation' to call his grandfather racist. He told LBC: 'All his life he fought fascism.'
Churchill, who was Prime Minister twice, is considered a national hero and often leads polls on who was the greatest-ever Briton. His picture was chosen to appear on the new polymer £5 notes.
However, critics say his legacy is tarnished by controversial remarks he made about different races and his role in the Bengal famine in 1943 after Allied forces halted food supplies, leading to an estimated 3 million deaths.
Mr Johnson, who wrote a biography of Churchill in 2014, acknowledged the former PM had expressed opinions which were 'unacceptable to us today', but he remained a hero for saving Britain from 'fascist and racist tyranny'. However, Mr Johnson was coming under increasing pressure last night to promise that the statue was going nowhere, amid a chorus of support for our petition.
A worker cleans graffiti from the plinth of Churchill statue at Parliament Square on Monday
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: 'Churchill is the greatest Briton without any question who has saved this country and the whole free world from the terrible tyranny of Nazi Germany. I want the Prime Minister and those in authority to make it clear the statue will never be removed from its plinth.'
Last night, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer also backed our campaign, saying: 'Winston Churchill's statue in Parliament Square stands as a tribute to his leadership and the Allied victory in the Second World War. It should not be moved.'
Colonel Richard Kemp, former British Army commander in Afghanistan, said: 'Even to consider relocating the statue of Churchill is shameful. He was responsible for saving this country from the tyranny of Nazism – perhaps the most racist regime in history. Accusations of racism made against him are largely based on deliberate misrepresentations of history.'
A protective covering surrounds the Winston Churchill statue at Parliament Square on Friday
Former Chancellor Lord Lamont admitted that some of Churchill's views belonged in the past but 'he was a great man who saved this country from an evil regime. He has been an inspiration through the ages and remains so.'
Rear Admiral Chris Parry, a former Royal Navy commander, added: 'Churchill should stay put. You have to look at his overall contribution. People calling for him to be moved are clueless as to the nuances of history.
'Statues stimulate debate – you don't have to agree with everything that figure did or said.'
Rusty Firmin, an SAS hero who took part in the Iranian Embassy siege in 1980, said: 'Many of these people calling for the statue to be removed wouldn't have been here today if the Nazi war machine had defeated us and our allies. So surely Winston Churchill defended all races? That statue could have easily been Adolf Hitler.'
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is pictured at 10 Downing Street in London on Wednesday
Author Shrabani Basu, who has written books about the British Empire, said there were 'two sides of Churchill', and 'we need to know his darkest hour as well as his finest hour'. But Ms Basu said she did not want to see the statue removed from Parliament Square.
Tory MP Matt Vickers was one of several parliamentarians who arrived to clean the graffiti off Churchill's statue last Monday. He said: 'Winston Churchill is one of Britain's greatest figures and it is shameful that his statue was boarded up. We cannot allow rule by the mob to destroy the hard-won freedoms and rights he secured for us.'
Andrew Roberts, historian and author of Churchill: Walking With Destiny, said: 'As well as being a Tory PM, Churchill was a Liberal for 20 years and a founder of the welfare state, so The Mail on Sunday's excellent campaign is something that all Britons should be able get behind, regardless of politics.'
No comments: