Reviled dictator - or Russia's hero?

THE moustache is similar, the nose identical. Most of all, the steady, piercing gaze is a chilling reminder of Yevgeny Dzhugashvili’s notorious ancestor.

A striking resemblance to your grandfather is not usually considered an affliction, unless, perhaps, when that grandfather was Joseph Stalin, one of the most reviled dictators in world history.

Mr Dzhugashvili, 67, is not complaining. In fact, like millions across the former Soviet Union, he idolises his relation.

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As the 50th anniversary of the death of the former leader of the USSR approaches, Stalin remains a hero in Georgia, the republic where he was born.

"He was a genius," says Mr Dzhugashvili, who is known to Georgians as "Stalin shvilishvili", or "Stalin’s son’s son". A former Red Army colonel, he has plastered his home in a tatty block of flats in Tbilisi with images of the premier.

"My grandfather did everything he could to preserve the empire that was left from the Tsarist period," he said.

Without Stalin, the Soviet empire would have imploded, he insists. "He industrialised it, strengthened it. And he left it owning a single shirt and two jackets. Compared to today’s leaders with their Swiss bank accounts he was something like Jesus Christ."

Many are inclined to agree. With corruption rife, unemployment at 25 per cent in Tbilisi and late payments on pensions of 5 a month, older Georgians in particular yearn for the stability of the Soviet era.

In Russia, a recent opinion poll found more than half of those surveyed viewed Stalin with ambivalence or as a positive force. Communist politicians, the biggest group in the Russian Duma, openly praise the former leader, claiming the mass arrests and executions under his rule have been hugely exaggerated. Western historians estimate between ten and 20 million people died as a result of Stalin’s three decades of rule. Others suggest even higher figures.

"It’s all lies," says Mr Dzhugashvili, whose father, Yakov, was Stalin’s eldest son. "Until the late 1930s, my grandfather was surrounded by Trotskyist Jews who were manipulating his every move. It was them that sent people to the Gulag, and it only stopped when he had them killed."

Finding anyone in Georgia who will dispute such claims is an uphill struggle. Gori, the small town where Stalin grew up, is a paean of praise to its most famous son. The one-room cottage where he was born Joseph Dzhugashvili in 1879 (he changed his name to Stalin or "man of steel" more than 30 years later) is protected by a colonnaded structure that resembles a temple.

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Badri Razmadze, a history professor at Gori University, says: "I teach my students that Stalin was a Marxist and a defender of the working people. He was not the cruel person that western media have made him out to be."

Stalin modernised Russia and saved mankind by crippling Nazism, Mr Razmadze argues. Did he have any faults at all? "None," the professor says.

Not everyone here, however, is warmed by memories of "Uncle Joe". Near Gori, priests gathering for a meal after blessing a block of flats talked of Stalin’s persecution of Georgian intellectuals and religious leaders. "We should not forget that he was a dictator," said Archbishop Serafim of Borjomi, whose father had a relative who died in exile in Siberia.

Someone with a more ambivalent viewpoint is Stalin’s great-grandson, Yakov, 30. A cheerful young man, he spent three years in the 1990s studying at Glasgow School of Art, calling himself Jacob and keeping his ancestry secret.

Nevertheless, he is proud of his roots. "These days, I’m comfortable with who I am. "I’m a Dzhugashvili, it’s in my blood."

Preserving the family name has become something of an obsession for Yevgeny Dzhugashvili. He has used names connected with his grandfather - whom he never met - for male descendants.

When the family gathers to commemorate the anniversary of Stalin’s death on 5 March, one of the youngest members will command the most attention.

Traditionally, children’s middle names are taken from their father. By naming his eldest son Vissarion, Yevgeny ensured his first grandson would be an exact namesake of Stalin: Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili.

"I spent nearly all my life in Russia," he said, as he bounced Joseph on his knee. "I wanted to return the name of Stalin to his homeland so it will live here forever."

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