Editing Joseph Stalin (section)

===In the Soviet Union and post-Soviet states===
{{See also|Neo-Stalinism|Nostalgia for the Soviet Union}}
[[File:RIAN archive 535278 Laying flowers and wreaths to Iosif Stalin's grave at Kremlin wall.jpg|thumb|Marxist–Leninist activists from the [[Communist Party of the Russian Federation]] laying wreaths at Stalin's Moscow grave in 2009]]
Shortly after his death, the Soviet Union went through a period of [[de-Stalinisation]]. Malenkov denounced the Stalin personality cult,{{Sfn|Conquest|1991|p=314}} and the cult was subsequently criticised in ''Pravda''.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=592}} In 1956, Khrushchev gave his "Secret Speech", titled "[[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences]]", to a closed session of the [[20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Party's 20th Congress]]. There, [[Khrushchev Thaw|Khrushchev denounced Stalin]] for both his mass repression and his personality cult.{{Sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=314|2a1=Volkogonov|2y=1991|2pp=577–579|3a1=Service|3y=2004|3p=594}} He repeated these denunciations at the [[22nd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|22nd Party Congress]] in October 1962.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=594}} In October 1961, Stalin's body was removed from the mausoleum and buried in the [[Kremlin Wall Necropolis]], the location marked by a bust.{{Sfnm|1a1=Volkogonov|1y=1991|1p=576|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=594}} Stalingrad was renamed Volgograd that year.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=595}}

Khrushchev's de-Stalinisation process ended when he was replaced as leader by [[Leonid Brezhnev]] in 1964; the latter introduced a level of re-Stalinisation within the Soviet Union.{{Sfnm|1a1=Conquest|1y=1991|1p=315|2a1=Service|2y=2004|2p=595}} In 1969 and again in 1979, plans were proposed for a full rehabilitation of Stalin's legacy but on both occasions were halted due to fears of damaging the USSR's public image.{{Sfn|Conquest|1991|p=315}} [[Mikhail Gorbachev]] saw the total denunciation of Stalin as necessary for the regeneration of Soviet society.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=596}}

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, [[Boris Yeltsin]] continued Gorbachev's denunciation of Stalin but added to it a denunciation of Lenin.{{Sfn|Service|2004|p=596}} His successor [[Vladimir Putin]] did not seek to rehabilitate Stalin but emphasised the celebration of Soviet achievements under Stalin's leadership rather than the Stalinist repressions.{{Sfn|Service|2004|pp=596–597}} In October 2017, Putin opened the [[Wall of Grief]] memorial in Moscow.{{Sfn|BBC, 5 June 2018}} In recent years, the government and general public of Russia has been accused of rehabilitating Stalin.{{Sfnm|1a1=Nemtsova, 17 May 2021|2a1=Lentine, 25 June 2022}}

Admiration for Stalin has remained consistently widespread in [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], although Georgian attitudes have been very divided.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=597}} A number of Georgians resent criticism of Stalin, the most famous figure from their nation's modern history.{{sfn|Service|2004|p=7}}