To bring this thread back to its original purpose, MacColl admired Stalin because Stalin brought one of the most backward countries in the world screaming into the 20th Century until it rivaled America as an industrial power. (You need only look at the space race: first, Sputnik, an then the first man-and then the first woman!)He made Russia (and all the other countries in the USSR) important on the world stage. Illiterate and superstious peasants were given an education second to none. Free healthcare, good housing and secure jobs. A standard of life undreamt off by the poverty stricken masses under the Tsar. Equality in wealth distribution. A reason for Soviet citizans to be proud of their country. When history looks back on the 20th century, they are more likely to appreicate MacColl's view than most of the reactionaries writing here.