I apologize if my previous post did not seem relevant to the topic at hand, but frankly I think it is. No Stalin, no Hitler? is the question. It is still relevant to this day. Are we about to see emerge from the current economic and political chaos that is the Russian Federation a new Stalin or a new Hitler? I would respond yes, quite possibly. It is a very real threat. Furthermore, I would argue that in Russia's current political climate, the new leader who could emerge could be both a new Stalin and a new Hitler, that is, he could very well be a Russian nationalist who embodied some of the worst traits of both the Nazi and the Communist parties.
It's no secret that Russian left-wing and right-wing extremists have found common ground for political rabble-rousing in recent years. One of their chief points in common is Russian nationalism (it could also be called Russian chauvinism), combined with the glorification of Stalin as a great leader of Russia, perhaps Russia's greatest leader ever.
But this is no surprise. Communism and Nazism have always shared many deplorable tenets and practices, even aside from mass murder. As Victor Klemperer wrote in his famous diary in December 1933, "I have again and again emphasized that in the end I equate National Socialism and Communism: both are materialistic and tyrannical, both disregard and negate the freedom of the spirit and of the individual" (I Will Bear Witness, 1933-1941: A Diary of the Nazi Years, New York: Modern Library, 1999, p. 45).
Our great misfortune as human beings is that the legacies of Communism and Nazism live on to this day.