Communists look to Stalin to fight economic crisis

Things must be pretty bad in Russia these days. Deceased Soviet dictator Josef Stalin is making a comeback in a Russian city as a way to battle the world economic crisis.

If he could beat Nazi Germany, the thinking goes, then his methods should be used on the global economy.

Russian communists have put up giant billboards of Stalin in the southern city of Voronezh, which has a population of around 1 million, promoting his tough methods to best remedy the world economic crisis, according to a Reuters story.

Stalin's tough tactics included killing millions of people during his 30-year rule until his death in 1953. But memories are short: he was voted the third most popular historical figure in a nationwide poll, with many in recession-hit Russia growing nostalgic for his strong leadership.

"Everybody knows that under Stalin our country achieved the highest rate of economic growth and development in other spheres, and the great victory (over Nazi Germany," Sergei Rudakov, a senior Communist party official, told Reuters.

Local communists paid an advertising agency 80,000 rubles, or $2,534, to put Stalin's image on 10 billboards for a month.