Stalin's place in history

Now, in 2010, there is no more promoted by mass-media and controversial politician than Stalin. There is no modern leader who would gather as many advocates and critics as Stalin. There is no other person in the Russian Federation who would gather many thousand meetings and disputes in TV-channel studios, or to whose activity so many books and articles would be dedicated. There is an obvious example: the most expensive Russian film ever “Burnt by the Sun 2” by Nikita Mikhalkov also depicts Stalin as one of the main characters.

why is this person still a subject for active political disputes? Alexander Sotnichenko from "East-West Review" sees the answer in the following: for the last 20 years modern Russia failed to determine the way of further development. Having appeared on the ruins of the Soviet empire, the Russian Federation has failed to form its attitude towards predecessors, faced a too serious choice, and still does not have enough resoluteness to determine historical priorities fairly. No doubt, Stalin is the most prominent Russian leader during the most decisive period of Russian history in the 20th century. This period includes such crucial events as the industrialization, the Great Patriotic War, and turning of the USSR into the superpower. Stalin became a symbol of the Soviet Union as a geopolitical project; and attitude towards Stalin directly depends on the attitude towards the historical period of 1917-1991...
http://www.eastwest-review.com/article/stalin-searching-place-history-dedicated-65th-anniversary-victory-over-nazism