No voice today can be final about the Stalin era. Stalin is one of those who are judged by long history, the character of whose work grows clearer as it recedes from view. What we know, at least, is that he set out in 1928 to build socialism in one country, a backward peasant land surrounded by a world of foes. When he began, Russia was peasant, illiterate; when he finished, it was the world's second industrial power. Twice over he thus built it, once before the Hitler invasion and again upon the war's ruin. That stands to his credit forever; he engineered that job.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "No voice today can be final about the Stalin era. Stalin is one of those who are judged by long history, the character of whose work grows clearer as it recedes from view. What we know, at least, is that he set out in 1928 to build socialism in one country, a backward peasant land surrounded by a world of foes. When he began, Russia was peasant, illiterate; when he finished, it was the world's second industrial power. Twice over he thus built it, once before the Hitler invasion and again upon the war's ruin. That stands to his credit forever; he engineered that job." in the context of "From The Stalin Era, ASIN B0007JWF0W (1 January 1957), p. 125" to mean that wisdom is timeless.