Ah, Neruda, Ramesh. Here’s a poem by John Kerry’s favorite (a Stalin prizewinner, no less), written on the occasion of Uncle Joe’s death:

“To be men! That is the Stalinist law!

…We must learn from Stalin

his sincere intensity

his concrete clarity

…Stalin is the noon,

the maturity of man and the peoples.

Stalinists, Let us bear this title with pride.

…Stalinist workers, clerks, women

take care of this day!

The light has not vanished.

The fire has not disappeared,

There is only the growth of

Light, bread, fire and hope

In Stalin’s invincible time!

…In recent years the dove,

Peace, the wandering persecuted rose,

Found herself on his shoulders

And Stalin, the giant,

Carried at the heights of his forehead.

…A wave beats against the stones of the shore.

But Malenkov will continue his work.”