A ban on Stalin would set a very dangerous precedent

I was born in 1944, some 18 months after the battle of Stalingrad where the Red Army under Stalin's leadership had started the push back the greatest evil that this world has ever endured - fascism.

At the time my father was a communist shop steward working in Newport docks and my uncle, who was also a communist, was fighting on the western front in June 1944.

My family and indeed the whole of the world owe a tremendous debt to the Russian people and their great leaders.

There is a lot more also about Stalin and the period of his rule than the rabid anti-communist views of Simon Sebag Montefiore, Robert Conquest and Antony Beevor.

The most serious and disturbing feature of John Green's letter was his support for a ban on adverts that promotes Stalin and his views.

If our paper supported this ban then it would be on a very slippery slope.

Could a ban also lead to the airbrushing out of references in books being reviewed with favourable references to Stalin?

Once a precedence has been set on bans, what about other alleged political culprits. Trotsky for example?

I am not sure that John has thought his proposals through and I am sure, with the fullness of time and debate, he will recognise the error attached to his proposal.

Bryn Waters

Usk