The Return of the Little Father

BBC World, one of my favourite news and information channels, has been expressing surprise, even dismay and disapproval, at the perception that Russians feel nostalgia for Stalin, who is generally considered one of the most murderous and sinister leaders of the Twentieth Century.
I can understand the dismay and disapproval – albeit only up to a point – but I cannot understand the surprise.
I was in the former Soviet Union (Uzbekistan) in the early nineties, and I was then amazed at the nostalgia openly expressed by the large Russian minority – but also by a number of Uzbeks – for the times when the Soviet Union was a powerful member of the International Community and, above all, instrumental (in their view an indispensable contribution) to the defeat of Nazi Germany.
I am also old enough to remember the scenes of mass grief – almost hysteria – which marked Stalin’s funeral, and it is certain that no Soviet or Russian leader ever achieved - in Russian eyes – his stature until, that is, the present day, when Vladimir Putin seems to be a Twenty-first Century heir to the “Little Father”, the “Man of Steel”.
Disconcerting though it may seem to Westerners, it makes sense from the Russian point of view, and could well colour future Russian attitudes and actions.