For 30 years Joseph Stalin “the man of steel” ruthlessly dominated the Soviet Union. Born into poverty on the fringes of the Czarist Russian Empire, he became a gangster and then a revolutionary. His quest for absolute power transformed his nation, but at a brutal cost. His tools for advancement were famine, slavery and execution: so many millions died to secure his power that he can be accused of genocide. He made himself into a communist God, and condemned his people to live in fear for decades.
