In Europe

difference with his rival Trotsky, who continued to advocate the old Marxist idea of a ‘worldwide’ and ‘permanent’ revolution.
    Hitler had his Wagnerian heroes; Stalin, too, had his role models. But those models were ‘heroes of the new humanity’, men and women who posited human force against the forces of nature in a ‘great and tragic struggle’. Their task was no longer to analyse and understand the world, as Marx and his followers did. No, in this new phase the world was to be conquered, overwhelmed and created anew. Even the concentration camps played a role in this: it was no coincidence that the camp newspaper of the slave labourers on the White Sea-Baltic Sea canal was called
Perekovka
, the ‘Reforging’.
    At the same time, deep in his heart, Stalin was an anti-idealist. He was referred to as the Benevolent Friend of All Children, the Wise Helmsman, the Eagle of the Mountains, the Greatest Genius of All Time, the Titan of the World Revolution and the Most Profound Theoretician of the ModernAge, but in fact he was simply Josef Dzhugashvili, the son of a penniless Georgian cobbler. He had been raised with a deep mistrust of people in general, and he rid himself of his last illusions after the death of his wife in 1907. After the suicide – betrayal! – of his second wife in 1932, his cynicism soured into pure misanthropy.
    Everything he did or did not do was ruled by an iron logic: once you had said A, then B and C had to follow, regardless of the human cost. When his eldest son, Yakov, was captured by the Germans, he did nothing to save him. In the end, Yakov committed suicide in the concentration camp at Sachsenhausen. Stalin could not imagine others living outside these norms. According to his world view, every deviation was a source of suspicion, every ally a potential rival, every comrade a potential traitor. That, after all, was how he himself operated. He had an unusually acute feeling for the weak spots of his co-workers and opponents; he could, as people say, ‘open the windows to the soul’, but this ability gradually became more and more clouded by his own paranoia. He saw ‘spies’, ‘enemies’ and ‘counterspies’ everywhere. At the end of his life, in 1951, Khrushchev even heard him say: ‘I am finished. I don't trust anyone any more, not even myself.’
    Stalin was also a chameleon who could fade into his surroundings, which was how he seized power after Lenin's death. The chronicler of the revolution, Nikolai Suchanov, described him in 1917 as a ‘grey spot that became visible now and then, but never left a single trace’. The brilliant and arrogant Trotsky called Stalin an ‘excellent bit of mediocrity’ and barely took him into account. That proved to be a fatal mistake.
    Trotsky was an extraordinary speaker and organiser, a popular army leader and a successful revolutionary. He was one of the five members of the original Politburo, and was widely seen in 1920 as Lenin's natural successor. But he rarely or never attended a party meeting. During the same period, Stalin worked his way up through the nebulous party apparatus until he achieved a central position of power. Internally, he was anything but a marginal figure. Soon after the 1905 revolution he became one of Lenin's most important advisers, particularly on issues concerning national minorities. In 1917, during the events at Petrograd, Stalin played a central, behind-the-scenes role in almost all major discussions anddecisions. And it was he who soon supervised the course of daily affairs within the Politburo; he was able to appoint allies to top positions and dismiss opponents, thereby further broadening his power base within the bureaucracy.
    After the civil war ended in 1921, Trotsky's popularity began to wane and two thirds of ‘his’ Red Army was sent home. On 3 April, 1922, at Lenin's recommendation, the plenary meeting of the central committee elected Stalin general secretary of the party. Now he was holding all the cards.
    One month later Lenin had the first of a series of strokes. He was forced to withdraw almost entirely from active politics, but at the same time grew ever more concerned about the behaviour of the new general secretary. During Lenin's absence, Stalin formed a troika with Grigori Zinoviev in Petrograd and Lev Kamenev in Moscow. Increasingly, decisions were made without the sick leader being consulted.
    In late 1922, Lenin dictated his political will and testament. It was a bitter