The Ivanov story has other parallels in social engineering in Soviet history, in the USSR and elsewhere. It is no wonder that decent men went off to fight against and even die to save the world from Communism, why some preferred even Hitler's type of fascism to Communism (neither being any good, but only so on a comparative level).
I heard Stalin's daughter speak of how empty her father was in the last years of his life, as if he literally had nothing inside.
He was never known as particularly cruel on a personal level, usually implying to his henchmen what would be the ideal outcome. They would make it happen, all the gory details. I don't believe he asked for or relished those details.
In one case, he was quoted as saying, "We have a person and we have a problem. No person, no more problem."
The results of his rule were horrific and inexcusable. His master will judge him.
In Christ,
Andrew
