Word: stalinization
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...would meet either in his study at the Kremlin or, more often, in the Kremlin movie theater. Stalin used to select the movies himself. He liked cowboy movies especially. He used to curse them and give them the proper ideological evaluation, but then immediately order new ones...
...When a movie ended, Stalin would suggest, 'Well, let's go get something to eat, why don't we?' By now it was usually one or two o'clock in the morning. It was time to go to bed, and the next day we had to go to work. But everyone would say, yes, he was hungry too. Our caravan [to Stalin's dacha] used to make detours into side streets. Apparently Stalin had a street plan of Moscow and worked out a different route every time. He didn't even tell...
...Trust. To prepare for these dinners, Khrushchev made it a point to take a nap during the day; anyone who grew drowsy at Stalin's table was not likely to remain in the dictator's favor for long, Khrushchev explains. Moreover, Stalin's soirees included a good deal of heavy drinking: Khrushchev recalls that Beria, Georgi Malenkov and Anastas Mikoyan once had to arrange to be served colored water rather than wine because they could not match Stalin's capacity. Stalin, says Khrushchev, "found the humiliation of others very amusing. Once Stalin made me dance...
Each year, says Khrushchev, it became more evident that Stalin was a failing man. Once, while vacationing in Afon on the Black Sea, the dictator strolled past Khrushchev and Mikoyan, muttering, "I'm finished. I trust no one, not even myself." On another occasion, he forgot Bulganin's name. At his last New Year's celebration, a drunken Stalin ordered his daughter Svetlana to dance in front of the guests. "Stalin grabbed her by the forelock with his fist and pulled. I could see her face turning red and tears welling up in her eyes. He pulled...
...Bulganin once described very well the experience we all had to live with in those days," says Khrushchev. "We were leaving Stalin's after dinner one night, and he said, 'You come to Stalin's table as a friend, but you never know if you'll get home by yourself or if you'll be given a ride-to prison...