"A small room, plain, petty-bourgeois

"A small room, plain, petty-bourgeois. Stalin is drunk, 'blind drunk', as they say. There are only men in the room; of the peasants, myself and one other, black-bearded. Without a word, Vissarionovich threw the black-bearded peasant down, covered him with a sheet and raped him furiously… 'The same will happen to me!' I thought in despair, recalling the customs of Tiflis, and wanted to run; but after the session Stalin seemed to have sobered up somewhat and entered into conversation. On the whole, for me the matter ended more happily, and I was even treated to a drink…"

An entry in the diary of Andrey Arzhilovsky, a 51-year-old bookkeeper at an agricultural artel in Tyumen, dated 18 December 1936. The quotation is taken from Maya Turovskaya's book The Dragon's Teeth: My 1930s. A dreadful dream, it would seem, yet set beside the fate of the black-bearded man it is practically a cartoon. I should like to wish you never to think of tyrants last thing at night, but that would be rather naive, though to wish that there might never be tyrants in our lives would be more naive still. Well, at least keep well and do not give up. A good weekend to you all.