Unable to restrain himself, he would complain in Nadya’s presence how impossible it was to read these unctuous letters addressed to ‘the great teacher, the best friend of all gymnasts, the wise father, the powerful coryphaeus, the brilliant genius,’ a man who in addition to all this was kind, compassionate and modest. It began to seem as though Stalin himself ploughed fields, forged metal, fed babies in their cradles and handled a machine-gun – while the workers, students and scientists did nothing but pray to him. But for Stalin, a whole great nation would have perished long ago like helpless
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