But how well Trotsky understood Stalin remains doubtful. The two did not socialize. (“I was never in Stalin’s apartment,” Trotsky admitted, which, however, did not inhibit his assurances that he had Stalin figured out.)274 Beyond doubt, Stalin possessed a searing ambition to be a person of consequence; indeed, he worked at it relentlessly. Stalin subscribed to a substantial number of periodicals, and soon he would instruct Tovstukha to organize his enormous library according to subjects: philosophy, psychology, sociology, political economy, Russian history, history of other countries,
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