the toast Stalin made to the Russian people in May 1945, when he referred to the desperate situation in 1941–2 and the retreat of the Red Army. “Another people,” he said, “could have said to the government: you have not justified our expectations, go away, and we will install another government which will conclude peace with Germany and guarantee us a quiet life.”79 That toast was demagogic too, but it was the closest Stalin ever came to acknowledging how close the Soviet regime was to collapse in 1941–2. The fear that the state would collapse in the event of war remained with Stalin,
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