About the book: year / Thank God, now there is a lot of literature about Stalin. Literature varied both in level and direction. The time of exaltation has ended, the time of overthrow has passed, the time of oblivion has also passed. There are many books about Stalin. They write about him, talk about him, refer to him... But the problem is: Stalin himself is not given the floor. If quotes are included in the text, they are very brief and sometimes these very quotes are taken out of context. It turns out better this way. But a phrase, taken out of its general meaning, can take on the opposite direction. We won't go far for an example. Let's open the first volume of Stalin's works (the famous 13-volume collected works, the one that began during the life of Joseph Vissarionovich). Page 290. We read: What the law does not do, the bullet must make up for! What a wonderful proof of “bloodthirstiness”! Yes, that's what a problem is. There is the following phrase. The full quotation reads like this: What the law does not do, the bullet must make up for! This is what the tsarist government thinks. ("Factory legislation and the proletarian struggle" vol. 1 p. 290.) The difference in meaning is visible. When working on this collection, the compiler tried to take phrases in the context in which they were written. Maybe this made the quotes heavier. This is not a big problem. It is much more important not to distort the meaning of what is written! In addition, the original spelling and punctuation are completely preserved..