title: Joseph Stalin
abstract: Stalin was the epitome of a modern autocrat. He believed in the Law of History as explained by Marxism and acted accordingly. Certain of the ultimate victory of socialism and the demise of capitalism, he teleologically justified the destruction of everything that stood in the way of the execution of the Law. He believed he was the executioner of historical progress, equated his personal, autocratic power with progress, and exercised his unrestrained power at the cost of millions of lives of Sovi