Towards the end of Stalin's life, he became ever more paranoid, embittered, isolated, and vengeful. As his various ministers and members of the Politburo jockeyed for power and position around him, using his fits of paranoia to exact revenge on one another, the only thing that united them all was fear: fear that they would not outlive the dying old man, and instead, die at his hand.  Autocracy Now can be found at www.autocracynow.libsyn.com and our sister podcast can be found at www.physicspodcast.com, along with various ways to contact and support the show.  One more episode on Stalin to go to follow this.