Stories about Stalin
It is said that in old times being accepted in the Soviet Communist Party was no easy matter, and it required passing hard exams and tests. There was one of these tests which was especially demanding and it was reserved to those young people who showed the promise to form the true cream of the party. It is said that, however, this special test was discontinued after it was passed by a young candidate named Josif Stalin. The test consisted in giving to the candidate a gun loaded with blanks (and, of course, the candidate did not know this, and believed the gun to fire real bullets). Then the candidate was told: “Look, in that room there is an enemy of the people. Ask no questions, go in there and kill him or her”. As a further element of the test the examiners had placed in the room the candidate’s mother. Of course, the majority of candidates refused to shoot their own mother and so did not pass the test. A few did manage to shoot the old lady, perhaps because they were truly ruthless or perhaps because they were smart enough to imagine that the gun would only fire blanks. But with the young Stalin things went a different way. The e(xa) aminers heard several shots, then a tremendous noise. Then Stalin came out of the room holding the gun and sayng: “Why the hell did you give me a gun that doesn’t work? I had to kill her using a chair!”