Joseph Stalin was a tyrant, a dictator, and a despot that led the USSR for thirty years, and his actions and behaviors caused millions of Russians to die in purges and in prison camps.
In other words, he was a sweetheart.
You can see that sweetheart behavior in the way Stalin wrote a letter to his then 17-year old son's school teacher in 1938. Vasily Stalin was thought to be a spoiled, bratty child, and apparently word traveled back to dad about his son's misdeeds at school. The teacher complained to the Soviet leader, and Joseph Stalin wrote back apologizing, all while showing as little affection as possible for his son:
"To teacher comrade Martyshin. I have received your letter about escapades of Vasily Stalin. Thank you for the letter. Replying with a great delay because of being overloaded with work. My apologies. Vasily is a spoiled young man of average abilities, little wildman, not always honest, likes to blackmail weak "teachers," not rarely an insolent fellow, with weak - or more accurately - unorganized willpower.
He was spoiled by various "god fathers" and "god mommies," who continually emphasize that he is "Stalin's son." I am glad that in your person there is at least one self-respecting teacher who treats Vasily as everyone else and demands that the insolent boy follows the school's policy. Vasily is spoiled by principals like the one you mentioned, washcloth-people, who have no place at school; and if insolent Vasily hasn't destroyed himself yet it is because our country still has teachers who don't give slack to the little young swell.
My advice: demand stricter from Vasily and don't be afraid of fake blackmail threats of "suicide" from the capricious child. You will have my support.
Unfortunately I don't have the opportunity to fuss with Vasily myself. But promise to grab him by the collar from time to time.
Cheers!"
Average abilities, weak, not honest, spoiled, and insolent?
Aww, dad really did love his son after all!
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