"He is gifted", wrote Trotsky, "with practicality, a strong will and persistence in carrying out his aims. His political horizon is restricted, his theoretical equipment primitive…. His mind is stubbornly empirical and devoid of creative imagination…. Because of his enormous envy and ambition, Stalin could not help feeling at every step his intellectual and moral inferiority."

In person, Stalin was short, stocky, black-haired with fierce looking eyes. One of his arms was shorter than the other. His dark face was scarred by small pox contracted in infancy. He was physically strong and was endowed with remarkable will power. He knew how to hide his feelings at an early stage in life. Stalin also learned to bide his time. He was implacable in plotting long-term revenge against those who offended or came across as opponents.

Stalin had innate qualities of a politician. He found relaxation in buffet supers, to which he invited senior party officials, generals, visiting foreign monarchs, dignitaries and the like.

Stalin encouraged his guests to drink thereby touching high ‘spirits’. In a drunken state, the guest would reveal his or others weak points. Later on, Stalin would use those revelations to exploit his targeted victim. He also used to tease his guests. Jocularity and malice balance his manners. He had a keen ironical sense of humor, usually directed to humiliate his guests rather than to amuse them.

In his domestic life, Stalin was exceptionally modest and virtuous. He deeply loved his second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva. When he was 51, she was 28. Stalin had no vices, but like a typical Georgian, he drank wine at dinner. However, he was not addicted to alcohol. Women, gambling, and other similar pleasures did not attract him.

On the whole, Stalin was a steadfast person fully aware of his limitations. These qualities actually were the very core of Stalin’s strong political character.