STALIN, Joseph (1879-1953).
One of the most ruthless dictators of modern times was Stalin, the despot
who transformed the Soviet Union into a major world power. The victims
of his campaigns of political terror included some of his followers. His real
name was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. In 1912 he took the alias
of "Stalin," from the Russian word stal, meaning "steel." 

Humankind's worst tyrant lived in self-imposed ascetism

You know who we're talking about: the meanest, most dangerous criminal
that lived on the face of the Earth. The one who built a kingdom around
himself and possessed almost unlimited power: In his private life, however,
he rarely used this power to get himself nicer things. His lifestyle was more
of a soldier, of a man possessed... Except for a very few "special" things,
which he cherished almost to the point of a fetish.