I asked Stephen Kotkin: Why didn't somebody just kill Stalin? Tsars were assassinated all the time, and for much less. “During the 20s, Stalin resigns six times. Three times in writing and three times orally. And every time those guys around him beg him to stay. Not only do they fail to try to push him out, but when he himself volunteers to go out, they beg him to stay. And then he kills all of them. Within 10 years, every one of them, just with a few exceptions, is dead. [Suppose] I come to you and I say, this Stalin guy, he’s wrecking everything. We got to take him down. You agree with me. But you know what? You don’t know—maybe I’ve been sent by Stalin to test your loyalty. You agree with me. But instead of saying, yes, let’s do it, immediately you run to Stalin and you say that this Kotkin guy is talking behind your back about how we need to take you down. There’s a lack of trust inside these dictatorships.”