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Toward morning, fatigue clawed at the Great Leader. For a while he resisted it, tried to overcome it. Stalin knew that if he lay down, his insomnia would prove too strong and would torment him. Worn out by the struggle within him, he eventually resigned himself to lying down on the sofa with its old, threadbare upholstery. Stalin did not bother undressing. He removed only his shoes, the ichigi boots popular in his native Caucasus which he wore at his nearby dacha in Kuntsevo, where he liked to live nearly year-round.
Sleep did not come, however. The leader of the Soviet Union was overrun by endless cares and concerns swarming around him in a cloud. No one could help him and take part of this heavy burden from him. Stalin did not know whom he could trust. He could not find any dependab
