Hey! What's with the Stalin photo?

A friend asked what's with the Stalin photo on my profile.
I put it down to my sense of humor, but their is more to it.

As a young naive fool with a heavy reading appetite, I first encountered Stalin reading about Marxism and Communism. Being only 12 I was deluded onto thinking Stalin did everything he did according to necessity.
Collectivisation, military purges, imprisonment of opponents, occupation of countries, an alliance with Hitler etc. Yep. I thought it was all necessary for the security of the USSR.
By the time I was 13 I found out how stupid I was. Stalin was the quintessential modern dictator. Saddam Hussein studied Stalin's work and applied his tactics to his dictatorship. He even took on a similar image.

What was crazy was the availability of Stalin's work in Western countries for such a long time. Some Marxists called themselves Stalinists well into the 1970's. I remember reading a Stalinist newsletter and seeing photos of a Stalinist get together barbecue. I could not stop laughing at this image of happy-go-lucky Westerners, gathering together to celebrate a tyrant.
Stalin was as evil as Hitler, but as the victor, Stalin was not as heavily vilified. The tragedy is that while the political philosophies of both men are quite despicable, Stalinism survives into the 21st Century. Nazism was effectively strangled to death as a political philosophy but Stalinism was allowed to survive. North Korea and Saddam's Iraq are two examples of its survival.
Stalin was the most successful tyrant of Modern times. Even when he was dead, his fear carried on.
He is a reminder to me of what still must be fought. The resolve of Tyrants and the fear they use to build their power.
He is also a reminder of what can happen when tyranny is ignored and allowed to perpetuate.

But I can't help but laugh when I see his image. Something I wouldn't do in his company that's for sure.