'An uninstructed visitor might hardly have detected any difference between Stalin and the rest. Yet it existed. His opinion was carefully noted. No one opposed him very hard.' Travelling to Moscow throughout the 1940s, Yugoslavian Vice-President and party favourite Milovan Djilas had enjoyed all-night dinners with Joseph Stalin and his subordinates - where significant parts of Soviet policy were shaped - but gradually felt his initial enthusiasm for the Communist cause turn to cynicism, disillusionment and even horror. Written in 1961, after Djilas had served time in prison for his views, and featuring portraits of the leading figures of that world, including Molotov, Tito, Khrushchev and Beria, this is also a candid look at one of the most dangerous men in modern history. Translated by Michael B. Petrovich With a new Introduction by Anne Applebaum 'For the first time, a man who was a senior Communist politician .

writes of what he saw and heard as a human being writing about human beings.' Observer.