Stalin and His Hangmen

THREE

THE EXQUISITE INQUISITOR

In stormy student years he became famous for his cynical statement at a meeting that he didn’t care about his comrades. . . . Mixing with people who considered it shameful to play the piano when people all round were dying of hunger, Demidov ardently rushed into music studies. . . . Indifferent to mockery, indignation or abuse, Demidov was still not pleased with himself. He wanted to win total inner freedom.

Viacheslav Menzhinsky,

Demidov’s Affair