Stalin s Advice

Inese was a Latvian journalist — and not just a journalist, but a very good one, despite the fact that her first profession was engineering. But that wasn’t all that important, was it?

In any case, in the 1990s, when Latvia had regained its independence and freedom of speech was in the air, Inese became the most sought-after member of her family. Her husband — also an engineer (they had once studied together at the Riga Polytechnic Institute) — had worked for over ten years at the VEF factory and even had a few decent inventions to his name, but now he was out of work. And their daughter… well, you get the picture.

So, as practically the only breadwinner in the household, Inese juggled numerous projects, including international ones: writing articles, getting published, mediating shady business deals, introducing people to one another, accepting payments for positive coverage of questionable businessmen and outright gangsters, drinking a lot with friends and partners, as well as with her husband, daughter, and sometimes even alone. All she dreamed of was just one thing — to finally get a good night’s sleep.

And then one day, as she fell asleep right at her desk with her head resting on the computer keyboard, she saw… Stalin.

Looking at her sternly while puffing on his ever-present pipe, the late Soviet dictator spoke slowly, drawing out each word in his heavy eastern Georgian accent:
“There are many beasts around you. Don’t waste your energy on them.”

Since then, for various reasons beyond my control, I’ve lost touch with Inese and don’t even know if she’s still alive. But I sincerely hope she took the late dictator’s words to heart.

September 2025