An extract from Ryutin’s bitter criticism of Stalin in 1932.

[Stalin was] the evil genius of the Russian Revolution who, motivated by
vindictiveness and lust for power, has brought the revolution to the edge of the
abyss.

Question Type A: What impression does the author give about Stalin’s character.

The author gave a negative impression about Stalin’s character. When describing
Stalin, the author used the adjective “evil” to describe him, which very directly
demonstrated to us his perspective on Stalin. Another example which highlights
the author’s perspective is the use of the the noun phrase “lust for power”, the
word choice is derogatory and shows the author’s negative impression of Stalin.
Additionally, the author had also omitted positive contributions such as the
advancement of the heavy industries that was made by Stalin, in-order to
influence the readers.