In southern Russia at the turn of the last century Stalin excelled as a bank robber, agitator and sometime assassin. Forever in and out of jail the violence and paranoia which would mark him out in later years were already visible. After his brutal rise to power he embarked on his ruthless enforced collectivisation programmes and deliberate use of starvation, murder and labour camps to enforce his power and control over the population. We also see his response to the German occupation and his continued regime of terror after the Second World War.