Nevsky/Stalin

[Ya Sam]

Spot on, Paul. I used the indefinite article simply to denote his official 
position as intially it had been meant to be an administrative post from 
which he could even have been dismissed. Of course, by that time (1930s) he 
had become THE general secretary of the Central Committee which was 
synonymous with the undisputed leader of the whole country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Secretary_of_the_Central_Committee_of_the_Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union

This position became that important solely because Stalin usurped the power 
pitting other influential party leaders one against another. In the 1920s 
the general secretary wasn't a very high post, at the time  Trotsky, Kamenev 
and Zinoviev were more influential than Stalin. My point was that Stalin saw 
himself all the time as a great statesman like Ivan the Terrible but not as 
a mythical warrior like Alexander Nevsky. Stalin had a book about Ivan the 
Terrible in his library,  on its cover he wrote several times 'teacher, 
teacher, teacher'.





>
>Rather than "a" don't you mean "the" general secretary?
>
>There was no one in the nation more powerful or important.
>
>

_________________________________________________________________
Don’t miss your chance to WIN $10,000 and other great prizes from Microsoft 
Office Live http://clk.atdmt.com/MRT/go/aub0540003042mrt/direct/01/