This is extracted from a book review by Gary Saul Morson of the New Criterion on Inside the Stalin Archives by Jonathan Brent.

Stalinism was idealist in another, even more terrifying sense: it aimed at controlling from within the very thoughts we think. In a toast delivered on November 7, 1937, at the height of the Terror, the Great Helmsman swore to destroy every enemy:

Even if he was an old Bolshevik, we will destroy all his kin, his family. We will mercilessly destroy anyone who, by his deeds or his thoughts–yes, his thoughts–threatens the unity of the socialist state. To the complete destruction of all enemies, themselves and their kin!

Even the worst of the tsars never thought of punishing relatives for a criminal’s acts. But what is truly remarkable about this toast is the promise to murder people and their kin for thoughts. One must live in continual fear of one’s own mind.