A historical essay by Hungarian scientists L. Belali and T. Kraus, published in 1988, is dedicated to J.V. Stalin. The authors used a large number of Western and Soviet sources, documents, studies, journalistic and artistic works. Not all provisions of the book seem indisputable to us, but I think that the Soviet reader will be interested in getting acquainted with one of the foreign assessments of the complex and dramatic period in the life of the Soviet state associated with the name of Stalin. The book is addressed to a wide range of readers.