Stalin was the unchallenged dictator of the Soviet Union for so long that most historians have dismissed the officials surrounding him as political window dressing. Fitzpatrick reveals that behind Stalin was a group of loyal men who formed an effective team with him from the late 1920s until his death in 1953. On Stalin’s Team paints an entirely new picture of Stalin within his milieu—one that transforms our understanding of how the Soviet Union was ruled during much of its existence.