It has also been reported Stalin’s mistress was also illiterate. The perfect country bumpkin with no aspiration of being anything more than what she was. Perhaps she felt her place was synonymous with destiny? I argue this explains why no diary or love letters were ever discovered. I cannot fathom Valentina requesting access to a personal scribe or secretary to dictate thoughts & reflections of her tenure as Stalin’s mistress in hopes of compiling an autobiography even after his death.
As highlighted in this article, she knew her place, all too well. Such a request would indeed uproot any sense of loyalty she dedicated to Stalin over a lifetime as his mistress. I argue her illiteracy, both functional & literary, afforded Stalin tremendous peace of mind. He could easily hide things in plain sight while deliberately misinforming whenever those random & spontaneous curiosities surfaced from his blind & obedient mistress. Provided, she would first need to have an interest in politics or a world larger than what she knew to raise questions about the contents of certain books or documents she encountered almost daily.
Stalin’s mistress could provide tremendous access to the dictator’s psychology. Was he very methodical? Did he have any obscure daily routines around the dacha? Was he a germaphobe? Did he have an obsession about keeping his hands clean? Did he express continuous insecurities about his personal appearance? Did his personality around the dacha remain consistent relative to what was happening in his life? Did Stalin prefer to have an adversarial relationship with his personal doctors?
When compiled, such anecdotes could be used to furnish a larger psychological case study of Stalin, but unfortunately, this seems quite impossible considering Valentina’s commitment to what she perceived as an unbreakable code of silence to Stalin’s legacy. As it turns out, people remain fearful of genocidal dictators, even after their deaths.