53 Stalin at McDonald’s

Сталин в Мак Доналдсе

Moscou |

Russia

Russian

Behind the scenes

The idea for this text dates back to the early 1990s. At that time, McDonald’s had just opened in Moscow, becoming a striking symbol of the arrival of the Western world in a Russia undergoing profound transformation.

One day, as I was eating there, a stranger sat down next to me. His face, his gaze, and especially his mustache immediately reminded me of Stalin. The resemblance amused me… then intrigued me.

Years later, this memory came back to me, and I turned it into a short fictional story: imagining that this man was indeed Stalin, and that I suddenly found myself in conversation with him in such an ordinary setting, on the anniversary of his death.

Behind the absurdity of the situation lies a more unsettling question: what can transform a human being into a tyrant?

Echoes of the world

In this text appears the word товарищ (tovarishch), often translated as “comrade.” In Russian, the term originally meant a companion or partner. During the Soviet era, it became a standard form of address between citizens, intended to reflect equality among all.

The dialogue also plays with a form of absurdity often found in Russian literature. The presence of Stalin emerges in an ordinary, almost comical setting:
Он был в джинсах и бейсболке (On byl v dzhinsakh i beysbolke) – “He was wearing jeans and a baseball cap,”
or Хотите майонез? (Khotite mayonez?) – “Would you like some mayonnaise?”

This contrast between everyday life and History creates a strange, almost unreal effect.

Listen to an audio excerpt of the text