'Step by step Soviet attitudes had regained the ground they seemed to have lost when the Soviet Union collapsed'

The longtime admirer of Stalin and Lenin who still wields great influence at the Guardian is now an apologist for Mao, Chavez and even acts of terrorism

‘When I finally reached Magadan, I hunted for days for a survivor. "I'm sorry, they are all dead," was the refrain. With male life-expectancy in Russia a mere 58, I should not have been surprised, but I was devastated’

Jung Chang and her husband Jon Halliday are leading authorities on Mao, while Simon Sebag Montefiore has published two major works on Stalin. With Standpoint editor Daniel Johnson, they discuss the two communist dictators who were responsible for up to 100 million deaths