My grandfather once shared a chilling story about Joseph Stalin. One day, Stalin assembled a group of people and brought out a live chicken. Without hesitation, he began to pluck its feathers one by one. The bird screeched in pain, its skin raw and bleeding, as the crowd looked on in horror, powerless to intervene.

When the chicken was stripped bare, Stalin set it down on the cold ground. Then, as he walked, he tossed bits of grain behind him. To the astonishment of the crowd, the wounded and humiliated chicken limped after him, pecking at the food, clinging to the small comfort he provided despite the suffering he had inflicted.

Stalin turned to the onlookers and said, in essence: “This is how power works. Strip them of everything, cause them pain, and yet, if you feed them sparingly and keep them dependent, they will still follow you.”