When you think of world leaders you would think of their schedule being something like rise early, go to bed early and in between typical political stuff and whatnot and PR organizing and what not but for Stalin, as in Joseph Stalin, the second leader the Soviet Union, it was very different for him.
Out of the 24 hours in a day, Stalin worked as many as 15 hours a day and assumed at least five positions of leadership. These roles were as follows:
• Supreme Commander,
• General Secretary of the Central committee of the All Union Communist Party,
• Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union,
• Head of the State Defenders’ Committee
and finally,
• People's Commissar of Defense.
That's one too many titles! We know this because of a couple of sources, including Field Marshall Georgy Zhukov. Zhukov also noted how the pressure and stress Stalin had put upon himself could be detected through his smoking habit which told his mood. By engaging with the mood-forecasting pipe, Zhukov could tell that Stalin was in a good mood when drawing deeply on his pipe but failure to light the pipe when the tobacco was used up meant that Stalin was about to get angry. It was a clever move for Zhukov as it allowed him to understand the Supreme Leader in a way that was difficult if not impossible for the other generals to do.
Like a couple of us, Stalin had trouble getting to sleep (in his case, due to insomnia) and was not a nearly riser. This meant that he often slept in his clothes on a military style camp bed in this personal residence called the Kunsevo Dacha. When he failed to respond to any prior crises that needed his quick reaction, Stalin usually got up at about 11AM Moscow Standard Time (so 9AM Greenwich Mean Time) to receive the first reports on how the war was progressing. The war as in World War Two AKA The Great Patriotic War as Russia calls it. Those who reported the war effort to Stalin had no choice but to report it since their failure to submit these reports was met with a harsh reprimand from the Supreme Leader, often in the form of against their position within the government and even against their lives.
After having a light breakfast, Stalin would then get to work for a couple of hours. This entailed issuing orders, taking reports and conducting meetings at either the Kremlin or at his home. Around noon and 9 pm, Stalin received 2 updates from his Stavga minions. These guys were directly overseeing the efforts of the war. Mentioned above, failure to report would see harsh punishments to your career or your life.
Towards the evening, Stalin would head to his office that regime insiders called The Little Corner. This was on the second floor of the Kremlin. From here, he was run sessions in the key in the GKO to the Soviet state defense committee which can be best compared to a war cabinet. These sessions can last for several hours, often continuing late into the night. For Stalin's subordinates, both military and civilian, this was an especially stressful period of time. The dictator's paranoia grew worse during this era (no thanks for the show trials he had in the 1930s). The Little Corner was tightly controlled which meant that no weapons were permitted and regardless of rank, anyone had to carry their identification papers. Visitors were urged to avoid small chat, to never dispute with Stalin, and to leave his presence as soon as they had completed their report. The Threat of intent of arrest was ever present.
At the end of a heavy workday, Stalin would often invite other high-ranking members of the regime to join him for a join him for dinner at Kuntsevo which was often followed by a movie. For obvious reasons, you couldn’t really turn down these invitations and afterwards, these men were finally allowed to return to their homes for a few hours much needed rest. A lot of Stalin’s men lacked the luxury of not having to rise until late into the day as they had to wake up early to ensure a smooth running state was possible during the turbulent war. The the control on lives of those who worked for Stalin was so strict, that they were given set sleep times. For example, Chief of the general Staff of the Soviet Armed Forces and Deputy Minister of Defense, Alexander Valsilevski had to be asleep from 4AM to 10am. During these hours, Valsilevski would frequently have himself or his helper lie in order to try to sneak in a few more hours of work, and Stalin would personally call him to ensure that his commands were being followed.
Back to the nightly dinners, they usually consisted of meals usually with the rich foods and whatnot that you expect big cheeses in politics to have though in 1943 and on wards, these began to change with the nightly dinners becoming increasingly drunk events for the men. Though this wasn't always the case as Stalin had previously encouraged sobriety (where you don't consume alcohol) but from 1943 on wards, there was lots and lots of alcohol. Apparently, this was to loosen their tongues so that way if one of them said something like "oh I was chatting to one of Hitler's men and he was saying some not nice things about you and I’m going to say it right now!", someone was going to have a bullet or more in their head. To think that current (as of 30 December 2025) President of Russia, Vladimir Putin’s granddad, Spiridon Putin had to deal with this as Stalin’s private cook. That means that for the last couple months of his life, Stalin might have been made aware of Vlad’s existence.
This would carry on for the next six hours and Stalin's loyal toadies (his associates) were encouraged to drink to excess though these drinks watered down for Stalin on the grounds of medical advice. Stalin would also continue to issue orders, receive messages and even approve of executions. If necessary, especially for those who had their tongues loosened enough and the families of those whose husband's had loosened tongues were also in danger too. Sometimes the men would be sneaky by going outside of the dining room for a nap or having waitresses give them colored water instead. There are rumors that a lot of Soviet State business was conducted in this environment. Stalin would continue to give commands, take messages, and, if needed, authorize executions throughout the night. Field Marshall Georgy Zhukov claims that because the majority of the attendees were the highest ranking officials in the USSR, many decisions pertaining to the military and the security of the USSR were made in these unofficial meetings.

Later into the night at around 2:00AM, Joseph Stalin would usually suggest watching a movie and usually at times more than one. He was known to favorite westerns, detective films and gangster movies but his favorite was the 1936 Soviet film Circus directed by Georgy Alexandrov and Isador Simcov. The movie is about an American woman with a mixed-race son who finds acceptance in the USSR. Another bite to eat was also suggested after watching these films this man the poor exhausted and hung over officials usually didn't return home until well past dawn. Stalin would finish his day by reading books before finally falling asleep (as we should do instead of staring at our devices). All of this continued until 1 March 1953 when Stalin collapsed with a massive stroke all while peeing himself (not making that bit up). He lingered on until 5th March when he finally kicked the bucket.