During his last years Stalin did most of government work at dinners hosted by him. Meals were served around 1 AM and the dictator insisted that subordinates stay back and drink with him till dawn. During one such dinners Stalin asked Nikita Khrushchev to do traditional Ukrainian dance, Khrushchev at that time 60 years old did the dance.
During an interview later Khrushchev stated ‘When Stalin says dance, a wise man dances.’ Khrushchev would generally nap at lunch so that he would not fall asleep in Stalin’s presence, he noted in his memoirs, ‘Things went badly for those who dozed off at Stalin’s table.’