Stalin and Catherine II the great
... Being a superpower however, took the hard work and shrewd planning of several great leaders. Among them, were Catherine II (the Great) and Joseph Stalin. ... ” Catherine the Great was very in tune with the Enlightenment and she had vast knowledge over the culture of Western Europe. ... Before this body convened, Catherine published a set of Instructions based on many of the political works of the philosophes. ... On the other hand, although it seemed as if Catherine was taking steps toward a more western future, her proposition to reform law did not occur until fifty years later. ... Catherine never had any intention from departing from absolutism and her close rapport with the philosophes was a strategic move. ... Catherine was a partial Westernizer in that she pushed for a western like society; she did not actually want to be it.