Paul could not imagine a Stalin?
Hold on a minute.
Paul would have been quite aware of the murders committed by numerous foreign invaders. Ashurbanipal was the last great king of Assyria; take a look at what he did during his 38-year reign.
But there were many other totally murderous despots before the time of Paul.
A Stalin was totally comprehensible to people living in the first century AD.
Yeah ok, I do see your point. But I have a hard time believing Paul was advising that the people in the USSR should willfully submit to the whims of someone like that.
But I doubt Paul encountered someone who murdered in the tens of millions. The barbarian Tamerlane probably did, but who knows if Paul was aware of him. But he certainly knew of despots. Good point.