Listing the greatest of Westerners and their Oriental counterparts, in light of their revolutionary utility and future relevance for political revolutions:

1) Hitler/Stalin.

I think I could actually keep up with him in his table talk to a considerable extent since I've conducted a thorough study of his ideology and the ideologues who influenced him. Though like Bormann, I'd have to regularly consult my notes to refresh my memory.

Normally, it'd take a whole series of books to delve into Hitler's greatness, but such an endeavor wouldn't be able to pin it down, let alone summarize it for the masses.

So here's a summary of Hitler's greatness:

Hitler indicated that all he ever wanted to be was a drummer boy marching before an army, an alerter of his people. He got what he wanted. He was not a product of his times, he wasn't a man of history, he wasn't making an impact on the world. He rose above his circumstances, he shaped his epoch. He didn't just play a pivotal role in history, he directly impacted the world. Though he wasn't the German messiah, he laid down the foundation for Germany's religious transformation.

According to anecdotal reports from his table talk, he himself indicated that his two greatest merits were:

1 - establishing (ennobling) culture as the bulwark of German greatness (according to Christa Schroeder, he said Wagner's greatness was arousing German culture from the spirit of music)

2 - helping to re-establish racial theory as the highest law.

Although I personally wouldn't put Stalin on the same level as Hitler, he was acknowledged by him as an equal colleague. It's tempting to say that Stalin was just another Peter the Great continuing the legacy of the Tsars and holding back the Russian people's development by attempting to turn them into civilized Westerners. Yet he fulfilled a similar role as Hitler did for the Germans.

2) Wagner/Mahler.

Very few understand the influence Wagner's music exerted on Hitler, particularly the compositions Rienzi and Rheingold. Hitler wasn't intoxicated like the ordinary German listener, but in full control of his faculties. He displayed a remarkable knack for being able to hum or whistle Wagner's compositions after hearing it only once or twice. The ecstasy glimpsed in his oratory is closer to the Russian composer Scriabin (who incidentally also mastered the Marxist doctrine in a short amount of time). Supposedly the Russian seeress Duniushka, if she even existed, exhibited virtually identical symptoms in her prophesying.

As for Mahler, it must be remembered that he upheld Wagner's music more than anyone in his days. He made no secret of his Jewishness (Jewish composer Aaron Copland even drew his readers' attention to it being more noticeable than Meyerbeer. It's also worth noting Wagner's differentiation between Mendelssohn and Meyerbeer) and claimed to Natalie Bauer-Lechner that he had uncovered what was hidden in the mime role portrayed by Julius Spielmann in Wagner's Siegfried. He himself had attempted to embody this figure.

3) Frederick the Great/Tsar Nicholas II. It was precisely Frederick's historical precedent was the main reason for why Hitler held out for a miracle against all odds. And who could overlook the quality of the letters exchanged between Frederick and Voltaire?

As for the Tsar, there was a far more spiritual significance to that role than any of the other European autocrats. We haven't yet seen the last of the Romanov bloodline... I perceive we'll be seeing him again soon. Putin, having unconsciously seized upon Hitler's playbook, is merely preparing Russia for a future ruler, the last finishing touches to its political renovation.

4) Rousseau/Rasputin. Their shared view of life was nearest to Nature. It's also worth mentioning philosopher Carl Rogers in this context. Sparta was Rousseau's ideal society. Hitler had organized Germany along Spartan lines*, not Roman. Sparta also happens to be Stalin's original template for Russian revolutionary sweep (via historian Robert Vipper). What is certain: any future revolutionary society which undertakes reconstruction must uphold Sparta as its undying model, whether communist or nationalist.

“Will the world become Fascist? I do not know. Will the world become National Socialist? I do not believe so. Will the world ultimately rid itself of the grave dangers of Bolshevism? I am profoundly convinced of this.”

*Please note how Hitler differentiated between Roman civilizational values/education and Hellenic idealism in Mein Kampf, and indicated that it was precisely this combination which produced a culture, with the civilization serving as a preliminary basis for it, much like how political stability is prerequisite for the growth of art and religion. He also drew this distinction in reference to Alexander the Great's role in salvaging Western civilization and the Greek spirit, according to Otto Wagener.

5) I'll need more time to reflect on my fifth candidate. There are too many potential colleagues (i.e. Voltaire, Pushkin, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche) I'd delight in making the acquaintance of. Ideally, I'd have liked to hold a table talk with the likes of Plato, Shakespeare, Goethe, etc. but I doubt even I could keep up with them.

---

I wanted to be both fair-minded and objective in this assessment.