There is a story that a public building in Moscow had two wings, built at the same time, that were completely mismatched styles of architecture. The reason for this absurdity was because they came up with two alternative plans for the building, showed the plans to Stalin, and when he misunderstood that they were two different choices, and said "Yes, do it that way," no one was willing to point out his error. Stalin was well-known for his irrational and undeserved punishments, so no one wanted to bring themselves to his attention.