For Stalin’s next birthday, today I will not tell you quite obvious things on the topic of his social rehabilitation and the nature of his wide popularity; all this has already been said more than once. In this regard, I would like to turn to a narrower topic related to both Stalin and Donbass.

Here the other day, when I was studying materials on the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Republic, which in terms of historical continuity completely precedes the modern DPR, I came across an interesting interview with the son of the founder of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Republic, comrade “Artem”. After the tragic death of Artyom, who was friends with Stalin and Kirov, who were then just gaining weight, Stalin adopted his son “Artyom” and raised him in his family. This is what Stalin’s adopted son himself talks about in his old, but still relevant interview from 2006, which is essentially an excerpt from his book http://www.e-reading.link/bookreader.php/1019538/Sergeev_-_Kak_zhil, _rabotal_i_vospityval_detey_I._V._Stalin.html "How Stalin lived, worked and raised his children."

Stalin's adopted son

Comrade Artem or Artem Fedorovich Sergeev.

Artem Fedorovich! Now everyone is discussing the film "Stalin's Wife", which was recently shown on television. Have you watched it?

Artem Fedorovich Sergeev was born into the family of Fedor Andreevich Sergeev (underground nickname - Artem), after whom dozens of settlements and streets were named in our country. After the death of the legendary Bolshevik, his son was raised in his family by Fyodor Sergeev’s friend and comrade-in-arms, Joseph Stalin. Artem was friends with Stalin's son Vasily until his death. Now Major General of Artillery Sergeev lives in the village of Zhukovka on Rublevskoye Highway, in a house that his mother Elizaveta Lvovna purchased back in 1937. Artem Fedorovich is 85 years old. On the advice of his mother, he kept diaries and recorded events that he himself witnessed.
The doors of Artem Fedorovich’s house, like other inhabitants of this elite village, are not open to everyone. Ekaterina Glushik showed me the way to Zhukovka, who recorded “Conversations about Stalin” with Artem Fedorovich, published by the publishing house “Crimean Bridge-9D”. The atmosphere of Sergeev’s house amazingly preserved the spirit of pre-war dachas under the pine trees, with spacious verandas, antique inlaid cabinets, which Sergeev’s mother bought for 20 rubles each. Our conversation began with the childhood memories of Artem Fedorovich.

Politburo decision

- How did you get into Stalin’s family?

My father worked with Stalin from the IV Congress of the RSDLP. In 1906 they met there.

In 1907, my father was arrested, Stalin was also arrested. My father spent 3 years in prison, 6 years in exile (in China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand.)
Father and Stalin met again at the VI Party Congress in 1917 and have been in constant contact since then. They were together in Tsaritsyn, where Nadezhda Sergeevna Alliluyeva arrived as Stalin’s wife.
Before the Tenth Congress, my father was on the Central Committee of the party and was very friendly with Joseph Vissarionovich. Stalin's son and I were born almost simultaneously in the same maternity hospital. And my father once told Stalin: “Anything can happen. Look after mine.”
On July 24, 1921, my father died. On July 27, a meeting of the Politburo was held, at which all five members were present. The 18th item on the agenda was: “On providing for the family of Comrade Artem.”
On July 27, 1921, at a meeting of the Politburo, among other issues, the implementation of the 18th point “On providing for Artyom’s family. Executor - Stalin” was considered.
The mother was very ill. And they took me into Stalin’s family.

Map of the Donetsk-Krivoy Rog Republic, which was led by the professional revolutionary and Bolshevik Sergeev. By the way, this republic is a kind of historical precedent, and if Ukraine is trying to build its historical genesis from the UPR, then modern Novorossiya grew up, among other things, from the ideas of local autonomism based on references to the actually existing republic in the Donbass.

Children's home

- How did you end up in an orphanage for children of government members?

In March 1918, the Soviet government moved from Petrograd to Moscow. At first, people were resettled in the National and Metropol hotels, then they began to equip the Kremlin. State leaders worked without regard for time; there was no time left for family. And it was decided to organize an orphanage for their children. It was created in 23rd year. Its co-directors were Nadezhda Sergeevna Alliluyeva and my mother.

-Where was he?

On Malaya Nikitskaya, house 6. This is the house where Maxim Gorky later lived. There were 25 children of party and state leaders and 25 street children, pulled straight from street boilers. They were placed together specifically so as not to raise a child elite. It didn't matter who your parents were. But on Sundays, if you went home, you had to invite a child who had no parents and no home.

In the orphanage, the main thing was labor education. We were sweeping. They brought dishes. The most honorable thing was to be on duty and carry food. We tried to wash the dishes and they beat us. Everyone grabbed each other's plates, dishes flew to the floor.
Vasily and I ended up in an orphanage when we were two and a half years old. The first time my mother brought me there by the hand, and the second time with my potty. This meant I was staying there.
When Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze and his wife died, their children Tanya and Tima were also brought to our orphanage. We lived there from the autumn of 1923 to the spring of 1927. When Lenin died, we went to say goodbye to him as a whole orphanage. It was bitterly cold. We froze our cheeks, and then they lubricated them with goose fat. Before the construction of the mausoleum, a wooden crypt was built, the entrance to which was from the Spasskaya Tower.
Nadezhda Sergeevna and my mother corresponded constantly. For example, if Nadezhda Sergeevna left for the south with Stalin, she wrote to my mother: grapes cost so much here, and pears cost so much.

Apartments

-Where did Stalin’s family live?

In the Kremlin. During all this time, Stalin had three apartments in the Kremlin. At first it is very small on Kommunisticheskaya Street, building 2. From the Trinity Gate it is a two-story house to the right. Stalin and his family lived there until 1931.
The apartment was so small that even Yasha (the son from Stalin’s first marriage - author’s note) did not have his own room. The place where his sofa stood was covered with a sheet.

- What kind of room did Vasily have?

It depends on which apartment. In the Amusement Palace, where Stalin moved with his family in 1931, he had a very small, vaulted room with hooks screwed into the ceiling, on which rings and trapezoids hung. When we moved to another house, Vasily also had a small room there, a table, a narrow bed, and a sofa on which I slept.

- Were you like stepbrothers?

We couldn't live without each other. My mother and I lived in the National until 1931 (then in a house on the Embankment - author's note), and Vasily did not come home from school, but to us. It was dyadom. Vasily had Stalin's house and my mother's house. I have my mother's house and Stalin's house. After the death of his wife Nadezhda Sergeevna in 1933, Stalin moved to the Senate building. The last apartment became his workplace. From the room where there was a sofa and a bed, the door opened directly into the meeting room. He lived in service. The house was state-owned. He no longer had a family home.
Stalin always worked. If you can get down to work, he taught, you will never say you are tired. The most encouraged thing is work. Even when he went to Matsesta in the summer for treatment, he worked there day and night. He had severe rheumatism and his joints hurt. In order not to waste time on a trip to the water, Stalin made a pool at his dacha, and the healing water was brought there for him. He received treatment without leaving his home.

- What was Stalin’s wife like in life?

Stalin was a very interesting person at home. He was affectionate. His wife was much stricter. She loved order in the house, so that the daily routine was observed. And under Stalin there was freedom. When he came, he paid attention to us for at least five minutes, and it was interesting to be with him. Until now, I consider Stalin’s wife the most beautiful, most elegant woman. But she wasn't photogenic. She dressed simply: a white jacket, a dark blue skirt, a blue jacket. Black pumps. No decorations. No perfume. There was no large closet in her room. Her room was small. It seemed like she had two suits: for going out and what she wore at home.

- How did the tragedy happen?

Stalin's wife shot herself. I was 11 years old when she passed away. She had wild headaches. On November 7, she brought Vasily and me to the parade. About twenty minutes later I left - I couldn’t stand it. She apparently had an improper fusion of the bones of the cranial vault, and suicide is not uncommon in such cases. The tragedy occurred the next day, November 8. After the parade, Vasya and I wanted to go out of town. Stalin and his wife were visiting Voroshilov. She left the guests early and headed home. She was accompanied by Molotov's wife. They made two circles around the Kremlin, and Nadezhda Sergeevna went to her room. She had a tiny bedroom. She came and lay down. Stalin came later. Lay down on the sofa. In the morning, Nadezhda Sergeevna did not get up for a long time. We went to wake her up and saw her dead. Vasily and I were in Sokolovka when she died. They called us and told us to come to Moscow, but Svetlana remained at the dacha.
The coffin with the body stood in one of the premises of GUM. Stalin was crying. Vasily hung on his neck and repeated: “Dad, don’t cry.” When the coffin was carried out, Stalin followed the hearse, which headed to the Novodevichy Convent. At the cemetery we were told to take the earth in our hands and throw it on the coffin. That's what we did.

- What was the relationship between Stalin and his wife?

Judging by my mother's stories, he loved her madly. She him too. She married him when she was not even 17 years old. They said that Stalin raped her on the train. Nonsense! Father and mother lived with them in the same carriage, and she went as Stalin's wife.

- Did Stalin communicate with his father-in-law later?

Sergei Yakovlevich Alliluyev lived in a dacha in Zubalovo since the 1930s. Stalin visited him. The death of Nadezhda Sergeevna brought them even closer together. Sergei Yakovlevich and I corresponded. The last letter came from him in the spring of 1945. “When Nadezhda Sergeevna’s brother died, my mother and I were at the funeral, and Sergei Yakovlevich said to my mother: “Liza, Pavlusha interfered with someone.”

Dachas

Stalin's first country residence was located on Rublevo-Uspenskoye Highway, 14 kilometers from Moscow. In the past, this was the dacha of oil industrialist Zubalov.
At the dacha in Zubalovo there was a commandant and maintenance personnel. Food was prepared the same for everyone.
Stalin was driven by driver Nikolai Ivanovich Solovyov. He was Brusilov's regular driver on the Southwestern Front. In the 1920s, Stalin had a driver, Udalov, but he grew old and became the head of the garage.
The dacha was a two-story house. Stalin's office and bedroom are on the second floor. On the first floor, to the right of the entrance, there is Svetlana’s room, then the dining room, another room and a veranda. Vasily did not have a permanent room. There was a piano in one of the rooms. Stalin came here on Sunday morning. Saturday was a working day. At the dacha there were ducks, chickens, guinea fowl, and an apiary. Papanin gave Stalin a husky dog. This dog, named Vesely, was with him on the ice floe.

- Did Stalin himself do physical work?

Yes. I dug and planted, probably to take my mind off things and not get stupefied by the papers. Played gorodki and skittles. And so all the time - papers, papers...

- Have you read a lot?

So many. His library was kept in the Kremlin. I made notes in books with a pencil. Contrary to popular belief, he really appreciated Bulgakov: “This writer boldly showed that heroes were not only on the side of the Red Army. Heroes are those who love their Motherland more than life itself. And such, unfortunately, fought not only on our side.”

- Did Stalin like to receive guests?

The companies were business. Have a snack and get to work.

- Why did Stalin always dress like a military man?

This has become a habit since the pre-war period. At home he wore canvas trousers and a linen jacket. One day I saw a new overcoat at home and flared up: “I could wear that one for another year...”
Tailor Abram Isaevich Legner, a colonel of the NKVD, kept a spare set of clothes for Stalin in his workshop: “The Master doesn’t have a second set. What if it gets caught on a nail?”
When he had to be buried, it turned out that there was not even an extra pair of underwear. But according to Orthodox customs, you are not supposed to bury someone in a darned place. They sewed underwear for him especially for the funeral.

Kuntsevo and Volynskoye

In the early 1930s, a “nearby” dacha was built in Kuntsevo. Essentially, this was his main working residence - from there Stalin led the state. In 1934, Stalin moved to Volynskoye, to a two-story green brick house. His office was on the second floor. In the kitchen there is a tiled stove with a couch on which he liked to relax. The dining room is downstairs and also served as a meeting room. Zhdanov played on a red piano. There was no guard at the gate, and the gate into the forest was not locked. Stalin played records on the gramophone. Once there was a conversation about music, and Stalin asked who was better: Leshchenko or Vertinsky? We said: Leshchenko. Stalin said that there are still people like Leshchenko, but only Vertinsky. When he was in a bad mood, he played a record with the song “On the Hills of Manchuria” with the old words:

The crosses of distant, beautiful heroes turn white,
And the shadows of the past swirl around,
They tell us about the sacrifices in vain.

He always had order on his desk, high-quality stationery, and well-sharpened pencils. While working, Stalin drank Borjomi, smoked a pipe, breaking Herzegovina Flor cigarettes and, without looking, put tobacco in the pipe. There was a carpet on the floor, but they walked along a narrow linen path that lay on top of the carpet.

- Did you give gifts to Stalin?

He didn't like gifts. And they knew it.

- How did Stalin die?

At the dacha. Doctors were not admitted for a long time, but he was alive, but unconscious. They were allowed in when it was all over. After death, neither Svetlana nor Vasily could be there.

Children of the leader

- Did Stalin communicate with the first family?

His first wife died when their son was only 7 months old.

- Yakov lived with Stalin?

Not always. At the age of 14 he came to Moscow. Then he studied at the institute in Leningrad and got married. Stalin made him an apartment when his daughter Galya was born. She is a philologist and works. She is 68 years old. She has a son.

- What was Yakov Dzhugashvili like?

Yasha was a wonderful, gentle person. He and I were friends and dreamed of serving together. He studied at the academy and wanted to be a division commander, and I wanted to be a battery commander in his division. He had no military experience, and before the war I served in the army for three years. The last time we saw each other was June 1st. We spent the day together. On June 18 - three days before the war - we arrived from serious shooting ranges. They told me not to go anywhere. On the morning of June 22, everything became clear... On June 25, our trains had already departed.

- How do you remember Stalin’s daughter Svetlana?

Very modest, hardworking, did not tolerate privileges.

-They said that Vasily had a luxurious dacha.

He didn’t have his own dacha - he had a government-owned one near the Gorki-2 state farm. His children did not get it.

- How were they punished in Stalin’s family?

The biggest punishment is Stalin's displeasure.

- Did Stalin’s children understand the situation in the country?

They knew that life is a struggle. We were ready for this fight. It is no coincidence that many state leaders’ children became military men and gave their lives for their Motherland. Frunze's son died at the age of 18, Mikoyan's son too.

-During the war years, did you communicate with Stalin’s children?

With Vasily.

Life after death

-Who was Vasily during the war?

Combat pilot, the bravest fighter. But they told Vasily: “You still have a surname, which you must also protect.”
He was a pilot inspector who determined the level of training of combat personnel, the commander of the 34th Guards Regiment, in my opinion. He took up this position on January 1, 1943, since the regiment commander Ivan Kleshchev died - he was killed because of the actress Zoya Fedorova.

- How?

He was 22 years old. Fell in love with an actress. She wanted to celebrate the New Year with him, and he said: “I can’t fly. There’s no weather.” She egged him on: “What kind of hero are you?” (and he was a Hero of the Soviet Union). And he flew. But I couldn’t land properly. And Ivan Kleshchev passed away. That's what Vasily told me.

- How did Vasily end up in prison?

He was 32 years old before his arrest. By that time he had already become a healthy drinker. One day we were sitting together, and he was pouring.
- Vasya, that’s enough! - I said.
He raised his pistol and replied:
- What's enough? I live as long as my father lives. My father will close his eyes, the next day Beria will tear me to pieces, and Khrushchev and Malenkov will help him. Do you think it's easy to live under an ax? And if I drink, everything goes wrong.
He knew a lot about them. And his instincts did not let him down. The father died in March, and in April he was arrested. He was convicted on two counts. 58th - “Anti-Soviet agitation”: spoke badly about Beria and Khrushchev. They were also tried under Article 193 for abuse of official position and financial violations. What was the abuse? He made an arena and stables out of unused hangars at the central Moscow airfield. He created an equestrian team, which became an allied team. He built the first and only Olympic swimming pool in the country. They said it was for his wife. But she was the national swimming champion! He was sentenced to 8 years and served from bell to bell. Having been released, he was immediately exiled to Kazan. In Kazan we were accommodated on the 5th floor in a building without an elevator. And his legs were sore. In general, his whole life is a complete tragedy. Vasily loved animals since childhood. Once I came to his dacha, he was sitting next to a menacing dog. Vasily strokes him and says: “He won’t deceive, he won’t change.”

-Who are his wives?

On December 15, 1940, he calls: “I’m marrying Gala Burdonskaya.” With Galya they had two children. Sasha was born on October 14, 1941, now People's Artist of Russia, director of the Russian Army Theater. In 1943, daughter Nadya was born.
He broke up with Galina. The second wife, Ekaterina Semyonovna, daughter of Marshal Timoshenko, was a woman of royal beauty. They had two children, Vasya and Svetlana. Vasya died at the age of 23. Svetlana - at 42.
The last wife was a very strong-willed woman, USSR swimming champion Kapitolina Georgievna Vasilyeva. She restrained him as best she could. Ekaterina Timoshenko treated his children from his first marriage coolly. But Kapitolina Georgievna treated them kindly. He was sent to prison when the children were small. The eldest, Sasha, was born in October 1941, and Vasily was imprisoned in April 1953. They saw him only in 1961.

- Why didn’t Vasily change his last name after his father’s death?

Sveta changed her last name after Stalin's death, but Vasily did not approve of her. Although he was forced to do this. In Kazan he was given a passport with a different last name. He took this as an insult.
He was buried in Kazan. He was reburied in 2004 at the Troekurovsky cemetery in Moscow under his father’s real name - Dzhugashvili.

- How did your life turn out?

Lieutenant Sergeev before the war.

I was the commander of a partisan detachment, was captured by the Germans, and miraculously survived. Then he fought at the front and ended the war outside Prague. The sciatica reminds me of those years. Once upon a time I lay in cold water for a long time. It was impossible to even move the reeds. I had two wives, three beautiful children from my first marriage. The second wife, Elena Yuryevna, died in January last year. For me it was a disaster. With her, the house was light and cozy. And I dedicated the book “Conversations about Stalin” to her memory.

But I recommend reading this book http://www.e-reading.link/bookreader.php/1019538/Sergeev_-_Kak_zhil,_rabotal_i_vospityval_detey_I._V._Stalin.html (you can also find these and other photographs of Stalin and his family there)

In general, Stalin fulfilled Artyom Sergeev’s request and raised a worthy person and citizen, whose fate was more successful than that of the children of Stalin himself. In this regard, the history of Stalin's family has always been striking in its tragedy. Having built the first socialist superpower that shook the dominance of capital and received almost absolute power after 1937, Stalin’s personal life frankly did not work out against this background, marked by a series of tragedies that naturally could not help but leave their mark on Stalin.

Well, today marks both the birthday of Joseph Stalin and the birthday of Konstantin Rokossovsky. Happy holiday to all comrades!

He is such a sinister and controversial figure of the twentieth century that even his real date of birth is uncertain. And the indicated date is only officially registered. But I want to remember not about him, but about his double, with whom I had the opportunity to communicate at the end of the last century. And I often half-jokingly told my friends and acquaintances that I personally knew Comrade Stalin.

Georgy Sahakyan - for some time headed the Theater of Doubles in Moscow, but unlike the “Lenins”, “Brezhnevs” and other “Yeltsins”, he stood somewhat apart. Because, after all, he was an actor who embodied the image of the Leader in Soviet and later Russian films. True, after the collapse of the USSR, he began to play Stalin mainly in comedies. In addition, he became a frequent guest at various events. They began to invite him, for a fee, to presentations, TV shows, and even to a rich wedding as the imprisoned father of... peoples.

Even in his youth, when he grew a mustache, Georgy noticed his resemblance to the leader of the USSR. And even during the life of the dictator, despite such a dangerous similarity (“Why do we need two Stalins? Shoot!”), he even began to jokingly portray Joseph Vissarionovich in companies.

“My friends told me, ‘Show me Georgiy...’,” Sahakyan told me. – I stood up, took a stance and began: “As the Russian writer Gogol said...” I did quite well. It’s strange, but no one reported on me at that time. But to be honest, I didn’t portray Stalin mockingly, but, on the contrary, I was proud of my resemblance to him. I even began to become interested in his personality and study his activities.

For many years, the Armenian Sahakyan worked in Azerbaijan as a chief engineer. He often traveled around the Soviet Union on business trips. And one day, in some hotel in Grozny (Chechnya), Moscow filmmakers noticed him and took his phone number just in case. Sahakyan soon forgot about this incident, but one day he received a call from Moscow: he was invited to play Stalin in the film “Tehran -43” about the meeting of the Big Three - Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill during the war. Sahakyan took a vacation and went to Moscow, not suspecting how this incident in the 53rd year of his life would change his entire destiny.

When the director of the film, Vladimir Naumov, saw him, he admired how well the makeup was chosen and it was not even clear that it was a wig. But the fact is that Sahakyan was not even put on makeup; he came to the director straight from the train. And today he is the only actor in the world who played Stalin without makeup.

After the release of the film, Sahakyan began to vying with invitations to play the Leader of all times and peoples. For ten years he combined his work as an engineer with work in cinema. During Perestroika, when an armed conflict arose in Nagorno-Karabakh and Armenians and Azerbaijanis were killing each other, Sahakyan had to flee Baku. As a refugee, he settled in Moscow and, thanks to the Union of Cinematographers, received a room, albeit... in a women's dormitory.

Throughout his life, Georgy Sahakyan played Stalin in 36 films, not only in the Union, but also abroad. For example, in China, in the film about Mao Zedong. You could say Stalin became his second profession. He even got into the Book of Records. The previous record holder was actor Mikhail Gelovani, who played the leader in 15 films during Stalin’s lifetime.

“Iosif Vissarionovich himself was short, ugly, and his face was covered with pockmarks,” said Sahakyan. – Gelovani was a tall, handsome Georgian. I remember him from films from childhood. True, as I later found out, he didn’t look like Stalin at all and they took five hours to make him up. Moreover, he played the leader without the characteristic Georgian accent. Once at a Kremlin reception, Joseph Vissarionovich asked why? “But I’m not playing you,” Gelovani discouraged with his answer. “Who?” the leader was surprised. “Your state function!” Stalin liked the answer.

Sahakyan was a non-smoker all his life and first tried smoking on the set when he portrayed a leader smoking a pipe. Having swallowed smoke for the first time, he almost fainted. Art requires sacrifice!

There was also an interesting incident at Mosfilm. An episode with the participation of Stalin-Sahakyan was being filmed in the pavilion. And very inopportunely, a fire inspector appeared and began to draw up a report on the violation of safety regulations.

The persuasion of the director and group director did not help. Then the “Generalissimo” intervened. Smoking a pipe, he sternly addressed the fireman: “Dear, don’t interfere with our work. You have ruined an expensive, imported film. Tear up this act and go about your business!” The fireman turned pale and backed away: “Forgive me, Comrade Stalin, it’s not my fault.” He tore up the document and quickly left the premises. This incident struck the film crew so much that the director even described it in his memoirs.

The inspector understood that I was not a real dictator, but he was still scared. He was of an old generation and still remembered Stalin’s repressions. What is the power of art! Or the power of fear of the leader of all times and peoples.

Sahakyan also collected anecdotes about his prototype: Once Stalin asked Lenin: How are you? “It’s bad, I’ll die soon.” “Then give power to me!” “I can’t, Comrade Stalin, the people will not follow you.” “Then, Comrade Lenin, he will follow you!”

Over the years I have never had a negative attitude towards me. Even drunk people greeted me respectfully. I also heard this: “All my relatives died in Stalin’s camps. But I’m not offended by you.” They told me: “We need a ruler like Stalin, but as kind as you.” If I were a real Stalin, I would also have camps. But... only tourist ones!”

Gelovani, after playing Stalin, disappeared as an actor because they stopped offering him other roles, because they were all of lesser importance: God forbid he play a role less significant than the role of the Leader, not to mention a negative role. And if Gelovani played Stalin, so to speak, loyally, then, in contrast to him, Sahakyan’s range is much wider - from officialdom to parody. After the collapse of the union, Georgy Sahakyan became even more in demand in cinema and even joked: “Following the famous slogan “Thank you to Comrade Stalin for our happy childhood!” I can exclaim: “Thank you to Comrade Stalin for my happy old age!” And I am grateful to fate that either I look like Stalin, or he looks like me,” Sahakyan jokes.

However, Sahakyan also became an actor of one role and is considered Stalin number 1 in Russian cinema. One day he was offered the role of a market trader, but with Caucasian pride he refused, asserting in a conversation with me that even for a million he would not agree to betray the familiar image of the Leader.

How do you yourself assess Stalin? – I once asked Sahakyan.

I will answer you in the words of Churchill: “Stalin was an unusually complex personality. He created and subjugated a huge empire. This was a man who destroyed his enemies with the hands of his own enemies. Stalin was the greatest unparalleled dictator who took Russia with a plow and left it with atomic weapons.”

Blitz interview with Stalin

I jokingly asked Sahakyan to answer several questions in the guise of Stalin. He put on the generalissimo uniform (which, by the way, was sewn for him by the Russian Ministry of Defense), pulled his cap down and lit a pipe.

How do you, Comrade Stalin, feel about the fact that you were taken out of the mausoleum?

I'm tired of lying next to Lenin. Mausoleum, this is not a hostel!

How did you perceive the fact that Stalingrad was renamed the city of Volgograd?

When the name was changed, I sent a telegram to the Kremlin: “I agree with the renaming. Joseph Volgin.

Joseph Vissarionovich, since we are drinking your favorite wine “Kindzmarauli”, can you say a toast?

I would like to wish that you could say after me: “Life has become better! Life has become more fun!” (Ya. Complete works. Volume 13. Page 135.)

The actor Gelovani became so accustomed to the role of the leader that he even died on Stalin’s birthday, December 21. When I was writing this article and decided to call Sahakyan again, I was saddened to learn that Georgy Markarovich died on July 4 of this year, that is, on the anniversary year of Comrade Stalin.

On December 21, the communists laid flowers at the graves of I.V. Stalin and F.E. Dzerzhinsky at the Kremlin wall. At the end of the ceremony, Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Vladimir Kashin spoke to journalists

“We have gathered here to honor the memory of the great fighters who gave their lives for Soviet power, for the Soviet Union,” said Vladimir Kashin. – Today is the birthday of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. He is an outstanding world-class political and statesman. Everything is connected with Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin. Yesterday we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Cheka. The decision to create it was signed by V.I. Lenin at a meeting in December 1917. J.V. Stalin was also present.

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“These unique leaders of the revolution,” continued Vladimir Kashin, “performed an unprecedented feat that still shines brightly for all of us today. This is especially noticeable in the year of the 100th anniversary of the Great October Revolution. You see how many flowers were laid at the grave of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin today. The industrialization of our country is associated with his name. In just over eighteen years after the civil war, the devastation was eliminated. And we met fascist hordes with good weapons, with a well-trained army. Yes, the first months of the war were unsuccessful because there was a treacherous attack and the German army was very powerful. But then we stood to death. And again the role of the outstanding creator I.V. Stalin and his talent were fully demonstrated. The Victory Banner over the Reichstag, the creation of the UN, the signing of the Warsaw Pact, the establishment of socialism in many countries of the world - these great achievements are also associated with the names of Lenin and Stalin.”

“Today we are proud of the great Soviet Union,” emphasized Vladimir Kashin. – After the war, the destroyed economy was quickly restored. Then we made a breakthrough that the capitalist world had never even dreamed of. It happened in all directions: in industry, in the nuclear project, and in virgin lands. We managed to implement Stalin's plan for the transformation of nature, when millions of trees were planted, especially in the dry steppe zones. Even today they are bearers of fertility and large harvests.”

“If you look at our village, it has developed at a powerful pace. Both life and income in rural areas were close to income in the economy as a whole. And only betrayal, only the hatred of the international capitalist clan stopped this progress,” noted the deputy chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.

“The Communist Party today is the heir to the great ideas of socialism, the ideas of Lenin and Stalin,” emphasized Vladimir Kashin. “And we are proud to be their followers.” The communists are doing everything to raise Russia from its knees, to revive production, industry, and agriculture. Secure your borders, revive the army, end corruption and a cynical attitude towards our people.”

“We once again want to bow to the great people of the planet, the founders of our state, and say that the absolute majority of the people remember these achievements and will never forget them,” Vladimir Kashin concluded.

The ceremony was attended by Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation N.N. Ivanov, Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation D.G. Novikov, member of the Presidium of the Communist Party Central Committee V.F. Rashkin, Secretary of the Communist Party Central Committee P.S. Dorokhin, head of the apparatus of the Communist Party faction in the State Duma N.A. Ostanina, head of the press service of the Communist Party Central Committee A.A. Yushchenko, communists, Komsomol members, party supporters.

Stalin's birthday is considered to be December 21 (9), 1879. And according to the entry in the metric book of the Gori Assumption Cathedral Church, Joseph Dzhugashvili was born (according to the old style) on December 6, 1878, and on December 17 he was baptized according to the Orthodox rite. The reasons that forced Stalin to change his date of birth are explained by the recommendations of astrologers and occultists (almost Gurdjieff himself). Whether this is so is difficult to say. Like any cult figure, Stalin is surrounded by many myths.

There are also less exotic myths. The “patriotic” myth puts Stalin on a par with Archpriest Avvakum, St. Seraphim of Sarov, Karamzin, Pushkin, and even—it’s funny to say! - with Dostoevsky. And then he declares him a holy martyr. The “liberal” myth is no better, according to which Stalin is a seminarian-dropout, with mental disabilities, an anti-Semite and, in the words of Trotsky, “the most outstanding mediocrity” of their party.

The “patriotic” myth is vicious, because it calls to Russia the shadow of this tough and cruel politician. The “liberal” myth is flawed because it distorts history, as if saying: if Stalin had been educated and smart, we would not have had a Gulag, etc. And Stalin, meanwhile, was gifted, smart, and educated.

He grew up a bookish boy. I read my first book at the age of six - it was the Bible. Almost all classes at the Gori Theological School were held in Georgian, but then an order was received from Tiflis to switch to Russian. As a result, Joseph mastered Russian as a native language.

Moreover, a liberal spirit reigned in the school, and Joseph became a regular visitor to Kalandadze’s private library. He was sensitive, sentimental, sensitive to the poetic word. Then he fell in love with the poems of Ilya Chavchavadze, Ignatius Ninoshvili, Akaki Tsereteli. The song “Suliko” based on Tsereteli’s verses will become a favorite: “I was looking for the grave of my beloved, / My heart was tormented by longing...” As if he had a presentiment of the future graves of his wives...

Soso was most impressed by the story of the oppression of Georgian peasants, “Gogia Upshvili” by Ninoshvili. And of course, the novel “The Patricide” by Kazbegi. His ideal was Koba, a romantic robber serving Shamil. According to Robert Tucker, the novel "not only gave Soso an idealized image of the hero as an avenger, but also convinced him that the act of triumph of vengeance was a worthy cause to which one could devote his life." One way or another, literature taught him a lot.

He graduated from the Gori Theological School with only two “B” grades (in Greek and arithmetic), the rest were “A” grades.

The theological seminary in Tiflis differed from the Gori School, like a barracks from a boy scout camp. There was a strict ban on Georgian literature and newspapers. Going to the theater was considered a mortal sin. The strict regulation of life, the system of denunciations and surveillance, the dogmatic manner of teaching - then Joseph Dzhugashvili did not like all this very much. He no longer strives to be the first student; he succeeds only in civil history and logic. And she enjoys singing in the choir.

Seminarians could only read in secret, which made this activity particularly attractive. Here is the inspector’s entry in the behavior log for November 1896: “Dzhugashvili, it turned out, has a subscription sheet from the Cheap Library... Today I confiscated op. V. Hugo “Toilers of the Sea”... Punish with a long punishment cell - I have already been warned about the extraneous book - “Year 93” by V. Hugo.” Soso ended up in a punishment cell for illegal reading more than once or twice. This is how the high price of literature was learned and this is how, perhaps, the work of art and the punishment for it were connected in his subconscious.

In his first year at the seminary, Soso joined a literary circle. Its participants analyze works of world, Russian and Georgian literature, and follow discussions in the Kvali newspaper. They passionately and biasedly discuss the ideas of the linguist Marr - about the dependent nature of the origin of the Georgian language. So, in 1950, Stalin will take up issues of linguistics and get involved in the discussion about Marrism not out of the blue - then the patterns of the folded carpet of life will coincide (“Language is the matter of the spirit,” he will write in the margins of the article about Marr in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia).

On June 14, 1895, on the front page of the Iveria newspaper, its editor, poet Ilya Chavchavadze, published the poem “Morning” signed “I. J-shvili.” By the end of the year, the young poet’s poems will appear here four more times - signed “Soseslo” and “I. J-shvili.”

In this country he was a shadow,

A guest who came without a message,

He touched the eternal strings,

Sang unusual songs.

(Translation by Nikolai Dobryukha)

The fact that he was very gifted poetically is confirmed by the further fate of his poems. Thus, “Morning” in 1912 included Jacob Gogebashvili in the textbook “Native Language”. A poem dedicated to Eristavi, a romantic poet, playwright and translator, was included in the anniversary collection in 1899, along with the works of Chavchavadze, Tsereteli, etc. in 1899, Kelendzheridze in his “Theory of Literature with Analysis of Exemplary Literary Samples” examines two poems young Soso - along with the works of Rustaveli, Chavchavadze, Baratashvili, Kazbegi.

Of the required six years, he studied at the seminary for five and was expelled during the transition from 5th to 6th grade with the wording “for failure to appear for exams” (Stalin himself in 1932 would explain this way: “Kicked out of the Orthodox theological seminary for promoting Marxism "). In addition to his disgust at lack of freedom, Joseph Dzhugashvili took away from the seminary a thorough reading and familiarity with Marxist ideas. He accepted Russian culture as his own. His favorite writers were Gogol and Chekhov... Especially Chekhov.

The conditions of tsarist prisons and exiles were luxurious compared to Soviet hard labor, and the revolutionaries recalled their “prison universities” with some special joy and pride. When the exiles read their poems, Koba acted as a critic, explaining: “... a writer, a poet, who relies only on his intuition, artistic intuition, does not work on himself, no matter how sonorous and beautiful his production is, it will leave nothing in the minds of people , is forgotten, and the author himself is thrown overboard.” He told his comrades about how Pushkin and Tolstoy worked on their works. In the 1920s, Stalin became interested in the works of Bret Harte and would advise gold mining workers to read him.

Stalin was proud of his daily reading norm—500 pages a day. And he sometimes showed greater taste than professional writers. Here, for example, is a wonderful scene. The first day of the New Year, 1923... Literary salon at the Kamenevs in the Kremlin. Among the guests are Stalin, Kuibyshev, Dzerzhinsky, Sokolnikov, as well as writers - Demyan Bedny, Voronsky and Pyotr Semenovich Kogan. Veresaev reads chapters from the novel “At a Dead End.” Epigraph from Dante - “And the angels in this despicable crowd / Are involved...”.

After the reading, Veresaev recalled, he was “furiously attacked.” Kamenev complained that “fiction writers do not depict exploits on the front of the Civil War, but prefer false fabrications about the alleged atrocities of the Cheka.” Demyan Bedny and Professor Kogan are equally categorical. Stalin “approvedly regarded the novel and said that it would, of course, be inconvenient for the State Publishing House to publish such a novel, but, generally speaking, it should be published.” Stalin is supported by Dzerzhinsky: “As for the reproach that he allegedly slandered the Cheka, then, comrades, it has happened between us or not”...

In May 1922, Stalin, already the general secretary of the party, intervened in the case of Isai Lezhnev in connection with the magazine “New Russia”. “Russian messianism, imperialism (from ocean to ocean), Russian messianism (light from the East), Russian Bolshevism (on a global scale) - all these are quantities of the same dimension,” Lezhnev wrote in the first issue (1922). It was these views that Zinoviev did not like in Petrograd, but were taken under the protection of the Politburo in Moscow - headed by Lenin and with the participation of Stalin. Lezhnev’s magazine features Andrei Bely and Voloshin, Alexander Green and Valentin Kataev, Mandelstam, Pasternak, Prishvin, Nikolai Tikhonov and Alexei Tolstoy... Here in 1923 Bulgakov’s “Notes on Cuffs” was published, and in 1926 the publication of “The White Guard” began " It seems that the views of these three - Lezhnev, Bulgakov and Stalin - coincided at some point. (In 1933, Stalin would give Lezhnev, who had just returned from exile to Estonia, a recommendation to the party.)

Everything else is well known. About, for example, why Mandelstam ended up in a camp (where he perished), but Pasternak did not. About how Stalin patronized Bulgakov and Sholokhov. And how Anatoly Rybakov received the Stalin Prize, II degree. It is also known what Stalin did with writers in general. And not only with writers...

So who and why decided that literature teaches good?

Photo at the opening of the article: I.V. Stalin reads while resting / Photo from the personal archive of E. Kovalenko / RIA Novosti

These are the words of Joseph Vissarionovich, with which he addresses us. Stalin was not only a Great Strategist, but also a Great Prophet. In 1939, half a century before the events that would take place in our country, he predicted (revolutionary A.M. Kollontai recorded his words):

“...Many deeds of our party and people will be distorted and spat upon first

all abroad and in our country too. Zionism, striving for world domination, will take revenge on us for our successes and achievements. He still views Russia as a barbaric country and as a raw material appendage. And my name will also be slandered and slandered. Many atrocities will be attributed to me. World Zionism will strive with all its might to destroy our Union so that Russia can never rise again. The strength of the USSR lies in the friendship of peoples. The spearhead of the struggle will be aimed primarily at breaking this friendship, at separating the border regions from Russia. Here, I must admit, we have not done everything yet. Nationalism will raise its head with particular force. It will suppress internationalism and patriotism for a while, but only for a while. Many pygmy leaders will appear, traitors within their nations. In general, development in the future will take more complex and even frantic paths, the turns will be extremely sharp. Things are heading to the point where the East will become agitated. Sharp contradictions will also arise with the West. And yet, no matter how events develop, time will pass, and the eyes of new generations will be turned to

deeds and victories of our socialist Fatherland. New generations will raise the banner of their fathers and grandfathers. They will build their future on the examples of our past.”

From the book "Generalissimo" by V. Karpov

Stalin's USSR

What was the USSR led by Stalin?

How did he manage to lead the country out of the post-revolutionary devastation, in which production was destroyed, into a country that defeated fascist Europe, a country that destroyed colonialism (the beginning was made under Stalin) and wrote off England as an empire (together with the USA), into a Superpower with nuclear weapons, and an economy whose growth was simply fantastic!?

And this despite the fact that in the USSR 1,710 cities, more than 70 thousand villages, 32 thousand plants and factories were destroyed, 98 thousand collective farms, about 2 thousand state farms, 3 thousand machine and tractor stations were plundered, 17 million cattle were stolen livestock, 47 million sheep, goats, pigs. During the war years, USSR agriculture lost 7 million horses, 137 thousand tractors and much more... The numbers are simply unimaginable!

And all this was restored, and even managed to surpass many pre-war indicators by 1950.... The pace at which the restoration was carried out is simply impossible to imagine now.

For example, in 1950, 76% of state farms and 15% of collective farms were electrified, compared to 4% in 1940. Industry was in first place, and life in the countryside was not sweet, but there was no hunger, and everyone understood what they were working for. But such a modern concept as a homeless person did not exist at all - this was savagery by the standards of those years, and you would not be able to explain such a social status - you would be considered abnormal.

Food cards.

Cards were introduced in all European countries, as well as in Japan, Canada, and the USA. Moreover, the card system existed even after the war. In the USSR - until December 1947, in France - until 1949. in England, cards for gasoline were abolished in 1950, for sugar and sweets in 1953, for meat in July 1954. In Japan, rationing was abolished in 1949, and price controls were abolished in 1952. Moreover, even with cards in these countries, products were so expensive that they were impossible to buy. In the USSR, on the contrary, prices decreased - why? - this is described in one of the videos.

In the United States, since 1942, ration cards have been used to distribute many goods, both food and non-food. For example, there were cards for tires and bicycles, for gasoline and shoes. Sugar standards by 1945 were 129 grams per week, compared to 227 grams per week in 1942. By the way, cards for sugar were abolished only in 1947, while for almost all goods - in 1945. And this in a country on whose territory there was no war.

In the USSR, 5 years after the abolition of cards, bread, meat, butter were already 2.5 times cheaper than before the abolition of cards, sugar was two times cheaper. And over the same five years, in the United States, bread prices increased by a third, in England - twofold, in France - more than doubled, and meat prices in the United States increased by a quarter, in England - by a third, in France - doubled. That is, under the political system of the USSR period, when purchasing products, citizens of the USSR became almost twice as rich every five years. In terms of economic growth rates, no one has ever been ahead of the Stalinist USSR, and probably will not be ahead...

Industry.

The pace at which the country transformed into an industrial power aroused the admiration of the whole world. I will not give pre-war figures; there is something even more impressive.

This is the evacuation of industry beyond the Urals. Thousands of enterprises were moved, and almost immediately they began to supply their products to the country. But we love numbers, let me give them to you, just try to imagine the scale. Everything pales in comparison to this... But first, here’s a fact: by December 1941. The territories where 40% of the USSR population lived before the war were lost.

During the period from July to December 1941, 2,593 enterprises were evacuated. Of these, 1,523 were large. Moreover, 1,350 enterprises were evacuated in the first three months of the war. The largest number of enterprises were evacuated from Ukraine (550 enterprises), from Moscow and the Moscow region (498 enterprises), from Belarus (109 enterprises), Leningrad (92 enterprises), etc.

The largest number were evacuated to the Urals (667), Kazakhstan and Central Asia (308), while approximately the same number of enterprises were evacuated to Siberia (contrary to general opinion) as to the Volga region: 244 and 226, respectively.

It is worth adding to this that at the same time as the enterprises, at least 8 million heads of livestock, millions of museum exhibits and at least 13 million people were evacuated, and according to some sources, 17 million people...

It’s as if the Swedes (9 million) and Norwegians (4.5 million) now took everything at once and left somewhere in France.

Population.

The number of Russians (Great Russians, Little Russians and Belarusians) during Stalin's reign increased, according to census data, by an average of 1.3-1.5 million per year.

1926 – 113.7 million (146.6 million – total population of the USSR)

1939 – 133 million (170.6 million)

1959 – 159.3 million (208.8 million)

If infant mortality in 1913 was 268.6 per 1000 newborns, then in 1950 it was already 81 per 1000, that is, it decreased by 3.3 times. The average number of children born per woman in 1950 was 2.89.

Under Stalin, alcohol consumption was more than 2 times less (maximum 1.9 liters per day of pure alcohol per year - 1952) than in Tsarist Russia in 1914 - 4.7 liters. and more than 10 times less than now (20-25 l).

The overall mortality rate in Russia under Stalin decreased by almost 3 times (10.1 per 1 thousand inhabitants in 1950 compared to 29.1 in 1913).

The population of the Russian Empire was 79% illiterate (according to the 1897 census), that is, they could not even read or write. Under Stalin, illiteracy was eliminated. Literacy of the population rose to 89.1% (1932).

Other indicators.

In 1920, gold reserves amounted to 317 tons. By the end of Stalin’s rule in 1953, gold reserves increased and reached 2050 tons. Now, according to official data in Russia, it is 1168 tons.

The number of doctors in 1950 increased by 1.5 times compared to 1940.

The number of scientists in 1950 increased by 1.5 times compared to 1940.

The number of scientific institutions in 1950 increased by 40% compared to 1940.

The number of university students in 1950 increased by 50% compared to 1940.

Irreversible losses of the armed forces of the USSR

Killed and died from wounds during the evacuation stages - 5226.8. Died from wounds in hospitals - 1102.8

Died from disease, died as a result of accidents, sentenced to death (non-combat losses) - 555.5

Missing, captured - 4559.0

Total irretrievable losses - 11444.1 (33.2% of the total number of troops)

Returned from captivity - 1836 (40% of those captured)

Called up in the liberated territory and sent to the troops from among the military personnel who were previously surrounded or missing - 939.7

Total irretrievable demographic losses - 8668.4 (25.1% of the total number of troops)

588.7 thousand deserted during the Second World War (1.7% of the total number of troops). For comparison, 1865.0 thousand deserted during the First World War (12.1% of the total number of troops) - 7 times more!