What was Lenin sick in the last years of his life. From what and when did Lenin die. Trotsky's opinion on the true cause of Lenin's death

The illness and death of Vladimir Lenin are still covered with a dense veil of secrecy. The chief physician of the Scientific Medical Gerontological Center, a neurologist and a geriatrician, Valery Novoselov, spent several years studying archives containing documents about Lenin's last days, as well as monographs by doctors of the head of the Soviet state. Based on the results of the research project, a scientific documentary book is being prepared for printing. Why Lenin's diagnosis is still not disclosed,
for what purposes does the state use medical workers and why the dark historical past still interferes with normal relations between doctors and patients, she spoke with Valery Novoselov.

"Lenta.ru": Why did you decide to deal with Lenin's disease? Do you like historical detectives?

Novoselov: In 1989 I entered the postgraduate study at the Brain Research Institute of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. The topic of my work was "Neurophysiological analysis of the brain activity in normal aging and in vascular dementia." Therefore, he became interested in the clinical picture of Lenin's disease, who is believed to have had multi-infarction brain damage. There are a lot of publications on the state of his health, but mostly these are speculations different historians, of course, without signs of medical knowledge and not supported by any historical documents.

Over the entire period, only two books were published in 1997 and 2011 by Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Director of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Medicine Yuri Mikhailovich Lopukhin “Disease, death and embalming of V.I. Lenin ". Since 1951 he worked in a laboratory at the mausoleum. Actually, there is little about the leader's illness. Most of the story is still about the embalming. Yuri Mikhailovich eventually wrote that due to the illness itself he had more questions than answers. The documentary part was missing in his book.

Have you met him?

When I started writing my book, Lopukhin was no longer alive. He died in October 2016. In January 2017, I wrote a request for access to the patient's documents that are in the archive. Now it is called RGASPI (Russian State Archive of Social and Political History - approx. "Lenta.ru"), and me, which is unusual, was admitted. From January to April 2017, I spent all my free time in the archive. And at some stage I had to give a report to the Moscow Scientific Society of Physicians-Therapists. They urged me on: let's hurry. And I sent a request to RGASPI about the need to make copies of documents to speed up the work.

Why weren't they just photographed?

It is forbidden, and I am a law-abiding person. Therefore, he worked with the computer within the framework of the regime determined by the archive staff. The answer came from the archive: "We cannot provide you with photocopies of documents, since access to them is limited for 25 years." I ask how so? In accordance with the federal law on secrecy, documents in the archives of the Central Committee of the CPSU related to Lenin's illness were closed for 75 years after his death. In 1999, all restrictions were to be lifted. It turned out that the management of the archive extended the term at the request of Lenin's grand-niece. That is, I was allowed to work with documents with restricted access status, but the responsible persons did not notify me of this.

When does the new restriction end?

In 2024. But it is not a fact that these documents will again not be given the status of "restricted access", which means, translated into intelligible Russian, "no access." Indeed, in 1999, Rosarkhiv did not have any powers to extend the restriction. They knew they were breaking the law. But, as they explained, “we went to meet (...) the niece of V.I. Lenin ". In their reply, the RGASPI told me that they would not mind if the information I received in the archive would be used for scientific purposes. And now I have finished writing a scientific documentary book about doctors and their patient Lenin. For me, this book is a kind of point in the history of medicine. soviet period... In the near future, a report or a series of reports will be made at the Scientific Society of Medical Historians.

Aren't you afraid that you may be charged with divulging state secrets?

We have a lot of stories about how people got some information from scientific journals, the press, and then the state really charged them with treason. I would not like to receive a restriction in rights, for example, when traveling outside Russia, so I sent in a request about what rights I have to work with archival documents. And he asked if RGASPI employees had violated Russian law when they allowed me to work in the archive. I am waiting for an official reply.

What did you find out?

Given the difficult situation with the state secret, today I can rely in my story on documents that are in the public domain. These are monographs of the founders of Russian neurology and the doctors of our patient themselves. And there is a diary "with restricted access" (records of Ulyanov's doctors themselves), to which I was allowed. It is a thick folder with a brown leatherette cover, 410 A4 pages. Formally, this is not medical documentation, the word "diagnosis" is not used anywhere. It contains a lot of information: what the patient ate, who he met. Records begin at the end of May 1922, when it is believed that Lenin fell ill. And they end in 1924 - with his death. Three doctors kept a diary: Vasily Vasilievich Kramer, who collected the patient's anamnesis; who began to treat him; and, who completed treatment. Nobody in Russia and in the world, except me, has seen the diary. Here's an amazing fact. But this document contains the direct speech of the doctors of Lenin's patient, who found themselves in a difficult historical situation.

What specialty were they doctors?

All the main doctors were neurologists. According to the official version, Lenin suffered a series of strokes, which these specialists are dealing with. By the way, from the very beginning of Lenin's illness, one can notice the intrigue. In Russia, by 1922 there were three leading neurologists, three world stars: Lazar Solomonovich Minor, Liveriy Osipovich Darkshevich and Grigory Ivanovich Rossolimo. When, at the request of Soviet leaders, foreign doctors came to Moscow to examine Lenin, they were surprised that none of these celebrities were involved in the leader's treatment. Look: Lenin turned the history of the whole world, with what sign, plus or minus, is another question. But his personal doctor Kozhevnikov is generally unknown to anyone. Today there is only an inscription on the gravestone.

Have you specially chosen a gray mouse among the doctors?

I think they made him unknown later. I read the memoirs of the academician, the founder of the Soviet school of pathological anatomy. He mentions Kozhevnikov several times, and in the list of outstanding doctors. In addition to him, of the leading neurologists of the RSFSR (the USSR was not yet there) Lenin was observed only by Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev, who was poisoned in 1927.

Precisely because he was watching Lenin?

There is a popular version that Bekhterev was poisoned because of the diagnosis he gave to Stalin: paranoia. But I met with Bekhterev's great-grandson, director of the Research Institute of the Human Brain Svyatoslav Medvedev, and, of course, asked him about it. Relatives are sure that the reason is precisely in Lenin. In Petrograd, under the leadership of Bekhterev, the Institute of the Brain was then working, and the scientist rightly believed that Lenin's brain should be stored with them. However, Stalin was against it. He was afraid that the brain might carry information that could be used.

But why not just take and leave the brain in Moscow?

Bekhterev could not be ordered to step aside. He is the world's luminary. Lump in science. In medicine, 47 symptoms, syndromes, diseases are named after Bekhterev. Until now, none of the scientists in the world has managed to surpass this record. That is, for the leaders of the Soviet state, Bekhterev was an unattainable figure. He was also a very stubborn man. On the eve of his death, he was going to go to a major neurological conference abroad. Probably, they were afraid to release him as a carrier of the secret of Lenin's illness and death. Since there was no influence on the academician, they decided to act with a proven method - they poisoned him. He fell ill in the evening and died in the morning. The clinical picture was typical for arsenic poisoning. All subsequent events with an autopsy at home - or rather, just a brain fence and instant cremation - only confirm the political order. As well as the lack of forensic research that should have been done in this case.

What was Lenin sick with, if even today all documents about it are classified?

It is impossible to study Lenin's disease from the standpoint of modern medicine. I consider the clinical picture not from the point of view of today's medical thinking, but try to get up to the level of development of medical science of that time. I walk from two sides: I am carefully examining the doctor's diary and the postmortem report on the autopsy of Lenin's body. The document was written the day after his death, on January 22, 1924, in an estate near Moscow in Gorki. In this situation, too, everything is strange. The patient is opened on January 22, and the next day, January 23, the body is delivered to Moscow. Doesn't raise questions? Why not immediately take the body to a specialized institution, where there are pathologists, section tables, instruments, dissectors? And first they open it up in Gorki, where there is nothing. There is also a medical consultation - 11 people. Of these, only three doctors had been at the estate since their death, the rest had to be brought to the place. Moscow at that time ended not far from Saratov (now Paveletsky) railway station. The Gorki estate is far away. Around the estate there is an extensive forest park area. There are about 30 Latvian riflemen guards around.

Did the doctors write the conclusion at gunpoint?

At least the moral atmosphere was appropriate. It is quite obvious that in Moscow it would be difficult to ensure the required level of secrecy, so they chose a manor in the forest. But even in remote Gorki, an incident nevertheless occurred. The medical commission present at the autopsy was Fyodor Aleksandrovich Getye, the personal doctor of the Ulyanov family. He is a Russian man with French roots. Of all those present, he was the only one who did not sign the postmortem report on the examination of Lenin's body. However, there is a second document, also dated January 22, 1924, signed by Guetier.

What is the difference between these securities?

In the document signed by Guetier it was said: "Found a sharp change in the blood vessels of the brain, a fresh hemorrhage, which caused death ..." With this, Dr. Guetier agreed. But his signature is not under the conclusion that "the cause of the deceased's illness was atherosclerosis of the vessels due to their premature wear ..." The diagnosis of Abnutzungsclerose did not exist either then or now. At the beginning of the last century, the theory of vessel wear was recognized as untenable by all experts in the world. And the number one pathologist in the country and in the world, Aleksey Abrikosov, who opened the body, could not help but know this. As his colleagues invited to Gorki could not help but know. The autopsy lasted 3 hours 10 minutes, as indicated in the report. In his memoirs, Abrikosov indicated the time of 3 hours 50 minutes. Doctors can pay attention to this nuance.

Is the duration of the procedure an important detail?

Such an autopsy should have taken no more than two hours. What did you do for the remaining two hours? There was a telephone in Gorki, and, most likely, additional time was spent on agreeing a diagnosis with the Politburo. That is, two pages of the act were written by doctors, and the final paragraph on unusual atherosclerosis is omitted from above. But if you carefully read the pathology report, then a person with medical education will become clear that Lenin did not have any atherosclerosis.

What is atherosclerosis? It is characterized by certain morphological changes. The first is necessarily lipid (fatty) spots on the walls of blood vessels, the second is atherosclerotic plaques. A plaque is a structural morphological formation that has edges. With a sharp development of atherosclerosis, the number of plaques becomes very large, they partly merge with each other and give the inner surface of the affected arteries a rough, bumpy appearance over a large extent.

Photo: provided by Valery Novoselov

In the act of Lenin's autopsy it is written: vessels are like cords. And other details. All this describes another disease: meningovascular syphilis of the brain. The chief pathologist of Moscow in those years, Ippolit Davydovsky, has a detailed description of the characteristic features of this pathology. If its definition is imposed on the act of the autopsy of Lenin, the specialists will have no doubts.

The doctors saw syphilis at the autopsy, but were afraid to publish it?

In open documents, Lenin's doctors clearly wrote that during his lifetime the patient received treatment that corresponded to the diagnosis. And Lenin was treated only with anti-syphilitic drugs. These are heavy metals: mercury, bismuth, arsenic, large doses of iodine every day. All this is described by Academician Lopukhin. At that time, all over the world, syphilis was fought only in this way.

The composition of the team of doctors who treated Lenin also speaks volumes. For example, his main attending physician Kozhevnikov in those years was considered the leading specialist in neurosyphilis in Russia. Also, specifically for Lenin's consultation, Max Nonne, Europe's chief specialist in the treatment of neurosyphilis, was called from Germany.

Do you want to say that Lenin's illness was not a secret for the inner circle?

Lenin had a standard clinical picture for that time. In psychiatric departments of Russian hospitals, patients with exactly the same symptoms were 10 to 40 percent. Therefore, everyone perfectly understood what it was. Including this patient, it is no coincidence that he asked for poison. He saw how this disease usually ends: progressive paralysis, dementia. The chief pathologist of Moscow, Ippolit Davydovsky, wrote: “According to the data of the sections (autopsies - approx. "Lenta.ru"), the number of patients with syphilis in 1924-1925 was 5.5 percent of the population. " That is, out of a hundred Muscovites at least five were sick. And these statistics are incomplete. The regions were very different from each other. In Kalmykia, for example, patients were up to 43 percent of the payroll of the population. General examinations in the 1920s showed that in some villages of Central Russia, up to 16 percent of residents were sick with syphilis.

That is, there was an epidemic of syphilis in Russia?

Syphilis was a colossal problem not only for Russia, but also for Europe. When antibiotics were discovered in 1940, this disease began to be treated quite simply, and before that it posed a threat. state security... How Lenin got infected - we do not know, the anamnesis is poorly collected. But I want to emphasize that at that time, household syphilis was widespread. Well, the path of infection itself is not interesting to me, for me it is an ordinary disease, which has become the most confusing event in the history of not only our medicine, but medicine of the whole world.

If syphilis is everyday, in theory, it's not a shame to talk about it. Anyone could get infected, even a child. Why was it all kept secret?

Syphilis, no matter what, has always been considered an "unworthy" disease. It had many names: French, Polish, rotten disease, French venus. For doctors, it does not matter who and what to treat: even white, even red. There is deontology - the science of what should be. The doctor chose his own path, followed the path of duty. But then politics intervened in medicine. What were the revolutionaries building? A man of a new type. Syphilis did not fit into this "red project" in any way.

You mentioned the science of ought. But is it not a violation of deontology that the doctors made a deal with the authorities, hiding the truth?

Nobody harmed the patient. The deal with the authorities consisted in keeping the doctors silent, participating in a political game with the printing of false bulletins with information about the health of the head of state. In total, 35 bulletins were published during the illness. Even Lenin laughed when he read these medical reports. A diary entry has been preserved about this. “I thought the best diplomats were in The Hague, but in fact they are my doctors,” he said. But it was not the doctors who wrote the bulletins, which reported that Lenin had gastroenteritis.

GPU (Main Political Directorate under the NKVD - approx. "Lenta.ru") walked around Europe like at home. In addition, foreigners received a lot of money. Someone 50 thousand, someone 25 thousand gold rubles. Today this amount is equivalent to millions of dollars.

What happened to the Soviet doctors who treated Lenin?

I think there was an unwritten agreement: while the doctors are silent, the authorities do not touch them. The People's Commissariat of Health Nikolai Semashko ensured its implementation. He served as a buffer between doctors and Stalin, trying to smooth out the roughness. It did not work only with Fyodor Gettier, who refused to sign the autopsy report of Lenin. They treated him very cunningly. Old Guetier had an only son, Alexander Fedorovich, at the time a famous boxing coach. He was shot in 1938. Father could not bear it and died two months later. Nikolai Popov was also shot - he was the youngest doctor in the Leninist brigade, he had just entered the residency and, with a famous patient, served as an orderly. In 1935, he tried to question Nadezhda Krupskaya

Is there a connection between the Stalinist "Doctors' Plot" and Lenin's disease?

In 1949 Nikolai Semashko, the guarantor of the unspoken agreement between Stalin and the doctors, dies. Himself, by my own death. And then you can put forward many versions. Perhaps Stalin remembered how the doctors “agreed”. And he just imagined what could happen to him. And the "Doctors' Plot" was born. In 1953, about 30 leading professors of medicine were arrested in Moscow and Leningrad. How many ordinary doctors - no one counted. At the end of March 1953, they were to be publicly hanged in the squares of both capitals. But - lucky. Stalin died. However, the consequences of all these cases are still felt.

How?

I believe that today's attitude of Russians towards doctors is a merit, among other things, of the case with Lenin. I talked a lot with people, outstanding historians of the country and the world, great doctors, scientists and ordinary citizens. Most believe that Vladimir Ilyich was treated "for the wrong thing and not that way." As a result, many people have deep in their minds distrust of doctors. Therefore, we must show that our hands are clean, that Lenin was treated according to the highest standards of that time, the doctors did everything they could. Maybe then at least a small percentage of Russians will understand that doctors should not be treated like pests. Our colleagues, doctors from that story, deserve the right to the truth.

Is it possible to establish an official diagnosis of Lenin with modern scientific methods?

We need political will. Since the collapse of the USSR, 38.5 million people have been born in Russia and 52 million have died. The population is completely different than in Lenin's times. When those who studied scientific communism in universities, and the former Octobrists, will finally become a thing of the past, then changes will become possible. History requires study and publication so that this does not happen again. Today, when I observe the speed of criminal proceedings against doctors, it seems to me that the authorities have started playing games with doctors again. Maybe there was no direct command to put doctors in prison. But there are also non-verbal signals.

After the death of Lenin on January 21, 1924, at the mourning session of the Second Congress of Soviets, it was decided to build
The mausoleum at the Kremlin wall. By January 27, the day of the funeral of the leader, a temporary wooden mausoleum, designed by Shchusev, was erected

The first bell about the illness, which in the 23rd turned Ilyich into a weak and feeble-minded person, and soon brought him to the grave, rang in 1921. The country was overcoming the consequences civil war, the leadership rushed from War Communism to the New Economic Policy (NEP). And the head of the Soviet government, Lenin, whose every word the country eagerly caught, began to complain of headaches and rapid fatigue. Later, numbness of the extremities, up to complete paralysis, unexplained attacks of nervous excitement, during which Ilyich waves his hands and says some nonsense ... It comes to the point that Ilyich “communicates” with those around him with just three words: “ just about ”,“ revolution ”and“ conference ”.

In 1923, the Politburo was already doing without Lenin.

"Makes some kind of obscure sounds"

Lenin's doctors are discharged from Germany. But neither the "guest workers" from medicine, nor the domestic luminaries of science can in any way diagnose him. Ilya Zbarsky, the son and assistant of the biochemist Boris Zbarsky, who embalmed Lenin's body and for a long time headed the laboratory at the Mausoleum, being familiar with the leader's medical history, described the situation in the book “Object No. 1”: “By the end of the year (1922 - Ed.) His condition is noticeably worsening, instead of articulate speech he makes some kind of vague sounds. After some relief, in February 1923, complete paralysis of the right arm and leg sets in ... The look, previously penetrating, becomes expressionless and dull. German doctors Förster, Klemperer, Nonne, Minkowski and Russian professors Osipov, Kozhevnikov, Kramer, invited for big money, are again in complete confusion. "

In the spring of 1923, Lenin was transported to Gorki - in fact, to die. “In the photograph taken by Lenin's sister (six months before his death. - Ed.), We see a thinner man with a wild face and crazy eyes,” continues I. Zbarsky. - He cannot speak, night and day he is tormented by nightmares, at times he screams ... Against the background of some relief on January 21, 1924, Lenin feels general malaise, lethargy ... Professors Foerster and Osipov, who examined him after dinner, did not show any alarming symptoms. However, at about 6 pm, the patient's condition deteriorates sharply, convulsions appear ... pulse 120-130. At about half past six, the temperature rises to 42.5 ° C. At 18 hours 50 minutes ... the doctors pronounced death. "

The broad masses of the people took to heart the death of the leader of the world proletariat. On the morning of January 21, Ilyich himself tore off a page of the loose-leaf calendar. Moreover, it is clear that he did it with his left hand: his right one was paralyzed. In the photo: Felix Dzerzhinsky and Kliment Voroshilov at Lenin's tomb.

What happened to one of the most extraordinary figures of his time? As possible diagnoses, doctors discussed epilepsy, Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis and even lead poisoning from a bullet fired by Fanny Kaplan in 1918. One of the two bullets - it was removed from the body only after Lenin's death - chipped off a part of the scapula, touched a lung, and passed in the immediate vicinity of vital arteries. This allegedly could also cause premature sclerosis of the carotid artery, the extent of which became clear only during dissection. Excerpts from the minutes in his book were cited by Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Yuri Lopukhin: sclerotic changes in the left internal carotid artery of Lenin in its intracranial part were such that blood simply could not flow through it - the artery turned into a solid dense whitish cord.

Traces of stormy youth?

However, the symptoms of the disease were not much like ordinary vascular sclerosis. Moreover, during Lenin's lifetime, the disease most of all resembled progressive paralysis due to brain damage due to late complications of syphilis. Ilya Zbarsky draws attention to the fact that this diagnosis was definitely meant then: some of the doctors invited to Lenin specialized in syphilis, and the drugs that were prescribed to the leader constituted a course of treatment for this disease according to the methods of that time. This version, however, does not fit some facts. Two weeks before his death, on January 7, 1924, at the initiative of Lenin, his wife and sister arranged a Christmas tree for the children from the surrounding villages. Ilyich himself seemed to feel so good that, sitting in a wheelchair, for some time he even took part in the general fun in the winter garden of the former manor’s estate. On the last day of his life, he tore off a leaf of a loose-leaf calendar with his left hand. As a result of the autopsy, the professors who worked with Lenin even made a special statement about the absence of any signs of syphilis. Yuri Lopukhin, however, on this occasion refers to the note he saw of the then People's Commissar of Health Nikolai Semashko to the pathologist, future academician Alexei Abrikosov - with a request "to pay special attention to the need for strong morphological evidence of the absence of luetic (syphilitic) defeats in order to preserve the bright image of the leader." Is it to reasonably dispel rumors, or, conversely, to hide something? “The bright image of the leader” remains a sensitive topic today. But, by the way, it is never too late to put an end to the debate about the diagnosis - out of scientific interest - Lenin's brain tissues are stored in the former Brain Institute.

Hastily, in 3 days, the cobbled up Mausoleum-1 was only about three meters high.

"Relics under communist sauce"

Meanwhile, while Ilyich was still alive, his comrades-in-arms began an undercover struggle for power. By the way, there is a version why, on October 18-19, 1923, the sick and partially immobilized Lenin only once got out of Gorki for Moscow. Formally - to an agricultural exhibition. But why did he stop by the Kremlin apartment for the whole day? The publicist N. Valentinov-Volsky, who emigrated to the USA, wrote: Lenin in his personal papers was looking for documents compromising Stalin. But apparently, someone has already "thinned out" the papers.

Even with a living leader, members of the Politburo in the fall of 1923 began to vividly discuss his funeral. It is clear that the ceremony should be magnificent, but what to do with the body - cremate according to the proletarian anti-church fashion or embalm it according to the last word of science? "We ... instead of icons hung the leaders and will try for Pakhom (a simple village peasant. - Ed.) And the" lower classes "to open the relics of Ilyich under a communist sauce," wrote the ideologist of the party Nikolai Bukharin in one of his private letters. However, at first it was only about the farewell procedure. Therefore, Abrikosov, who performed the autopsy of Lenin's body, carried out embalming on January 22, but the usual, temporary one. “... Opening the body, he introduced a solution into the aorta, which consisted of 30 parts of formalin, 20 parts of alcohol, 20 parts of glycerin, 10 parts of zinc chloride and 100 parts of water,” explains I. Zbarsky in the book.

On January 23, the coffin with Lenin's body, in front of a large crowd of people who had gathered, despite the bitter frost, was loaded into the funeral train (the locomotive and the carriage are now in the museum at the Paveletsky railway station) and taken to Moscow, to the Column Hall of the House of Unions. At this time, at the Kremlin wall on Red Square, deep-frozen ground is being crushed with dynamite to equip the tomb and the foundation of the first Mausoleum. The newspapers of that time reported that about 100 thousand people visited the Mausoleum in a month and a half, but a huge queue still lined up at the door. And in the Kremlin they begin to frantically think what to do with the body, which in early March begins to rapidly lose its presentable appearance ...

In the last months of his life Lenin hardly spoke, could not read, and his "hunt" looked like walking in a wheelchair. Almost immediately after his death, Lenin's body was opened to determine the cause of death. After a thorough examination of the brain, it was established - hemorrhage. The workers were told: "the dear leader died because he did not spare his strength and did not know rest at work."

During the days of mourning, the press in every possible way emphasized the sacrifice of Lenin, the "great sufferer." This was another component of the myth: Lenin really worked a lot, but he was also attentive enough to himself and his health, did not smoke, and, as they say, did not abuse. Almost immediately after the death of Lenin, a version appeared that the leader was poisoned by order of Stalin, especially since no analyzes were made that would reveal traces of poison in the body. It was assumed that syphilis could become another cause of death - the drugs at that time were primitive, and sometimes even dangerous, and venereal diseases in some cases, indeed, can provoke a stroke, but the symptoms of the leader, as well as the posthumous autopsy, refuted these speculations. Detailed report The first public bulletin, which was released immediately after the autopsy, contained only summary causes of death. But on January 25, the "official autopsy results" appeared with numerous details.

In addition to a detailed description of the brain, the results of the study of the skin were given, right down to the indication of each scar and damage, the heart was described and its exact size, the state of the stomach, kidneys and other organs were indicated. British journalist, head of the Moscow branch of the New York Times Walter Duranty was surprised that such detailing did not make a depressing impression on the Russians, on the contrary, "the deceased leader was the object of such keen interest that the public wanted to know everything about him." However, there is evidence that the report caused "shocked bewilderment" among the non-partisan Moscow intelligentsia, and they saw in it a purely materialistic approach to human nature, characteristic of the Bolsheviks. Such a detailed anatomy and emphasis shifted to the inevitability of death could have another reason - the doctors, who “failed” to save the patient, were simply trying to protect themselves.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.

((Mat.23, 29))

For almost 30 years, Lenin nurtured the cherished dream of carrying out a coup d'etat in Russia and seizing power. However, having usurped power in Russia, Lenin ruled the state for almost a little over 5 years. But over the years, he has caused the peoples of Russia as much grief and suffering as they have not experienced in the 500-year history of the Russian state. Even being seriously ill and helpless, he still continues to mischievous and malicious, advises all dissidents on the question of the forms of development of world history "to declare just fools" 1394. Only rock could stop the evil genius.

Lenin passed away in terrible agony and suffering. In a half-agitated state and speechless, he suffered a long and painful agony until the end came. It happened in Gorki on January 21, 1924 at 18 hours 50 minutes.

On mourning days, party leaders organized crowded processions of workers along the central streets of Moscow and Petrograd. People carried large banners with absurd and stupid inscriptions. Here is the content of one of them:

Lenin's Tomb - Cradle of Humanity

I think that this inscription also speaks eloquently about the mentality of the Bolshevik leaders.

On January 27, at 4 pm, amid volleys of mourning fireworks, the coffin with the remains of the "leader, friend and teacher of the working people of the whole world" (?) Was brought into the wooden Mausoleum hastily knocked together on Red Square, later, in 1930, replaced by a granite-marble one. At this moment, a signal was transmitted over the radio and all telegraph devices of the USSR:

"Stand up, comrades, Ilyich is being lowered into the grave!"

However, Ilyich was not lowered into the grave. The coffin with his body, like a museum piece, was placed on a pedestal inside the Mausoleum, where, unfortunately, it is still located.

In fact, the ideologists of the Bolshevik Party turned this memorial structure into a museum, with the only difference that the entrance to it is free, and unlike other museums, it was guarded by special units of the KGB.

On January 24, Pravda published an article describing the last minutes of Lenin's life: “... His eyes became unconscious, Vladimir Alexandrovich 170 and Pyotr Petrovich 171 held him almost in his arms, at times he moaned dully, a convulsion ran through his body, At first I held him by the hot, wet hand, then I just watched the handkerchief stained with blood, how the seal of death lay on the deathly pale face. Prof. Foerster and Doctor Elistratov injected camphor, tried to maintain artificial respiration, nothing came of it, it was impossible to save ... "1395

It was naive to think that he could be saved. It was a fate in which he himself played a major role.

On the eve of the "funeral", on January 25, an article by the People's Commissar of Health H.A. Semashko, in which he describes at length the causes of Lenin's illness and death. Referring to the autopsy protocol, the author of the article, in particular, wrote that “sclerosis struck first of all the brain, that is, the organ that performed the most intense work in Vladimir Ilyich’s life, the disease usually affects“ the most vulnerable place ”(Abnutzungssclerose), Vladimir Ilyich's brain was such a “vulnerable” spot: he was constantly in intense work, he was systematically overworked, all intense activity and all excitement struck primarily on the brain.

The very nature of sclerosis is defined in the autopsy protocol as sclerosis of wear, development, use of blood vessels.

With this statement, the protocol puts an end to all the assumptions (and even chatter) that were made during the life of Vladimir Ilyich in our country and abroad regarding the nature of the disease. The nature of atherosclerosis is now clear and captured in the protocol "Abnutzungssclerose" ... "1396 (Emphasis added. - AA).

The official editions, however, briefly say that "Lenin died of a cerebral hemorrhage." Details of the disease were not reported. Moreover, a strict taboo was imposed on scientific research into the causes of Lenin's illness and death. Obviously, members of the Politburo and associates of the deceased, not without reason, feared that in the course of scientific research, unwanted facts might surface. But, as they say, you can't hide an sewn in a sack.

I will allow myself, not without reason, to question the objectivity of Semashko's description of the causes of Lenin's illness and death, as well as the conclusions and conclusions drawn by scientists and doctors in the protocols of pathological and microscopic studies.

My doubts did not arise immediately and not from scratch, but from the information collected over the years.

Thus, the famous Russian scientist, neuropathologist and psychiatrist G.I. Rossolimo in a confidential conversation with his old friend, professor of the Kremlin's Medical and Sanitary Administration V.A. Shchurovsky expressed his views on Lenin's illness. In particular, he noted that acute attacks and cerebrovascular accidents in Ulyanov, which led to paralysis of the right side of the body and loss of speech, were partly provoked by hereditary psychopathy. He also said that Professor Otfried Foerster was of the same opinion.

Grigory Ivanovich also spoke about the council, which took place on March 21, 1923 with the participation of Semashko, Stryumpel, Bumke, Genshen, Nonne, Foerster, Minkovsky, Kozhevnikov, Kramer, Osipov, Obukh and other Soviet and foreign doctors. All those present agreed that the patient had a syphilitic disease. One of the oldest and most experienced neuropathologists, Professor Strumpel, was especially categorical in determining the final diagnosis, who, after examining Lenin, decisively stated that the patient had syphilitic inflammation of the inner lining of the arteries, therefore, his treatment, he said, should be exclusively antiluestic 173. All doctors, without exception, including People's Commissar Semashko, agreed with Professor Strumpel.

In turn, V.A. Shchurovsky shared with his friend the opinion of Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev1397, who, in a private conversation with him, expressed deep conviction that Ulyanov had long and seriously ill cerebral vessels, the reason for which can only be said after postmortem examinations. At the same time, he added that Dr. Vasily Vasilyevich Kramer1398 completely agreed with him.

More than half a century later, after the conversation of colleagues, which took place at Shchurovsky's apartment in Krivoarbatsky lane, the opportunity presented itself to once again be convinced of the high professionalism of G.I. Rossolimo. One of Lenin's diseases identified by Rossolimo turned out to be unmistakable. Sensational materials from the Zhytomyr Regional Archives suggest that Lenin's great-grandfather, Moisha Itskovich Blank, was a mentally ill person. But it is known that genes are passed on. And fate had to deal so cruelly with the Russians so that their future would be directly dependent on the pipe dream and adventure of a descendant of a mentally ill person!

And here is what the former Minister of Health Academician B.V. Petrovsky in the article “Injuries and illness of V.I. Lenin ", published in" Pravda "in November 1990:" Apparently, there was a hereditary predisposition to atherosclerosis. " The author also emphasizes that "at first Vladimir Ilyich occasionally complained of headaches," and at the same time writes that Lenin suffered from this disease (atherosclerosis - AA) "not five or ten years" 1399 (emphasis mine. - A.A.). One can agree with the opinion of the respected academician. Lenin's headaches really bothered for a long time and quite often. Another thing is surprising: B.V. Petrovsky carefully and more than once studied the autopsy protocol and the materials of the brain study, but for some reason he avoided their scientific commentary. Why? The reader will find out about this a little later.

A little more than a year after the publication of B.V. Petrovsky of his article, medical scientists made new scientific studies of the remains of Lenin, in particular his brain. The results of the study showed with scientific reliability that Lenin had a venereal disease in his youth. This fact was reflected in the media. Perhaps, I thought, the young Ulyanov caught this disease in the summer of 1895, during his first trip abroad, when, by his own admission, he “went a lot and ended up ... 174 in one Swiss resort” 1400 for treatment? However, what does it matter where and when he contracted this contagious disease. It is important to say something else: Lenin was not such a sinless angel and cleanliness as his students, associates and admirers wrote and said all the years. But all this, as they say, is from the field of abstract declarative judgments and statements. We need facts, namely: the true diagnosis of Lenin's disease; materials of various analyzes (urine, blood, etc.); information about the means with which the patient was treated, and much more. For example, as a historian, I was interested in the following question: how long ago did Lenin have headaches? Academician B.V. Petrovsky believes that Lenin suffered from this disease for more than ten years. And how many more - 15, 20? However, let's not guess, but turn to the sources.

During his first trip abroad, Lenin unexpectedly ended up in a medical sanatorium in Switzerland on July 18, 1895. In which one, he does not indicate in the letter. Lenin is silent about the main illness, due to which he "got" into this medical and health-improving institution. Meanwhile, he writes from there that “I decided to take this opportunity to get down to the annoying disease (stomach) ... I hope to get out of here in 4-5 days” 1401 (emphasis mine - AA). (Lenin was wrong: he got out of the hospital much later.)

But, as far as is known, even with the modern level of medicine, it is impossible to cure the patient's stomach in 4-5 days. Hence the conclusion: Lenin was hiding from his loved ones the main disease, which the doctors promised to cure, or rather heal, in five days.

On August 29, 1895, Lenin sent his mother a letter from Berlin, in which he complained about the wrong way of life "in connection with the observation of doctoral prescriptions." What he does not specifically write, but asks to send "50-100 rubles", expressing his surprise: "The money is going, the devil knows where" 1402 (emphasis mine - AA).

In a letter from St. Petersburg dated January 12, 1896, he writes to his sister Anna: “I am trying to follow a certain diet” 1403. Apparently, Lenin (and, first of all, the doctors) had no idea that the aggravation of mental illness ( increased irritability, headaches and other unpleasant manifestations) are caused by the underlying disease - cerebrovascular disease. And the fact that during the second trip (emigration) on July 16, 1900, Lenin had with him the addresses of doctors living in Leipzig - neuropathologists and psychiatrists1404, evidence of what was said.

Curious information is also contained in a letter dated July 13, 1908, sent to his younger sister, Maria: "My illness has greatly delayed my work on philosophy" 1405. What he is sick with, again does not write anything. But one thing is clear: the neglected disease made itself felt more and more often. But he did not write to his mother about his serious illness, so that she would not worry. He allowed himself this in letters to his sisters. So, in a letter to Maria Ilyinichna dated February 15, 1917 from Zurich, Lenin directly wrote: "... the working capacity due to diseased nerves is desperately bad" 1406.

As you can see, he does not say a word about stomach disease.

After returning from emigration, Lenin, as the reader already knows, plunges headlong into the work of preparing and carrying out a coup d'etat. Physical and mental stress increases significantly. 4 days before the July armed putsch organized by the Bolsheviks, Lenin went to rest at V.D. Bonch-Bruevich. In his memoirs V.D. Bonch-Bruyevich writes that Lenin in his dacha "had headaches, his face turned pale, his eyes spoke of great fatigue" (emphasis added - AA) 1407.

Let us recall how on the evening of October 15, 1917, an attack began in Lenin's safe apartment, accompanied by severe headaches.

It is quite obvious that over the years Lenin's illness became more and more aggravated. Writer G.I. Konovalov, in his journalistic article "Son of the Volga", covering the events of the summer of 1918, writes that Lenin "once ... felt dizzy, had a slight faint." He also notes that Lenin suffered inconceivable headaches. ”1408 In his memoirs, M.I. Ulyanova also emphasized that “in the winter of 20-21, 21-22 / years / V.I. felt bad. Headaches, loss of working capacity worried him greatly ”1409 (emphasis added - AA).

In this chapter, the author did not set himself the task of repeating the facts from the history of Lenin's illness, and even more so to analyze the autopsy protocols and microscopic examination - this is the business of specialists, and we will turn to their opinion below. The author considers only the chronological framework of Lenin's illness, and it seems that the historian can do it.

Analysis of sources and literature shows that headaches bothered Lenin for more than a quarter of a century. One of the causes of headaches, according to medical scientists (Rossolimo, Foerster, etc.), is mental illness, as for the second illness, I think that in order to identify it, the reader should be involved in this work, providing him with three historical documents. The first document was born on January 22, 1924; The second was on February 16, 1924. And the third ... However, we will not rush things, and will present these documents at the disposal of the reader.

Document No. I 175 (protocol of pathological examination).

“Elderly man, correct physique, satisfactory nutrition. On the skin of the anterior end of the right clavicle there is a linear scar, 2 centimeters long. On the outer surface of the left shoulder, there is another scar of irregular shape 2x1 cm (the first bullet mark). On the skin of the back at the angle of the left scapula, there is a roundish scar 1 centimeter (trace of the second bullet). On the border of the lower and middle part of the humerus, callus is felt. Above this place on the shoulder, the first bullet surrounded by a connective membrane is felt in the soft tissues.

Skull - after opening - the dura mater is thickened along the longitudinal sinus, dull, pale. There is yellow pigmentation in the left temporal and partly frontal regions. The anterior part of the left hemisphere, in comparison with the right, is somewhat sunken. Fusion of the pia mater and dura mater at the left Sylvester's groove.

The brain - without the dura mater - weighs 1340 grams. In the left hemisphere, in the area of \u200b\u200bthe percentral gyri, the parietal and occipital lobes, the paracentral fissure and the temporal gyri are areas of strong retraction of the brain surface. The pia mater in these places is cloudy, whitish, with a yellow tinge.

Vessels of the base of the brain. Both vertebral arteries are thickened, do not collapse, their walls are dense, the lumen on the cut is sharply narrowed (gap). The same changes in the posterior cerebral arteries. The internal carotid arteries, as well as the anterior cerebral arteries, are dense, with uneven thickening of the walls; their lumen is significantly narrowed.

The left internal carotid artery in its intracranial part does not have a lumen and on the cut appears in the form of a solid dense, whitish cord. The left Sylvian artery is very thin, compacted, but retains a small slit-like lumen in the cut ...

When the brain is cut, its ventricles are dilated, especially the left one, contains fluid. In places of depressions - softening of the brain tissue with many cystic cavities. Foci of fresh hemorrhage in the area of \u200b\u200bthe choroid plexus covering the quadruple ...

Internal organs. There are adhesions in the pleural cavities. The heart is enlarged, there is a thickening of the semilunar and bicuspid valves. The ascending aorta has a small number of bulging yellowish plaques. The coronary arteries are strongly compacted, their lumen gapes, clearly narrowed.

On the inner surface of the descending aorta, as well as the larger arteries of the abdominal cavity, there are numerous, strongly protruding yellowish plaques, some of which are ulcerated and petrified.

Lungs. In the upper part of the left lung there is a scar, 1 centimeter penetrating into the depth of the lung (bullet trace. - B.P.). Above, fibrous thickening of the pleura.

The spleen, stomach, liver, intestines, pancreas, organs of internal secretion are almost without visible features. " Anatomical diagnosis

“Widespread arterial atherosclerosis with pronounced lesions of the cerebral arteries. Atherosclerosis of the descending part of the aorta. Hypertrophy of the left ventricle of the heart, multiple foci of yellow softening (due to vascular sclerosis) in the left hemisphere of the brain during the period of resorption and transformation into cysts. Fresh hemorrhage in the choroid plexus of the brain over the quadruple.

Callus of the humerus. An encapsulated bullet in the soft tissues of the upper left shoulder. " Conclusion

“The basis of the deceased's disease is widespread atherosclerosis of the vessels due to their premature wear (Abnutzyngssclerose). Due to the narrowing of the lumen of the arteries of the brain and a violation of its nutrition from insufficient blood flow, focal softening of the tissue occurred, explaining all the preceding symptoms of the disease (paralysis, speech disorders). The immediate cause of death was 1) increased impairment of blood circulation in the annual brain and 2) hemorrhage in the pia mater of the quadruple region.

The postmortem examination protocol (autopsy) was signed by: A.I. Abrikosov, V.V. Bunak, B.V. Weisbrod, F.A. Guetier, A.A. Deshin, P.I. Elistratov, V.P. Osipov, V.N. Rozanov, N.A. Semashko (People's Commissar of Health), O. Foerster. Two of them (AI Abrikosov and AA Deshin) did not participate in Lenin's treatment.

All in all, 8 foreign and 19 Soviet doctors took part in the treatment of Lenin and the councils. Soviet doctors

1. M.I. Averbakh 11.M.B. Krol

2. V.M. Bekhterev 12.L. G. Levin

3. V.V. Bunak 13.B.A. Obyx

4. B.V. Weisboard 14. V.P. Osipov

5. F.A. Guetier 15. V.F. Popov

6.S.M. Dobrogaev 16. V.N. Rozanov

7. S.P. Dorshkevich 17. G.I. Rossolimo

8. P.I. Elistratov 18. N.A. Semashko

9. A.M. Kozhevnikov 19. D.V. Felberg

10. V.V. Kramer Foreign doctors

1. J. Borchard 5. O. Minkowski

2.O. Bumke 6.P. Nonne

3.E. Genshen 7.O. Foerster

4.G. Klemperer 8.A.Strumpel

Some of the foreign doctors came to Moscow several times (for example, Professors Forster, Strumpel). They all received large royalties in dollars and pounds sterling.

In addition to doctors, Lenin had a nurse, E.I. Fomina and the orderly, student of the medical faculty of Moscow State University V.A. Rukavishnikov.

It is surprising that the attending physicians - Professor V.V. Kramer and assistant professor L.M. Kozhevnikov. Particularly alarming is the fact that a prominent scientist, Director of the Institute of the Brain V.M. Bekhterev. As for Professor O. Foerster (the only foreign doctor who signed the protocol), this highly paid specialist signed the protocol without looking, since he did not speak Russian. In addition, he was not interested in the content of the protocol: he was completely satisfied with the tens of thousands of pounds sterling that he received from the state treasury at the direction of the Central Committee of the RCP (b). Other foreign professors also received a lot. Document No. 2 (protocol of microscopic examination) 176

“There is a thickening of the inner membranes at the sites of atherosclerotic plaques. Lipoids related to cholesterol compounds are present everywhere. In many accumulations of plaques - crystals of cholesterol, calcareous layers, petrification.

The middle muscular membrane of the vessels is atrophic, sclerotic in the inner layers. The outer shell is unchanged.

Brain. Focuses of softening (cysts), resorption of dead tissue, so-called granular balls, deposits of blood pigment grains are visible. The glial compaction is small.

Good development of pyramidal cells in the frontal lobe of the right hemisphere, normal appearance, size, nuclei, processes.

Correct ratio of cell layers on the right. Absence of changes in myelin fibers, neuroglia and intracerebral vessels (right).

Left hemisphere - proliferation of the pia mater, edema.

Atherosclerosis is a wear sclerosis.

“Thus, - writes A.I. Abrikosov, - a microscopic examination confirmed the autopsy data, establishing that the only basis for all changes is atherosclerosis of the arterial system, with a predominant lesion of the arteries of the brain.

No indications of the specific nature of the process (syphilis, etc.) have been found either in the vascular system or in other organs ”1410.

Without at all doubting the authority and competence of a scientist of such a high rank, who performed a microscopic study, I should note that it seems that Professor A.I. Abrikosov was solely engaged in research. This is just what is hard to believe. This begs the question: why the Brain Institute for the Study of Brain and Mental Activity, headed by Academician V.M. Bekhterev? Indeed, the conclusion of the pathological study unequivocally states that the immediate cause of Lenin's death was "increased circulatory disorders in the brain and hemorrhage in the pia mater of the quadruple region."

Meanwhile, both the autopsy and microscopic examination, as is clear from the publications, are entrusted only (?) To the pathologist A.I. Abrikosov. We will refrain from commenting on this fact and, as agreed, we will provide the reader with the opportunity to familiarize himself with the latest document. But first I would like to acquaint the reader with a short history of finding this, in my opinion, valuable and extremely important document.

This document was found by D. Pepelovsky, professor of Russian history at the University of Western Ontario (Canada). The document belongs to the pen of Dr. Vladimir Mikhailovich Zernov. His father, Mikhail Stepanovich Zernov, before the Bolshevik coup was a famous Moscow doctor, philanthropist and public figure, the creator of free medical and sanatorium institutions in Essentuki and Sochi.

The author of the document, V.M. Zernov was born in Moscow in 1904. After October 1917 he emigrated with his family to Yugoslavia. He graduated from the Faculty of Medicine in Belgrade, worked in Paris. He specialized in immunity and physiology of isolated organs. Here is the full content of the document: Document No. 3. “Medical indications of V.I. Lenin's progressive paralysis "177.

Dina Mikhailovna Maze, who translated books on psychiatry and neurology, told me that in the early 1930s she saw her old friend and collaborator in Russia, prof. Moscow Zalkind University 1411 (formerly employed by Bekhterev). He stopped in Paris on his way to America for a scientific convention. Prof. Zalkind, a staunch communist, told her that he was one of those tasked with researching Lenin's brain. Lenin's brain, he said, was a characteristic tissue that was reborn under the influence of the syphilistic process. After some time, there was a scientific congress of psychiatry and neurology in Russia. D.M. Maze instructed her French acquaintances who were traveling to this congress to find Prof. Zalkind and give him some order. The French could not find him in any way. Finally, one of the Moscow scientists told them: “Don't look for Zalkind, he is no longer in Moscow” 178. Apparently, he was eliminated.

In 1928 or 1929, prof. I.P. Pavlov 1412. Knowing well my father, Dr. Mikhail Stepanovich Zernov, prof. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov came to dinner with his son and his friend - prof. S.I. Metalnikov. Prof. Pavlov said that in Lenin's will it was written: "Take care of Pavlov." Therefore, he was not touched and he was not afraid that he would be arrested, but he feared that after his death the government would take revenge on his son. He compared the Soviet system with the three most terrible diseases: syphilis, cancer and tuberculosis. According to Pavlov, the Soviet system is terrible in that it tries to spiritually corrupt a person. Prof. Pavlov argued that Lenin was sick with syphilis and during his rule of Russia was a typical patient with progressive paralysis.

Prof. Pavlov personally knew the scientists entrusted with the study of Lenin's brain, and he confirmed that they found changes characteristic of the effects of syphilis and progressive paralysis. Under threat of death, they were forbidden to talk about it.

Of course, one can doubt the veracity of the will of Dr. Vladimir Mikhailovich Zernov, but there are fundamental questions that do not allow doing this. For example, why the famous doctor and scientist A.B. Zalkind suddenly disappears in the early 30s, and after 1933 his name ceases to be mentioned in reference books? Why did V.M. Zernova did not respond to the USSR Ministry of Health? I don’t think that by publishing his article about the injury and illness of Lenin, Academician B.V. Petrovsky was not aware of the document published in the Posev magazine in January 1984. I am more than sure that such a prominent scientist as Academician B.V. Petrovsky, was familiar with the conclusions of the consultation of doctors, which took place on March 21, 1923, as well as with the publication of entries in the diaries of Professor A. Strumpel, the contents of the book of Professor M. Nonne and articles of Dr. V. Flerov. But since the opinions and conclusions of the above-mentioned doctors were not reflected in the works of B.V. Petrovsky, then I myself will have to acquaint the reader with them.

I'll start with Professor A. Strumpel, and here's why: I have long wanted to get acquainted with the primary source, and not confine myself to information that has come down to me from third parties. And, fortunately, they succeeded. Thus, in early October 1997, while in Frankfurt am Main, I got acquainted with the contents of the diary entries of Professor Strumpel, which were published in the newspaper "Frankrurter Allgemeine Zeitung".

Everything that Stryumpel recorded is, of course, interesting, especially for specialists. But I took an increased interest in the diagnosis of Lenin's disease, which was made by this famous, internationally recognized neurologist and neuropathologist. Here is the literal content of the diagnosis: "Endarteritis lues" 179 with secondary foci of softening, most likely. But the lues is undeniable. (Wasserman in blood and cerebrospinal fluid is negative. Cerebrospinal fluid is normal.) Treatment, if at all possible, should be specific "1414 (emphasis mine. - AA).

For comments on the diagnosis made by Professor Strumpel, let us turn to Academician Yu.M. Lopukhin. Here is what he writes about this: “The attending physicians, and especially Foerster and Kozhevnikov, still did not completely rule out the syphilitic genesis of brain phenomena. This, in particular, is evidenced by the appointment of injections of arsenic, which, as you know, has long been the main anti-syphilitic agent ”1415.

In the book by Yu.M. Lopukhin contains, in my opinion, an interesting remark. Selecting and studying archival materials of laboratory analyzes of urine and other substances of Lenin, the scientist writes: “But neatly stitched beautiful books with black calico binding and silver embossing, containing a huge number of urine analyzes and the longest graphs of the dynamics of its main indicators - analyzes, in principle, not very necessary and clarifying nothing. But on the other hand, how neat and conscientious is the Kremlin's medical and sanitary service, how beautifully everything is decorated! .. Unfortunately, the archives did not find blood tests, although it is known that they were done many times ... "1416.

There is no doubt that the blood test materials were removed from the archive and destroyed so that they could not clarify the diagnosis of Lenin's disease.

Cautious, but at the same time understandable for a specialist, information is contained in the statements of an experienced specialist in brain syphilis, Professor M. Nonne: “... Nonne, returning from Moscow, said at a meeting of doctors in Bremen that he pledged not to name the diagnosis (Lenin's disease. - A .A.), “Although here, in our country, every doctor knows what kind of brain diseases they are calling me to!” 1417

Indeed, for what purpose was an experienced specialist in brain syphilis invited to Moscow if the patient suffered from cerebral atherosclerosis ?!

In the published monograph “The Beginning and Purpose of My Life” Nonne writes that “in the literature on Lenin and the consequences of syphilis for nervous system, you can find that Lenin had brain syphilis or paralysis ... "1418 It seems that the" cautious "Nonne, albeit indirectly, still confirms the diagnosis made by Strumpel and supported by him in Gorki on March 21, 1923.

It is known that the People's Commissar of Health N. Semashko regularly reported to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) on the consultations of doctors and the course of Lenin's treatment. There were also noted cases when the leaders of the party met directly with doctors in order to hear the truth about Lenin's illness from their lips. Naturally, during these meetings there was also a technical worker of the Central Committee apparatus who kept the minutes. I am not even talking about a translator, whose service was certainly needed by some members of the Politburo. There is no doubt that B. Bazhanov, the secretary of Stalin's general secretary, was such a responsible official keeping the minutes. It is quite obvious that in his memoirs Bazhanov relied on the information that came from the doctors. Hence the objective information that Bazhanov cites in his book: “The doctors were right: the improvement (of Lenin's health - AA) was short-lived. Syphilis, untreated in its time, was in its final stage ”1419.

And now we will provide an opportunity to make a kind of resume to Dr. V. Flerov.

“... In the medical literature,” writes Flerov, “many cases have been described when the first and second stages (of syphilis - AA) proceeded imperceptibly and only the phenomena of the third stage led to a diagnosis. Probably, this could be the case with Lenin: delayed hereditary or acquired syphilis passed unnoticed, and since both forms lead to the same brain changes, their differentiation is not important for the diagnosis.

The symptomatology of Lenin's disease is more like cerebral vascular syphilis than progressive paralysis. Professor Strumpel's diagnosis, non-publication of microscopic examination of the brain and the selection of doctors (Strumpel, Bumke, Nonne and Osipov), as well as a lot of indirect evidence make syphilis much more likely than atherosclerosis. It follows that the Soviet authorities falsified the diagnosis and the autopsy result ”1420.

It is difficult to disagree with Dr. Flerov, whose conclusions, in fact, are based on the evidence of prominent medical luminaries. As for the falsification of facts, I have no doubts about this. The Bolshevik ideologists had experience in this.

During the years of Soviet power, official historiography so often published various dubious materials and facts that the reader involuntarily arose suspicion of every word. And it's no secret that falsifications originate from the moment of the emergence of Bolshevism. Obviously, this was also the case when Lenin was suffering from a serious and incurable illness.

As an example of falsification, we will give two facts related to the same time. Spring 1923. After a two-hour seizure on March 10, Lenin lost all ability to communicate and think, lost his speech, his right hand was completely paralyzed, the left was also disobedient, and began to see poorly. According to the doctor on duty, Lenin "was given crackers, but for a long time he could not immediately hit the saucer with his hand, and everything fell by" 1421. And here is what the People's Commissar of Education said, speaking in Tomsk: “The arm and leg, which are somewhat paralyzed in Vladimir Ilyich ... are being restored; speech, which was at one time unclear, is also restored. Vladimir Ilyich has been sitting in an armchair for a long time, he can talk quite calmly, while before he was very tormented by the vagueness of speech ”1422 (emphasis mine - AA).

This is how the Bolshevik leaders lied and, under the threat of death, forced to do it all who, by the will of fate, were under their rule. Doctors were no exception. Some made their careers on lies, while others, unable to perceive lies as a means of improving their well-being, perished. Among them is A.B. Zalkind.

Unfortunately, the doctors and scientists who signed the autopsy and microscopic protocols were unable to step over the barrier of fear and made a deal with their conscience. They understood perfectly well what could be expected of them if even insignificant facts or assumptions were found in the materials of the examination, casting a shadow on the authority of the leader. The Bolshevik Semashko especially watched over this. I'm not even talking about Stalin. It was on his instructions that everything that was associated with Lenin's illness was classified. And the worst thing is that people of the most humane profession took an active part in these disgusting actions - doctors, including titled ones.

I will give just a few examples, but very typical. After the expulsion of the Nazi invaders from Belarus, on the personal instructions of Stalin, a special commission was created headed by the famous surgeon, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, Academician N.N. Burdenko. It included A.N. Tolstoy, Metropolitan Nikolai, S.A. Kolesnikov, R.E. Melnikov, V.P. Potemkin, generals A.S. Gundorov and K.I. Smirnov. The commission was given a task: to exhume the remains of Polish prisoners of war shot in Belarus (Katyn) in order to conduct a forensic medical examination. From January 16 to January 23, the commission worked in Katyn. But it was, in fact, a political spectacle, since the members of the commission knew in advance what conclusion they should give based on the results of the examination. The responsible task of the "father of nations" was completed. At the end of January 1944, research materials were presented to the government. The protocol concluded that thousands of Polish prisoners of war were allegedly shot by the Nazis during their occupation of the territory of Belarus. The members of the commission deliberately falsified the facts they encountered during the study of the remains of innocently shot Polish prisoners of war. Only after almost half a century did the world community learn that this heinous crime was committed by Stalin's executioners. It has also become known to the world community that the members of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (Stalin, Voroshilov, Molotov, Mikoyan, Kalinin, Kaganovich) on March 5, 1940 issued a resolution No. 632SH about the execution of 14,700 Polish officers, as well as 11,000 other Polish citizens in various prisons and camps in western Ukraine and Belarus.

In this regard, it is interesting to cite an excerpt from Stalin's cynical letter of April 21, 1943, addressed to W. Churchill. In it, the tyrant, in particular, wrote: “... The Soviet Union The slanderous campaign launched by the German fascists about the killed Polish officers in the Smolensk region, on the territory occupied by German troops, was immediately picked up by the government of Sikorsky and is kindled in every way by the Polish official press. The government of the city of Sikorsky not only did not rebuff the vile fascist slander against the USSR, but did not even consider it necessary to turn to the Soviet Government with any questions or for explanations on this matter ... "1423

Of course, the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition knew who was responsible for the execution of defenseless Polish officers and civilians, but at a time when all the efforts of the Allied powers were aimed at defeating Nazi Germany and its satellites, they did not want to complicate relations with the Soviet government.

How not to note that the document cited above was published by the Commission for the publication of diplomatic documents under the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs, chaired by A.A. Gromyko.

Throughout the years of the totalitarian system, Soviet psychiatrists (of course, not all), fulfilling the will of the party nomenklatura, mutilated the lives of more than one thousand citizens of the country of Soviets. They, without shame or remorse, labeled healthy people as “mentally ill” and isolated them from society. Unfortunately, similar facts still take place today. Moreover, these criminal acts also apply to orphans in the country's boarding schools.

The Politburo, disregarding material costs, purposefully and decisively introduced into the life of the people the worship of the already dead body of its leader, by any means obtained from learned men of unconditional scientifically grounded evidence of Lenin's genius.

So, shortly after Lenin's death, the Politburo conceived the idea of \u200b\u200borganizing a secret scientific study of the brain of the deceased "leader of the world proletariat" in order to materially substantiate his genius.

After a preliminary exchange of views between party leaders and medical scientists, held on February 16, 1925, an organizational meeting on this issue was held at the Institute of Marxism-Leninism the next day. It was attended by the leaders of the Institute and invited professors: A.I. Abrikosov, V.V. Bunak, B.V. Weisbord, A.A. Deshin, V.V. Kramer, L.S. Minor and Director of the Neurobiological Institute of the University of Berlin, Professor Vocht.

The organizers of the meeting asked the invitees several questions, in particular:

Can a cytoarchitectonic 180 study give an indication of the material substantiation of the genius of V.I. Lenin? All professors, without exception, answered this question in the affirmative. Moreover, Professor Focht suggested sending 2-3 young Russian scientists to the University of Berlin, who, in his opinion, being present during the processing of Lenin's brain and having gained some experience in this area, could then, after returning all the slices of Lenin's brain to Russia, continue their research, started by Professor Vocht in Berlin.

What is the technical research plan? - this is how the second question was posed. To this scientists replied: the brain should be cut into layers, 1.8 centimeters thick; the layers should be embedded in paraffin, and then thin sections should be made for postmortem examination and photography ...

The third question was posed like this:

Why is development abroad necessary?

The answer followed: The Institute of Neurobiology at the University of Berlin has extremely experienced staff, working under the guidance of the world's only specialist on this issue, Professor Focht, and that there is a toolkit that is quite well-adjusted and adapted for such work ...

And the last question:

What are the obstacles to development in Moscow and what obstacles can be removed?

And here is the answer of the pundits:

The drug should be embedded in paraffin as soon as possible, since, remaining in the fixing liquid, it becomes unable to perceive the dye, which makes it impossible to study it. The urgency of this work makes it impossible to carry out it in Moscow, where there are no drugs that are experienced for this business, or tools ...

All the participants of the meeting, headed by the assistant to the director of the institute I. Tovstukha, sealed the prepared document with their signatures. People's Commissariat for Health N. Semashko supported the opinion of scientists and sent the document to the Politburo with an accompanying note. And there, having familiarized themselves with the documents, they decided not to let the "shrine" (Lenin's brain) abroad. It was decided to organize work on the study of Lenin's brain in Moscow, for which an order was given to create the Institute of the Brain. Money to maintain research works and content of the Brain Institute Council people's commissars singled out in full - it doesn't matter that at that time in the country there were a huge number of hungry and sick.

However, Professor Focht, with whom an agreement was concluded and who was appointed director of the institute, did not appear in Moscow for years. In other words, he actually did not study the Brain Institute. Meanwhile, Focht received from Semashko one slice of Lenin's brain, which he used extensively in his lectures and public speeches in Germany. Moreover, from this slice, transparencies were made for illustration, which were compared with slices of the brains of other people, including criminals.

Examining Lenin's brain, Professor Focht put forward a mechanistic theory of genius on the basis of anatomical analysis. The essence of this theory was argued by the presence in the brain of a large number and peculiarly located pyramidal cells. The Kremlin was delighted with this theory. But their joy and glee were short-lived.

The fact is that shortly after the sensational "discovery" of Professor Focht, Professor Spielmeier appeared in the German Encyclopedia of Mental Illness and in other publications with the assertion that such a large number of pyramidal cells are also present in ... the mentally ill1424.

Professor Spielmeier's publications received a wide response in scientific and public circles. Many articles appeared in the Western press, which exposed and ridiculed the attempt of the Bolshevik leaders to scientifically substantiate the genius of their leader. The "Father of Nations" was furious. The adventurous idea of \u200b\u200bthe Bolshevik Politburo for large monetary rewards to receive from scientists unconditional proof of Lenin's genius and to use these results for propaganda purposes has shamefully failed.

However, this sad incident did not discourage or stop the Bolshevik ideologists. They continued to artificially inflate the biography of their leader with all sorts of fables and simply far-fetched facts, filling soviet historiography all new fakes.

After August 1991, truthful information about the Bolsheviks and their leader Vladimir Ulyanov began to reach the general public from the pages of numerous periodicals, as well as on radio and television. Since 1987, many materials about Lenin have been published, including archival materials, shedding light on his true biography. The people began to understand who he really was. Since that time, people, especially Muscovites, increasingly began to express the opinion that Lenin should be removed from Red Square and, according to Russian customs, his remains should be buried. Moreover, that was his desire.

In this regard, it is interesting to cite the testimony of M.V. Fofanova about Lenin's request, which N.K. Krupskaya in April 1924. Here is what I wrote down from the words of Margarita Vasilievna on May 25, 1971:

“... Nadezhda Konstantinovna looked depressed. In the three months since the death of Vladimir Ilyich, she has changed a lot, has grown old. She was silent for a long time, then spoke in a low voice: “Stalin will abuse Vladimir Ilyich. On March 6, 181, when Volodya had a relapse and his health deteriorated sharply, he turned to me with a request: "Nadia," he said, "I beg you to do everything with Manyasha to bury me next to my mother."

When Volodya was transported from Gorki to Moscow, I conveyed his request to Stalin. And he tugged at his right mustache several times and said: "Vladimir Ilyich more belonged to the party, and it is up to it to decide what to do with him." I couldn't answer this person. "

This fact, like many other historical events in the life of our society and state, unfortunately, all the years of the communist regime was hidden from the people.

People need to know the truth about everything that happens in our country, no matter how bitter it may be. To be silent, to hide the burning questions of our history from the people means to neglect the truth, disrespect the memory of millions innocent victims lawlessness and arbitrariness, doom our people to the possibility of a repetition of such events.

Lenin could not imagine his life without power, but the circumstances were such that it became impossible to keep it. It is appropriate to recall the events of 1923. On March 10, Lenin began another exacerbation of the disease, which led to increased paralysis of the right side of the body and loss of speech. Meanwhile, on April 26, the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) elected him a member of the Politburo. The "leader of the world proletariat" does not object. Further - more, something like a comic performance. On July 6, by a resolution of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the USSR, he was elected head of the Soviet government. I doubt that this resolution was communicated to Lenin. The members of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, electing Lenin to this high state position, understood perfectly well that he had neither the strength nor the mind to oppose this decision. They clearly understood that Lenin would never be able to work again and that his political career and life had come to an end. In my opinion, V.M. was right. Chernov, who shortly after Lenin's death wrote that "spiritually and politically he died long ago" 1425.

The death of a person, and even more so premature, is always sad and woeful for relatives, friends and just acquaintances. However, completely different feelings are deposited in the memory of people who have gone to another world. Some are remembered with a kind word. Touching their deeds and creations, feats and high citizenship, we are sincerely happy that there were great people in Great Russia who glorified the Fatherland day after day, made it strong, rich, moral and beautiful ..

As long as our Earth lives, we will remember Alexander Nevsky and A.S. Pushkin, Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky, A.F. Mozhaisky and F.M. Dostoevsky, L.N. Tolstoy and N.I. Vavilov, F.I. Chaliapin and K.E. Tsiolkovsky, Sergius of Radonezh and Yu.A. Gagarin ... History cannot be crossed out or destroyed. It will live forever and be passed on from generation to generation. They will even remember those who have a great sin in their souls. How can you forget such tyrants as Nero, Tamerlane, Hitler or Stalin? Russians, and not only them, will remember Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov as a man who has deprived millions of people - fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, wives and children. They will remember, if only because in the future they will not allow such a leader to appear on the political Olympus of the Russian state.

The last 3 years before his death, he became seriously ill. Strenuous mental work, imprisonment, years of exile, injury affected. The date of Lenin's death was December 21, 1924. He died at the age of 53, and since then, various versions of the cause of his death have not subsided.

Naked facts

It was assumed that they were poisoned. But even without the poison, they were able to inflict heavy damage to health.

One of the bullets extracted from the body of the leader of the revolution after his death, having hooked, beat off a piece of the scapula, touched the lung, and passed in close proximity to the vital arteries. This could also cause premature sclerosis of the carotid artery, the extent of which became clear only during dissection. Extracts from the autopsy protocols were given in his book by Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences Yuri Lopukhin:

sclerotic changes in Lenin's left internal carotid artery in its intracranial part were such that blood simply could not flow through it - the artery turned into a solid dense whitish cord.

Some doctors reasonably assume that he received atherosclerosis from his father "by inheritance", who died while serving, from a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 55. Scientists have long concluded that a number of diseases have a genetic predisposition. When comparing photographs of Ilya Nikolaevich Ulyanov with his son, the identity in the structure of the skull is striking, and it can be assumed that in the structure of the brain too.

The official report on the death of Vladimir Ilyich, based on the autopsy report, states that:

the cause of the deceased's illness is widespread atherosclerosis of blood vessels due to their premature wear. Due to the narrowing of the lumen of the arteries of the brain and a violation of its nutrition from insufficient blood flow, focal softening of the brain tissue occurred, explaining all the preceding symptoms of the disease (paralysis, speech disorders). The immediate cause of death was:

1. increased circulatory disorders in the brain;

2. hemorrhage in the pia mater in the quadruple region.

In general, the medical report is not refuted by anything, and the state of Ilyich during his illness only confirms everything said. Trotsky wrote in his article "About Lenin - About the Deceased":

The second attack of the disease, more severe than the first, lasted more than 10 months. The blood vessels, in the bitter expression of the doctors, “played” all the time. It was a terrible game with Ilyich's life. One could expect improvements, an almost complete recovery, but one could also expect a catastrophe. We were all waiting for recovery, but a disaster struck. The respiratory center of the brain refused to serve - and extinguished the center of the most brilliant thought.

And now Ilyich is gone.

However, even here it was not without conjectures and rumors.

Lenin was poisoned by Stalin

These lines are attributed to Trotsky, but one should not take them too much on faith, since this is not in the collection of Trotsky's articles on Lenin:

“During the second illness of Ilyich, apparently in February 1923, at a meeting of the Politburo members, after the secretary was removed, Stalin announced that Lenin had unexpectedly summoned him to his office and began to demand that poison be delivered to him. He again lost the ability to speak, considered his position hopeless, foresaw the imminence of a new blow, did not trust doctors, whom he could easily catch on contradictions, retained complete clarity of thought and was unbearably tormented. I remember to what extent Stalin's face seemed to me unusual, mysterious, inappropriate to the circumstances. The request he conveyed was tragic in nature; there was a half-smile on his face, as on a mask. "There can be, of course, no question of fulfilling such a request!" I exclaimed. “I told him all this,” Stalin objected, not without annoyance, “but he just brushed it off. The old man is suffering. He wants, he says, that the poison was with him, he will resort if he is convinced of the hopelessness of his position.

Does the version that he poisoned Lenin have a right to exist? Knowing Stalin's adventurous mindset, who in those days was close to Lenin, it can be assumed that Stalin had the opportunity to render such a "service" to Ilyich. Would it be murder? If Stalin had given poison to Lenin, it would have been euthanasia. That this is illegal, hardly anyone would be embarrassed. Moreover, Stalin, whom the criminals of his time could well have crowned. After all, the robbery of the Tbilisi (at that time, Tiflis) bank went down in the history of criminalistics of the Russian Empire.

It can be assumed that such a conversation did take place, and Joseph Vissarionovich called Lenin the Old Man not because he was too old, but by the party nickname he knew. The conclusion suggests itself that Stalin was preparing an excuse for himself, or wanted to see how his party comrades would react to his proposal. He did not find support, and decided not to risk it.

Nadezhda Konstantinovna wrote:

"The doctors did not expect death at all and did not believe when the agony had already begun."

It is easy for Krupskaya to catch on to this phrase, as confirming the version of the poisoning. So, Lenin felt better, but Stalin was afraid that he would get out and quickly sent him to the next world. This thought in the yellow and not very press, nevertheless slipped through.

Improvement in health always inspires hope, but we must not forget that in a protracted illness, before death very often there is an improvement for an hour, for several hours, maybe for a day. And at that moment when people begin to believe that a fracture has come in the disease, the person dies. It is difficult to say what this is connected with. Perhaps God is thus trying to give man a chance for repentance.

No matter how Stalin was eager for power, no matter how scum he was, he would not take such risks and substitute himself. He could entangle Gorky with his network of spies and know about everything that was happening there. There were always people next to Lenin, some of the best doctors in Russia. Stalin could not help but know that death from poisoning, as a rule, differs in symptoms, which the Aesculapians could calculate at the moment. And then a scandal would break out. But Stalin did not need a scandal. He needed power and greatness.

Death from neurosyphilis?

This version came to us from abroad. With what pleasure and savor our sensationalists seized on it.

New facts have been discovered that confirm that in fact Lenin fell victim to syphilis, a sexually transmitted disease.

Excuse me, but when did he have time? Syphilis is a disease that cannot be hidden. Before the virus enters the brain, it must have manifested itself on the skin. Lenin was a public person. Always among people, always in sight. If Lenin contracted syphilis from a Parisian prostitute, and this should have happened in 1910-11, during the second emigration, then why were Krupskaya and Armand not infected with him, who, according to the same fans of sensations, was not averse to jumping into bed for Ilyich? Finally, why did Lenin need a prostitute, when his wife was always there, sharing with him not only the bed, but also the hardships and hardships? Yes, and there was no time for a person whose brain was occupied with the idea of \u200b\u200bproletarian revolution and hegemony to wander around prostitutes.

Where is this proof?

In documents stored at Columbia University in New York, she found a mention of the true nature of Lenin's illness, made by the outstanding Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov.

But now I wonder how this "genuine" document of the Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov ended up in New York, if Pavlov himself studied his dogs in Leningrad all his life? He also died there in 1936. Where did Pavlov get such information about Lenin's illness, if he had never treated him?

Or maybe the "British author" sucked this "proof" out of her thumb? After all, it is necessary to somehow discredit Russia, which is a bone in Europe's throat (this has been the case for almost all centuries of our history). For this you can sacrifice your conscience.

She found that a Nobel laureate famous for his study of conditioned reflexes in dogs once claimed that “the revolution was made by a madman with brain syphilis.

It's funny, really. It is enough to pick up any of Lenin's works, any of his notes, to make sure that they were written by a completely sane person. They are so convincing, and most importantly, logical.

Lenin can be reproached for cruelty, the collapse of the country, but not for madness or dementia. So the version that Lenin suffered from neurosyphilis does not stand up to criticism.

At the Institute of the Brain, Ilyich's brain is still stored, on which one can personally see the hardening of the walls of blood vessels (arteriosclerosis), which served as the basis of Vladimir Ilyich's illness

An autopsy confirmed that this was the main cause of the illness and death of Vladimir Ilyich. The main artery that feeds approximately? of the whole brain - the “internal carotid artery” at the very entrance to the skull turned out to be so hard that its walls did not fall off during a transverse cut, significantly closed the lumen, and in some places were so saturated with lime that they were struck with forceps like on a bone. individual branches of arteries feeding especially important centers of movement and speech in the left hemisphere were so altered that they were not tubes, but laces: the walls were so thick that they completely closed the lumen. On the entire left hemisphere there were cysts, that is, softened areas of the brain; the blocked vessels did not deliver blood to these areas, their nutrition was disturbed, softening and disintegration of brain tissue occurred. The same cyst was found in the right hemisphere. It is impossible to live with such vessels of the brain,

- informed about what the autopsy of Vladimir Ilyich's body gave, by the People's Commissar of Health N. A. Semashko.