Stalin stories from life. Interesting and funny facts about Stalin

27.01.2016

What they don’t write about the “leader of all nations”! For some, Stalin is a tyrant who mercilessly exterminated his people, and there is no excuse for him. Others are sure: only thanks to Stalin our country was able to win the war and restore the destroyed economy in the shortest possible time. Maybe some little-known interesting facts from Stalin’s biography will help make this historical figure less like a monument and see “Iron Joseph” as he was in life.

1. Joseph Stalin deliberately changed the date of his birth in the documents - from December 18 to December 21 - even in his youth. He did this allegedly after the words of his fellow student Gurdjieff, famous for his gift of prediction, who warned the young Dzhugashvili: “With such a horoscope you will not be a leader!”
2. While in the upper echelons of power, Stalin submitted his resignation three times. But he was not accepted. Who knows, if the then leadership of the country had granted his request, what would have been the future of Soviet Russia?...
3. Throughout his life, Stalin read constantly. After his death, the Institute of Marxism-Leninism received 5.5 thousand books from the leader’s library - and many with his personal notes in the margins. It is interesting that the Generalissimo had great respect for historians, starting with Herodotus and Xenophon and ending with N.M. Karamzin and S.M. Solovyov, whose works stood on the shelves of his bookcase.
4. Stalin's sons were at the front during the Great Patriotic War.
5. The Generalissimo always carried a loaded pistol with him.
6. The leader's well-known personal modesty concerned only items of clothing. He really only had the bare necessities. But otherwise, Stalin did not particularly limit himself. For example, he had many beautifully appointed and furnished dachas throughout the country - in Abkhazia alone there were no less than five.
7. At Stalin's dachas, all the furnishings were thought out to the smallest detail. If there was a mirror in the room intended for negotiations and official dinners, then it was located, unnoticed by the uninitiated, in such a way that Stalin, during a ceremonial meal, could see the expressions on the faces of all those present at once - as soon as he took a quick glance in the mirror.
8. Before Stalin turned into the leader of the world proletariat, he repeatedly played the role of a raider: in 1906-1907. young Joseph prepared and carried out the robbery of several banks.
9. During his turbulent youth, Stalin managed to end up in exile 8 times.
10. Joseph Vissarionovich spoke not only Russian and Georgian languages. He knew ancient Greek, and in addition, partially understood several other languages.
11. Stalin's wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva was 18 years younger than him. From the outside it seemed that they had a wonderful marriage: they respected each other and shared their thoughts. While apart, we constantly corresponded, talking on a variety of topics. Nadezhda gave birth to two children. But she was not a typical “clown mother”: she read with enthusiasm, participated in the political life of the country, and studied at a higher educational institution. Her suicide came as an unexpected blow to the leader. Today, around this terrible event, different versions of what happened are multiplying, like mushrooms after rain. One of them is this: Nadezhda read a book that opened her eyes to what was happening in the country, to what a terrible person her husband was. It was as if the world had turned upside down. The terrible truth lay an unbearable weight on her heart, and Nadezhda could not live with this burden...

No matter how many years have passed since the end of the “Stalin era,” people will probably never form a single opinion about the strange, unpredictable, intelligent and cunning man who held a huge state with a tight grip for almost three decades. Stalin destroyed people without any guilt, was omnipotent and inaccessible, suspicious and subject to all sorts of fears, like any tyrant. But, like every person, he was capable of sincere love for his wife.

Fate gave Stalin unlimited power over thousands of people. But even in his own family he was unable to create or maintain happiness. The worst thing in life is to be alone. Stalin found himself alone after the death of his wife. But he could not and did not want to change his life.

In recent years, society's attitude towards I.V. Stalin has been very contradictory. Some admire it, others denote the tyranny and cruelty of the leader.

The cult of Stalin and the ideology itself will be the subject of controversy and disagreement for a long time. Criticism and praise, condemnation and admiration are among the most specific and narrowly focused criteria in assessing any cult personality throughout history. We are accustomed to condemning, judging and criticizing, expressing our opinions in all colors, and unfortunately we increasingly refer to words and speculation rather than verified facts and archival documents. This is how a thoughtless society of “open mouths” is formed - in the sense that they do not know what they are talking about and in what intonations. Let's clarify the situation together.

So, facts about Stalin:

The largest number of unemployed people under Stalin was in the 20s, after the civil war. Their number reached two million people. By the early thirties, this problem was almost completely resolved.

Stalin's usual rate of reading literature was about 300 pages a day. He constantly educated himself. For example, while undergoing treatment in the Caucasus, in 1931, in a letter to Nadezhda Aliluyeva, having forgotten to inform about his health, he asks to send him textbooks on electrical engineering and ferrous metallurgy.

Stalin's level of education can be assessed by the number of books he read and studied. It is apparently impossible to establish how much he read in his life. He was not a collector of books - he did not collect them, but selected them, i.e. in his library there were only those books that he intended to somehow use in the future. But even those books that he selected are difficult to take into account. In his Kremlin apartment, the library contained, according to witnesses, several tens of thousands of volumes, but in 1941 this library was evacuated, and it is unknown how many books were returned from it, since the library in the Kremlin was not restored.

Subsequently, his books were in the dachas, and an outbuilding was built in Nizhnyaya for a library. Stalin collected 20 thousand volumes for this library.

The range of education can be assessed from the following data: After his death, books with his notes were transferred from the library at the Blizhnaya Dacha to the Institute of Marxism-Leninism. There were 5.5 thousand of them! In addition to dictionaries and several geography courses, this list included books by both ancient and modern historians: Herodotus, Xenophon, P. Vinogradov, R. Winner, I. Velyaminov, D. Ilovaisky, K.A. Ivanova, Herero, N. Kareeva, 12 volumes of “History of the Russian State” by Karamzin and the second edition of the six-volume “History of Russia from Ancient Times” by S.M. Solovyov (St. Petersburg, 1896). And also: the fifth volume of “History of the Russian Army and Navy” (St. Petersburg, 1912). “Essays on the history of natural science in excerpts from the original works of Dr. F. Dannsman” (St. Petersburg, 1897), “Memoirs of Prince Bismarck. (Thoughts and memories)” (St. Petersburg, 1899). A dozen issues of “Bulletin of Foreign Literature” for 1894, “Literary Notes” for 1892, “Scientific Review” for 1894, “Proceedings of the USSR Public Library named after. Lenin", vol. 3 (M., 1934) with materials about Pushkin, P.V. Annenkov, I.S. Turgenev and A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylina, two pre-revolutionary editions of A. Bogdanov’s book “Short Course in Economic Science”, novel by V.I. Kryzhanovskaya (Rochester) “The Web” (St. Petersburg, 1908), book by G. Leonidze “Stalin. Childhood and adolescence" (Tbilisi, 1939. in Georgian), etc.

According to the currently existing criteria, Stalin was a Doctor of Philosophy in terms of the scientific results achieved back in 1920. His achievements in economics were even more brilliant and have not yet been surpassed by anyone.

Under Stalin, the country was in difficult conditions, but in the shortest possible time it sharply rushed forward, and this means that at that time there were a lot of smart people in the country. And this is true, since Stalin attached great importance to the minds of the citizens of the USSR. He was the smartest man, and he was sick of being surrounded by fools; he strove for the whole country to be smart. The basis for the mind, for creativity is knowledge. Knowledge about everything. And never so much has been done to provide people with knowledge, to develop their minds, as under Stalin.

Stalin did not fight with vodka, he fought for people’s free time. Amateur sports have been extremely developed, and specifically amateur sports. Each enterprise and institution had sports teams and athletes from among its employees. More or less large enterprises were required to have and maintain stadiums. Everyone played everything.

Stalin preferred only Tsinandali and Teliani wines. It happened that I drank cognac, but was simply not interested in vodka. From 1930 to 1953, the guards saw him “in zero gravity” only twice: at S.M.’s birthday. Shtemenko and at the funeral of A.A. Zhdanov.

In all cities of the USSR, parks remained from Stalin's time. They were originally intended for mass recreation of people. They had to have a reading room and game rooms (chess, billiards), a beer hall and ice cream parlours, a dance floor and summer theaters.

Not the least role in the creation of the State of Israel was played by Stalin’s support in the vote on the resolution at the UN.

Stalin broke off diplomatic relations with Israel only because something like a grenade was exploded on the territory of the USSR mission in Israel. Mission personnel were injured by this explosion. The Israeli government rushed to the USSR with an apology, but the Stalinist USSR did not forgive anyone for such an attitude towards itself.

Despite the severance of diplomatic relations, national mourning was declared in Israel on the day of Stalin's death.

Stalin treated both the security and the service personnel very well. Quite often he invited them to the table, and one day when he saw that the sentry at his post was getting wet in the rain, he ordered to immediately build a mushroom at this post. But this had nothing to do with their service. Here Stalin did not tolerate any concessions.

Stalin was very thrifty with himself - he did not have anything superfluous in clothes, but he wore out what he had.

During the war, Stalin, as expected, sent his sons to the front.

Stalin said his famous phrase “personnel decide everything” in 1935 at a reception in honor of graduates of military academies: “We talk too much about the merits of leaders, about the merits of leaders. They are credited with everything, almost all of our achievements. This is, of course, false and incorrect. It's not just the leaders. ... To set technology in motion and use it to its fullest, we need people who have mastered the technology, we need personnel capable of mastering and using this technology according to all the rules of art... That is why the old slogan<техника решает все>... must now be replaced by a new slogan, the slogan that<кадры решают все>».

In 1943, Stalin said:

“I know that after my death a heap of rubbish will be placed on my grave, but the winds of history will mercilessly blow it away!”

He spoke Georgian, Russian, ancient Greek, and also knew Church Slavonic well from seminary. According to some researchers, he knew English and German; the notes he left in the books were in Hungarian and French. He understood Armenian and Ossetian languages. Trotsky asserted in one of his interviews that “Stalin knows neither foreign languages ​​nor foreign life.”

At the 1945 Victory Parade, the wounded mine-detecting dog Dzhulbars, on Stalin's orders, was carried across Red Square on his overcoat.

Stalin combined business with pleasure. Drinking for him was an opportunity to make his interlocutor loosen his tongue. Having taken a sip of wine, Stalin vigilantly ensured that the guest drank to the bottom, after which he began to ask him provocative questions in order to understand who was in front of him - a friend or an enemy. However, perhaps the “leader of the peoples” simply enjoyed watching his intoxicated interlocutor struggling not to blurt out too much.

It seems that Stalin and versification are “two incompatible things.” But no, in his youth Joseph Dzhugashvili wrote poetry. Moreover, apparently, he had talent. In the book entitled “Collection of the best examples of Georgian literature,” a poem by Stalin (under the pseudonym Soselo) was side by side with the works of Georgian classics. But the year was 1907, so there could be no talk of any “sycophancy” on the part of the publishers.

In 1949, Stalin, having learned that Beria was going to publish a collection of his poems for his 70th birthday, became angry and ordered the work to be stopped. At the same time, he allegedly said to his faithful comrade: “Lavrenty, do you want me to blush like a girl”? Apparently, the iron Stalin was ashamed of his “weakness”, like some schoolgirl!

It is common knowledge that Stalin loved cinema. Cinema halls were set up both in the Kremlin and at each of its dachas. Together with the leader, his closest associates and guests watched the films (receiving an invitation to the session was considered a sign of the Master’s highest regard). Stalin, as an avid connoisseur, enjoyed not only Soviet but also foreign films. For domestic directors, he was a ruthless censor, pointing out which scenes he did not like, which ones needed to be re-shot, and which ones should be cut out altogether.

But the most surprising thing: it turns out that Stalin really liked Westerns! They did not appear in the Soviet box office as ideologically harmful, but the “father of nations” himself “swallowed” dozens of them. He especially liked Westerns directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne.

That, however, did not stop Stalin from somehow declaring: “Wayne is an ardent anti-communist, he poses a threat to the cause of socialism, he must be killed.” The comrades looked at each other in confusion: after all, the Master’s word is law! But he grinned and said: “It’s a joke.” And everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

I apologize for the somewhat one-sided nature of my blog due to the decent amount ofmaterials about Stalin. It’s just that now I’m thinking about a big article about the leader of the peoples and therefore I’m pouring through a lot of literature. Whether I will write an article or not is still a question, but if I come across something interesting along the way, I drag it to the blog.

So, today again on the blog is an article by Felix Chuev, a Soviet Russian writer who specialized in biographies of Soviet military and political figures.

PART ONE

Chuev,Felix Ivanovich

M I didn’t have a chance to talk with dozens of people who worked with I.V. Stalin or at least met him. Some of it was included in my books, articles, poems, but, of course, not all.

Often in friendly conversations I would tell what I had heard over the years. Friends convinced me that it would be lost, forgotten, I needed to write it down... This is what I remembered...

Zasyadko

A candidacy for the post of Minister of Coal Industry was discussed. Proposed director of one of the Zasyadko mines. Someone objected:

StalinHe took a sip and, watching carefully, offered a second one. Zasyadko - drink the second glass, and not in either eye.Stalinsuggested a third, but his interlocutor pushed his glass aside and said:

- Zasyadko knows when to stop

We talked. At a meeting of the Politburo, when the question of the minister’s candidacy again arose, and again it was announced that the proposed candidate was abusing alcohol,Stalin, walking with his pipe, said:

- Zasyadko knows when to stop!

And for many years Zasyadko headed our coal industry...

Longevity problem

Academician A.A. Bogomolets put forward the theory of longevity, andStalingave him an institute for this business. However, the academician himself died in 1946, having lived only 65 years.

- He fooled everyone! - saidStalinupon learning of his death

Grain procurement

Once, during a discussion of grain supplies, in the early 30s, the secretary of one of the regions joked, saying that his region could not supply more grain:

As the French say, even the most beautiful woman cannot give more than what she has.

Stalin corrected:

But she can give twice

Bulganin

After the war N.A. Bulganin was appointed Minister of Defense, and he began to prepare to take part in the parade - to learn to ride a horse. They brought him the most tame mare, and he trained in the Kremlin courtyard. Came outStalin, looked and said:

- You are sitting on a horse like the head of a military trade!

Immediately the civilian appearance of Bulganin with a beard and military uniform appears... The parade began to take place in cars.

"Still with a sense of humorStalin eYou won’t refuse!” laughed Colonel General A. N. Ponomarev, who told me this episode.

Mao

Introducing film actor Boris Andreev, who played the main role in the film "The Fall of Berlin", to Mao Zedong,Stalin said:

- Here is the artist Boris Andreev. He and I took Berlin together.

The writer Mikhail Bubennov, the author of the then famous “White Birch”, who was present at this reception, told me about this.

When Mao Zedong wasBecome on, he asked permission to settle 20 million Chinese in the Soviet Far East.

“I have enough of my own 200 million,” answeredStalin.

No nicknames

Stalincame to a performance at the Art Theater. Stanislavsky met him and, holding out his hand, said:

Artist and people

After the opera, where one of the roles was performed by the artist Bolshakov and not entirely successfully, Stalin asked:

Reisen

The singer Reisen was Stalin's favorite. He noticed him back in the thirties and transferred him from Leningrad to Moscow. Reisen sang at all government concerts. Poskrebyshev called him:

But Poskrebyshev knew: Stalin would notice that the concert took place without Reisen.

- We will send a car for you, Mark Osipovich. ...

Stalin walked in the Kremlin office. Bespalov stood at attention in front of him. When Reisen entered the office, Stalin, pointing at him, asked:

"Ivan Susanin"

A new production of Glinka's opera "Ivan Susanin" was being prepared at the Bolshoi Theater. The members of the commission, led by Chairman Bolshakov, listened and decided that it was necessary to film the finale “Hail, Russian people!” - churchism, patriarchalism... They reported to Stalin.

“We’ll do it differently,” said Stalin, “we’ll leave the ending, we’ll remove Bolshakov.”

Forced stop

Various people who happened to watch films with Stalin told me many episodes on this topic. Here's one of them. In 1939 we watched The Train Goes East. The film is not so hot: a train rides, stops...

"Kremlin chimes"

It turns out that a feature film was also made based on N. Pogodin’s play “The Kremlin Chimes”. Stalin looked at him and said:

- What, there wasn’t a Russian to start this clock?

The fact is that the role of the person who adjusted the main clock of the country in the film was played by a Jew. The picture didn't work, so we never saw it.

"Unforgettable 1919"

After the government screening of the film Unforgettable 1919, everyone was waiting for what Stalin would say. But he was silent. And only, leaving the hall, he said:

- Too much light! That's all.

The filmmakers turned to Beria to clarify the meaning of these words.

- There are no two suns! - Lavrenty Pavlovich interpreted.

There was a lot of Lenin and Stalin in the film, and Lenin had to be trimmed. Although, most likely, Stalin had something else in mind: pomp, separation from reality...

Writers

Stalin said:

“You cannot pass judgment on a work of art; you can only argue about it.”

When the publishing house "Soviet Writer" was created, Stalin said that this was the publishing house of the Writers' Union and now Pushkin and Tolstoy would have nowhere to publish. We need another publishing house. This is how the publishing house “Khudozhestvennaya Literatura” arose.

Party worker Polikarpov was informed that they wanted to send him to work as an executive secretary at the Writers' Union. Polikarpov begged:

“I’m used to working with normal people, but writers are drunkards, completely uncontrollable...

When Stalin was informed about this, he said:

— Tell Comrade Polikarpov that I have no other writers.

Irakli Andronikov deftly portrayed various figures and knew how to copy Stalin. He found out about this and at the meeting asked to portray him.

- You - I don’t dare! - Andronikov said, making a hand gesture with an imaginary pipe

Awards

Writer Vera Panova was nominated for the Stalin Prize for her new novel - for the third time after she received first and second degree prizes consecutively for her previous novels. The committee, after reading the novel, decided not to award her the prize this time. But Stalin intervened:

- Let's give it - third degree. But tell Comrade Panova that we don’t have a fourth degree.

Stalin asked Fadeev why the writer S. Zlobin was not nominated for the Stalin Prize for his novel “Stepan Razin”. Fadeev replied that Zlobin is not engaged in public work, he is nowhere to be seen...

- Or maybe he’s writing at this time? - asked Stalin

Secretaries

Stalin called the Writers' Union, but they could not connect him with either Fadeev or Surkov - or with anyone from the leadership. Only their secretaries answered. Stalin asked the members of the Politburo:

Demyan Bedny

Stalin told Demyan Bedny:

- Do you know why you are a bad poet? Because poetry should be sad.

Conversation with Pasternak

At night the phone rang in Pasternak’s apartment:

— A certain Stalin is speaking to you. Boris Leonidovich, what do you think about the poet Mandelstam?

Pasternak knew that Mandelstam was arrested and said:

They say that after the death of Mandelstam, Pasternak’s conscience tormented him all his life...

Think about yours

The artist Abrikosov shouted at a reception in the Kremlin:

- To your health, Comrade Stalin! - and drank a glass of vodka in one gulp.

Stalin quietly told him:

- Think about yours

- Why do you finish all your glasses? It will be uninteresting to talk with you.

S.V. told me about this. Mikhalkov

All - For, One - Against

For one of his symphonies, the composer Golubev was nominated for the Stalin Prize at Zhdanov’s suggestion. Everyone knew whose protégé he was, and had no doubt that he would receive the prize, and first degree at that. When the lists of laureates were brought to Stalin for signature, he asked:

The son of the king - "peacemaker"

Emperor Alexander III, on one of his trips, sinned with a certain special person of simple rank, whom he asked to inform him if someone was born to her. In due time, the sovereign received notification that a boy was born. In response, the highest telegram came: “Give the youth the name Sergius, my patronymic, surname - by nickname.”

And so it was born Sergey Aleksandrovich Mirotvortsev. At one time, he managed to avoid the tragic fate of the royal family, because he did not talk about his origins. However, later, in the thirties, the security officers discovered whose offspring he was and began to prepare for his future fate an destiny appropriate to the era.

The paper about him was sent to Stalin, and he wrote the following resolution on it: “It’s not his fault that his father was such a whore.” S.A. Mirotvortsev became a professor, had merits and received the Stalin Prize.

Molotov said that Stalin was joked about by the Politburo when he was sailing the Black Sea on the steamer Trotsky:- How long will you continue to ride Trotsky? From Odessa, however, Trotsky sailed abroad forever on the steamer Ilyich. Maybe it's an accident...

And when even before that he was leaving with a huge amount of luggage on a low-speed train for exile in Alma-Ata, he found out from Stalin:

And Budyonny...

Stalin went on vacation to the Caucasus. He was accompanied by his comrades. The train stopped in Rostov-on-Don. This was in the early thirties, and they were not yet very zealous with security. Voroshilov got out of the carriage. The people on the platform did not expect the appearance of the People's Commissar of Defense and gasped in amazement:

— Voroshilov!!!

The head of government followed him, and the even more taken aback people exclaimed:

- !!!Molotov

Well, when Stalin appeared on the platform, people seemed to line up and applaud.

Stalin, as usual, raised his hand, welcoming and at the same time stopping the ovation. When the noise died down, the hesitant Budyonny suddenly appeared from the vestibule. And on the platform some Cossack exclaimed:

- And Budyonny, fuck your mother!

It seemed that after Stalin left, nothing could happen - but no! Everyone laughed in unison, including Stalin himself. From then on, when the Stalinist leadership gathered together and Semyon Mikhailovich appeared, Stalin invariably said:

- And Budyonny, fuck your mother!

During the Battle of Moscow, he told Stalin that there were no new checkers, and the cavalrymen were given old ones with the inscription “For the Faith, the Tsar and the Fatherland”

- Do they chop off German heads? - Stalin asked Budyonny.

We're tired of waiting...

After a while this comrade appeared at the door

“Sit down, otherwise we’ve been waiting for you,” said Stalin.

Grade

Designer of artillery systems V.G. Grabin told me how on the eve of 1942 Stalin invited him and said:

"There will be oil..."

During the war, Stalin instructed Baibakov to open new oil fields in a fairly short time. When Baibakov objected that this was impossible, Stalin replied:

- If there is oil, there will be Baibakov, if there is no oil, there will be no Baibakov!

Soon new deposits were discovered in Tataria and Bashkiria.

Vannikov

Vannikov was suddenly released from prison during the war, brought to Stalin, who appointed him People's Commissar. Vannikov said:

In the morning, when Vannikov arrived at work, there was Pravda on his desk with a Decree awarding him the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.

Landing

Front-line soldier L.D. Petrov, who was friends with Molotov’s son-in-law, told me how during the war our troops, dressed in fascist uniforms, were dropped into the Autonomous Republic of the Volga Germans. “Our people” were greeted as if they were our own - they were expected... By the decision of the State Defense Committee, this entire autonomous national entity was evicted, and the airborne unit received the title of guards.I don’t know that resettled Germans were as indignant at their fate as, say, Chechens or Crimean Tatars. At the anniversary of Rasul Gamzatov in 1993, I sat on the presidium next to Dzhokhar Dudayev and heard him proudly announce that during the war the Chechens presented Hitler with a white horse. But they denied it before!

Four rams

Pilot Boris Kovzan is a unique hero of the Great Patriotic War, who made four (!) air rams and remained alive. He told me how, after being awarded the Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union, Stalin invited him and asked him about everything in detail. I asked what Kovzan was going to do next

Kovzan returned to his unit and was called by a higher general:

Doubt

Marshal of the Armored Forces Katukov said that once in Stalin’s office he mentioned the name of General Ivanov.

—Isn’t this the Ivanov who betrayed his nation? - Stalin asked.

Previously, Ivanov had a Jewish surname

What do we do?

Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army A.M. Vasilevsky showed I.V. Stalin has a whole folder of slander against Army General I.D. Chernyakhovsky. They talked about the fact that he has many women.

Tsunami

After the war, a strong tsunami on the Kuril Islands killed 28 thousand people, among whom were many military personnel. In one military unit, a soldier with a banner remained alive. When this was reported to Stalin, he decided to nominate the soldier for the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. The authorities talked to the soldier, and he said that during the natural disaster he was thinking about how to survive, but the banner only got in the way, and he just happened to be near it. Stalin, having learned about this, said:

- What a pity that we don’t have a reward for honesty! And he still ordered the soldier to be encouraged. Marshal A. M. Vasilevsky ordered to sew him a uniform from officer's material and give him leave home for 30 days, not counting the journey.

ETERNAL GLORY

General A.I. Ryzhkov told how the words first appeared in the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief: “Eternal glory to the heroes who died in battles for the honor and independence of our Motherland!”

— Let's go with A.M. Vasilevsky to Stalin. Our draft order included: “Eternal memory...”

Stalin read it and suggested replacing “memory” with “glory”: “Memory gives to the church,” said Stalin

Church

Patriarch Alexy of All Russia approached Stalin with a request to allow him to open a church in Moscow.

“Open up,” said Stalin. “Russian mothers have someone to pray for, someone to cry for.”

Encouraged, the patriarch dared to ask permission to open religious educational institutions. Stalin allowed the opening of theological schools, and about seminaries he said: “History knows of cases when good revolutionaries came out of theological seminaries! However, they are of little use. You see, I studied at the seminary, and nothing good came of it.”

The former head of the Yugoslav guard Momo Djuric told me about this [Momcilo Djuric during the war - Tito's head of security, after the war - a political immigrant in Moscow - FV] - he had the opportunity to fly on the same plane with our patriarch and even drink vodka with him.

Here is another interesting episode on this topic

During the First World War, one surgeon was seriously wounded. Realizing that he had almost no chance of survival, he made a vow that if he did not die, he would serve God. And he survived. And he kept his vow, becoming a village priest. During the Second World War, he joined the partisans and, as the most competent, became the chief of staff of a partisan detachment, but since there were wounded and sick, he had to remember his first profession. And he saved many.

At a reception in the Kremlin in honor of distinguished partisans, he was introduced to Stalin, who was told his story. Stalin asked what he would do after the war. He replied that he would return to his parish. Stalin apparently wanted to turn him to medical activities, and he said: " Eh , what a surgeon we have lost in you!” “And what a shepherd the church has lost in you, Joseph Vissarionovich!” answered the pop partisan surgeon.

Colleague

A prominent figure in the Orthodox Church, who at one time studied with Stalin at the Tiflis Theological Seminary, came to Moscow from Paris. I wanted to see my fellow student and, having received an invitation, asked what clothes would be better to come in - church or secular?

Clarified

The head of Military Publishing House, General Marinov, looked like a Georgian, black-haired, curly, with a mustache. During his report, Stalin looked at him carefully and then asked:

— What is your nationality, Comrade Marinov?

Marinov did not dare to tell the leader of the people that he was Georgian, but he found a way out:

Reply to Churchill

During the negotiations there were disputes about post-war borders, and Churchill said:

- But Lviv has never been a Russian city! “But there was Warsaw,” Stalin objected.

Reply to Harriman

Harriman asked Stalin at the Potsdam Conference:

— After the Germans were eighteen kilometers from Moscow in 1941, you probably now enjoy sharing defeated Berlin? “Tsar Alexander I reached Paris,” Stalin answered.

Bottle of Baltic water

As a result of the offensive operation, Soviet troops reached the Baltic Sea, the commander, General Bagramyan, decided to please Stalin by sending him a bottle of Baltic water. But while this bottle reached the Kremlin, the Germans managed to recapture the bridgehead and push our troops from the coast. Stalin already knew about this and, when he was handed the bottle, said:

— Return it to Bagramyan, comrade, and let him pour it into the Baltic Sea?

Tomatoes

During your visit All-Union Agricultural Exhibition Stalin noticed that the tomatoes on display had spoiled, and when they got into the car, he reminded:

— Don’t forget to remove the tomatoes! But only tomatoes - I didn’t say anything else.

Great teacher

Chiang Kai-shek called Stalin a “great teacher,” to which Stalin remarked:

- Me too, children!

Stories by Mgeladze A.I.

I returned from military training in Tbilisi. I met there with Akaki Ivanovich Mgeladze, the former First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Georgian Party in the last years of Stalin’s life. I retell it to Molotov

Akakiy Ivanovich recalled how he dined with Stalin at his dacha in Borjomi, and he said:

- Let's invite Khrushchev. - And he called. Khrushchev left, but for some reason he was gone for a long time. Finally he comes and says: - Comrade Stalin, it’s a disgrace, they’re driving away herds of sheep, they’ve blocked the road! - And turns to Mgeladze: - You give orders that these shepherds be punished!

But everything worked out, not a single shepherd was hurt.

Stalin had bottles.

- I want to drink to our dear comrade Stalin! - Khrushchev exclaimed.

Everyone poured wine, Khrushchev approached Stalin:

- Comrade Stalin, I want to drink vodka for you, because you can’t drink some sour meat for such a person! - And stung himself a full glass of vodka. Drank. Everyone drank wine. In short, he drank vodka alone and quickly fell asleep on the sofa. Stalin said:

- Well, now we can talk calmly “Hmm, yes,” said Molotov. — Did Khrushchev like to drink? — I ask Vyacheslav Mikhailovich -Didn’t stand out at that time

Mgeladze also spoke about Suslov

Stalin called: “He’s coming for treatment, pay attention to him, he has tuberculosis, treat him better.”

I received it well. And he talked so much about Stalin: “Understand, it’s only thanks to Stalin that we have all risen this way, only thanks to Stalin we have everything. I will never forget Stalin’s fatherly attention to me. If it weren’t for Stalin, I would have died of tuberculosis. Stalin me pulled me out, Stalin is forcing me to undergo treatment and is treating me!” Maybe he hoped that Mgeladze would pass all this on to Stalin?

Well, what did he say about Stalin in the Khrushchev-Brezhnev times, published in the newspapers... Suslov

Lemons

Stalin walked with the First Secretary of the Central Committee of Georgia A.I. Mgeladze along the alleys of the Kuntsevo dacha and treated him to lemons, which he grew himself in his lemon garden:

- Try it, you grew up here, near Moscow! And so several times, between conversations on other topics: - Try them, good lemons! Finally it dawned on the interlocutor: - Comrade Stalin, I promise you that in seven years Georgia will provide the country with lemons, and we will not import them from abroad - Thank God, I guessed it! - said Stalin

SergoKavtaradze

The famous Georgian Bolshevik Sergo Kavtaradze was out of work for a long time. It was as if they had forgotten about him. He and his wife occupied a room in a communal apartment, where a neighbor constantly scolded him for leaving the light on in the toilet or not emptying the trash can. And after the war, a phone call:

- Sergo, is that you? Are you alive? Who's speaking? Lavrentiy says! - Hello, Lavrenty Pavlovich! - Oh, what a shame! Just Lavrentiy... Forgot your old friends, you don’t call, you don’t come in! And we are sitting, remembering old friends, Comrade Stalin asks: “Where is our Sergo Kavtaradze?” I called my office and they told me you were in Moscow. Come to us, I will send a car for you.

And soon Kavtaradze found himself at the same table with Stalin and Beria. We sat and Stalin said:

- And now, Sergo, let’s go to you and see how you live - Comrade Stalin, it’s already late, and if I had known, I would have told my wife, she would have prepared something... “And we’ll take a bottle of wine and quietly, modestly go,” said Stalin

And let's go. In one car - security, in the second - Beria, in the third - Stalin and Kavtaradze, in the fourth - a bottle with security...

Kavtaradze called. His neighbor opened the door:

- Not only does he not turn off the light in the toilet, he also comes at three in the morning!

From behind, from behind Kavtaradze’s shoulder, a man in a hat, pince-nez and white muffler looked out. The neighbor immediately disappeared. Security entered the corridor, blocking the entrances and exits. Kavtaradze wanted to go first to wake up his wife, but Beria beat him to it. He opened the door to the room, stuck his head in with his hat, pince-nez and muffler, and said slyly:

- Who came to see you!

Stalin didn't stay long. The guests have left. The next morning, at the entrance to the bathroom, Kavtaradze said to his neighbor who was lingering there:

- You need to wash yourself quickly! - I obey! - said the neighbor and stood up Soon Molotov called and informed Kavtaradze that he had been appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the USSR to Romania

Appreciated Khrushchev

When, at a meeting of the Politburo after the war, he expressed his thoughts on the construction of agricultural cities - gas, water supply, etc. - Stalin listened, came up to him, stroked his bald head and said:

- My little Marx!

On Lake Ritsa

The former commandant of the Bolshoi Theater, and in fact one of Stalin’s guards, A. Rybin, told me how he and Stalin went to Lake Ritsa. We set off in full confidence that everything at the dacha was ready to receive the leader. But, as usual with us, everything turned out to be wrong - there was even nowhere and nothing to sleep on. We lay down right on the shore - in sleeping bags. In the middle of the night, Stalin woke up.

- Well, you snore! - he told the guards, took his sleeping bag and went to sleep alone - He was such a simpleton, this Stalin! — I remember A. Rybin’s phrase verbatim

Sometimes Stalin, rolling up his trousers with stripes, walked barefoot in the water. I asked A. Rybin whether Stalin had six toes on his feet, which I read about in one “democratic” publication at the height of perestroika. Rybin was even taken aback:

- If it were, we would probably immediately pay attention...

On his trips, Stalin was often accompanied by his guard Tukov. He sat in the front seat next to the driver and had a habit of falling asleep on the way. One of the Politburo members, riding with Stalin in the back seat, remarked:

- Comrade Stalin, I don’t understand which of you is protecting whom? “What is that,” answered Joseph Vissarionovich, “he also put his pistol in my raincoat - take it, just in case!”

In "Metropol"

Stalin arrived at the Metropol restaurant. The foyer was empty - the security officers did their best. And only the cloakroom attendant rushed out to meet him:

- Allow me to help, Joseph Vissarionovich? “Perhaps I can still do this myself,” said Stalin, taking off his overcoat

Sergei Mikhalkov sat, looking at Stalin all the time, as if calling him to pay attention. Stalin sensed this and said to Mao Zedong:

- And this is a writer. It's impossible not to notice him! - referring, apparently, to the tall height of Sergei Vladimirovich Mikhalkov

Molotovsat, as usual, next to Stalin. Seizing the moment when Vyacheslav Mikhailovich came out, Mikhalkov sat down next to Stalin. Molotov returned and, noticing that his place was taken, stepped aside. But Stalin said:

- Comrade Mikhalkov, it’s difficult to sit on two chairs!

Petru Groza

Romanian Prime Minister Petru Groza said to Stalin after the banquet:

- You know, I love women very much. “And I love communists very much,” answered Stalin.

The only one, and the one...

Stalin told the leader of the Czechoslovak communists and the first president of Czechoslovakia, Klement Gottwald:

“You are the only decent person in your entire country, and he’s a drunkard!”

% accuracy

Stalin asked meteorologists what percentage of forecast accuracy they had

- Forty percent, Comrade Stalin - And you say the opposite, and then you will have sixty percent

Kartlinsky

The poet Semyon Olender said:

“In the twenties, I wrote a poem in which I cursed both Stalin and Trotsky—there was an irreconcilable struggle between them. I took it to Komsomolskaya Pravda. The poems came to Nadezhda Sergeevna Alliluyeva. We didn’t know that she was Stalin’s wife, we knew that her husband worked for the Central Committee.

A few days later, someone who introduced himself as Kartlinsky called me and said that he did not understand my position in the poems: I scold both Stalin and Trotsky at the same time.

“I don’t like both of them,” I answered. - Do you want to become a Soviet Lermontov? So remember that you are not Lermontov, and Comrade Stalin is not Nikolai Romanov! - And hung up.

Then I found out that Kartlinsky is one of Stalin’s pseudonyms. They finally called me to Dzerzhinsky, and that was the end of the matter.

Blame the war

After the battle of Stalingrad, Stalin examined the city, or rather, what was left of it. Suddenly, at the intersection of two former streets, a truck drove into the leader’s car. The driver is a woman. I saw Stalin and burst into tears.

“Don’t cry,” Stalin began to reassure her, “nothing happened to my car, it’s armored.” Correct yours! - And he turned to the policemen who ran up: - Don’t touch her, she’s not to blame, the war is to blame.

"Spiel"

There was a period when Stalin worked at his dacha for a long time and did not go anywhere. We decided to take him for a ride around Moscow at night. The accompanying person was punished:

- Remember everything that Comrade Stalin says, where and on what occasion!

When they returned, the chief asked the attendant:

- Well, what did you say? — He was silent, silent the whole way. - Or maybe he said something after all? — It seems like there’s only one word... “Spiel!” - Spire? Where did he say this? — When we passed Smolenskaya Square. ... At this time, a new “high-rise” was being built on Smolenskaya. The next day, the builders gathered and decided: no decorations at the top, the building should be crowned with a strict spire!

Golden Star

After the victory in 1945, noting the exceptional merits of I.V. Stalin in the Great Patriotic War, the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks decided:

1. Rename the capital of the USSR, Moscow, to the city of Stalin 2. Award I.V. Stalin the title of Generalissimo of the Soviet Union. 3. Award I.V. Stalin the second Order of Victory 4. Award I.V. Stalin the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Stalin categorically rejected these decisions. On the first point, he was supported, and this was enough for Moscow to remain Moscow. The issue of the Generalissimo was discussed several times, and Rokossovsky added the final touch:

- Comrade Stalin, you are a marshal, and I am a marshal, you cannot punish me!

Stalin smiled and waved his hand. And then more than once I regretted that I agreed:

“I’m a politician, not a military man, why do I need this title?”

They were also convinced with the Order of Victory. But he never accepted the Gold Star.

“I do not qualify for the status of Hero of the Soviet Union,” said Stalin. - I haven’t accomplished any feat!

Artists painted him with two stars - the Hero of Socialist Labor and the Hero of the Soviet Union, but there is not a single similar photograph, because the Golden Star of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin until the end of his life was kept in the Awards Department of the Presidium of the Supreme Council, and it was first seen on a red pillow behind the coffin ...

Reply to school teacher

Stalin's former school teacher sent him a letter asking him to give him a loan of five thousand rubles from the state to build a house. A package arrived from Stalin on which was written: “To the People’s Teacher.” Back then, there was no such title, but this teacher began to be called only that.

In the letter, Stalin replied that we do not have a law according to which the state could lend such money. “Usually I don’t take fees for my works, but now I’ve taken and sent you three thousand. I don’t have any more, unfortunately. But I’ll call the First Secretary of your party, Beria, so that he can find an opportunity to provide you with the missing two thousand.”

- He couldn’t contact me right away! - said Beria.

The house was built...

To be continued...

“I know that after my death a heap of rubbish will be placed on my grave, but the winds of history will mercilessly blow it away!” (I.V. Stalin, 1943).

Disputes about the role of Stalin in the history of our state do not subside to this day. You can say a lot of good and bad about the “father of nations”. However, there are facts that you can’t argue with...
1. Stalin's usual rate of reading literature was about 300 pages a day. He constantly educated himself. For example, while undergoing treatment in the Caucasus, in 1931, in a letter to Nadezhda Aliluyeva, having forgotten to inform about his health, he asks to send him textbooks on electrical engineering and ferrous metallurgy.
2. Stalin's level of education can be assessed by the number of books he read and studied. It is apparently impossible to establish how much he read in his life. He was not a collector of books - he did not collect them, but selected them, i.e. in his library there were only those books that he intended to somehow use in the future. But even those books that he selected are difficult to take into account.
In his Kremlin apartment, the library contained, according to witnesses, several tens of thousands of volumes, but in 1941 this library was evacuated, and it is unknown how many books were returned from it, since the library in the Kremlin was not restored. Subsequently, his books were in the dachas, and an outbuilding was built in Nizhnyaya for a library. Stalin collected 20 thousand volumes for this library.

3. The range of education can be assessed from the following data: After his death, books with his notes were transferred from the library at the Blizhnaya Dacha to the Institute of Marxism-Leninism. There were 5.5 thousand of them!
In addition to dictionaries and several geography courses, this list included books by both ancient and modern historians: Herodotus, Xenophon, P. Vinogradov, R. Winner, I. Velyaminov, D. Ilovaisky, K.A. Ivanova, Herero, N. Kareeva, 12 volumes of “History of the Russian State” by Karamzin and the second edition of the six-volume “History of Russia from Ancient Times” by S.M. Solovyov (St. Petersburg, 1896). And also: the fifth volume of “History of the Russian Army and Navy” (St. Petersburg, 1912). “Essays on the history of natural science in excerpts from the original works of Dr. F. Dannsman” (St. Petersburg, 1897), “Memoirs of Prince Bismarck. (Thoughts and memories)” (St. Petersburg, 1899).
A dozen issues of “Bulletin of Foreign Literature” for 1894, “Literary Notes” for 1892, “Scientific Review” for 1894, “Proceedings of the USSR Public Library named after. Lenin", vol. 3 (M., 1934) with materials about Pushkin, P.V. Annenkov, I.S. Turgenev and A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylina, two pre-revolutionary editions of A. Bogdanov’s book “Short Course in Economic Science”, novel by V.I. Kryzhanovskaya (Rochester) “The Web” (St. Petersburg, 1908), book by G. Leonidze “Stalin. Childhood and adolescence" (Tbilisi, 1939. in Georgian), etc.
4. According to the currently existing criteria, Stalin was a Doctor of Philosophy in terms of the scientific results achieved back in 1920. His achievements in economics were even more brilliant and have not yet been surpassed by anyone.
5. Stalin's personal archive was destroyed shortly after his death.
6. Stalin always worked ahead of time, sometimes several decades ahead. His effectiveness as a leader was that he set very distant goals, and the decisions of today became part of large-scale plans.
7. Under Stalin, the country was in difficult conditions, but in the shortest possible time it sharply rushed forward, and this means that at that time there were a lot of smart people in the country. And this is true, since Stalin attached great importance to the minds of the citizens of the USSR.
He was the smartest man, and he was sick of being surrounded by fools; he strove for the whole country to be smart. The basis for the mind, for creativity is knowledge. Knowledge about everything. And never so much has been done to provide people with knowledge, to develop their minds, as under Stalin.

8. Stalin did not fight with vodka, he fought for people’s free time. Amateur sports have been extremely developed, and specifically amateur sports. Each enterprise and institution had sports teams and athletes from among its employees. More or less large enterprises were required to have and maintain stadiums. Everyone played everything.
9. Stalin preferred only Tsinandali and Teliani wines. It happened that I drank cognac, but was simply not interested in vodka. From 1930 to 1953, the guards saw him “in zero gravity” only twice: at S.M.’s birthday. Shtemenko and at the funeral of A.A. Zhdanov.
10. In all cities of the USSR, parks remained from Stalin's time. They were originally intended for mass recreation of people. They had to have a reading room and game rooms (chess, billiards), a beer hall and ice cream parlours, a dance floor and summer theaters.
11. Under Stalin, discussions were freely held on all fundamental issues of existence: on the fundamentals of economics, social life, science. Weismann's genetics, Einstein's theory of relativity, cybernetics, the structure of collective farms were criticized, and any leadership of the country was severely criticized. It is enough to compare what satirists wrote about then and what they began to write about after the 20th Congress.
12. If the Stalinist planning system had been preserved and further rationally improved, and I.V. Stalin understood the need to improve the socialist economy (after all, it was not without reason that his work “Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR” appeared in 1952), if the task of further improving the standard of living of the people was put in first place (and in 1953 there were no obstacles to this ), by 1970 we would have been in the top three countries with the highest standard of living.
13. The economic backlog that Stalin created, his plans, the people he prepared (both technically and morally) were so outstanding that neither Khrushchev’s foolishness nor Brezhnev’s apathy could waste this resource.
14. During the first 10 years of being in the first echelons of power in the USSR, Stalin submitted his resignation three times.

15. Stalin was similar to Lenin, but his fanaticism extended not to Marx, but to the specific Soviet people - Stalin fanatically served him.
16. In the ideological struggle against Stalin, the Trotskyists simply had no chance. When Stalin proposed to Trotsky in 1927 to hold an all-party discussion, the results of the final all-party referendum were stunning for the Trotskyists. Of the 854 thousand party members, 730 thousand voted, of which 724 thousand voted for Stalin’s position and 6 thousand for Trotsky.
17. Stalin was the greatest expert and authority in the Bolshevik Party on the national issue.
18. Not the least role in the creation of the State of Israel was played by Stalin’s support at the vote on the resolution at the UN.
19. Stalin broke off diplomatic relations with Israel only because something like a grenade was exploded on the territory of the USSR mission in Israel. Mission personnel were injured by this explosion. The Israeli government rushed to the USSR with an apology, but the Stalinist USSR did not forgive anyone for such an attitude towards itself.
20. Despite the severance of diplomatic relations, national mourning was declared in Israel on the day of Stalin's death.
21. In 1927, Stalin passed a decree that the dachas of party workers could not be larger than 3-4 rooms.
22. Stalin treated both the security and the service personnel very well. Quite often he invited them to the table, and one day when he saw that the sentry at his post was getting wet in the rain, he ordered to immediately build a mushroom at this post. But this had nothing to do with their service. Here Stalin did not tolerate any concessions.
23. Stalin was very thrifty with himself - he did not have anything superfluous in clothes, but he wore out what he had.

24. During the war, Stalin, as expected, sent his sons to the front.
25. In the Battle of Kursk, Stalin found a way out of a hopeless situation: the Germans were going to use a “technical novelty” - the Tiger and Panther tanks, against which our artillery was powerless.
Stalin remembered his support for the development of the A-IX-2 explosive and the new experimental PTAB aerial bombs, and gave the task: by May 15, i.e. by the time the roads dry out, produce 800 thousand of these bombs. 150 factories of the Soviet Union rushed to fulfill this order and fulfilled it. As a result, near Kursk, the German army was deprived of striking power by Stalin’s tactical innovation - the PTAB-2.5-1.5 bomb.
26. After the war, Stalin gradually reduced the role of the Politburo to a body for the leadership of the party. And at the 19th Congress of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, this abolition of the Politburo was recorded in the new charter.
27. Stalin said that he saw the party as an order of sword-bearers, numbering 50 thousand people.
28. Stalin wanted to remove the party from power altogether, leaving only two matters in the party’s care: agitation and propaganda and participation in the selection of personnel.
29. Stalin said his famous phrase “personnel decide everything” in 1935 at a reception in honor of graduates of military academies: “We talk too much about the merits of leaders, about the merits of leaders. They are credited with everything, almost all of our achievements. This is, of course, false and incorrect.
It's not just about the leaders... To set the technology in motion and use it to its fullest, we need people who have mastered the technology, we need personnel capable of mastering and using this technology according to all the rules of art... That's why the old slogan<техника решает все>... must now be replaced by a new slogan, the slogan that<кадры решают все>».
30. In 1943, Stalin said: “I know that after my death a heap of rubbish will be placed on my grave, but the wind of history will mercilessly scatter it!”

Stalin served his sentence six times. He received only one term for political reasons. All the rest were imprisoned for robbery.

9

In 1941, the Germans captured Stalin's eldest son Yakov. They firmly believed that they would be able to exchange the son of the leader of the USSR for the German Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus. Stalin refused to negotiate with them. In 1943, Jacob died under mysterious circumstances at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in Northeast Germany. Most historians believe he was killed because his father refused to negotiate. Later, Stalin confessed to his daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva: “The Germans offered me to exchange Yasha for one of their own. I refused. Will I bargain with them? In war it’s like in war!”

8

This saying is usually attributed to Stalin. However, no one has found where or when he said this. Moreover, it is very similar to the phrase from the novel “The Black Obelisk”, written by Remarque in 1956: “the death of one person is death, and the death of two million is just statistics.” Most likely, this is a deliberate lie, started after Stalin’s death with the aim of discrediting him and based on the principle “well, everyone knows...”

7

When developing the Pobeda car, it was planned that the name of the car would be “Motherland”. Having learned about this, Stalin ironically asked: “Well, how much will we have a Motherland?” The name of the car was immediately changed.

6

Not the least role in the creation of the state of Israel was played by Stalin’s support at the vote on a resolution at the UN, which is why national mourning was declared in this country after the death of the leader.

5 Unfit for military service

As a child, Stalin suffered a severe hand injury; his left limb did not fully extend at the elbow and outwardly appeared shorter. Because of this, he was declared unfit for military service in 1916.

4 Respect for the dog’s work

Julbars is the name of a dog who served as a sapper on the fronts of World War II. In the spring of 1945, the dog was injured and was unable to take part in the Victory Parade on Red Square. Stalin ordered the dog to be carried across the square on his overcoat.

3

2 What he didn't like

He couldn't stand erotic and sexual scenes in movies, it made him angry! Joseph did not allow anyone to use his things and objects. Even if there were many guests in the house, it was impossible to hang other clothes on its nickel-plated hanger. Despite the fact that he was an atheist, he did not like literature with atheistic content. His studies at the theological seminary probably had an effect. Stalin did not like the smells coming from the kitchen. Therefore, during the construction and planning of his dachas, the kitchen was greatly removed.

1 Half the fleet

After the victory of the Second World War, Comrade Stalin and Churchill discussed what to do with the German fleet. Joseph Vissarionovich proposed dividing it between states, but the Englishman insisted on flooding it. “So you’ll flood your half,” Stalin snapped.