"He inherited a pear-growing Russia, leaving behind a Soviet Union armed with atomic weapons."
This is Churchill's objective assessment of Stalin after his death in 1953.
He ran the Soviet Union for nearly 30 years, transforming it from a backward agrarian country into the world's second largest industrialized country.
More importantly, he led the Soviet people to defeat Nazi Germany and made great contributions to the world anti-fascist war.
Like many great men, Stalin's later years were lonely.
"As he grew older, my father began to feel lonely." Daughter Svetlana Arirupeva recalled.
"He was now quite far away from all the people, almost isolated from the world, he seemed to live in a vacuum, he couldn't find anyone to pour out his thoughts..."
"He felt very depressed, as if the whole world was against him... This is all the result of loneliness and bitterness. ”
The only way to socialize remains, that is, a night feast with close courtiers.
This habit of eating a night feast after watching a movie was retained until the last few days before his death.
Stalin in his youth
On the evening of February 28, 1953, as before, Stalin and his four commissioners, Beria, Malenkov, Khrushchev, and Bulganin, after watching a movie at the Kremlin, drove back to his villa on the outskirts of Moscow in the early hours of the morning.
The night feast was a joy, with tables piled high with appetizing food and lots of delicious food.
Of course, the banquet is always full of jokes, for example, one of them will put a tomato on a person's chair, and when the unlucky egg sits on it, everyone will burst into laughter.
For example, someone adds a spoonful of salt to someone else's glass, or mixes vodka with wine.
Another time, Beria wrote the word "stupid" on a piece of paper, pinned behind Khrushchev's coat, and Khrushchev did not pay attention. As he got dressed and prepared to leave, the crowd erupted in laughter.
Stalin
Songs are also essential.
Stalin had a record player that would mark the various discs he had heard. He loves Russian and Georgian folk music.
When the song sounded, "We all listened sideways and started singing along to the record." Khrushchev later recalled that when he played a dance song, they began to dance. Stalin rarely danced, but when the mood came, he would join in, with his hands outstretched and his feet moving back and forth.
Some of these details come from the memoirs of Khrushchev and others, and part of them come from the Russian historical materials that have been made public.
The banquet on the last night of February, to be precise, was supposed to be held in the early hours of March 1.
Stalin was in a high mood that night, pointing from time to time at Khrushchev's belly and calling him "Mikita" in a Ukrainian accent.
Khrushchev recalled that every time Stalin was in a good mood, he would behave in this way.
It was noisy until around 4 a.m., and the banquet was over.
Beria and Malenkov, in the same car, left Villa Conzevo.
Khrushchev and Bulganin left separately.
On Sunday, March 1, Khrushchev waited at home for the phone, fearing that Stalin, as usual, would wake up and call him over.
But not this time.
So Khrushchev went to bed.
In the morning, according to usual custom, Stalin's guards and service personnel expected him to get up at 10-12 o'clock, as usual.
They watched the lights in his room and waited for him to ring the bell and order breakfast.
Everyone guessed that he might be drinking tea, because the warm water bottle was right next to his bed.
In addition, according to Stalin's strict regulations, guards and service personnel were not allowed to enter the room when he did not greet him.
So, although it was only a few steps away, they did not dare to knock on the door easily.
All afternoon, there was no movement inside.
Guards outside the house noticed that around 6:30 p.m., there was a flash of light in his room. But he still didn't greet everyone.
Finally, at 10:11 p.m., everyone couldn't sit still.
Under the pretext of delivering mail at night, the guards sent a waiter into Stalin's room.
It turned out that Stalin was already lying on the floor, one hand slightly raised, and his pants were wet.
Beside him was a copy of Pravda and a bottle of mineral water.
He didn't die, and a buzzing sound came from his throat.
The hands on his watch, stuck at 6:30 p.m., apparently, he had fallen to the ground from a heart attack while he was getting up.
Stalin had a heart attack once in 1945.
In 1947, it had another seizure. Since then, he has spent every year on vacation in the Black Sea, but arteriosclerosis has always threatened his health.
The guards immediately lifted him to the couch while calling The Minister of State Security, Ignacev.
If the doctor had been immediately summoned at this time to treat Stalin, perhaps Stalin would not have gone so fast.
But at this time, the Minister of Security and Safety did not dare to ask for a doctor privately.
According to the later recollections of Rozgochev, the deputy captain of the villa guard, after Stalin fell ill, no one could call Stalin a doctor without Beria's orders.
So the Minister of Security immediately contacted Malenkov and Beria, who said that Beria was spending the night with his mistress in a special villa.
Soon after, Beria called and told everyone: "Don't tell anyone about Comrade Stalin's illness!" ”
At about 3 a.m. on the 2nd, Beria and Malenkov arrived, and at this time, eight or nine hours after Stalin had fallen ill, Stalin was still asleep and making a loud purring sound.
When Beria saw this, he did not call the doctor, but severely reprimanded the guards:
"Don't you see Comrade Stalin sleeping soundly?" All of you go out and don't disturb him to sleep! ”
Such a delay in time, no matter how tenacious the life, I am afraid that I will not be able to return to heaven, let alone this is a seventy-year-old man.
When the doctor was summoned later, it was 12 hours after the onset of the illness.
Stalin lay on the bed, breathless.
The doctor was startled by Stalin's condition and his hands trembled as he unbuttoned his shirt. "You are a doctor, and you treat Comrade Stalin in your usual way!" Beria shouted at him.
Removing Stalin's dentures, drawing blood, looking into the lungs ... Every medical measure must be approved by several of them.
But one of the ventilators next to it has not been used.
Stalin fell asleep for 3 days.
During this period, Beria and other close courtiers, including Kaganovich and Voroshilov, took turns guarding in groups for 24 hours.
According to Stalin's daughter, the most disgusting person on the scene was Beria. Whenever her father had a slightly clearer performance, he rushed to him and leaned over to kiss his hand.
And when Stalin was unconscious again, he immediately got up and spat viciously.
On March 3, death was inevitable. Beria and the other four members of the National Congress, Kaganovich and Voroshilov, as well as Molotov and Mikoyan met in the Kremlin and decided on a new governing body.
On 5 March, they held a joint meeting of the Central Committee, the Council of Ministers and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet.
Stalin was relieved of his duties while he was still in a daze. Beria nominated Malenkov as chairman of the Soviet government, and Malenkov designated Beria in charge of the police apparatus.
After that, they returned to the villa, and Stalin, at the last moment, suddenly opened his eyes.
"His face turned gray." Stalin's daughter Svetlana recalled, "His lips were blue and he didn't look recognizable... He suffocated in front of us. ”
"At the last moment of his life, he suddenly opened his eyes and scanned all the people in the room." Svetlana said the glimpse made all of them creepy.
It was a gaze with insanity and anger, and fear of death.
"He suddenly raised a hand, as if pointing to something above, and issued a curse to all of us... After a while, after a final effort, his soul finally broke free of his flesh. ”
Stalin died at the age of 74.
Many people present began to weep and cry bitterly. Only Beria rushed out of the room and cried out the silent night sky with an excited cry:
"Khrushtaryev! My car! ”
To this scene, Khrushchev said many years later: "The moment of certainty that he has been looking forward to for a long time has finally arrived." There was no longer any power in the world that could stop him. No one could stand in his way, and now he could do whatever he wanted. ”
On March 6, the Soviet newspaper Pravda published an article:
"Comrade Stalin died at 21:50 on March 5 due to continuous cardiovascular blood supply and difficulty breathing."