Early in the morning of March 5, 1953, the head of the Land of Soviets, Joseph Stalin, died. But even 60 years later, the death of the "leader of the peoples" was still under the veil of secrecy. As, in fact, almost all life. And it is hardly possible to find out this secret of secrets. Even the unexpected for the world reburial of Stalin, whose ashes were transferred late at night from the Mausoleum to the Kremlin wall, took place in absolute secrecy. And this fact no longer seems historical to everyone …
A word to comrade Spiridonov
The XXII Congress of the Soviet Communist Party, which took place on October 17-31, 1961, became historic at once for many reasons:
- was the first of 22 top party meetings held in the Grand Kremlin Palace;
- adopted a document called the "Moral Code of the Builders of Communism";
- the catch phrase of the country's new leader Nikita Khrushchev that the current and all subsequent generations of his compatriots will begin to live in a communist society flew out of the "nest" and went across the country;
- on the eve of the opening, a super-powerful thermonuclear bomb was detonated, which became a kind of demonstration of the military might of the USSR and, apparently, gave Khrushchev confidence in his actions;
- just a day before the closure, the hasty reburial of the former secretary general was announced as an ordinary person.
Curiously, the formal initiator of such a step at the state level and significance, probably taken long before the congress, was not Khrushchev or one of the authoritative members of the Politburo like Frol Kozlov, Anastas Mikoyan or Mikhail Suslov. The head of the Leningrad Regional Committee, Ivan Spiridonov, who was not distinguished by either initiative or oratory, was entrusted with giving a speech and demanding the removal of Stalin from the Mausoleum. By the way, soon comrade Spiridonov, who had not been noticed before, was dismissed from his post due to chronic sleep in the workplace.
Lenin's neighbor
A lot has been said and written about how long Stalin was without the attention of doctors, who were simply afraid to be summoned to a dacha near Moscow without the permission of the "Boss" himself or Lavrenty Beria. No fewer facts and possible words remained hidden. Thus, giving rise, which is natural, a lot of speculation and just rumors. On March 6, the body of the 73-year-old generalissimo was transported to the capital, leaving for three days among the columns of the House of Unions. But the urgent security measures taken by the NKVD and the Politburo, moreover from the category of "increased" ones, clearly did not make the farewell to the deceased safe for many thousands of people.
Only in the stampede that took place on Trubnaya Square, later christened "Trupnaya", almost two hundred mourners died. According to the Western "radio voices", the number of victims turned out to be much higher. Allowing the Soviet people and the communists of other countries to grieve to their heart's content, the country's leadership, temporarily left without a head, decided to squeeze the embalmed Vladimir Lenin who has been in the Mausoleum for almost 30 years. And on March 9, they placed in it, together with the first leader of the USSR, also the second. In this way, Joseph Vissarionovich lay for more than eight years.
Stalin, get out
After applauding such a "courageous" speaker from Leningrad, the delegates unanimously approved the already prepared decision that their recent party leader, who had abused his power and became a real criminal, should "leave the premises." It is good that in the communist fervor, the deceased was not offered to do it on his own. Trying to accomplish the righteous, in their opinion, albeit a posthumous trial, the members of the Politburo were in such a hurry that they ordered to take out the body of the idol of millions who had been overthrown by them the next night. Quietly reburying in the Kremlin wall next to Yemelyan Yaroslavsky and Rosalia Zemlyachka. And, contrary to the protocol, they dispensed with solemn speeches, wreaths and the guard of honor and military salute given to the highest officer!
What if they steal it?
Historians testify: the site where, as a result, Stalin now lies, was chosen only after long discussions with the participation of the entire Politburo. True, Khrushchev offered to bury Joseph Vissarionovich at the Novodevichy cemetery, not far from his wife and daughter. But out of fear that the body could be taken to Georgia, he abandoned this idea. In the end, everyone voted in favor of the proposal of the Uzbek leader Nuritdin Mukhitdinov to bury Stalin at the Kremlin, along with many other important Soviet politicians, military leaders and other statesmen and foreign communists.
However, years later, the fact of the burial of the secretary general in the center of Moscow began to be questioned. For example, according to the version of the Canadian historian of Ukrainian origin Greg Sinko, one of the doubles is buried there. And Stalin himself was allegedly secretly taken to the Himalayas, where, after reading Buddhist literature in his youth, he hoped to gain eternal immortality.
