Late in the evening of October 31, 1961, when the entire Anglo-Saxon world was celebrating Halloween, an event took place on Red Square in Moscow, which absolutely fit into the context of the “alien” holiday. Stalin's body was carried out of the mausoleum.
Why were you in such a hurry?
The decision to remove the body of the leader was made the day before, on October 30, at the close of the congress of the Communist Party. However, it remains a mystery why it was implemented in record time - in just a day? Formally, the workers of the Leningrad Kirov Machine-Building Plant were the initiators of the removal of the body, and a certain delegate I. Spiridonov, on behalf of the Leningrad Party organization, announced it to the congress.
The decision was taken unanimously. In the morning, the information was published in the Pravda newspaper. Probably, the authorities thus prevented a negative public reaction, but there was no popular unrest, and they decided to start the reburial in the evening.
Perhaps Nikita Khrushchev, the then head of the party, remembering that "the Russians take a long time to harness," decided to use the moment - until the citizens "went quickly." But this is unlikely. Most likely, the decision to remove Stalin from the mausoleum and the exact date of reburial were determined long before the October congress of the CPSU Central Committee.
Why on the last day of October?
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There may be several versions here. The most exotic is about the connection between the removal of Stalin's body and the Western holiday of Halloween. In 1960, the famous performance of Nikita Khrushchev "with a boot" took place in the USA, the head of the USSR learned about the Halloween holiday. The inquisitive Nikita Sergeevich simply could not help but notice the pumpkin abundance in New York in mid-October and take an interest in the nature of the phenomenon. Probably, having learned about the connection between Halloween and evil spirits, he decided to transfer it to Soviet soil - just for one day.
Another version looks more plausible. On October 30, 1961, on the eve of the removal of the leader's body from the mausoleum, the most powerful hydrogen bomb in history was tested in the USSR. Most likely, the leaders of the Soviet Union decided to link the two events: in the explosion of the "Tsar Bomb" they saw an excellent symbolic ritual - farewell to the cult of Stalin.
Why was they reburied at the Kremlin wall?
Years later, the participants in the operation to carry Joseph Vissarionovich out of the mausoleum recalled that the cemetery of the Novodevichy Convent was initially chosen as the place of reburial. This idea was abandoned a few hours before the burial. Allegedly, the authorities were worried that Stalin could later be dug up by the leader's ardent admirers, of whom there were millions in the USSR. However, it is very hard to believe that the main officials of the country were guided by a careful attitude towards the body of the leader. Then what is the reason?
I must say that the burial of Stalin at the Kremlin wall took place in extreme secrecy - about 30 people took part in the operation itself. Moreover, relatives were not invited to the farewell ceremony.
In other words, there is no one to confirm that it was Joseph Vissarionovich who was buried near the Kremlin, except for “secret” soldiers and officers with high officials.
After the reburial, rumors spread around Moscow that Khrushchev had buried not the body of the “great helmsman” at the walls of the Kremlin, but someone else, or an empty coffin. Stalin's body was allegedly burned in the crematorium. Of course, it is no longer possible to check these legends.
Why was the reburial accompanied by a parade?
On the evening of October 31, 1961, Red Square was closed - there was supposed to be a rehearsal for the parade scheduled for November 7.
When the participants in the operation to remove Stalin's body were swarming in the mausoleum, just a few dozen meters away from them brave Soviet soldiers marched, heavy military equipment hummed …
At first glance, it seems that the combination of a parade rehearsal with a covert reburial operation looks quite logical. Allegedly, as the participants in the removal of the body recall, this was a good reason for the closure of Red Square. This looks a little naive, since late at night Red Square could hardly be called a very busy place - especially at a time when most people went to bed at nine or ten hours. And, of course, it is unlikely that the people became nervous about the blocking of the main square of the country even in the daytime. Most likely, the reason was different. Probably, the party bosses of the Soviet Union again resorted to their favorite language of symbolism. The parade became a demonstrative act of strength and power in front of the dead tyrant "expelled" from the pyramid.
Why was all the gold removed from Stalin?
Fyodor Konev, a participant in the reburial operation, the commander of a separate regiment, recalls in his memoirs that in preparation for the reburial, the generalissimo's gold shoulder straps, the star of the Hero of Socialist Labor, were removed from Stalin and the gold buttons on his uniform were cut off, which were exchanged for brass. The nature of such a decision is completely incomprehensible - it was not the gold that the highest officials of the USSR felt sorry for! If the removal of epaulettes and orders could still be attributed to a kind of dethronement act, but where are the buttons? Why create additional fuss with sewing on new, cheap ones? Here we are dealing either with some very strange ritual, understandable only to its participants, or with the fact that the top officials of the state took the gold buttons from Stalin's jacket as a trophy, a talisman.
Why was the mausoleum opened the next day?
It looks very strange. On the morning of November 1, a traditional queue lined up in front of the mausoleum. True, the inscription "Lenin-Stalin" that adorned the pyramid was covered with a cloth with the lonely surname of Vladimir Ilyich.
Why did the country's top officials, accustomed to insuring themselves even in trifles, decide to take the risk and let people into the mausoleum with the "lonely" Lenin? Moreover, according to eyewitnesses, Red Square was not even further reinforced by security.
Really, the party bosses were so sure of the cold-blooded reaction of the people. Stalin's absence did not actually cause a negative reaction or fermentation among the visitors, but who could then somehow predict this? Was it not a hydrogen bomb in the hands of the authorities that so humbled the hearts of Joseph Vissarionovich's admirers? The motives of statesmen and the secret of composure of the citizens of the USSR, the majority (and certainly those who were ready to defend the three-hour queue in the mausoleum) who revered Stalin as the winner of the Great Patriotic War, we will never guess for sure.
Why was the monument on Stalin's grave erected only 10 years later?
Immediately after the burial of Stalin's body, the grave was covered with a heavy marble slab over the years of the leader's life. She stayed in such a modest state for exactly 10 years, until in 1970 the slab was replaced by a bust of Joseph Vissarionovich by the sculptor Nikolai Tomsky. Why exactly then - not earlier and not later? After all, Nikita Khrushchev, the main destroyer of the Stalin cult, was removed back in 1964. And here the answer must be sought in the once fraternal China. Since the late 1960s, the USSR and the PRC were on the brink of a grandiose war. China's dissatisfaction with the suppression of the Prague Spring by Soviet troops, after which the leaders of the Celestial Empire declared that the Soviet Union had taken the path of “socialist imperialism,” and three border conflicts between the two superpowers in 1969, forced the Soviet authorities to seek ways to normalize relations. And one of the methods of pacifying China was seen by party leaders in the "partial rehabilitation" of Stalin, whose figure in the PRC remained a cult. The head of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Alexei Kosygin, even promised the head of the Chinese government to return the name to Stalingrad in exchange for loyalty, and to coincide with the 90th anniversary of Joseph Vissarionovich, but at the last moment the Soviet leadership played back. Ultimately, the authorities decided to confine themselves to unveiling a monument at Stalin's grave. True, such half-measures did not satisfy the Chinese, and in the same 1970 a crowd of Red Guards, "hegemons" of the cultural revolution in China, blocked the Soviet embassy in Beijing, not ceasing to chant for several days: "Long live Comrade Stalin!"The head of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Alexei Kosygin, even promised the head of the Chinese government to return the name to Stalingrad in exchange for loyalty, and to coincide with the 90th anniversary of Joseph Vissarionovich, but at the last moment the Soviet leadership played back. Ultimately, the authorities decided to confine themselves to unveiling a monument at Stalin's grave. True, such half-measures did not satisfy the Chinese, and in the same 1970 a crowd of Red Guards, "hegemons" of the cultural revolution in China, blocked the Soviet embassy in Beijing, not ceasing to chant for several days: "Long live Comrade Stalin!"The head of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Alexei Kosygin, even promised the head of the Chinese government to return the name to Stalingrad in exchange for loyalty, and to coincide with the 90th anniversary of Joseph Vissarionovich, but at the last moment the Soviet leadership played back. Ultimately, the authorities decided to confine themselves to unveiling a monument at Stalin's grave. True, such half measures did not satisfy the Chinese, and in the same 1970 a crowd of Red Guards, "hegemons" of the cultural revolution in China, blocked the Soviet embassy in Beijing, not stopping chanting for several days: "Long live Comrade Stalin!"Ultimately, the authorities decided to confine themselves to unveiling a monument at Stalin's grave. True, such half measures did not satisfy the Chinese, and in the same 1970 a crowd of Red Guards, "hegemons" of the cultural revolution in China, blocked the Soviet embassy in Beijing, not stopping chanting for several days: "Long live Comrade Stalin!"Ultimately, the authorities decided to confine themselves to unveiling a monument at Stalin's grave. True, such half measures did not satisfy the Chinese, and in the same 1970 a crowd of Red Guards, "hegemons" of the cultural revolution in China, blocked the Soviet embassy in Beijing, not stopping chanting for several days: "Long live Comrade Stalin!"