In 1953, a few months after the death of I. V. Stalin, his son tried to escape to China and was arrested. Official Soviet historiography tried to forget this incident. But thanks to Chinese historians, he still did not sink into oblivion.
In the shadow of the father
The personality of Vasily Stalin, the youngest son of the leader of nations, has always been shrouded in a dense veil of numerous secrets and legends. It is only known for certain that his son Yakov from his first marriage I. V. Stalin disliked, while he treated Svetlana and Vasily very warmly. They paid him the same.
Vasily Stalin from a young age lived under the heavy burden of the son of the sole ruler of one-sixth of the land, in fact a king. Of course, this left an imprint on his psyche and the rest of his life. The boy grew up cunning, willingly accepted the flattery of those around him and took advantage of his position as best he could. However, he generously shared his material benefits with his comrades at school, and then with friends at the flight school. By the way, it cost I. V. Stalin to learn about the special attitude of those around him to his son, how he immediately punished Vasily.
Growing up, Vasily Stalin realized that his own life is directly related to the life of an all-powerful father. More than once in a circle of friends, he declared that he was alive while his father was alive. And these words turned out to be prophetic in many ways. During the reign of Joseph Vissarionovich, the career of his youngest son went uphill. At only 21 years old, he was promoted to colonel, at 25 - major general, and at 28 rose to lieutenant general. In this case, for the sake of justice, it should be noted: although the subordinates perfectly understood to whom Vasily owed his solid shoulder straps, they sincerely loved him. The junior commander Stalin was excellent, well versed in the flight business. When in 1948 he was entrusted with the command of the Air Force of the Moscow District, the generals took this for granted, noting that the young man was doing an excellent job with the task entrusted to him.
Vasily Stalin also had his own characteristic shortcomings: a hot-tempered character and a love of banquets and hussars, which later grew into alcoholism. True, here it is necessary to make allowances for the difficult youth and high social status that accompanied Vasily Stalin all his life. His father fought as best he could with his son's "ailments". Once, even during the war, Vasily Stalin organized a fishing trip using rockets, in which his subordinates died. I. V. Stalin immediately deprived his son of a high command post. But he quickly changed his anger to mercy. Such cases happened regularly, disgrace and career ups were alternated with enviable constancy. Be that as it may, everything ended with the death of the elder Stalin.
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Seniors must be obeyed
As Vasily Stalin himself later noted in his memoirs, shortly before his death, his father invited him to his place and offered to go to China forever as a military adviser.
At the same time, in an ultimatum form, he forbade his son to come even to his funeral. Joseph Vissarionovich explained his strange decision by the fact that after his death, Vasily would be instantly crushed by the bloody millstones of the struggle for power. And in China, to which the leader of all nations actually gave independence and industry, Mao Zedong will be able to protect his son … Vasily Stalin resolutely rejected his father's proposal. As further history showed, it was completely in vain.
Soon Iosif Vissarionovich was gone. Instead of hiding, left without patronage, the hot-tempered Vasily fell into binges, at numerous official receptions publicly accusing his father's former entourage of his murder. Moreover, the son of the leader began willingly giving interviews to foreign journalists, setting out his own version of the death of I. V. Stalin, constantly arguing that the death of the leader was violent. A major scandal was brewing. With all his behavior, no one needed Stalin Jr. opposed himself to the ruling elite of the country.
But even in this situation, they wanted to act humanly with him. The Air Force commander summoned Vasily Stalin to his office and invited him to choose any remote military district, the aviation of which he could lead. However, the obstinate young man refused this reasonable offer. Instead, suddenly remembering his father's proposal, he went straight to the Chinese embassy and asked to emigrate, making a number of unforgivable mistakes. Once at the Chinese embassy, Vasily no longer had to go outside it. The authorities quite rightly feared that the leader's son was able to tell the Chinese, and then the whole world, their many secrets. So shortly after visiting the Chinese, on April 28, 1953,Vasily Stalin was arrested on charges of anti-Soviet propaganda and abuse of office. The investigation dragged on for 2 years, after which, under a different surname, the leader's youngest son went to the Vladimir Central for 8 years. Had he listened to his own father a year earlier, instead of a prison cell, his favorite profession of a military pilot and quite a comfortable life in Beijing would have been waiting for him.
Emigration: second attempt
In prison, Vasily Stalin was on an excellent account. He could have refused to work, but, on the contrary, proved himself to be an excellent milling machine. At his request, his wife brought a whole suitcase of rare cutters for work to the prison. While the leader's son was in prison, the party group headed by Khrushchev won the victory in the country, and he suddenly decided to change his anger to mercy. Vasily Stalin was released almost 1.5 years ahead of schedule, in January 1960, the orders and general rank were returned, and a three-room apartment in the center of Moscow was allocated. It was assumed that, as a token of gratitude, Vasily Iosifovich would stop his accusatory speeches and live a quiet, calm life.
It wasn't like that. The genes of the revolutionary made themselves felt. Vasily Stalin wrote extensive memoirs for several months of freedom, in which he stated that he did not renounce his father, and considered his death a murder. Moreover, he told how Khrushchev once told him that I. V. Stalin, it was him, his youngest son, wanted to see the ruler of the country after his death … This was already an absolute stupidity.
As soon as the manuscript was finished, Vasily Stalin went to … the Chinese embassy with a repeated request for political asylum. The Chinese, being consistent people, immediately agreed and at the same time took the manuscript of his memoirs for safekeeping. Preparations began for the transfer of the fugitive to China, but at the last moment everything fell through.
The leader's son was arrested again and on April 16, 1960, returned to prison to serve out his term.
Vasily Stalin was released only in April 1961, after which he was sent to live out his short life in Kazan, a city closed to foreigners. Here, on March 19, 1962, at the age of 40, Vasily Iosifovich Dzhugashvili (he was forbidden to bear the surname Stalin) died of alcohol poisoning, although rumors circulated in the country for a long time about the violent death of the leader's youngest son.
However, the story did not end there. The Chinese translated Vasily Stalin's memoirs into Chinese and published them in December 1962. The book was titled "Word of honor: The story of Vasily Stalin." It is noteworthy that the foreword to the book was written by the famous Chinese Marshal Ye Jianyin, who was convinced of the violent death of Vasily Stalin as a person dangerous to the Soviet regime.
Dmitry SOKOLOV