Joseph Stalin … Every time a new date comes up associated with his name, a wave of publications about this person rises in the media, assessments of his life and activities appear, negative and positive, disputes flare up about how much he is guilty of the terror of the thirties and forties last century in the USSR, about whether he was even the initiator of this terror. They talk about the legacy he left behind. Two dates have passed. March 5 is the day of Stalin's death. March 9th is the day of his funeral. But this time the emphasis in publications and discussions shifted somewhat from the personality of Stalin himself to his perception by people. Rather, the masses of people. This had happened before, but somehow it did not stand out so clearly in the general chorus of polemics. But now …
Let's start with goodbye
The farewell began on March 6, 1953, when the coffin with the leader's body was displayed in the Column Hall of the House of Unions. In general, so much has been written about parting with Stalin and his funeral that it is already a sin to repeat itself. Therefore, we will only recall the main points. So, at four o'clock in the afternoon, people went to say goodbye to the head of state. A leader who, as it seemed only yesterday, will never die. In the coffin, Stalin lay in his everyday uniform. The only thing was that the generalissimo's shoulder straps were sewn, and gold buttons were sewn on. There were also medals, which is not surprising, and the Hammer and Sickle and Gold Star medals. By the way, he did not wear the first one during his lifetime. Mourning melodies from the classics sounded. At the very tomb stood Malenkov, Beria, Molotov, Voroshilov, Khrushchev, Mikoyan, Kaganovich … People all walked and walked incessantly. At night, the streets of Moscow were illuminated by spotlights,because they were filled with wanting to pay their last respects to their leader. All this went on for three days and three nights.
Funeral and crush
And then came the ninth of March. Funeral day. In the morning, troops (4400 people) lined up on Red Square. The orchestra, of course. At nine in the morning, 12 thousand workers and employees were built on the square. Levitan was broadcasting live on the radio. Then the funeral procession. From the House of Unions to the Mausoleum, on which "Lenin" and "Stalin" were inscribed. Everything was solemn, majestic and … scary. Then a meeting. Then the fireworks. Then factory beeps all over the country. Troops on the march. Airplanes in the sky. And now about what is often emphasized - about the stampede on the day of Stalin's funeral. And, interestingly, modern opponents of the long-gone leader blame him for this. Although, let's stay on the side of common sense, of course, there can be no guilt of a deceased person that a tragedy happened during his funeral. Yes, someone did not calculate something,did not verify the logistics, and on Trubnaya Square, or rather in the area of the square, there was a stampede in which, according to various sources, from several hundred to three thousand people died. Someone argues that more. There are completely creepy descriptions of what happened. If someone wants, then, I think, can easily find them.
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As if alive
And now let us step back a step from the very personality of Stalin and return to the perception of him by the people who then lived. To illustrate this perception, one can turn to the discussion about the painting by the beloved artist Stalin, Alexander Gerasimov, which depicts the moment of farewell to the leader. This reasoning focuses on the fact that in Gerasimov's painting, Stalin is depicted as alive. As if I just fell asleep because I was tired. And this is, perhaps, getting to the point. For the Soviet people of that time, Stalin remained alive. And he was alive for a long time. And even Khrushchev's demarche at the Twentieth Congress did not shake this inner feeling too much. The feeling was simply hidden from prying eyes, but it remained. And we can be convinced of this now, when, in spite of any dangers to society and the country, the memory of millions of people seeks protection in the memories of Stalin. After all, you can often hear:"With him, this would not have happened … He would have been able to find a solution …" Are not such statements familiar to us?
Nice post
And here is another interesting opinion expressed by a user of one of the popular social networks just on the anniversary of Stalin's funeral. The author of the post writes that the leader is scolded again and, of course, on the case. But he immediately makes a reservation, recalling that they talk about the camps, and about executions, and about political articles in the criminal code of those years as something terrible, precisely in relation to the Soviet past. When it comes to modernity, many of those who abuse it are not at all averse to applying Stalinist methods to the same Stalinists. That is, critics of Stalin's methods in politics and state-building are themselves quite ready (at least in words) to expel entire regions of those who are undesirable from their homes, and political articles can turn out to be quite a positive phenomenon if applied to those whom critics consider enemies. And also, the author of the post adds,The atrocities of Stalin's times at the exit gave a leap from a plow and a torch to space flights and the development of atomic energy, and critics of these atrocities are ready to use them in full, not for the sake of deep space exploration, but in order to eat and drink sweetly ourselves, not paying attention to those who are not so dexterous in the personal development of the common property. And, you must agree, in some ways he is right.
Common destiny
There was such a famous Russian Buddhist figure - Bidiya Dandarovich Dandaron. He also served under Stalin several times, but died in the camp, having been imprisoned already under Brezhnev. Discussing the phenomenon of Soviet Stalinist terror, he spoke of something similar to a common destiny. This is, of course, a very vulgar interpretation of his thoughts. Of course, Dandaron spoke about general karma: there is individual karma, and there is general karma. And Stalinism is precisely the common karma of the Soviet people of that time. It is difficult to say exactly what exactly this revered Buddhist figure had in mind, but it seems that he was not just talking about the fact that Soviet society of that time "deserved" Stalin.
As Dovlatov later said, let's say that Comrade Stalin was a tyrant and a murderer, but someone wrote four million denunciations. This is not a direct quote from Dovlatov, but the idea is conveyed quite accurately. However, there is a feeling that Dandaron was not talking about that. Rather, about this too, but in a much deeper context.
Collective Stalin
So what could Dandaron talk about, talking about a common destiny, a common karma? Maybe that each of us is a descendant of both victims and executioners; and the executioners who became victims; and new executioners who took the place of the previous ones? And Stalin himself in this sense is equally the same executioner, and equally the same victim. Not just a product of your era, as one might say, but a product of your people, your society.
Stalin did not bomb Hiroshima
And how often did the victims dreamed of getting out of prison only in order to later become executioners themselves? And how often did they become? They simply could not swing as they would like. Society was changing, and people were changing. And this not only concerns us, not only our country. After all, we were not the ones who dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we were not the ones who killed six million Jews in concentration camps. In general, we were dealing with ourselves more and more. Although not without messianism.
To twist or create?
But the most important thing is to remember that, by and large, nothing left. And to repent, as some urge, for the real or imagined sins of their ancestors is completely useless. And now that collective Stalin is dormant in each of us, with whom the greatness of the country and the Great Victory are associated; and the collective Stalin with whom the victims of repression are associated. And between these two extremes there is still a lot of everything. It is really necessary not to repent and not to look for saviors and ready-made recipes in the past, as well as to blame for everything, but to carefully understand both the past and the present. And most importantly - in yourself. And finally leave Iosif Vissarionovich alone. You can be absolutely sure that we can easily make up as much as we did with him, but to build and create as much is to try very hard.
Mark Raven