On January 21, 1924, the leader of the world proletariat, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, passed away. Despite the fact that his biography has been studied literally by the minute, the circumstances of the death of the leader of the revolution remain a mystery to this day.
Vladimir Lenin had many enemies. But his life seemed to be guarded by some higher powers. In January 1918, 12 people made an attempt on him - officers of the tsarist army, monarchists and Black Hundreds led by Prince Shakhovsky. They shot his car, but Lenin didn't get a scratch. After that, the enemies of the leader decided that it could not do without the protection of evil spirits.
When the second assassination attempt was made on August 30, 1918, the conspirators tried to take into account the supernatural factor. After a speech in front of the workers of the Michelson plant, Lenin went to his car, and at that moment Fanny Kaplan approached him from behind and fired three shots from the Browning. And this time it was not without mysticism. Kaplan fired three bullets. According to one version, one was explosive - like dum-dum, with a cruciform notch. But in the body of the leader, for some reason, it did not burst. Curare poison was placed in the second bullet. For some reason, the wax plug that held him in lead did not fly out after a bullet hit Lenin, and he was not poisoned. About the third bullet, they say that it was silver - against evil spirits, but flew past Lenin and landed in a nearby castellan of the Obukhov hospital, Popova.
Strange bullets
Under socialism, schoolchildren were told that Ilyich's death came as a result of an illness caused by poisoned bullets fired at him by Fanny Kaplan, a capitalist henchman. And he died as heroically as he lived. Despite the fact that more than half of his brain was calcified, Lenin continued to work hard until his last days and wrote several of the most important works that schoolchildren and students were forced to take notes.
But then it turned out that the bullets did not become the main cause of the leader's death. Ilyich quickly recovered from his wounds. Already on October 14, he returned to Moscow and immediately began work. And the bullets were not even removed from his body. They remembered about them only in 1922, when Lenin began to suffer from headaches. The Berlin doctor Georg Klemperer, who examined Ilyich, advised to remove the bullets, since they could cause poisoning with their lead. However, Lenin's doctor Vladimir Rozanov said that the bullets were overgrown with connective tissue, through which nothing penetrates the body. Nevertheless, it was decided to remove one bullet. After that, it turned out that she was with poison.
The operation was easy, the bullet was right under the skin. But three weeks later, Vladimir Ilyich's condition suddenly worsened. On May 25-27, he had a serious seizure, which resulted in partial paralysis of his right arms and legs, and speech disorder.
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For many years, the official version of Lenin's disease prevailed unconditionally - they say, he had hereditary atherosclerosis of the cerebral vessels. However, in recent years, rumors have become popular that Vladimir Ilyich allegedly died of syphilis, which he picked up from a Parisian prostitute in 1902. This is the conclusion made by the historian and writer Helen Rappaport after a detailed study of the circumstances of Lenin's death. And in 2004, an article was published in the European Journal of Neurology, which said that Lenin died of neurosyphilis. Lenin's method of treatment is indicated there as evidence. Professor Osipov in the "Red Chronicle" in 1927 wrote that they treated the sick leader with preparations of iodine, mercury, arsenic and inoculations with malaria. Atherosclerosis is not treated like that, but late neurosyphilis is quite. And yet I don't want to believe the researchersclaiming that the revolution in Russia was made by a madman with brain syphilis.
End of friendship
As soon as Lenin's health began to deteriorate, the "loyal associates" immediately began an undercover struggle for power. Already in the summer of 1922, the West began to build versions regarding Lenin's successor. Among the most likely candidates named Rykov (who later replaced Ilyich as chairman of the Council of People's Commissars) and "the favorite of the whole party" Bukharin. Preference was given to these two on the basis of ethnicity - they were Russian. And thanks to this, they allegedly had an advantage over the Georgian Stalin, the Jew Trotsky and the Pole Dzerzhinsky. They also had great political weight in the eyes of another contender for power - the plenipotentiary in Germany Nikolai Krestinsky, who was previously the executive secretary of the party's Central Committee.
However, in reality, Stalin was gaining more and more political power. He tried to control everything. Even the chief's treatment. It is known that when the doctors allowed Lenin to dictate to the secretaries for 5-10 minutes a day, they reported everything to Stalin. But Vladimir Ulyanov would not have been Lenin if, even when he was bedridden, semi-paralyzed, he had not tried to participate in the country's political life. In December 1922, he entered into an agreement by correspondence with Trotsky so that at the forthcoming plenum of the Central Committee he would voice his position on "preserving and strengthening the monopoly of foreign trade." Although Vladimir Ilyich dictated the letter to Trotsky to his wife Nadezhda Krupskaya, the ailing leader's secretary, Lydia Fotieva, immediately informed Stalin of its contents. He realized that Lenin, with the hands of Trotsky, would try to defeat him at the next plenum. Stalin called Krupskaya,scolded her for not fulfilling the orders of the doctors about the leader's rest, and threatened to punish her through the party line. And then he did say that if this happens again, he will declare Artyukhina (an old Bolshevik woman, head of the Central Committee's Zhenotdel) as Lenin's widow. Krupskaya complained about Stalin's rudeness to her husband. Lenin wrote Kobe a letter demanding that he apologize to Nadezhda Konstantinovna.
Poisoner's Conspiracy
The relationship between Lenin and Stalin was fundamentally damaged. And the recovery of Vladimir Ilyich threatened Iosif Vissarionovich with disgrace. Against the background of this situation, a version arose that Stalin simply could not allow Lenin to recover. Already in exile, Trotsky often said directly that it was Stalin who poisoned Lenin. Also known is the story of one of Stalin's secretaries who fled abroad. On January 20, 1924, Stalin sent two doctors to Lenin in Gorki, accompanied by the deputy chairman of the OGPU, Genrikh Yagoda. They allegedly gave the leader poison. The next day, Vladimir Ilyich died.
Elizabeth Lermolo, who served six years in the Kirov murder case, after emigrating to the West, said that in prison she met with the chef of the Kremlin sanatorium in Gorki, Gavrila Volkov. He told her that on January 21, 1924, he brought Lenin lunch at eleven in the morning. Lenin made an attempt to get up and, stretching out both hands, made several inarticulate sounds. Volkov rushed to him, and Lenin thrust a note into his hand. Doctor Elistratov, Lenin's personal therapist, burst into the room. With Volkov's help, he put Lenin on the pillows and injected him with something sedative. Lenin died down. And soon he died.
Only after the death of the leader Volkov opened the note he had hidden. It was written in obscure scribbles: "Gavrilushka, I was poisoned … Now go and bring Nadia … Tell Trotsky … Tell everyone you can."
However, there is a version that it was the cook who poisoned Lenin. And he did it by means of mushroom soup, to which was added dried Cortinarius speciosissimus (a special webcap) - a deadly poisonous mushroom. Experts say that once and for all, the question of Lenin's poisoning can be clarified by examining his hair. Modern technologies allow it. But the authorities do not allow it.
Poison for Krupskaya
There is no doubt that Stalin's dislike for Krupskaya continued after Lenin's death. And therefore, the version is also being circulated that Nadezhda Konstantinovna left this mortal world not without the help of Joseph Vissarionovich. They say that she was going to speak at the 18th Party Congress and say something important. But even before the congress of Krupskaya on February 24, 1939, friends visited Arkhangelskoe to celebrate the approaching 70th birthday of the hostess. A table was laid, the decoration of which was a cake sent by Stalin. Nadezhda Konstantinovna felt great and ate cake with gusto. In the evening she suddenly felt ill. She died 3 days later in terrible agony.
Magazine: Mysteries of History No. 13 / C Oleg Alexandrov