In what year was Stalin removed from the mausoleum. They carried out Stalin, and they will carry out Lenin: How the body of the leader was removed from the Mausoleum. Decision and final act

On October 30, 1961, the delegates to the XXII Congress of the CPSU, at the suggestion of the Leningrad and Moscow Party organizations, as well as the Georgian and Ukrainian Communist Parties, unanimously decided to remove the body of Joseph Stalin from the mausoleum and bury it. The initiators of this idea referred to the numerous requests of the workers and even the dissatisfaction of the spirit of Lenin.

The stereotype is widely popular that de-Stalinization in the USSR began in 1956, immediately after the XX Congress of the CPSU, at which the personality cult of Stalin was criticized by Nikita Khrushchev. A few years later, at the XXI Congress of the CPSU in 1959, Khrushchev again made a speech about Stalin, only this time he did not scold him, but praised him as an outstanding Marxist and organizer. He noted Stalin's merits during the war.

Photo © TASS / Vasily Egorov

Khrushchev decided to use the policy of Mao Zedong, who outlined his tactics in governing the state as follows: 70 percent of victories and 30 percent of mistakes. The Stalin era was assessed in a similar way in the Khrushchev USSR. Such caution was due to the fact that the debunking of the personality cult in 1956 caused a split in all European communist parties, where Stalinists and anti-Stalinists appeared. Even within the CPSU, two opposite currents were outlined. The destalinizers insisted on publicly condemning all crimes and punishing those responsible. The Stalinists wanted a return to the old order.

Strengthening one of the parties could pose a danger to Khrushchev's power. Therefore, he tried not to anger either one or the other.

At the request of workers

But by 1961, the situation had changed. Khrushchev's position was now stronger than ever. All competitors were dismissed or honorary exile in low profile positions, he successfully repelled an attempted ouster in 1957. Added to this were the successes in the space program, the massive relocation of citizens to individual apartments, the construction of the largest hydroelectric power station in the world and the growth of GDP. The 22nd Congress of the CPSU turned out to be the ideal moment to finally deal with the ghosts of the past.

The head of the KGB Aleksandr Shelepin, who uncompromisingly criticized the period of the personality cult for numerous crimes against innocent party members, initiated a new wave of debunking the personality cult. All subsequent delegates spoke in the same spirit.

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The culmination took place on the penultimate day of the CPSU Congress, October 30, 1961. The first secretary of the Leningrad regional committee, Ivan Spiridonov, was the first to propose to take Stalin's body out of the mausoleum. According to Spiridonov, the regional committee has repeatedly received resolutions of meetings of workers of city factories, which demanded to take the body of the late secretary general out of the mausoleum, since he had stained himself with great injustice.

This idea was supported by the first secretary of the metropolitan party organization Pyotr Demichev, who also referred to the demands of the Moscow workers. Demichev stressed that after it became known about the crimes of the Stalinist era, leaving his body in the mausoleum would be blasphemy.

Given that Stalin was a cult figure in Georgia and the main national hero, it was especially important to demonstrate that the Georgian Communist Party also supports the center's decision. This was the greatest difficulty of the whole campaign, since no Georgian leader wanted to encroach on Stalin's name. The first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia, Vasily Mzhavanadze, was a great admirer of the leader and did not agree to revile him even under the threat of party penalties. Instead, on the day of the performance, he came wrapped in a scarf and croaked that he had caught a cold the day before and lost his voice. Instead, the chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Georgian SSR, Givi Javakhishvili, was sent to speak, who limited himself to a couple of proposals, while other delegates made long and emotional speeches.

In conclusion, on behalf of the largest republican organization in the country, the Ukrainian Communist Party, its leader Nikolai Podgorny supported the decision to remove Stalin's body from the mausoleum.

"Witch" and the spirit of Lenin

But the most memorable episode of the congress was the speech of the old Bolshevik woman Dora Lazurkina. She joined the party in 1902, before many of the congress delegates were even born. She was well acquainted with Lenin and Krupskaya. During the Stalinist era, she spent more than 15 years in camps and in a special settlement. By all characteristics, it is the ideal personification of the old Bolsheviks, who by the beginning of the 60s were almost gone.

Lazurkina was entrusted with the most emotional part. She told about her meetings with Lenin, about how he treated the revolutionaries like a father, how she suffered innocently under Stalin, and finally told the delegates that the day before Lenin's spirit had appeared to her and asked to remove Stalin from the mausoleum.

I always wear Ilyich in my heart. Comrades, in the most difficult moments I survived only because I had Ilyich in my heart and I consulted with him: what to do? Yesterday I also consulted with Ilyich. As if he stood in front of me as if alive and said: "It is unpleasant for me to be next to Stalin, who brought so many troubles to the party," Lazurkina said to the applause of the delegates.

Later, Molotov, recalling Lazurkina's speech, christened her a witch.

After speeches by the leaders of the largest party organizations and a representative of the old Bolsheviks, the issue of removing the body of the deceased leader from the mausoleum could be considered resolved. At the vote, all delegates unanimously supported the proposal for Stalin's reburial. Nobody dared to oppose.

Secret funeral

Immediately after the vote, a reburial commission was formed. The funeral was more like a special operation and was carried out in an atmosphere of the strictest secrecy. The day before, the newspapers reported that the party had decided to reburial Stalin, but it was not reported when and where.

The most trusted and reliable people from the Kremlin commandant's office were selected to participate in the secret ceremony. The burial place near the mausoleum was pre-fenced with plywood shields on all sides so that no one would see the soldiers digging the grave.

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On the evening of October 31, Red Square was cordoned off under the pretext of a rehearsal for the November parade. By 21:00, all the participants in the ceremony arrived, with the exception of Mzhavanadze, who for the second time sabotaged the party’s decision by sending a sobbing Javakhishvili in his place.

The sarcophagus with Stalin's body was transferred by the officers of the Kremlin commandant's office to the basement. There, the star of the Hero of Socialist Labor was removed from the leader's tunic and the gold buttons were cut off, sewing brass buttons instead. The body was moved from a glass sarcophagus to a wooden coffin. After that, the soldiers carried him out and lowered him into the grave.

At the time of the burial, Nikolai Shvernik, who headed the commission, and Javakhishvili gave vent to emotions and burst into tears. The rest of the ceremony participants showed no feelings. After the grave was buried, all members of the commission signed the act on Stalin's reburial and dispersed.

Burial of Stalin was supposed to close the old era and symbolize the beginning of a new one. It is no coincidence that on the day of Stalin's funeral, the delegates to the congress adopted a landmark document - the Third Program of the CPSU.

The first was adopted at the dawn of the socialist movement. The second was right after the February Revolution of 1917. The third was developed on the personal initiative of Khrushchev. It was she who set the task to create the material and technical base for the final transition to communism in 20 years. However, Khrushchev overestimated his strength and capabilities. There was no transition to communism in 1980, and he himself did not have long to be at the helm of the party.

At that time, about Halloween - All Saints' Day, which is celebrated annually on October 31 - ordinary citizens in the Soviet Union practically did not hear anything. On this day, according to the tradition of the ancient Celtic holiday, it is customary to especially honor the dead. Europeans believe that on the night of November 1, the door to the underworld magically opens and the souls of the dead, ghosts, go out to people. In a strange way, significant events for the country coincided with this very holiday. According to conspiracy theorists, the removal of the leader's body meant the beginning of a new era, which led to the witches' Sabbath during the period of perestroika and the collapse of the USSR.

Late in the evening of October 31, 1961, when the entire Anglo-Saxon world was celebrating Halloween, an event was held 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 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 Central Committee of the CPSU

Why on the last day of October?

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 originally 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 to 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 in Moscow that Khrushchev 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 for a rehearsal of 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. 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 golden 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 changed to 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 shoulder straps 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?

Why did the country's top officials, accustomed to insuring themselves even in trifles, decide to take a risk and let people into the mausoleum with the "lonely" Lenin? Moreover, according to eyewitnesses, Red Square was not even additionally 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 stand in a three-hour queue in the mausoleum) who revered Stalin as the winner of the Great Patriotic War, we will definitely never figure out.

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 discontent 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, party leaders saw 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 birthday 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!"

Late in the evening of October 31, 1961, when the entire Anglo-Saxon world was celebrating Halloween, an event was held on Red Square in Moscow that fit into the context of this terrible "holiday". Stalin's body was carried out of the mausoleum.

1. 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.

2. Why on the last day of October?

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.

3. 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 in Moscow that Khrushchev 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.

4. Why was the reburial accompanied by a parade?

On the evening of October 31, 1961, Red Square was closed for a rehearsal of 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 secret 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. 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.

5. Why was all the gold removed from Stalin?

6. 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 a risk and let people into the mausoleum with the "lonely" Lenin? Moreover, according to eyewitnesses, Red Square was not even additionally 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 definitely never figure out.

7. Why was the monument at Stalin's grave erected 10 years later?

How many know exactly in what year Stalin was taken out of the Mausoleum and, most importantly, in connection with what this happened? The answer to this question, which is quite obvious for people of advanced age who witnessed those old events, worries many of our contemporaries because of the interest that is shown in society in everything related to the period of communist rule. In recent years, a lot of materials have appeared in the media shedding light on this event. Summarizing them, we will try to recreate the true picture of what happened.

The overthrow of the idol

Before starting a conversation about why and when Stalin was taken out of the Mausoleum, one should mentally turn to the events that followed shortly after the memorable XX Congress of the CPSU, at which the then head of state, NS Khrushchev, loudly castigated the cult of his predecessor.

Soon after the overthrow of the "father of nations" to the level of a "bloody executioner" from the Kremlin followed an order to dismantle his monuments, which the country had thickly overgrown in previous decades. However, this measure on the way to eradicate the tyrant from the people's memory was insufficient, since the main monument of his own deeds was he himself, embalmed and lying in the Mausoleum next to Lenin's mummy.

It is quite understandable that Khrushchev, who presented himself as an ardent champion of Lenin's rules of the country's leadership, could not allow Stalin's body to be adjacent to the "holy relics" of the creator of the world's first "state of workers and peasants." In addition, by removing Stalin from the Mausoleum, the Communist Party and its general secretary seemed to distance themselves from all the lawlessness that was happening during his reign.

Not an easy question

It should be clarified not only why Stalin was removed from the Mausoleum, but also how he ended up there. And this story began back in 1924, when on a cold January day the country was shocked (as the communist propaganda then inspired everyone) the news of Lenin's death. The party leadership then faced the difficult task of drawing up a script for the upcoming mourning ceremony, which was to fully reflect the scale of the personality of the deceased leader, emphasize the irreplaceability of the loss suffered, but at the same time show that his soul, and if possible, his body, remained with their people.

The birth of new rituals

It should be noted that during the years of the Civil War, a certain set of mourning rituals developed, since there were more than enough reasons for their conduct. For example, it has become a tradition to bow banners and, "frozen in mournful silence," listen to brass bands performing "Internationale", which became the main Soviet hit for many decades.

The speeches uttered over the grave of another fallen fighter, whose illiteracy, and sometimes drunken incoherence, did not spoil the general impression against the background of vows in eternal memory and promises of revenge on the "counter" were very suitable for the occasion. However, here it was clearly not enough to get off with speeches and banners, since the brainwashing of the working class was too large-scale.

Lingering farewell to the body

And then the imagination of the half-trained seminarian-comrade V.I. In the Mausoleum, hastily knocked together from planks and installed on Red Square, they placed a coffin with the barely cooled body of the leader of the world proletariat, thus giving everyone the opportunity to say goodbye to him.

But this ceremony dragged on due to the fact that most of the peripheral party organizations sent their delegations to Moscow, which arrived late due to the remoteness, and the farewell to the body had to be extended. The result was a discrepancy that violated the greatness of the moment. The fact is that only the relics of saints are incorrupt, while the remains of all other people (even party leaders) are subject to all natural laws. It soon began to be felt in the air, despite the frost that year.

Revival of pagan custom

And then the “father of nations” came up with an original idea: to embalm the body and, by placing it in a luxurious mausoleum, to make the symbol of immortality of those same crazy ideas, for the realization of which millions of lives were so inept and criminally ruined. The fact that the deceased leader was an atheist and treated all kinds of rituals (including pagan ones) negatively, in this case, no one worried. I was more interested in the question of how to technically implement the plan.

The difficulty was that the last time the embalming was performed back in Ancient Egypt, and over the years, the technology of this process was largely forgotten, or, more simply, it was lost 2 thousand years ago. The famous Russian surgeon Pirogov tried to fill this gap, on which the technique he subsequently developed was tested.

However, due to its imperfection, Soviet anatomical scientists had to look for a solution to the problem themselves, with which they coped brilliantly. Since the Stalinist idea justified itself, and Lenin's body acquired the desired status of “incorruptible relics,” he himself was embalmed after his death and placed in the Mausoleum next to the mummy that had already taken root there.

Shrines of communist ideology

When Stalin's body was taken out of the Mausoleum, and it was embalmed using the same technology as Lenin's, there were absolutely no signs of decay on it. Moreover, the specialists involved in preserving Lenin's mummy today argue that even today, after nine years spent in the Mausoleum and several decades in the ground, it should look quite tolerable. However, there is hardly a chance to check this.

As mentioned above, the purpose of embalming and preserving Lenin's body was to create from it a kind of shrine for the new communist religion, which was implanted in the country to replace Orthodoxy, which was in every possible way supplanted and declared "an instrument in the hands of the exploiting classes."

Stalin's body was no less significant attribute of the new cult. According to the ideas of the then ideologists, the mummies of these great rulers were supposed to inspire the idea of \u200b\u200bthe inviolability of the society they built, whose members, according to the assurances of the same propagandists, were the happiest in the world, and in the future they should generally taste the bliss of the communism they built ... However, real life has made its own adjustments to their plan.

To answer this question, one must return to the events of 1956. The facts made public by Khrushchev in his speech at the XX Congress of the CPSU, as well as the party's desire to dissociate itself from the previously committed lawlessness and to blame for them on the Generalissimo who died three years earlier, prompted thinking about how to take Stalin out of the Mausoleum. When such a decision was finally made at the highest level of power, then its implementation was carried out according to a long-worked scheme, which consisted in the fact that the appearance of a manifestation of initiative from below was created, and the party leadership only went to meet the wishes of the masses.

This is exactly what they did this time. In the spring of 1961, IV Spiridonov, the first secretary of the Leningrad Regional Committee of the CPSU, was instructed to initiate meetings in a number of work collectives of the city, at which the public would demand that the body of the former leader, who dared to deviate from Lenin's principles, be removed from the Mausoleum.

During all the previous years, party ideologists kept repeating about the formation in the country of victorious socialism of a new "Soviet man" who would meet the highest moral requirements. In fact, it turned out to be just another propaganda chatter, but the leaders of the "Soviet type" appeared in great numbers during the years of Stalin's rule. Their main principle was to perceive the position of their superiors as their own and to strictly fulfill all directives coming from “above”. Comrade Spiridonov also belonged to this type of leaders.

The power of party discipline

Thus, when Stalin was taken out of the Mausoleum, the very methods that he himself had planted were used. At the initiative of the head of the Leningrad communists, a meeting of the workers of the Kirov plant was held, after which their collective appeal to the leadership of the CPSU appeared in the newspapers with a request to restore justice and save their shrine - Vladimir Ilyich - from such a compromising neighborhood.

None of the representatives of the party nomenklatura dared to openly object, although many of them, deep in their hearts, could not accept the desecration of their former idol. Party discipline, as always, prevailed over their own convictions, although, according to the testimony of contemporaries, at the moment when Stalin was taken out of the Mausoleum, some members of the commission for his reburial had tears in their eyes.

Unfavorable comparisons

The date when Stalin was carried out of the Mausoleum was October 31, more precisely, the night of November 1, 1961. It is no coincidence that the party leadership of the country during this period decided to take such a risky step. The fact is that by this time the material standard of living of ordinary people had significantly deteriorated.

This was mainly due to the constantly rising cost of the most essential food and clothing. At the same time, the citizens of the country, accustomed to regular price reductions during the years of the previous government, could not help comparing the Khrushchev time with Stalin's, preferring the latter, despite all the lawlessness that was happening at that time.

Food shortages that crushed ideology

Neither the successes in space exploration (the flight of Yuri Gagarin), nor the world leadership in the field of weapons (the creation of the first hydrogen bomb) could win popular sympathies to the side of the new government. The lack of meat and sausage in stores crossed out all the loud achievements of that era in the minds of people. Thus, Stalin was taken out of the Mausoleum in a year when the party leadership urgently needed, if not to erase the former leader from the people's memory, then at least to remove his visible appearance.

The peculiarity of human memory lies in the fact that the good in it lasts much longer than the bad, and the very stay of Stalin's mummy next to Lenin's body, whose authority remained indisputable, also rehabilitated him in the opinion of the masses, despite all the revelations sounded from the rostrum XX party congress. It was necessary to put an end to this, which was one of the reasons why Stalin was carried out of the Mausoleum.

In an atmosphere of secrecy

Stalin's body was taken out of the Mausoleum in a year when the whole country, according to a long-learned habit, warmly welcomed the decisions of the next "historical" party congress, this time the 22nd in a row. It was on it that the deputies, many of whom in the past were the most faithful companions of the deceased leader, unanimously (otherwise it never happened in the USSR) voted to remove the body of a person who dared to violate its principles from the Leninist tomb and bury it.

It is also very remarkable how the body was reburied, the details of which became known from the memoirs of the participants. It happened on the night of October 31 to November 1, 1961. The mummy of Stalin, taken out of the Mausoleum, was lowered into a tomb previously dug near the Kremlin wall, along the entire route to which plywood shields were installed, hiding what was happening from prying eyes. However, such a precautionary measure was unnecessary, since the police who cordoned off Red Square did not let anyone in anyway, explaining this by the preparation of a festive parade.

Demoted officers

In advance, the generalissimo's shoulder straps, as well as the stars of the Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of Labor, were removed from the tunic of the debunked idol. Only once during this secret night performance there was a problem. The officers of the security team, who were ordered to cut off the gold buttons from his uniform and sew brass buttons instead (not to waste the good), refused to obey, so much was the admiration for Stalin laid down by all their previous life in them. For this they were subsequently demoted, and the ill-fated buttons on the jacket were replaced by the hands of more obedient performers.

Epilogue

How can one explain the secrecy in which the body was reburied? Undoubtedly, Khrushchev and his entourage were afraid of popular unrest, which could be provoked by the upcoming actions. It is curious to note that at first it was supposed to bury Stalin at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow, but this idea was abandoned due to the possibility of unpredictable excesses - from a popular pilgrimage to the grave to the kidnapping of the coffin.

On the same night, a rehearsal of the upcoming parade took place on Red Square. The grave, barely covered with earth, was heard by the roar of tank engines and the stamped tread of marching regiments. The military, of course, did not know about what had happened here a few hours earlier and, without knowing it, paid the last honors to the defeated idol.

More than half a century ago - October 31, 1961 - the body of Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was removed from the Mausoleum on Red Square

We have repeatedly touched upon a very controversial and complex figure, talked about his early years, his revolutionary career, participation in and other aspects of the personality of, perhaps, the most famous USSR Secretary General. Today we will touch upon another important and interesting question: how did his heirs fight the body of the late, once all-powerful Stalin? We will invite the reader to answer the questions himself why it was necessary to pull out the body of the leader under cover of night, why such secrecy was needed, and how Soviet citizens reacted to this news.

Stalin's death

On March 1, 1953, a security guard finds Stalin lying on the floor at his dacha. Doctors who arrived the next day diagnosed him with paralysis of the right side of his body. Until March 4, reports on the state of health of Joseph Vissarionovich were published in newspapers and broadcast on the radio, and on March 5 he died.

Source: navsource.narod.ru

On March 6, a farewell began at the House of Unions, which lasted three days. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary people went to say goodbye to Stalin. At night, cars with searchlights were on duty in the streets to illuminate the way for huge columns of people. Not without a crush.

Source: therichest.com

Only on March 9, Stalin's body was placed in the Mausoleum, next to Lenin. Iosif Vissarionovich was in his everyday uniform with awards. The formation of troops and workers took place on Red Square, the top leaders of the USSR, representatives of the fraternal Communist Parties and foreign guests were present. From that day on, the tomb became known as the Mausoleum of V.I. Lenin and I.V. Stalin.

Fighting body and cult

The lion died of old age. Jackals

The crowd came running to tear the body,

Squealing heart-rendingly with all the kagal:

“The lion is defeated! Everyone should know:

That we are his for years

They led to shameful death!

What is it with our labors

It is erased forever from the face of the earth! ... "

Stalin's body was not destined to lie in the Mausoleum for a long time. Already in 1956, during the so-called discussions on debunking the cult of Stalin's personality and during the fateful XX Congress of the CPSU, former associates and subordinates of Joseph Vissarionovich began to put forward ideas about taking his body out of the Mausoleum. A campaign to rewrite history began in the USSR.

Source: ru24ru.net

And so, on the eve of the XXII Congress, groups of Leningrad workers from the Kirov and Nevsky factories came up with a written initiative to transfer the body. Before the Central Committee, their initiative was announced by the head of the Leningrad regional party committee, Ivan Spiridonov. And the delegates to the congress happily supported the "inexpediency" of further keeping the sarcophagus with Stalin's body in the Mausoleum. It was October 30, and on the 31st the military began to carry out the task.

At night, under the pretext of preparing for the November 7 parade, the troops cordoned off Red Square. In an atmosphere of the strictest secrecy, under the cover of special wooden shields, a grave was dug near the Kremlin wall; the path from the Mausoleum to it was also covered with shields. Of course, for the Soviet people, communists, military and party leaders, this was a very serious step: everyone felt uncomfortable burying a man who was called great and extolled a few years ago, and now, under cover of night, like thieves, they pull out his body.

For Stalin, a simple wooden coffin was built in the Kremlin Arsenal, covered with black and red drapes, and on the shoulders of 8 officers he set off on his last journey. The coffin was lowered on ropes into the grave. “According to Russian custom, some people threw a handful of earth, and the soldiers buried the grave,” recalled the former commandant of the Mausoleum, Colonel K.A. Moshkov.

The slab on Stalin's grave after the removal of his body