By the early 1950s, the political and economic literacy of workers and peasants was not only equal to, but even superior to, the level of education of workers and peasants in any developed country at that time. The population of the Soviet Union increased by 41 million people.

Under Stalin, more than 1,500 largest industrial facilities were built, including DneproGES, Uralmash, KhTZ, GAZ, ZIS, factories in Magnitogorsk, Chelyabinsk, Norilsk, Stalingrad. At the same time, over the past 20 years of democracy, not a single enterprise of this scale has been built.

Already in 1947, the industrial potential of the USSR was completely restored, and in 1950 it more than doubled compared to the pre-war 1940. None of the countries that suffered in the war had by this time reached even the pre-war level, despite powerful financial injections from USA.

Prices for basic food products, for 5 post-war years in USSR , decreased by more than 2 times, while in the largest capital countries these prices increased, and in some even 2 or more times.

This speaks of the tremendous success of a country in which just five years ago the most destructive war in the history of mankind ended and which suffered the most from this war!!

In 1945, bourgeois experts gave an official forecast that the USSR economy would be able to reach the level of 1940 only by 1965 - provided that it took out foreign loans. We reached this level in 1949 without any external help.

In 1947, the USSR, the first state on our planet after the war, abolished the card system. And from 1948, every year - until 1954 - he reduced prices for food and consumer goods. Infant mortality in 1950 decreased by more than 2 times compared to 1940. The number of doctors increased by 1.5 times. The number of scientific institutions increased by 40%. Number of students universities increased by 50%. Etc.

The stores had an abundance of various industrial and food products and there was no concept of shortage. The choice of products in grocery stores was much wider than in modern supermarkets. Now only in Finland you can try sausages reminiscent of the Soviet ones from those times. Cans of crabs were in all Soviet stores. The quality and variety of consumer goods and food products, exclusively domestically produced, were incommensurably higher than modern consumer goods and food. As soon as new trends in fashion appeared, they were instantly monitored, and within a couple of months fashion goods appeared in abundance on store shelves.

Workers' wages in 1953 ranged from 800 to 3,000 rubles and more. Miners and metallurgists received up to 8,000 rubles. Young engineering specialists up to 1300 rubles. District Committee Secretary CPSU received 1,500 rubles, and the salary of professors and academicians was often above 10,000 rubles.

A Moskvich car cost 9,000 rubles, white bread (1 kg) - 3 rubles, black bread (1 kg) - 1 ruble, beef meat (1 kg) - 12.5 rubles, pike perch fish - 8 ,3 rubles, milk (1 l.) - 2.2 rubles, potatoes (1 kg.) - 0.45 rubles, chintz (1 m.) - 6.1 rubles. A set lunch in the dining room cost 2 rubles. Evening in a restaurant for two, with a good dinner and a bottle of wine - 25 rubles.

And all this abundance and comfortable life was achieved despite maintaining a 5.5 million strong army, armed to the teeth with the most modern weapons, the best army in the world!

Since 1946, work has been launched in the USSR: on atomic weapons and energy; on rocket technology; on automation of technological processes; on the introduction of the latest computer technology and electronics; on space flights; on gasification of the country; on household appliances.

The world's first nuclear power plant was put into operation in the USSR a year earlier than in England, and 2 years earlier than in the USA. Only in the USSR were nuclear icebreakers created.

Thus, in the USSR during one five-year period - from 1946 to 1950 - in conditions of tough military-political confrontation with the richest capitalist power in the world, without any external assistance, at least three socio-economic problems were solved: 1) the national economy was restored; 2) sustainable growth in the standard of living of the population is ensured; 3) an economic breakthrough has been made into the future.

And even now we exist only due to the Stalinist legacy. In science, industry, in almost all spheres of life.

Presidential Candidate USA Stevenson assessed the situation in such a way that if the growth rate of production in Stalinist Russia continues, then by 1970 the volume of Russian production will be 3-4 times higher than the American one.

In the September 1953 issue of National Business magazine, Herbert Harris's article "The Russians Are Catching Up" noted that the USSR is ahead of any country in terms of growth of economic power and that currently the growth rate in the USSR is 2-3 times higher than in USA.

In 1991, at the Soviet-American symposium, when our " democrats "they began to squeal about the “Japanese economic miracle”; the Japanese billionaire Heroshi Terawama gave them a wonderful “slap in the face”: “You don’t talk about the main thing, about your leading role in the world. In 1939, you, Russians, were smart, and we, the Japanese, fools. In 1949, you became even smarter, and we were still fools. And in 1955, we became wiser, and you turned into five-year-old children. Our entire economic system almost completely copied from yours, with the only difference that we have capitalism, private producers, and we have never achieved more than 15% growth, while you, with public ownership of the means of production, reached 30% or more. All our companies display your slogans from the Stalin era.”


One of the best representatives of the believing working people, revered by the saint, Luke, Archbishop of Simferopol and Crimea, wrote: “Stalin preserved Russia . He showed what Russia means to the rest of the world. And therefore, as an Orthodox Christian and a Russian patriot, I bow deeply to Comrade Stalin.”

The Yakuts are already erecting the 4th monument to Stalin on their territory, which is infuriating the liberals

The first monument to I.V. Stalin was erected in the city of Mirny in 2005.
The second one was installed in 2009 by residents using their own money in the village of Amga, Amginsky district.
The third in 2012, people also collected money and installed it in the village of Tellei, Churapcha district.
The fourth was installed in 2013 in Yakutsk itself on the territory of the Almazy Anabara company, because The city administration strongly opposed the installation of the monument.

Commander Stalin

When Nazi Germany attacked the Soviet Union, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was 62 years old. He, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Party, a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee and the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, was entrusted by the highest party and state bodies of the country with the posts of Chairman of the State Defense Committee, People's Commissar of Defense, and Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. He headed the Headquarters of the Supreme High Command.

Stalin gave this colossal power, all his strength, all his will and all his talent as a politician and statesman to the defense of the Union, the Soviet Socialist Republics, to winning victory over Nazi Germany and its allies. Stalin became one of the organizers of the anti-Hitler coalition. He decided to enter the USSR into the war with Japan in order to ensure the security of the country's Far Eastern borders and eliminate the source of aggression in Asia. With the defeat of militaristic Japan, the Second World War came to an end. Stalin, together with the leaders of the Allied powers, laid the foundations of the post-war world order.

In the turning point year of 1943, J.V. Stalin was awarded the military rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union, and in the year of Victory in the Great Patriotic War - the highest military rank - Generalissimo of the Soviet Union. Commander Stalin led all the Armed Forces of the country, daily directed and controlled the combat operations of all front-line and army formations of the active army.

In addition, his activities permeated all the most important aspects of the greatest war in history, in other words, in addition to the military problems themselves, they covered all areas of the domestic and foreign policy of the Soviet state - from military economics and ideology to diplomacy, and were closely connected with the intense work of the Communist Party on leadership of the country.

The memory of J.V. Stalin is associated with the greatest event in modern history. No amount of trickery or manipulation will allow the current subverters to overshadow the significance of our Great Victory, undermine the authority of Soviet military art, or belittle and distort the activities of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and commander I.V. Stalin and his military comrades.

The feat of the Soviet people in the Great Patriotic War will serve as a powerful spiritual support for many generations, instilling confidence in their abilities at the sharpest and most severe turns in their historical destiny.

And it is no coincidence that the efforts of the enemies of our Fatherland are aimed at destroying this moral support of the people, at de-heroizing and belittling the feat of soldiers, generals and marshals of the Great Army, partisans, and home front workers.

A campaign of lies and slander against the Soviet Army was launched in foreign countries during the Second World War - during the liberation of Soviet territory from the Nazi invaders, during the great liberation campaign of the Soviet Army to rid the peoples of Europe and Asia from Hitler’s slavery and the aspirations of the Japanese militarists . This campaign especially flourished during the Cold War.

Through criticism of I.V. Stalin, the path was paved for criticism of the party, for debunking the achievements of Soviet power and our victory in the Great Patriotic War. The all-negating criticism of Stalin was the first stage and at the same time the most important means of the struggle against socialism. Through criticism of Stalin as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, the path led to a total criticism of the Great Patriotic War. The followers of this line moved further along this path, increasingly trivializing the great national feat.

J.V. Stalin upon his return from the Tehran Conference in 1943, as the Air Chief Marshal recalled

A.E. Golovanov said: “I know that when I’m gone, more than one bucket of dirt will be poured on my head. But I am sure that the wind of history will dispel all this” (Commanders. M., 1995, p. 31).

It is appropriate to recall the story of the famous revolutionary, USSR Ambassador to Sweden Alexandra Mikhailovna Kollontai. In her archive, as Professor M.I. Trush testifies, there is a recording of a conversation with Stalin in November 1939, i.e. on the eve of the Soviet-Finnish war. “Many of the deeds of our party and people,” said Stalin, “will be distorted and spat upon, first of all abroad, and in our country too. Zionism, striving for world domination, will brutally take revenge on us for our successes and achievements. He still views Russia as a barbaric country, as a raw materials appendage. And my name will also be slandered and slandered. Many atrocities will be attributed to me.World Zionism will strive with all its might to destroy our Union so that Russia can never rise again. The strength of the USSR lies in the friendship of peoples. The spearhead of the struggle will be aimed primarily at breaking this friendship, at separating the border regions from Russia. Here, I must admit, we have not done everything yet. There is still a lot of room for work here.

Nationalism will raise its head with particular force. It will suppress internationalism and patriotism for a while, only for a while. National groups within nations and conflicts will arise. Many pygmy leaders will appear, traitors within their nations.

In general, in the future, development will take more complex and even frantic paths, the turns will be extremely sharp. Things are coming to a point where the East will become especially agitated. Sharp contradictions with the West will arise.

And yet, no matter how events develop, time will pass, and the eyes of new generations will be turned to the deeds and victories of our socialist Fatherland. New generations will come year after year. They will once again raise the banner of their fathers and grandfathers and give us full credit.

They will build their future on our past"(G. Kosolapov: “What is the truth about Stalin?”. "Pravda", 1998, N" 55, June 2-4).

The problem “Stalin during the Great Patriotic War” is relevant and fundamental in modern conditions. The debunking of Stalin as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief became one of the most important methods in the campaign to denigrate the Great Patriotic War, the feat of the Soviet people and its Army, the feat of partisans and home front workers.

Without unraveling this tangle of lies, it is impossible to restore the truth about the most important stage in the history of the Soviet state and world history - about the heroic and dramatic struggle of the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany and its satellites, against the Japanese militarists.

B. G. Soloviev, V. V. Sukhodeev

(From the book “Commander Stalin”)

Stalin - Supreme Commander-in-Chief

There are many important dates in world history that stirred up a specific time or turned back an entire era. More often than not, certain individuals stand behind these dates and events. That is why their birthdays also become large, important historical dates celebrated by their descendants. JV Stalin's birthday is one of those.

The contribution of Joseph Vissarionovich to the history of our socialist Motherland is invaluable. For almost 30 years he headed the Bolshevik Party, was the head of the Soviet government, and during the Great Patriotic War he was entrusted with leading the state. Under the leadership of Comrade Stalin, the Soviet people were able to achieve unprecedented results: the country's population and its prosperity grew, thousands of new factories were put into operation, scientific laboratories, educational institutions, kindergartens, museums, theaters were built and created, the most democratic constitution in history was adopted. and much more. Led by Stalin, the Soviet people were the first in the world to build socialism, carry out the most powerful industrialization and collectivization in world history, complete the cultural revolution, defeat Nazism and open the way for the peoples of the planet to peace and the struggle for justice.

Stalin was a faithful student and closest ally of V.I. Lenin.

He brilliantly continued the work and strengthened the teachings of Marx, Engels and Lenin. His works are still an important source of knowledge that feeds us on the path of difficult struggle. Having lost it, our forces will be weakened, and the struggle will become futile. For the Stalinist legacy is not only a revolutionary theory, but also a colossal practical experience of revolutionary transformations in the country of victorious socialism. That is why, on the day of his 138th birthday, we can safely say: Stalin’s cause is our business!

In memory of Stalin, grateful descendants erect monuments to him. In just two years (2015-2016), about 15 monuments depicting the leader appeared in Russia.

Today, the struggle against the desecration of Stalin is the work of every communist. Only by joining the struggle everywhere can we achieve victory in this matter. Someone will say - why? This is not something that communists should do in modern conditions. "No!" – we declare! The desecration of Stalin is a work begun by the enemies of socialism, taken up by the revisionists within the USSR and continued by their descendants today. Stopping the anti-Stalinism campaign, washing away the dirt and perpetuating the memory of Stalin is the matter of today. A task that must not be postponed!

So let's study Stalin's legacy, learn from Stalin and fight for Stalin! His cause is the cause of today’s generations, his memory is the struggle to cleanse socialism of myths and dirty lies!

“Why did my mother keep a portrait of Stalin? She was a peasant woman. Before collectivization, our family lived well. But at what cost did this come about? Hard work from dawn to dusk. And what prospects did her children have (she gave birth to eleven children!)? Become peasants, or, at best, artisans. Collectivization began. And the result of this in our family was that one person became a professor, another became a plant director, a third became a colonel, and three became engineers. I don’t want to use evaluative expressions “good” and “bad.” I just want to say that in that era there was an unprecedented rise in the history of mankind for many millions of people from the very bottom of society to become craftsmen, engineers, teachers, doctors, artists, officers, writers, directors, etc.”

A. Zinoviev,

social philosopher,

veteran of the Great Patriotic War

Stalin, get up!

Our Fatherland to the edge

Full of pain and anxiety,

She's bleeding

She suffers in agony.

The darkness does not melt over the country,

The demon tears her into pieces,

Rus' remembers Stalin

Stalin is calling louder.

Stood firmly through adversity

Forward towards cherished goals

In the best bright years

Proud Soviet people.

And a guiding star

In everyday life of struggle and labor

The leader's name is dear

It dawned on us then.

Stalin! On the right course

You led your State.

Stalin! When would you come back?

We wouldn't be crushed in battle.

Posters and songs floated

The vastness of colored squares,

The holidays were wonderful

People's faces are joyful.

And from Khiva to Taimyr,

And from the Carpathians to the Kuril Islands

Fortress of truth and peace

Our Union was gigantic.

Stalin! Millions of hearts

We fought with yours in unison,

And the columns were filled

The rustle of red banners.

Russian people, wake up -

We're at the last line

Don't hide in your holes,

Like blind moles

In the days of damnation, evil

An indestructible wall

Stand up for the wounds, dear ones,

Children of one Power.

Stand under the Red Banner

In the battle for your land -

Faith in victory and Stalin

They won't leave us in the fight.

Stalin! Calls you

Honest Soviet people.

Stalin! The country is dying!

Stalin! Lead us forward!

Stalin! Rise from the grave!

Stalin! Look at the country!

Stalin! Captivity is our strength!

Stalin! The Fatherland is in captivity!

She won the battles

She went on a daring campaign.

Stalin! You are our glory.

Stalin! Lead us forward!

Alexander Kharchikov

Foreigners, oddly enough, are more loyal. Thus, the British writer and physicist Charles SNOW, after working in the archives, wrote about Stalin: “He was much more educated than any of the statesmen of his time. Literally an example of subtle English humor.”
No one has ever looked at the “father of nations” from such a perspective. Although there are many examples of his jokes with double or even triple bottoms.

* Once upon a time Stalin it was not the head of the Union of Writers of the USSR who came at his call Fadeev, and his deputy Tikhonov.
- Where is Fadeev? - asked Stalin.
- Comrade Fadeev went hunting and has not returned yet.
- We have a friend Nikolay Shvernik also loves to hunt. But he leaves on Saturday, gets drunk on Sunday, and goes to work on Monday.
After the second similar “hunt” of Fadeev, Stalin directly asked him where he was disappearing.
“I was on a drinking binge,” he answered with Bolshevik frankness.
- How many days does it usually last for you?
- Ten days, Comrade Stalin.
- Can’t you, as a communist, hold this event for three or four days?

* In the first months after the end of the war, Major General Alexey Sidnev reported to Stalin on the state of affairs. Stalin looked very pleased and nodded twice in approval. Having finished his report, the military commander hesitated. Stalin asked:
- Do you want to say anything else?
- Yes, I have a personal question. In Germany, I selected some things that interested me, but they were detained at the checkpoint. If possible, I would ask you to return them to me.
- It's possible. Write a report, I will impose a resolution.
The Major General pulled out a prepared report from his pocket. Stalin imposed the resolution. The petitioner began to thank him warmly.
“There is no need for gratitude,” Stalin remarked.
After reading the resolution written on the report: “Give the major his junk back. I. Stalin,” the general turned to the Supreme Commander:
- There is a typo here, Comrade Stalin. I'm not a major, but a major general.
“No, everything is correct here,” Stalin assured him.

* Artist Mikhail Gelovani, who played the role of Stalin in pre-war historical-revolutionary films, once asked to live at Stalin’s dacha near Lake Ritsa. When the leader was informed about this, he asked:
- Why does Gelovani want to live on Ritsa?
- Wants to get used to your image.
- Then let him start with the Turukhansk exile.

* Stalin went with the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Georgia Mgeladze along the alleys of the Kuntsevo dacha and treated him to lemons, which he grew himself in his lemon garden:
- Try it, you grew up here, near Moscow! And so several times between conversations on other topics:
- Try them, good lemons! Finally it dawned on the interlocutor:
- Comrade Stalin, I promise you that in seven years Georgia will provide the country with lemons, and we will not import them from abroad.
- Thank God, I guessed it!

* Founder of the Moscow Art Theater - Konstantin Stanislavsky was known for the fact that he could not understand for himself the system of relationships under Soviet power. Once Stanislavsky sat in the same box with Stalin, who was a frequent visitor to the Moscow Art Theater. Looking through the repertoire, the leader pointed his finger at the piece of paper:
- Why haven’t we seen a writer in the “Days of the Turbins” repertoire for a long time? Bulgakov? Stanislavsky clasped his hands, put his finger to his lips, and then whispered into the “Father of Nations” ear, pointing his finger at the ceiling:
- They forbade it! Only this is a terrible secret!
Having laughed to his heart's content, Stalin seriously assured:
- They will allow it! I'll agree.
Another time, when Stalin arrived at a performance, Stanislavsky met him and, holding out his hand, said: "Alekseev", saying your real name.
- Dzhugashvili“, Stalin answered and walked to his chair.

* Before the war, a decree was issued on punishment for being late for work for more than 20 minutes. The day after its release Vasily Kachalov I was an hour late at the Moscow Art Theater. Panic arose in the theater, and the theater director asked Stalin for instructions. The answer came in the following form: “For failure to inform the People’s Artist of the USSR Comrade. Kachalov’s decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR to severely reprimand the director of the Moscow Art Theater.”

* December 1943 Evening in the Kremlin after the approval of the USSR Anthem. To the right and left of Stalin are the authors of the words: Gabriel El-Registan And Sergey Mikhalkov. The first persistently tried several times to put ham on the leader’s plate. The reaction was this:
- Don't look after me! I am the owner here, and you are the guest.
The second respectfully listened to the toasts and conscientiously emptied the glasses of wine. The observant Stalin gently reprimanded him:
- No need to drink to the bottom. Otherwise I won’t be interested in talking to you.

The bust of the Generalissimo in a telephone booth, made by Vitaly KOMAR and Alexander MELAMID, is considered the main attraction of the red light district of The Hague. Photo: votrube.ru

*During one of the performances Kozlovsky in the Kremlin, members of the Politburo began to call him for an encore and offer him to perform something: “Sing an aria... Sing a romance...”
“You can’t encroach on the artist’s freedom,” Stalin intervened. Comrade Kozlovsky wants to sing “I Remember a Wonderful Moment,” but you are distracting.

* Immediately after the war, Marshal Rokossovsky built himself a dacha, everyone envied him. And he invited the entire Politburo and the entire General Staff to wash... Stalin also came. We walked all night, sang songs, remembered the war. In the morning everyone says goodbye, then Stalin says to him:
- Thank you very much, Comrade Rokossovsky, you built a good children's holiday home.
That same day the house was filled with orphans.

* In 1939, watching the film “The Train Goes East.” The film is not so hot: a train is traveling, constantly stopping at various stations and all the passengers joyfully sing a song at each station.
- What station is this? - asked Stalin.
“Demyanovka,” answered the Minister of Cinematography responsible for the screening. Ivan Bolshakov.
“This is where I’ll get off,” said Stalin and left the hall.

* A candidacy for the post of Minister of Coal Industry was discussed.
They offered the director of one of the mines Zasyadko. Someone objected:
- Everything is fine, but he abuses alcohol!
“Invite him to me,” said Stalin.
Zasyadko came. Stalin began to talk to him and offered him a drink.
“With pleasure,” said Zasyadko, pouring a glass of vodka. - To your health, Comrade Stalin! - He drank and continued the conversation.
Stalin took a sip and, watching carefully, offered a second drink. Zasyadko - drink a second glass, and not in either eye. Stalin suggested a third, but his interlocutor pushed his glass aside and said:
- Zasyadko knows when to stop.
We talked. At a Politburo meeting, when the proposed candidate’s alcohol abuse was again announced, Stalin, walking around with a pipe, said:
- Zasyadko knows when to stop!
Since then, Zasyadko has headed the coal industry for many years...

* When the great teacher and leader of the peoples received the Locum Tenens of the Patriarchal Throne in the Kremlin Sergius Stragorodsky, he came to the meeting in secular dress, and not in episcopal vestments. The former seminary student puffed on his pipe and asked:
-Are you afraid of me, but not of Him?

Photo: moyaezhva.rf

* Former People's Commissar of Armaments Boris Vannikov At the beginning of the war, he was suddenly released from prison, brought to Stalin, who appointed him People's Commissar of Ammunition. Vannikov said:
- Tomorrow I will report to the People's Commissariat, yesterday's prisoner. What authority will I have among my subordinates?
“We will take care of your authority,” Stalin replied. - Found time to sit!
In the morning, when Vannikov arrived at work, there was Pravda on his desk with a Decree awarding him the title of Hero of Socialist Labor.

* Academician Alexander Bogomolets claimed that a person can live up to 150 years. Stalin closely monitored his work and gave him an institute for this work. When the academician died in 1946 at the age of 65, he said: “What a swindler, he deceived everyone!”

* On his trips, Stalin was often accompanied by a security guard Tukov. He sat in the front seat next to the driver and had a habit of falling asleep on the way. One of the Politburo members, riding with Stalin in the back seat, remarked:
- Comrade Stalin, I don’t understand which of you is protecting whom?
“What is that,” answered Joseph Vissarionovich, “he also put his pistol in my raincoat - take it, just in case!”

* As a result of the offensive operation, Soviet troops reached the Baltic Sea, and the commander was General Baghramyan decided to please Stalin by sending him a bottle of Baltic water. But while this bottle reached the Kremlin, the Germans managed to recapture the bridgehead and push our troops from the coast. Stalin already knew about this and, when he was handed the bottle, he turned it in his hands for a few seconds, after which he returned it to the adjutant and said:
- Give it back to Bagramyan, tell him to pour it out where he took it.

* When developing the Pobeda car, it was planned that the name of the car would be “Motherland”. Having learned about this, Stalin ironically asked: “Well, how much will we have a Motherland?” The name of the car was immediately changed.

* During the negotiations there were disputes about post-war borders, and Churchill said:
- But Lviv has never been a Russian city!
“But there was Warsaw,” Stalin objected.
When they decided what to do with the German navy, Stalin proposed dividing it and Churchill scuttling it.
“I agree,” Stalin nodded. - You will flood your half.

* Once, at a meeting with scientists, Stalin asked one of the meteorologists present what their percentage of forecast accuracy was.
- Forty percent, Comrade Stalin.
- And you say the opposite, and then you will have sixty percent.

Returned the Christmas tree from exile.

Nicholas II banned the Christmas tree in 1915. The Tsar considered that it was not good for a Russian person to support the German, that is, enemy, tradition. The Bolsheviks initially canceled the decree, but soon recognized the holiday as a bourgeois relic and also crossed out the New Year from the red dates of the calendar.

The forest beauty was rehabilitated only in 1935. Stalin, who never stopped celebrating the New Year with a lavish feast, saw great propaganda potential in the Christmas tree and ordered the tradition to be returned.
It turned out, however, that during the years without the holiday, the production of toys in the country came to naught. We had to restore and master the production of ideologically consistent jewelry. So a real, beautiful and elegant New Year tree came to the holiday only at the end of 1936. A 15-meter tree was installed in the Hall of Columns of the House of Unions - as a symbol of the fact that life has become better, life has become more fun. And they angrily branded those who “glorified wonderful children’s entertainment as a bourgeois undertaking.”
Along with the return of the Christmas tree, Stalin's New Year's receptions in the Kremlin, which were already held on a grand scale, turned into real feasts. The tables were laden with food and alcohol, and the leader made sure that the guests did not miss a single toast. Then he began inviting musicians and dancers to the celebration.

In bronze and granite.

In Soviet times, busts and statues of the Generalissimo decorated every settlement of the great country - in the USSR there were about 6 thousand monuments to the leader. Only a few have survived to our times. But an amazing trend: in recent years, the monumental STALIN has returned to the pedestal again.

* The leader began to be immortalized in stone, granite and bronze during his lifetime - the first monument by the sculptor Kharlamov appeared in 1929 in Moscow, after which monument mania swept the entire country. In the 30s Stalin- the giant soared to a height of 25 m at the All-Russian Agricultural Exhibition (VDNKh). The leader of all times and peoples was often depicted in company with Lenin- famous composition of Ukrainian sculptors Belostotsky, Pivovarova And Friedman stood in Gorki and served as a model for similar sculptures. Later, the figure of Stalin was removed, and the lonely Ilyich was bending over in an absurd pose, addressing an unknown person.
* In 1952, the largest Stalin on the planet appeared at the entrance to the Volga-Don Canal - 54 m with a pedestal. The Generalissimo stood over the Volga until 1961, and in 1973 Lenin was installed in his place.
* Foreign Stalins were also amazing in scale. In the mid-50s in Prague, a sculptural group depicting Joseph Vissarionovich, followed by eight people, was carved out of a huge boulder. Came to the opening Khrushchev, who had already undertaken to expose the personality cult of his predecessor. Presenting the Order of Lenin to the creators of the monument, Nikita Sergeevich muttered: “Too big. And it's too late." In 1962, the monument in Prague was blown up.
* But today the rating of the “father of nations” is steadily growing - almost half of the participants in all kinds of sociological studies note his positive role in the history of the country. It is noteworthy that in 2008, when the “Name of Russia” poll was conducted, it was Stalin who received the majority of votes. This result did not seem politically correct to the organizers, and the leader was “replaced” with a neutral one Pushkin.
* Nevertheless, people's love for Stalin seeks a way out in the construction of new monuments to the “father of nations” or in the search and restoration of old ones. True, today's Joseph Vissarionovich does not stand in central squares, but in inconspicuous public gardens, where he “cherishes” the hope of someday emerging from the darkness again.

The myth that Stalin was born on December 21, 1879 is one of the most durable and harmless in all anti-Stalinism. Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was also personally involved in the emergence of the myth. It happened as follows. One of his assistants, filling out questionnaires and biographical information for him in 1921-1922, apparently made a mistake due to a misunderstanding. For some unknown reason, Stalin did not correct them. Although before that he always indicated that he was born in 1878. For example, when filling out a questionnaire with his own biography, addressed to him by the Swedish left-wing Social Democratic newspaper Folkets Dagblad Politikin in 1920, Stalin accurately indicated the year of his birth. By the way, this is the only document where the year of birth is written in Stalin’s hand. From that time on, the myth about December 21, 1879 as the date of Stalin’s birth began. The biographical chronicle of the first volume of Stalin’s collected works indicates that he was born on December 9 (21), 1879. Considering that the collected works and biographical chronicle were compiled under the personal control of Stalin, therefore, ultimately, the author of the myth about this date of his birth should be considered himself Stalin. In the end, the collection of his works came out of print after the war, when more than a quarter of a century had passed since the mistake was first made and then uncorrected. Accordingly, if he himself did not want to correct these data, then one really has to consider him the author of this myth. Moreover, when this birthday was officially celebrated for the first time, and it happened on December 21, 1929, Stalin again did not react in any way to the obvious mistake.

To be completely precise, it should be pointed out that for the first time 1879 as the year of his birth appeared in the documents of the tsarist police back in 1910. Obviously, this was due to the fact that Stalin was then arrested with a false passport, in which this particular year was listed. Then, after serving his exile, when he received a real passport, the police again indicated this year of his birth. In principle, back then they didn’t pay much attention to such subtleties. It ended with the fact that after October 1917 it turned out to be easier to come to terms with this established inaccuracy than to correct all the documents again. And the revolutionaries did not have time for that. The Civil War was going on - did they have time to straighten their passports?!

The same should be said about his birthday. December 21, new style (December 9, old style) as Stalin's birthday has appeared in official documents since 1918. Who made a mistake in this case - made a typo - is even approximately impossible to determine.

But the entry in the metric book of the Gori Assumption Cathedral indicates that in fact Joseph Dzhugashvili was born December 6/18, 1878. He was baptized on December 17/29, 1878. This was first established in 1990 by historian L.M. Spirin.

The main thing in this whole myth is that Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili, who entered world history under the pseudonym Stalin, was born on the day of remembrance of the most revered in Rus' and in general among all Orthodox Christians, Nicholas the Wonderworker (Nicholas the Winter, Nicholas the Saint)!

As a modern person, the author is far from mystic. Nevertheless, it is impossible not to pay attention to this coincidence, amazing in its mystical essence. It is impossible to imagine that it did not have its specific influence on Stalin. After all, how he stood guard over the interests of Russia! How he protected her! Yes, he made mistakes, perhaps considerable ones - there is no point in denying them. Only those who do nothing do not make mistakes. But the result of his activities is the Greatest Power of the World! He took over the state in smoking ruins and with a plow. And he left not just the Greatest Power in the World. His successors inherited an economically developed state, with strong industry, developed agriculture, powerful science that was already on the verge of a breakthrough into the space age, a flourishing culture, with powerful armed forces possessing nuclear weapons, with a treasury stuffed with real gold-backed rubles, a state . That's what's important! Moreover. It was he who put an end to the persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church even before the war!

So Stalin could not, could not help but feel the influence of the great saint! That's why the result is like this! Such outstanding representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church as the Patriarchal Locum Tenens Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna Sergius (Stragorodsky), Patriarch of All Rus' Alexy I (Simansky), Archbishop Luka (outstanding Soviet surgeon V.F. Voino-Yasenetsky) and others called Stalin "God-given leader", because he “preserved Russia, showed what it means for the world”.

Which jackal invented the myth that Stalin proved himself to be a villain because he was born on December 21st is now impossible to establish. However, jackals always bark at lions! This yapping itself is based on a belief widespread in the Persian area: those born on this day - children of evil.

However, as was already shown during the analysis of the previous myth, Stalin could not have been any evil on the day of his birth. Not to mention the fact that it is generally unclear what relation “a belief widespread in the Persian area” has to Stalin. However, why they invented this is not difficult to guess. This, so to speak, is supposedly a “scientific-mystical explanation” of the beginning of everything that is usually baselessly called “Stalin’s tyranny.” In politics, or more precisely, in political struggle, this is always the case. Usually everything is explained by “facts” that are supposedly very simple for the average person to perceive. If a man was born on the day of evil, that means he is evil! And period! After all, the average person never bothers himself with any thoughts, much less checks. This is what all anti-Stalinism is based on..

December 21 is the official date of birth of Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili (Stalin) (1879) and Marshal of the Soviet Union Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky (1896).

Scan from the newspaper "Udarnik Kuzbass". Congratulations to Comrade Stalin on his sixtieth birthday.

For reference: Happy birthday in the Soviet press comrade. Stalin was not congratulated every year, but only in 1929, 1939 and 1949. In other years, this day was treated as an ordinary day in the newspapers and there were no congratulations to the leader on his birthday. The cult of personality, however.

..................

But in his youth, young Joseph Dzhugashvili wrote poetry...

The famous Georgian poet and revolutionary democrat Ilya Chavchavadze (1837-1907), who published the newspaper “Iveria” in Tiflis, in 1895 published five poems he liked by the then unknown 16-year-old Joseph Dzhugashvili. The poems were about awakening the beauty of nature and the Motherland; about the poet’s hopes for life, despite all its hardships, about a lyrical conversation with the moon; about the people's suffering and the appointment of a singer and poet in Georgia; about the tragedy of a man who brought good to people, and about human ingratitude that destroyed this man; and, finally, about how old age comes and how the old man does not want to surrender to the hands of death. These poems amazed the classic of Georgian literature Ilya Chavchavadze. So on June 14, 1895, in issue No. 123 of the Iveria newspaper, the first poem by I.V. Stalin appeared, which later became known as “Dila” (“Morning”). It was this poem that in 1912, a prominent person in Georgia, Jacob Gogebashvili, included in the textbook “Native Language” (“Deda Ena”) for primary school:

The wind smells of violets,
The grass glows with dew,
Everything around is waking up
Lit up with roses.

And the singer from under the cloud
Everything is livelier and sweeter,
Nightingale endlessly
Sharing joy with the world:

"How you make me happy, Motherland,
Beauty with your rainbow,
So everyone works
I must please my homeland."

This poem was published in Georgian in 1948 in Tbilisi as a separate book, well illustrated in color, with a circulation of 10,100 copies at a price of 7 rubles per book.
Nikolai Dobryukha (translated the poem “Morning” into Russian), laureate of the Moscow Komsomol literary prize, spoke about this.
Another translator of Joseph Dzhugashvili’s poems, Lev Kotyukov, wrote several years ago in the Moscow newspaper “Zavtra”:
“In their youth, many dream of becoming poets, but, having lost their passion in the desire to be published and become famous, they resign themselves to defeat - and in their mature years they remember their home-grown verses with a smile. Joseph Dzhugashvili was not a failed poet, he did not dream of poetic recognition: he was a poet , was recognized and noted as a poet at the dawn of his foggy youth. Georgian newspapers and magazines willingly provided their pages to him. So why does the proud, ambitious young Dzhugashvili not follow his recognition? Why, having been born a poet and like Arthur Rimbaud, having become famous at the very beginning, goes into revolution and forgets about himself as a poet until the end of his days? Let's try to answer this as best we can.
The end of the 19th century in Russia was marked by the rapid development of capitalism. The 1880-90s were truly anti-poetic times. Forgetting about eternity, people turned time into money, despising poetry, they did business. This fact speaks for itself: the brilliant book “Evening Lights” by Afanasy Fet (who once served as an officer in Novogeorgievsk, now flooded by the Kremenchug reservoir), published by the author at his own expense, was practically not sold out. Let us recall the then popular disparaging statement about the poetry of Leo Tolstoy: “Writing poetry is like dancing behind a plow...”
Young, wise beyond his years, Joseph Dzhugashvili knew perfectly well that the poetic path promises not only glory, but also humiliation, and did not want to put up with this, because since childhood he was more than full of bitter knowledge. He leaves poetry.
In 1949, on the initiative of L.P. Beria, an attempt was made, secretly from Stalin, to publish poems in gift format in Russian for his 70th birthday. For this purpose, under the strictest secrecy, the best poets-translators were brought in, among whom were the future Nobel Prize winner in literature Boris Pasternak, author of the famous novel “Doctor Zhivago” and Arseny Tarkovsky (father of the world famous film director who directed the films “Ivan’s Childhood”, “Andrei Rublev", "Solaris", "Mirror", "Nostalgia" by Andrei Tarkovsky). Having become acquainted with the nameless interlinear translations, without knowing their authorship, one of the masters of poetic translation innocently said: “They are up for the Stalin Prize of the first degree...”
The poetic activity of Joseph Dzhugashvili lasted only four years - from 1893 to 1896. The manuscripts of his poems are irretrievably (?) lost, the search for his lifetime publications is limited for objective reasons. Today we are publishing several poems by a poet undeservedly forgotten by us and ourselves.

* *
He walked from house to house,
Knocked on strangers' doors.
Under the old oak panduri
A simple motive sounded.

In his tune and in his song,
Like a ray of sunshine, pure
There lived a great truth -
Divine dream.

Hearts turned to stone
A lonely chant woke me up.
A flame dormant in the darkness
Soared higher than the trees.

But people who have forgotten God
Keeping darkness in the heart,
I'll use poison instead of wine
They poured it into his cup.
They told him: “Damn you!
Drink the cup to the bottom!..
And your song is alien to us,
And your truth is not needed! "

* *
When the moon shines
Suddenly the world below lights up,
And her shadow beyond the distant distance
It emits blue into the air.

When above the serene grove
The nightingale soars with song,
And the salamuri voice is gentle
It sounds all night in my soul.

When the oppressive darkness of the abyss
He will disperse in his native land.
And to the heart with a heavenly voice
He will give his message of hope.

I know that this hope
my soul is forever pure.
The soul of the poet strives upward
And beauty matures in the heart.

Float majestically in space
Above the hidden abyss of the earth
Spread a silver glow
The fog is gloomy, the darkness is thick.

Bow down to the ground lying in your sleep,
Bow down with a gentle smile.
Sing a lullaby to Kazbek,
whose ice, glowing, strives upward.

But know for sure who was once
Humiliated and thrown into dust,
Still on par with Mtatsminda
And it will revive faith in hearts.

Soar on the dark sky!
Play with rays and kings...
And the land born with quiet light,
Illuminate with heavenly light.

I will open my whole soul, I will open myself,
I will extend my hand to you!..
Shine, Moon - the soul of the Universe,
Shine on, Moon, in my destiny.

To the poet, singer of peasant labor, Prince Rafael Eristavi

Once upon a time the oppression of the peasant share
You, singer, were shocked to tears.
But, God, how much evil and pain
Since then I had a chance to see it.

But protected by my homeland all my life,
You haven't forgotten your songs.
One with her dream all my life,
You are young again with love.

Singer of the Fatherland works hard
The people will also reward.
The seed has already taken root
And a difficult harvest is coming.

It’s not for nothing that people like Eristavi
My beloved region gave birth.
And may you have earthly glory!..
You conquered eternity with a song.

Translated from Georgian by L. Kotyukov.