Yuri Mukhin's brilliant interpretation of a well-known historical fact.

***

STROKE TO STALIN'S PORTRAIT

I want to write not even about a historical moment, but just about a hint at one moment in our history, which still remains unnoticed.

Beginning with Civil War in the USSR, awards were established "for battle and for labor." Stalin could not refuse to award them, since this would be a disregard for state awards, although Stalin himself never wore orders, making an exception only for the star of Hero of Socialist Labor, which since the moment he was awarded this title in 1939, from time to time appears on his chest. In total, before the war, he had three orders - the Order of Lenin and two Red Banners.

During the war, he began to command all front-line operations and received five more awards - one Order of Lenin, two Orders of Victory, one Red Banner and the Order of Suvorov 1st degree (as for another Order of Lenin, I will say about it separately). That is, Stalin, like all marshals of the USSR, accepted the awards that were due to him, since he was obliged to accept them, and, most likely, agreed that he deserved them.

Marshal Tymoshenko, who was the People's Commissar (Minister) of Defense for a year and a half before the war, fought well during the war and was awarded six orders - one Order of Lenin, one Order of Victory, three Orders of Suvorov 1st degree and one Red Banner. That is, he was awarded even more orders than Stalin.

Marshal Voroshilov, from 1925 to early 1940 was the people's commissar of defense. During the war he was awarded three orders - one Order of Lenin, one Order of Suvorov 1st degree and one Red Banner.

Title of Hero Soviet Union began to assign to military leaders from the moment this award was established, Zhukov, for example, had this title for Khalkhin-Gol, Marshals Kulik and Timoshenko - for finnish war, and General Stern for the leadership of the troops in Spain - for the fulfillment of his international duty. That is, the assignment of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union to the highest command personnel of the Red Army was already an established practice. Accordingly, during the Great Patriotic War, the assignment of this rank to senior military leaders was continued, but in a sharply increased number. Some were awarded this title twice (Marshals Rokossovsky, Zhukov), and at the end of the war and at the end of the war, the title of Hero of the Soviet Union was generally awarded by chokh, and those who, in conscience, were supposed to be shot, were included in the lists of awarded generals.

However, marshals Tymoshenko and Voroshilov were not awarded this title either during the war or as a result. It turns out that Stalin, approving the lists submitted for the assignment of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, simply crossed out these generals, although throughout the war he agreed with the awarding of them with military orders. For example, Stalin presented Tymoshenko three times for awarding the highest military leader's order of Suvorov 1 degree (Zhukov has only two of them, Stalin has one), presented Timoshenko to be awarded the unique Order of Victory, that is, he believed that Tymoshenko deserved these orders. But he did not consider him a hero! Why??

Another moment. Not a single commissar (later a "member of the military council") became a Hero of the Soviet Union. Although such political workers as Khrushchev, Brezhnev and, especially, Mehlis, cannot be accused of cowardice. Commissar Poppel, who fought the remnants of his corps for 800 km in the rear of the Germans, wrote that such an instruction regarding the commissars had been received since the beginning of the war.

So why, in Stalin's understanding, the pre-war people's commissars and all commissars in general are not heroes?

I think this is the point.

By June 22, 1941, the Red Army had everything from the Soviet people to defeat the Germans - excellent human material (even Zhukov considered the main factor in the victory of a young Soviet soldier), quite modern weapons and equipment, and, most importantly, all this in quantities exceeding weapons and equipment Germans. The Red Army had enough ammunition, fuel and equipment. But in 1941 she suffered a shameful defeat, gave it to the Germans vast territories USSR and almost 40% of the population. Was Stalin tormented by the question why ?? I think I tortured from the beginning of the war and the rest of my life. And I think that he saw the reason for these defeats in the abomination that the cadre command staff of the Red Army showed in the war - he saw massive meanness, betrayal, cowardice, inability to fight and contempt for the lives of soldiers. The cadre command staff of the Red Army preserved all this vileness and kept it intact from the tsarist officers, and at the beginning of the war, this tsarist officer's abomination in the Red Army remained unredeemed.

Defense ministers and commissars were responsible for the quality of the army's cadre command personnel.

But why did Stalin never mention a word about this? Because it was impossible to talk about anything like this out loud during the war and immediately after it. Start talking about this general-officer meanness or even shoot for it during the war, and trust in the command staff will collapse, respectively, the army will not become, but even with the victory over the Germans and Japanese, the military threat to the USSR constantly persisted, in view of the superiority of the United States in the atomic weapons.

But what about Stalin himself? He's a leader, isn't it his fault in such a composition of the Red Army command? Yes, he was a leader, yes, he was responsible for everything. And, if I understand correctly, Stalin understood and accepted this guilt.

When, immediately after the end of the war with the Germans, all front commanders signed a collective petition to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet to confer the title of Hero of the Soviet Union on their commander-in-chief, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR granted this request - conferred this title on Stalin with the Golden Star and the Order of Lenin. But Stalin categorically refused to accept the signs of these awards, and for the first time they appeared only on the cushions near his coffin. (Later, the artists on his portraits began to paint on both a star and another Order of Lenin, but during his lifetime Stalin was not something that he did not wear, but did not receive). Stalin did not consider himself a Hero of the Soviet Union.

Here is such a touch to the portrait of Stalin.

I already wrote that I was on the transfer to the Liberal Democratic Party, and the organizers were in a hurry, so I took part not only in the discussion about the Malaysian Boeing 777, but also about Stalin. I give this record, perhaps it will be interesting to someone.

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Stalin had various medals and orders in his collection of awards, and he was also awarded many honorary titles. But eyewitnesses claimed that the generalissimo, whose name is known all over the world, truly valued only one distinctive sign, which he wore at all official events.

Various speculations about numerous medals and awards

During Stalin's rule, not a single one, even the most brave man I would not have dared to express my doubts aloud that the Commander-in-Chief of the USSR received some titles not deservedly. But after the end of his authoritarian rule, such statements could be heard more and more often. One of the versions voiced regarding Stalin's awards was the statement that he specially wrote out various military awards for himself in order not to look in an unfavorable light in the eyes of his subordinates. It should be noted right away that some military leaders often had much more of these awards than Stalin.

In addition, today you can read a lot of authoritative evidence that confirms that Stalin, the man who ruled the Soviet Union for about 30 years, remained rather modest until the end of his life and preferred an ascetic lifestyle. He did not particularly like to boast of material wealth and achievements, therefore, it is really difficult to imagine that such a person could specifically reward himself with something in order to look worthy next to military commanders.

Stalin's special attitude to his awards

In their memoirs, books and memoirs, people who had the opportunity to personally communicate with Stalin, and also spent some time with him, note that he had a modest attitude towards awards. He never liked to brag about them and did not flaunt them. Even received in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945 "he wore very rarely.

Taking this into account, it can hardly be assumed that Joseph Vissarionovich specially wrote out awards for himself and put forward his candidacy for state titles. Why did the Generalissimo need orders and medals, which he did not intend to brag about, and did not even consider it necessary to wear them at various official events?

Despite how many awards Stalin had, he always had only one gold medal, Hammer and Sickle, without exception.

The gold medal with the image of the hammer and sickle was awarded to Stalin in 1939 by the decision of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet for special services in building a socialist society of the USSR, maintaining friendly relations between peoples and for services in organizing the Bolshevik Party. It was not clear to many why this particular award was so highly valued by Stalin. But authoritative historians and biographers say that this award, like no other, reflected the meaning of his life - work for the development and prosperity of the socialist Fatherland.

Rebuke to Marshal Zhukov

It is worth noting that Iosif Vissarionovich still occasionally wore some of his awards, which he had received even before the war. Those that were presented during the war years were worn by the Generalissimo very rarely. But those awards of Stalin, which were presented after the war for the Great Victory, were almost impossible to see on it.

It can be assumed that he believed that most of these medals were given undeservedly. Or perhaps Stalin considered them deserved, but received at a disproportionately high price. In favor of such reflections, one can cite the situation described by Y. Mukhin in one of his books.

According to the author, at a banquet organized for the high command in honor of the Victory, Zhukov sat at the same table with Stalin. At the same time, there were no expected odes of praise in honor of the First Victory Marshal Zhukov. To the marshal himself and to some of those present, this seemed strange. Zhukov decided to take the initiative and say a toast.

He began with the fact that the most difficult time that he had to go through in the entire Second world war, was the defense of Moscow. Stalin, after listening to this entire speech, confirmed that the time was difficult and in many respects decisive for the subsequent outcome of the war. He mentioned that at the same time, many defenders of the capital did not receive well-deserved awards, because, having distinguished themselves in battles, they were seriously wounded or left disabled. Then Stalin hit the table hard with his fist and noticed that those who did not need to be encouraged with these awards were not forgotten, got up from the table and left without returning to the banquet.

Young Stalin's first awards

Despite the specific attitude to the medals "For Victory", Stalin still valued his first awards. In addition to the Hero of Labor star, these include the following:

• The order was awarded in 1919 for the final capture of Tsaritsyn by the Red troops.
• The order was awarded in 1937 for the merits shown on the front of the social structure.
• The medal "XX Years of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army" was issued in 1938.

War awards

Since Joseph Vissarionovich was the commander-in-chief of the troops of the USSR, during the Second World War he was awarded medals and orders:

Orders and medals received in the post-war period

Medals issued specifically in post-war period, were not particularly popular with Stalin. These include:

Awards issued by various republics

In addition to state awards, JV Stalin also had awards received for his services from other republics. These include:

1. Awards issued by the Czechoslovak SSR: two Military Crosses of 1939 (the first was awarded in 1943, the second in 1945) and two Orders of the White Lion (1st class and "For Victory") were awarded in 1945.
2. Order received from the Tuva HP: the Order of the Republic of the TNR was issued in 1943.
3. Titles, medals and orders of the Mongolian HP: medal awarded for "Victory over Japan" (1945); order to them. Sukhe-Bator received in 1945; conferring the title of Hero of the Mongolian Republic with the receipt of the "Golden Star"; Medal dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Mongolian Revolution, issued in 1946
4. Stalin was awarded the Order of the Red Star issued by the Bukhara Soviet Republic in 1922.

Received titles

After the victory at Stalingrad in March 1943, Stalin was awarded a new military rank - Marshal. After the end of World War II, there were more and more conversations in the inner circle that the Commander-in-Chief should be awarded the rank of Generalissimo. But the honorary titles of Stalin were not interested, and he refused for a very long time. Unexpectedly, he could be influenced by a letter from K. Rokossovsky, in which the author, referring to Stalin, noticed that they were both marshals. And if once Stalin wants to punish Rokossovsky, he will not have enough authority for this, because their military ranks are equal.

Such an argument turned out to be very well-reasoned for Joseph Vissarionovich, and he gave his long-awaited consent. This title was awarded to him in June 1945, but before his last days Stalin refused to wear a uniform with He considered it too elegant and luxurious.

About Stalin, who headed the Soviet state for 30 years, has been written and said as much as, perhaps, about anyone else. Attention was repeatedly drawn, including to his great personal modesty and ascetic unpretentiousness in everyday life: simplicity of clothing, worn out boots, a complete absence of any financial savings and an almost indifferent attitude towards receiving awards and titles.

And yet I. Stalin was awarded. He had both medals and titles. What and how much, and how he treated them - more on that below.

Pre-war awards

Order of the Red Banner "for the defense of Tsaritsyn and its final capture by the red troops."Awarded By decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of November 27, 1919 No.

Order of the Red Star I degree Bukhara People's Soviet Republic (independent public education Soviet type in the period 1920-1924) "for the formation of Soviet power in the struggle against Basmachism".Awarded by the Resolution of the All-Bukhara Central Executive Committee of August 18, 1922 as People's Commissar for Nationalities of the RSFSR.

Order of the Red Banner "according to numerous requests from organizations, general meetings workers, peasants and Red Army men ... for their immense services on the front of the social structure. " Awarded by the Decree of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR in February 1937.

Medal "XX Years of the Workers 'and Peasants' Red Army". Awarded in 1938.

Gold medal "Hammer and Sickle" Hero of Socialist Labor No. 1 "for exceptional services in organizing the Bolshevik Party, building a socialist society in the USSR and strengthening friendship between the peoples of the Soviet Union " on the occasion of the sixtieth birthday "with delivery Order of Lenin.Awarded by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 20, 1939.

War years awards

Rank Marshal of the Soviet Union... Assigned on March 6, 1943 after the victory at Stalingrad.

The order Tuvinian People's Republic (independent state formation of the Soviet type in the period 1921 - 1944, recognized by the USSR and Mongolia ) "for the defense of independence in the second world war"... Awarded by the Decree of the Presidium of the Small Khural in 1943.

Military cross 1939 Czechoslovak Republic ... Awarded in 1943.

Order of Suvorov I degree "for the correct leadership of the operations of the Red Army in the Patriotic War against the German invaders and the successes achieved." Awarded by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on November 6, 1943.

Order "Victory" №3 "for exceptional services in organizing and conducting offensive operations Red Army, which led to the largest defeat of the German army and to a radical change in the situation on the front of the struggle against the German invaders in favor of the Red Army "- the liberation of the Right-Bank Ukraine. Awarded by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on April 10, 1944.

Order of the Red Banner "for 20 years of impeccable service" (this situation existed in the period 1944 - 1956). Awarded on 4 June 1944.

Awards after the Victory

Order "Victory"№15 "for exceptional services in the organization of all the armed forces of the Soviet Union and their skilful leadership in the Great Patriotic War, which ended in complete victory over Nazi Germany." Awarded by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on June 26, 1945.

Medal "Gold Star" of the Hero of the Soviet Union "for the leadership of the Red Army in the difficult days of our Motherland and its capital Moscow in the struggle against Nazi Germany" Order of Lenin... Awarded by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on June 26, 1945.

Medal "For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-45."Awarded in 1945.

Awarded 1945

Awards of the Mongolian People's Republic

Order of Sukhbaatar.Awarded 1945

Medal "For the victory over Japan".Awarded in 1945.

Medal "25 Years of the Mongolian People's Revolution". Awarded in 1946.

Awards of the Czechoslovak Republic

Order of the White Lion, 1st class.Awarded 1945

Order of the White Lion "For Victory" I degree. Awarded 1945

Military cross 1939Awarded 1945

Anniversary awards

Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow".Awarded in 1947.

The order of Lenin "in connection with the seventieth anniversary of the birth of Comrade IV Stalin and taking into account the exceptional merits in strengthening and developing the USSR, building communism in our country, organizing the defeat of the German fascist invaders and Japanese imperialists, as well as in restoring national economy in the post-war period ". Awarded by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of December 20, 1949.

Medal "Gold Star" of the Hero of the Mongolian People's Republic with delivery Order of Sukhe-Bator.Awarded in December 1949 in connection with his 70th birthday.

Stalin's attitude to his awards

Constantly the leader wore only one medal - the star of the Hero of Socialist Labor, which he was very proud of. I wore my pre-war awards. Awards received during the war - sometimes worn. And those that were assigned to him for great Victory - never worn.

When they wanted to confer on him the rank of Generalissimo, Stalin repeatedly and harshly refused. Only the weighty argument of Marshal K. Rokossovsky forced him to agree: "Comrade Stalin, you are a marshal, and I am a marshal. You cannot punish me." But he resolutely rejected the uniform specially made for him with the epaulettes of the Generalissimo - as excessively luxurious and out of date - and did not wear it. On special or solemn occasions, he put on a general's jacket with marshal's shoulder straps.

The Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union - not only did not wear, but refused to accept. He also refused the second Order "Victory". He agreed to accept them only after his 70th birthday. On that day, August 28, 1950 - 5 years later - he was immediately awarded the "Victory", the Gold Star of the Hero and 2 Orders of Lenin.

And one more Order - a failed one. IN post-war years, when Stalin had an outstanding, incomparable world authority, the question of establishing Order of Stalin as an analogue of the Order of Lenin. First - after the Victory, then - after the 70th anniversary of the leader. Were made prototypes of different options. But Stalin looked, thought - and so appreciated this idea: "Now - no need. I'll die, do what you want."

In the "Soviet military encyclopedia"there is a portrait depicting Stalin with all his orders. But this is a generally accepted tradition: every officer must have a photo portrait with all his awards. Sometimes on the posters you could see Stalin with two Hero Stars. But this is on the posters ... he always had only one award, which he valued and was proud of - medal "Hammer and Sickle" Hero Socialist Labor.Obviously, it was in her that he saw the whole meaning of his life - peaceful labor for the good of the socialist Fatherland.

Awards presented for participation in military operations of the Second World War and for special achievements at the front and in the rear. Contents 1 Anti-Hitler coalition 1.1 Soviet Union 1.1.1 ... Wikipedia

This article is about non-government awards given to public organization and having an appropriate legal status. The awards listed in the article should not be confused with state awards orders and medals of the Soviet Union ... Wikipedia

Order of Stalin ... Wikipedia

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Books

• Encyclopedia of Soviet awards. The order of Lenin. Order of Stalin (project), Valery Durov. This edition is the first book entirely devoted to the detailed history of one of the Soviet orders, in this case the Order of Lenin. Here for the first time in Russian historiography ...
• The order of Lenin. Order of Stalin (project), Durov Valery. This edition is the first book entirely devoted to the detailed history of one of the Soviet orders, in this case the Order of Lenin. Here for the first time in Russian historiography ...