Stalin and the beginning of the Great Patriotic War
Many agree that Stalin is to blame for the hardest start of the war and the huge losses in personnel, the material part of our army. It is difficult to disagree with this - after all, he was the ruler of a state. And the ruler of the state is responsible for all the processes that have an impact on the whole people, in the territory of their country. But at the same time, they somehow forget that he is also “responsible” for the Victory. People remember the guilt, but forget about his contribution, or, even worse, they say that “the people won in spite of Stalin,” the system itself.
What are the most popular accusations personally imposing on Stalin during the initial period of the war? "Stalin fell into prostration" and was silent, could not even announce the beginning of the war, "Stalin was a coward." We will consider them in this article.
Stalin's silence
The essence of the myth was well expressed by J. Lewis and F. Whitehead in Stalin: “Stalin was in prostration. During the week he rarely left his villa in Kuntsevo. His name disappeared from the newspapers. For 10 days, the Soviet Union had no leader. Only XNUMIXJulia Stalin came to his senses. ” The accusation is very serious - cowardice and inaction on the most difficult days, when the country's military-political leadership needs to instill the will to win, to inspire to fight.
On June 22 Vyacheslav Molotov, People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, announced the start of the war. In Germany, A. Hitler personally announced the beginning of the war, and in the UK, W. Churchill reported on the war. Some researchers, "justifying" Stalin, suggested a version that Stalin was not completely sure that this was the beginning of a big war, thought of a provocation that would not go beyond the border conflict. Examples of such enemy actions were already on the border with the Japanese army, battles at Lake Hassan in 1938, in the area of the Khalkin-Gol River in 1939. This hypothesis put forward and Khrushchev at the famous XX Congress. Then he reported about the mythical order “not to respond to provocations with fire”, also from the realm of fantasy - there were heavy battles with the use of all kinds weapons (besides chemical), and Khrushchev reports that the Red Army was “not to respond with fire”.
But this is complete nonsense - Hitler himself declared war on the USSR, and before that on 5.30 in the morning, the Reich ambassador to the Union Schulenburg handed a note to declare war.
Stalin rarely spoke publicly at all, no more than once or twice a year, and he did not speak at all on the radio, on the open air, for several years. He was not a public politician, unlike Roosevelt, other American presidents, Churchill. In 1940, there was not a single public speech! And in the 1941 year, I never spoke before the famous “Brothers and Sisters!” 3 July 1941.
It is quite likely that from the point of view of psychology it was not correct for Stalin to speak on June 22, in the Kremlin they understood this, there were no fools out there. The fact of Stalin’s speech, after more than two years of silence, the last public appearance - in March 1939 of the year at the XVIII Congress of the CPSU (b), could have caused panic. Therefore, it is quite logical that V. Molotov, the head of Soviet diplomacy, was practically the second person in the country, he was from 1930 to May 1941, he was the chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, that is, the head of government.
In addition, they worked together on the text of the speech, according to the memoirs of the Comintern head G. Dimitrov, Stalin, Molotov, Kaganovich, Voroshilov, Malenkov worked in the office. No panic, no fear, everyone is calm, sure.
"Prostration"
However, the documents and memories of other figures of that time completely refute the fabrications of Khrushchev and his followers. The same G. Zhukov refutes the view of “prostration,” reports that Stalin “worked with great energy ...”. There is also a schedule of visitors to Stalin’s office in the early days of the war. According to these documents, it is clear that Stalin worked hard and met with the military-political leadership of the state.
Cowardice
Stalin is difficult to blame for this quality, he is a member of the Civil War, participated in organizing defense on the most difficult sectors of the front (Tsaritsyn, Perm, Petrograd, the South-Western Front in the war with Poland), did not fall into panic, helped to restore order.
There is an interesting story, memories of the commander of the distant aviation A. Golovanova: in October 1941 the Wehrmacht was eager for Moscow, the corps commissar Stepanov, a member of the Military Council, phoned Headquarters. He said that he was in the headquarters of the Western Front, in Perkhushkov, and said that the command was concerned about the difficult situation, it was necessary, they say, to transfer the front headquarters to Moscow. Then Stalin asked: "Comrade Stepanov, ask at the headquarters, do they have shovels?" ... Stepanov: "Now ... there are shovels, Comrade Stalin." Stalin: “Tell your comrades, let them take shovels and dig graves for themselves. The front headquarters will remain in Perkhushkov, and I will remain in Moscow. Bye". All this was said without anger, in a calm tone.
The leader did not leave Moscow even during the October XIX panic. On October 16, the State Defense Committee issued a state of siege; it “sobered up” the capital. It is ridiculous to read, listen to statements about panic, “prostration”, fear, apparently, these people confuse themselves with the military and political leadership of the USSR at that time. Let me remind you that these people went through the most terrible civil war, when the white armies and interventionists controlled most of the country, the red in their hands remained a relatively small region of the country - with Moscow and Petrograd, and then they attacked Petrograd twice. Many went through the most difficult "school" of the underground struggle. They won this “bloodbath”, and then “fell into prostration” ?!
Compare the behavior of the Polish leadership, or French, the Polish military-political leadership abandoned the country, the army and fled from Poland. The French government stopped the fight, surrendered Paris without a fight.
Sources of:
Zhukov G. K. Memoirs and reflections. The 2 TM., 2002.
Medinsky V. War. Myths of the USSR. 1939-1945. M., 2011.
Pykhalov I. The Great Obolgannaya war. M., 2005.
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