Historical story

Brothers and sisters! Comrade Stalin speaks!

After the German attack on the Soviet Union, Stalin was confused for days. He was afraid it was his end. However, he shook himself and gave a radio speech on July 3.

"Lenin created our state, and we took everything ..." - Joseph Stalin was said to have said on June 28, 1941, when he heard about the successes of the Germans near Minsk. It was then that the dictator was about to collapse. It was one of the few, and perhaps the only opportunity, to overthrow him - but it wasn't brave.

During the first days of the war, the leader of the Soviet state still held on. The day after the attack, he appointed the supreme command. At first, however, did not believe that attack was war - he believed it was a provocation of German generals and Hitler did not know anything .

Stalin in disarray

Only the subsequent news of the bombing of Soviet cities and the scale of the violence made him realize that it was quite a real war. Launched with Hitler's consent, or more precisely - on his orders. It was then that Stalin also began to issue orders - inconsistent, having little to do with the situation at the front, but costing the lives of thousands of soldiers.

For the first week, Stalin was active, summoning his people, making decisions. But he had Vyacheslav Molotov make the first radio speech after the attack. He himself did not want to "shine his eyes" in front of the public. Molotov, struggling with stuttering, frightened, however, managed to reassure the citizens that the enemy would be defeated and that the Soviet cause was right. But the following days contradicted these declarations. The Germans were moving forward.

Surely Stalin must have been tired. Subsequent reports only made his mood worse.

Surely Stalin must have been tired. Subsequent reports only made his mood worse.

Information from Minsk - and even more the lack of it - overwhelmed a cup of bitterness. Stalin was convinced that the Belarusian capital had already fallen. He was resigned, ready to even step down. It is not clear whether he said then:"we took it all over" or "we did it" - the reports are contradictory. There was, however, one sense of these words. Departing from the Kremlin for the dacha in Kuncewo, Stalin was a loser.

Why are you here?

When he reached Kuncewo, he actually fell into the ground. The next day he did not show up in his office in the Kremlin. Disappeared from Soviet newspapers - no photos, no speeches. The public was confused, the army command confused, and his closest comrades in the party's Politburo were confused.

However, they met on June 30 and had to decide what to do next. Then they could do with Stalin what they wanted. Vyacheslav Molotov had a chance of taking power.

But they also knew that only Stalin was able to consolidate the resistance and make people fight. They figured that a State Defense Committee would be appointed, headed by a dictator.

It was later speculated that Josif Wissarionovich's withdrawal was just a game. He played a performance to be asked to come back - in this way he regained full power, and the issue of responsibility for the country's unpreparedness for war ceased to be relevant. Such a new beginning.

Vyacheslav Molotov had a chance of taking power.

Nevertheless, the leader of the USSR was really in a bad condition - during these several dozen hours he lost weight and deteriorated. When a delegation from the Politburo showed up in Kuncewo - the decayed commander began to say something incoherently, then nervously asked:"Why did you come?".

Anastas Mikoyan, a member of the Bureau's presidency, had the impression that in this question there was a concern as to whether his comrades had come to arrest him and then blame him for his failures. He would probably - or even certainly - would. But his comrades assured him that they wanted him to continue to lead the Soviet state and lead the fight that was about to be called the Great Patriotic War.

The surprise and then the relief of Stalin were apparently limitless. Soon he was himself again. So a leader and a dictator. Lavrenty Beria, the head of the secret services, was to say later that Stalin would never forgive his colleagues for having witnessed his weakness.

My friends!

The next day, the dictator finally showed up in the Kremlin - he began to issue orders and hand out nominations. On July 1, newspapers reported the establishment of the State Defense Committee. Two days later, Stalin finally spoke on the radio.

His words must have been surprising right from the start - the people he had oppressed for more than a decade suddenly referred to as "brothers and sisters." He even called his fellow countrymen friends. None of Russia's rulers have used such words since time immemorial (if ever). Stalin appealed to the patriotism of all the peoples of the Soviet Union - as if he understood that patriotism is of greater value than loyalty to the Bolshevik revolution. Soon, some gestures will be made towards the church - so far persecuted.

The surprise and then the relief of Stalin were apparently limitless. Soon he was himself again. So a leader and a dictator.

Of course, the leader of the communists announced the total struggle and the technique of scorched earth. But he was nervous - you could hear him sipping water and setting down his glass.

Behind all the beautiful words he gave, however, there was also an old and brutal practice:"traitors" and marauders were shot without mercy . The soldiers were sent on to fight, often to certain death - when they were ordered to hold back tanks helplessly.

Nevertheless, the propaganda did its job - the Soviet people had their leader again, and he never left his post. Even when a few months later it seemed that Moscow would fall, and a train was waiting for him to take him to the safe Kuibyshev, which had been designated as the emergency capital of the state and a new center of resistance.

On the same day Stalin's speech, General Franz Halder, chief of the German staff, wrote in his diary that the war had actually been won. How wrong he was.