The last Ivan. Unpublished. Part 4

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

- Yes, I, as a representative of my generation, especially the front-line soldiers, had to say about Stalin. And I have said, indeed, about him in several novels. But I spoke of Stalin not as a person, but as a commander, as the one who led the country, the restoration of the country later, and as a person who defined some kind of ideology for us. Here I have a lot about it: what kind of ideology, how it came back to haunt now, etc. But as a person, I could not tell anything about him, despite the fact that fate pushed me against his son. I worked in the military air district of Moscow as a correspondent for Stalin's Falcon. My office was three offices from Stalin. Moreover, he once said to me: “Listen, they are asking me to write a book. Let's write! What kind of writer am I alone? " Here. We wrote a book. It was called "The Air Force of the Country of Socialism". They wrote it. He gave it to his father. His father did not return the manuscript to him; apparently, he threw it into the fireplace.

- How else to think? He probably said: “We still lacked writers. It was not enough for Vasily to become a writer as well”. I think so that he could say, anyway. The book was written under an agreement with a military publishing house, and the head of the military publishing house tells us: “You worked, you did the job. Here's your fee. " He says, "Leave it." It was a bundle of money. Calling me. By the way, here is the image of Stalin's son … He says: “Do you see the money? This is a book for us. But, you see, I didn't write the book. Take the money. " We all knew that he really needed money, very much. He had three families, children. And they paid him, - he once confessed and said: "Vasilevsky sent me only 25 thousand." Such people were sent a salary in envelopes for each month, ministers and commanders of districts. He let it slip and we learned that they were sending him in an envelope. Several times he sent me: “Go to Galina, give three thousand. Needs."

We knew he always needed money, but here is such a pack. I say: “Comrade General, I wrote this at work, I received money for it. What else will I receive?.. And then your thoughts, your stories. And I don’t take someone else's.” He looks at me: “Okay, you take this much,” and gives me a pack, “and I'll take the rest. I need money now. I'll give them to you later. And, therefore, he opened the safe, threw them away. Well, I didn’t, you know, flirt, I took this amount. It turned out to be 20 thousand. To imagine what 20 thousand is - here I am the captain, I occupied a rather high position in the newspaper, I received 3500, with a fee I received up to 5. And then 20 thousand … This is despite the fact that we were close, so to speak, to the prince, to a person from the family, we still did not know anything about Stalin.

Once someone told us that Vasily Iosifich complains that they do not give us jet planes, we all fly on propeller driven planes, and they make jet planes. And someone said to him: “Comrade General, is that what you told your father? Let him give us such planes. " He looked and said: “Why do you think that my father and I eat cabbage soup every day? Yes, I’m allowed to see him for an hour and a half every three months”. Well, how could we know what Stalin is? We knew him as an activist and no one knew him as a person. But I must say here that the Earth is full of rumors. There is always folklore, and from this oral creativity somehow the image of Stalin grew up as a person. Well, for example, I study at a literary institute, and we hear this: Fadeev was received by Stalin, he talked to him there about something, and then he says: "Comrade Stalin, isn't it time for us to write a novel about you?" Stalin, as usual, walks around the office, lights up his pipe, comes closer to him and says: "Do you have a talent equal to Shakespeare?" Fadeev and shrank. On that they parted.

Another case is also: I became the editor of the Journal of the Young and, from time to time, find myself at a meeting of the magazine in the Central Committee. And I hear such a thing, our new boss, Polikarpov, was with Stalin, and how he talks about this visit. Polikarpov introduced himself on the occasion of the appointment, Stalin approved it and said: "I will ask you, come to me in three months and tell me what is going on among the writers there." Three months pass, he goes to him: “Comrade Stalin, I am glad to report, so I have entered the course of work, studied the writers. Among them there are those who do not please: Fadeev drinks, Simonov is constantly on a business trip, and we receive letters from there that he is behaving somehow differently there, Fedin is somehow with the housekeeper …”. Stalin listened, listened, and then said: "Is everything for you?" Polikarpov says: "That's all for now, Comrade Stalin." He again walks around the office, smokes, then comes closer, poked his pipe at him and said: "You, Comrade Polikarpov, will have to work with these writers, I have no other writers for you." A witty man.

I have a well-known friendship with Bubennov. Bubennov lived in Riga, he was ill with consumption. The patient from there sent us the novel "White Birch" to the magazine "October", and it was published. Well, he was delighted - the fee came. Lives near Moscow, rented a room somewhere. Suddenly a call:

- Is this Comrade Bubennov?

- Yes, I'm listening to you.

- Hello, comrade Bubennov, Stalin is speaking to you.

Bubennov tells me at the same time: "I almost burst out laughing, because I know that in the editorial office these jokes are playing with me." But all the same he did not laugh and said:

- I am listening to you, comrade Stalin.

- I read your novel in October. I really liked him. Congratulations on writing such a book. This book alone puts you in the ranks of the outstanding Russian writers.

Bubennov continues: “I wanted to burst out laughing again, but I restrained myself, something held me back. Here he says:

- How do you live, comrade Bubennov?

- Yes, I'm renting a room.

- I think that such a writer deserves better living conditions. I will call the Moscow City Council and ask them to give you an apartment.

Well, I thought I was obviously being pranked, and I say:

- Thank you, Comrade Stalin. Goodbye.

Well, I, - he says, - in the car, in the taxi and in the editorial office. To Panfilov and I say:

- Fyodor Ivanovich, someone played a trick on me, there was such a conversation.

He says:

- No, this is not a joke with us. This means that Stalin really called you. And now I will call the Moscow City Council.

I phoned the Moscow City Council, just said "Panfilov", as the chairman immediately shouts: "Where is your Bubennov?" We are looking for him. Keys, an apartment for him, etc."

He says they gave him this apartment. I was in this apartment: there you can ride a bike down the corridor, right opposite the Tretyakov Gallery. And the last thing … By the way, the image: who is so interested in literature now, who reads literature. I work at Izvestia and the first thing I hear is that the editor, Konstantin Aleksandrovich, once came to the editorial office, and the porter said to him: "It's a mistake, comrade editor, unpleasant." And this watchman had a habit of reading the newspaper first, because it was delivered at night, and telling the editor about mistakes. The proofreader did not find, but he did.

- What's the mistake?

- Yes, there they wrote "the order of the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of Stalin" and in the word "commander-in-chief" they released the second letter - "l".

The editor turned black as soon as he reached the office. And the newspaper is already all over the country, the planes have already been transported. I barely got to the office, can you imagine what …

- Sits and waits.

- Yes. And suddenly a call:

- Is this Comrade Gubin?

- Yes, Comrade Gubin, editor of Izvestia.

- It is very good, comrade Gubin, that you are the editor of Izvestia. Why do you make such mistakes? How did it happen that you designating my position, wrote this?

- Well, this, you know, happens in the newspaper …

- Wow, it happens. Not a single bourgeois journalist has characterized me as you do. How did you do it?

The editor is silent, but Stalin says:

- You are probably waiting for a call from Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria? I'll call Lavrenty Pavlovich. I think that he will understand that a person makes mistakes and will not attach much importance to this mistake.

Here's a fact for you too.

- I would like to wish them to fulfill their official duty to the Motherland with dignity, and to those who are in hot spots and in Chechnya - that they return home healthy and unharmed.

Ivan Drozdov's website