Batch of crooks and a glutton

Lenin not only took revenge, but also ate “for Sasha”, Kamenev simulated the disease to take additional meals, and Stalin received 20 times more than the average salary of the worker

Lenin not only avenged, but also ate “for Sasha”, Kamenev simulated the disease to take additional meals, and Stalin received 20 times more than the average salary of the worker. The phenomenon of privileges for those in power in the Soviet state of “universal equality” always aroused interest among the public. However, the origins of this phenomenon to this day are not always known and not fully meaningful ...

- The rulers from time immemorial lived much richer than most of their fellow citizens. It is enough to compare the famous pyramids of Ancient Egypt, built to repose the pharaohs with the grounds of the graves of unknown workers of the Nile Valley dug in the sand.

But the Communists led the poor majority of Europe and Russia, promising the complete equality of living conditions of all social groups - “from each according to abilities, everyone according to needs”, the very “freedom, equality and brotherhood” that the French revolution had already promised at the end of the XVIII century, but did not fulfill. The illiterate, poor Russia in 1917 responded with enthusiasm to the call of new champions of equality and brotherhood, destroyed in the civil war the whole way of old life for the life of a new one.

Freedom under the Bolshevik authorities has already been said a lot about the same equality of the Bolsheviks who seized power in Russia, the old communist myths, the famous Moscow historian, professor Alexander Danilov, telling on archival facts.

The phenomenon of privileges for those in power in the Soviet state of “universal equality” always aroused interest among the public. However, the origins of this phenomenon to this day are not always known and not fully meaningful.

The foundations of the future system of benefits and privileges in many respects lay not only in the ideological foundations of the Bolshevik ideas about socialism, but also in the organizational principles of the Bolshevik party. Those discussions about the nature of the party and the principles of its device, which became the main reason for the split in the RSDLP at its ISS, were not accidental. The rejection of the democratic principles of building the party initially led to the formation of a separate caste of party managers endowed not only in large power, but also by the public property that disposed of on behalf of the people.

The new government began to grow with benefits and privileges almost immediately after October. In the conditions of civil war and mass terrifying hunger, the party elite ignored the problems that the whole country lived. Already having the suburban palaces of the “former” as summer cottages, introducing special, “letters” rations for themselves, paying the golden chasing of the best foreign specialist doctors to treat themselves, their relatives and friends, spending considerable funds for meetings abroad with their wives (as it was in the fall of 1918 with Dzerzhinsky), the new government was not forth To speculate about social equality and even pretend to be those communists who also tried to get their part of privileges.

The memoirs of the old party members contain many legends about what deprivations the highest leaders of the country experienced at this time. However, how plausible are these statements? Documents show that this is nothing more than a legend.

During the Civil War, the gap in the material situation of the “upper” and the “lower” of the party was so noticeable that he splashed into a serious criticism of the party leadership. In July 1920, at the Plenum of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), Evgeny Preobrazhensky not only raised the question of growing inequality in the party and society, but also proposed to seriously deal with this in order to prevent the loss of the party in society (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 109, d. 121, p. 38-39). A special commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (B) and the Presidium of the All -Russian Central Executive Committee, headed by a member of the Central Committee Matvey Muranov, was created to check the privileges of people living in the Kremlin.

The commission worked from December 25, 1920 until the spring of 1921 and studied three main issues: food supply, housing conditions, the use of vehicles. The materials of the commission are a unique source for finding out how they lived in the Kremlin at the end of the Civil War.

In total, 1112 people lived in the Kremlin at that time, including the party members of 183 (including 58 responsible workers and 125 workers and employees), who had different opportunities both in housing and food supply.

The commission found out the availability of housing here both by the survey of the residents themselves, and according to the Kremlin commandant. These data did not always agree. For example, in relation to the apartment of V.I. Lenin in the Kremlin (5 rooms) noted that his wife live with him, two (?!) Brother and servant (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 84, 111, p. 31). As you know, by this time Lenin had only Brother Dmitry. But he lived at that time not in Moscow, but in the Crimea, being a member of the Crimean regional committee of the RCP (b). The other, Alexander, was hanged back in the reign of Alexander III. It seems that the only explanation of such a strange statistics is an attempt to prove that in this apartment the leader of the party and the head of government coincided with the number of residents.

On a special scale, the family of the People’s Commissar of Education Lunacharsky lived, occupying 12 rooms for 6 people (along with a servant). Large in the number of rooms, the apartments were endowed with a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee Yuri Steklov (4 people in 5 rooms), a member of the College of People's Commissariats of the People's Commissariat of Hall Yakub Ganetsky (6 people in 5 rooms), the clerk of the Kremlin’s commandant’s office (6 people in 5 rooms), the commander of the 8th Army of the Southern Front Grigory Sokolnikov (5 people in 4 rooms), and the head of the Kremlin’s uniform Kremlin Chumichev (8 people in 5 rooms) ...

It is very significant that to obtain more housing, close and distant relatives were often prescribed. It is also significant that most party leaders and responsible workers had not only nannies for children, but also servants. It also emphasized their special social status, a privileged position. Most of the inhabitants of the Voznesensky Monastery of the Kremlin (212 people) lived in 107 apartments. These were ordinary employees of the apparatus and workers.

Food supply was carried out here in two directions. On the one hand, through the provision of dinners in the “Kremlin” dining room. And on the other hand, through receiving the necessary products through the warehouses of the food department of the All -Russian Central Executive Committee.

It may seem to someone that lunch from the “Kremlin” of the Civil War was a plate of soup and a cutlet with a compote-although such food at that time was an invaluable treasure for tens of millions of Russian people who died on hunger. But meat, game, fish, cereals, pasta and potatoes, butter and vegetable oil, fat, etc. were included in the diet of a conventional Kremlin lunch. For duty officers and persons engaged in overtime (almost all representatives of the leadership were such), also additional butter, meat, cheese, ham, sausage, caviar (only granular black), eggs and sardines (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 111, p. 111, p. 23) were issued.

With the end of the Civil War, the assortment and power opportunities for the party elite have expanded even more. G.S. Kravchenko, the daughter -in -law of the member of the Politburo Lev Kamenev, recalled with nostalgia about the Kremlin dinners: “Five hundred rubles were paid for a month for a person, and I went for dinners. The dinners were for two ... But nine people were full of these dinners ... In the Kremlin, the dinners were always given a half pound of oil and half a kilo of black caviar. Granular. Together with dinner or instead, it was possible to take the so -called “dry rations” - gastronomy, bachelor, alcohol. These are the fish. Wonderful chop. All you want. If you need more products, it was always possible to order ”[1].

Muranova’s commission stated that in February 1921, the family’s dinners regularly received dinners of the family: Krestinsky - 2 lunch, Radek - 3 lunch, Kalinin - 5 lunch, Trotsky - 5, Tomsk - 5, Rykova - 5. Against their ascetics, the families of Alliluyeva (1 lunch) and Lenin (2 lunch) and Lenin (2 lunch). But the families of Lunacharsky, the People's Commissar of Food, Zurup (who fell, according to legend, in hungry fainting), as well as his close employee Alexander Taratuta, who managed the garden department and a farm with the optimistic name “Blessed Childhood”, were received for 7 lunch, because the products from it were intended for children (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 84, op. 84, op. 84, op. D.111, l.

Sick leaders were supplied with increased additional nutrition. This led to the fact that some of them preferred to announce their illness more often than it was justified. Kamenev was especially criticized for this.

Along with these dinners, the party elite received in considerable quantities and products from the warehouses of the All -Russian Central Executive Committee. So, only in November 1920, the family of Lenin was released 24.5 kg of meat, 60 eggs, 7.2 kg of cheese, about 1.5 kg of butter, 2 kg of granular caviar, 4 kg of cucumbers, more than 30 kg of flour and cereals, 5 kg of sugar and 1.2 kg of Montpansier, a kilogram of lard and even 100 cigarettes (RGASPI, F. 17, f. 84, op. 84, op. d. 111, 8 vol.). Alexander Dmitrievich Zyurup, known for the fact that, as the People's Commissar of Food, he introduced in 1918 for the whole of Russia the “food dictatorship”, for which the people paid hundreds of thousands of hungry deaths, only for November 3-4, 1920 received 20 kg of bread, 8 kg of sugar, 1.2 kg of coffee, 3.4 kg of cheese, 22 cans of the Conscients, 22 cans, 22 cans, 22 cans of the preserves 4 kg of apples and others (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 84, 111, p. 13 vol.). It is hardly possible to fall into a hungry fainting after such “support”, rather - from gluttony.

True, not all senior leaders enjoyed their right to unlimited to unlimited themselves and their loved ones. For example, Stalin during the same on November 1920 received 4 kg of flour, 2 kg of meat, 800 g of salt, 2 kg of sugar, 1.6 kg of oil, 1.2 kg of cheese, 1.2 kg of rice and 50 g of pepper (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 111, p. 111, p. 13). In hungry times, a lot, but not fantastically a lot.

The privileged Kremlin residents and their own economy - the state farm "Forest Polyany", which grew out of the personal garden, supplying Lenin’s country house (then became a rest house for responsible workers) in Tarasovka in 1918-1919. It is noteworthy that the estate in which it was located belonged to the landowner Saltykova (Saltychikha). Founder of the economy V.D. Bonch-Bruevich later recalled how he suggested the leader to establish this economy that occupied 500 hectares in the Klyazma floodplain: “Here we will begin to build and start an exemplary farm from the very beginning, where we will apply all our labor laws, best agricultural technology, we will lead tribal cattle breeding, pig farming and generally everything that should be in a correctly organized, exemplary state economy ”[2]. The state farm products were supplied not only by selected representatives of the leadership, but also by the Kremlin hospital and children's institutions. Until the last days of life, Lenin was interested in the state of this economy.

A lot of complaints of the commission also caused non -personal use by party leaders and their families of road transport of the military departure of the Council of People's Commissars. It includes at this time 52 cars and 47 trucks, 9 motorcycles, 1 car dealership, 1 tank and 1 camp workshop (in total 111 cars). Most often the cars of their senior relatives were used by members of the family of Lenin, Trotsky, Kamenev, Zurup ... The palm of the championship also belonged to Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky, who managed to use the machine 38 times in July 1920, to drive 2640 miles for 260 hours 15 minutes. The second in this list was V.I. Lenin, who, together with his sister and wife, called vehicles 50 times, drove almost 2200 versts, staying in the car for almost 200 hours. They followed L.B. Kamenev and V.D. Bonch-Bruevich. G.E. were far behind them in this regard. Zinoviev, N.I. Bukharin and I.V. Stalin, who caused a car at only one time and drove 35-60 versts (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 84, 111, p. 62).

Having received all the information on the materials of the audit, the commission drew up a report in which very tough conclusions were drawn. In particular, it was noted that the existing procedure for providing housing and vehicles, the use of servants, etc. are a violation of communist morality. The uncontrolled issuance of food to responsible employees was regarded as the use of an official position. The commission demanded to change the situation: “The norms of the dining room and especially the Comintern must be reviewed in the direction of their significant reduction, taking into account the general position with food.” It was proposed to eliminate special privileges for sick leaders, which inevitably should lead to the elimination of the contingent of “constantly sick”. Regarding the issuance of products from the warehouses, the commission proposed to establish a certain limit. It was quite serious that the commission’s proposal was to put her report at the X party congress, "in order to eliminate all sorts of cranks."

All this shows that the negative sentiments of party “lower classes” regarding the benefits and privileges of the parliamentary pairs were quite strong, and it was impossible to ignore them.

The Council of People's Commissars adopted on January 4, 1921 the decision “On the abolition of privileged rations for certain categories of Soviet servants and on the withdrawal of all of the military personnel of institutions, departments and establishments of a military department from the front and rear of the Red Army soldiers, not located on the fronts”, and on February 8, a new decree “On the reduction of the leather on the reduction of the recovery” privileged food rations ”, in which the food supply rate was established by“ especially responsible and irreplaceable employees of central institutions ”.

The report of the commission was sent to the leadership of the Central Committee of the RCP (B) and the Presidium of the All -Russian Central Executive Committee, that is, thereby residents of Kremlin apartments and visitors to warehouses and “Kremlenka”. Naturally, no one allowed a report of the commission at the X Congress. And not surprisingly - it was at this time that the intra -party controversy in relation to the fight against the privileges of the party, the Party -Claim resulted in open accusations of the “working opposition” of the party’s highest echelons of rebirth, separation from the proletariat and party lower classes.

The massive performances of the working enterprises of Petrograd in January-March 1921, and especially the Kronstadt uprising were an even more alarming symptom for the authorities. But the system of party-state nomenclature benefits and privileges was by no means canceled, despite the indignation of the reign of the Bolsheviks in society. On the contrary, she quickly acquired orderliness and harmony.

The XIIPARISE conference of the RCP (b), which in August 1922 considered two homogeneous, but, as it turned out, completely independent issues: “On improving the financial situation of the RCP (b) and“ On the material situation of active part -time workers ”, was crucial. We pay attention to the very formulation of these documents. “On the improvement of the financial situation” refers to ordinary party members, and with respect to the party apparatus the name is stated, static. But the content of these documents is just the opposite. The first states that the party “cannot and is unable to take on the functions of providing ordinary communists” [3].

Otherwise, the situation was with “active party workers”, the financial situation of which was evaluated as “extremely unsatisfactory”. It was instructed to “immediately take measures” to increase salaries, as well as ensuring “in housing ... in relation to medical care”, “in relation to the upbringing and education of children”. In the implementation of this resolution in July 1923, the Politburo of the Central Committee decided to “facilitate the conditions for the receipt of responsible workers into universities” [4]. A kind of “ranges' table” was approved, according to which the salary for the existing tariff grid was supposed to increase. Members of the Central Committee of the RCP (b), members of the Central Code, the heads of the Department of the Central Committee, members of the Organizing Bureau, secretaries of the regional committees and provincials were attributed to the highest, 17th category; By the 16th category-deputy. Head. Departments of the Central Committee, responsible instructors, members of the provincial control commissions, etc. The highest leaders of the country (members and candidates for members of the Politburo, secretaries of the Central Committee) were outside the "tables of ranks" and were in full state support. The Komsomol employees were not forgotten in the resolution, who were supposed to pay two categories less than the appropriate qualifications to party workers.

It is characteristic that in September 1924, Stalin complains to Molotov (and sends copies of V.V. Kuibyshev and A.S. Enukidze) that on vacation to him, as well as Dzerzhinsky, Avanesov and Lashevich, was issued one amount “only” 5000 rubles. At the same time, Zinoviev was paid 2500 rubles, and he received “through other channels” another 10,000 rubles, as well as Trotsky. All these amounts passed as secret. In this regard, Stalin proposed streamlining the issuance of vacation funds, make it unexpected and strictly individual. And he asked to allocate 400-500 rubles to him on a trip to Crimea. (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 1, d. 766, p. 18-19). Note that we are talking about the gold rubles of the NEP era. Ten such rubles were the famous gold chervonets, which exchanged freely with $ 4.8. Месячная зарплата рабочего в среднем составляла 20-30 таких рублей и редко достигала 45-50.

В 1932 году был отменен и введенный при Ленине партмаксимум. Для отставных и пенсионеров сохранялось льготное продовольственное, санаторно-лечебное и иное обслуживание. Все это делало партаппарат, по сути, новым сословием.

Сами представители нового державного класса считали такое положение дел вполне нормальным. Племянник Сталина В.С. Аллилуев в этой связи отмечал: «Я бы не рискнул это назвать привилегиями. Это была дань уважения ветеранам, которые отдали делу революции и строительству нового общества все свои лучшие годы, силы, здоровье, умения»[5]. Автор, видимо, забыл, что свои лучшие годы, силы, свое здоровье, умения отдали в то время стране и десятки миллионов простых людей, живших совсем в иных, и близко несопоставимых с партэлитой условиях. И уж поистине оторванными от реальной жизни звучат его утверждения о том, что в обществе сталинского «изобилия» продукты были вполне доступны всем: «Те, кому сегодня 40 и меньше, вообще, наверное, не представляют, какими были наши магазины в предвоенные и послевоенные годы… Десятки сортов колбас, сыров, ветчина, окорок, буженина, карбонат, икра черная зернистая, икра черная паюсная, икра красная, всевозможная рыба — от осетрины, севрюги до роскошной воблы… крабы, которых никто не брал, любые свежие продукты — весь этот набор был характерен для любого города, не только для столицы. И цены на эти продукты после трехкратного их снижения были вполне приемлемы». О том, почему «никто не брал» этих продуктов, автор, пользовавшийся всеми благами спецжизни, видимо, и не догадывался. А причина была проста — глубочайшая нищета подавляющего большинства граждан Страны Советов.

Становление системы льгот и привилегий в СССР происходило в то время, когда в руководстве страны шла ожесточенная борьба за власть. Привилегии и льготы в этих условиях становились своего рода платой за лояльность Вождю. Вожди приходили и уходили, но они платили за лояльность себе и режиму по той же системе, какую создал Ленин и довел до совершенства Сталин в первые послереволюционные годы. Система эта в почти неизменном виде просуществовала вплоть до крушения КПСС и СССР в 1991 году.

Александр Анатольевич Данилов родился в 1954 г. Доктор исторических наук, профессор, заслуженный деятель науки РФ, зав. кафедрой истории Московского педагогического государственного университета (МПГУ). Автор книг: «Рождение сверхдержавы: СССР в первые послевоенные годы», «Становление и крушение однопартийной системы в СССР», «Историография сталинизма», «Власть и оппозиция», многочисленных и хорошо известных учебников по истории России для средней и высшей школы, изданных в России, США, Китае, Японии, Литве.

[1] Васильева Л. Кремлевские жены: Факты, воспоминания, документы, слухи, легенды и взгляд автора. М., 1992. С. 167.

[2] Бонч-Бруевич В.Д. Воспоминания о Ленине. М., 1969. С. 400.

[3] См.: КПСС в резолюциях и решениях съездов, конференций и пленумов ЦК. 8-е изд. М., 1970. Т. 2. С. 397-398.

[4] Известия ЦК КПСС. 1991. №4. С. 203.

[5] Аллилуев В.Ф. Хроника одной семьи: Аллилуевы–Сталин. —М.: Молодая гвардия, 1995. С. 109.