STALIN AS ROYALTY. PART II.

…Stalin’s manner of dress paralleled that of Peter the Great. The latter’s well-observed penchant for dressing much simpler, and even poorer, than his courtiers, was of course only to make the point that real power had no need for resorting to outward characteristics. Even though Stalin’s “Soviet court” by definition had none of Peter’s resplendence, Stalin managed to remain conspicuously “humble” even against the backdrop of his lackluster “proletarian” blots.

(According to my father’s reminiscences to Ekaterina Glushik (Conversations About Stalin), Stalin dressed in simple, plain clothes all the time, including special days and holidays. “Soft boots, straight pants, tucked inside the boot tops, buttoned up jacket, or “french.” Everything simple, spacious, comfortable. Beria, for instance, wore [fashionable] square-toe boots, but Stalin’s boots were neither square, nor pointed, only slightly rounded: nothing eye-catching, nothing fashionable, nothing loud…”)

This supremely arrogant exhibition of royal humility (sic!) can be further substantiated by a few entertaining examples.---

Unlike Peter, Stalin saw no need in building a new capital for himself, but the Russian cities renamed after him since 1924 each had a special significance. For instance, the city of Stalino (today’s Donetsk) had been Comrade Artem’s Southern stronghold (as you see, Stalin appropriated his dead rival’s city too). Another city, Stalingrad (formerly, Tsaritsyn), had been the place where, during the Civil War, Stalin had tested his private army in action. Even more significantly, this peculiar royal combination Stalingrad-Tsaritsyn had an exceptionally sweet ring to Stalin’s ear, and, with Comrade Voroshilov happily leading the way, people were subtly encouraged to refer to “Stalin’s City” in this highly unusual, but definitely regal, fashion.

But then it happened in the late 1930’s, in the midst of the Great Terror, that some loyal idiot in the Central Committee of the Communist Party proposed at an official event to rename the Soviet capital Moscow after Comrade Stalin. According to Voroshilov, this suggestion had “emanated” from the infamous NKVD Chief Yezhov, known as the “Bloodthirsty Dwarf.” Yezhov immediately seconded his protégé’s motion, and the fate of poor Moscow seemed to be decided then and there.

At this point, instead of gently accepting the honor with an amused benevolence, Stalin had a fit of terrific rage. Voroshilov later told my father that, in his opinion, Yezhov’s unwelcome initiative had contributed to, if not precipitated, his ensuing crashing downfall. It was, of course, rather more complicated than that, but the story itself is good and quite revealing. Stalin’s logic was, again, impeccable: How dare these brainless idiots so cheapen Comrade Stalin’s accomplishments! Stalin was a legitimate and well-recognized master of Russia, and of her ancient capital. Changing the hallowed name of Moscow into anything else would have created a hideous fake and turned Stalin’s historic rule into a historical aberration… Stalin knew his place very well!