Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar

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Illustrations

1929–1934

Stalin kisses his daughter Svetlana on holiday, early 1930s. He adored her: her freckles and red hair resembled those of his mother Keke, but her intelligence and obstinacy came from Stalin himself. He called her “the Boss” and let her give mock orders to his henchmen. He was affectionate… until she started to grow up.

Nadya was much less affectionate, more strict and puritanical with the children: when she gave birth to their first son, she walked to hospital. She had a special relationship with the fragile and truculent Vasily—but she was primarily a Bolshevik career woman who left the upbringing of her children to nannies. Here she holds Svetlana, who longed for her love.

Stalin and his driver in the front seat with Nadya in the back of one of the Kremlin limousines: these were usually Packards, Buicks and Rolls-Royces. Nadya and Stalin lived ascetically, but he personally took great trouble to assign cars and apartments to his henchmen—and even sometimes to their children. Each family received about three cars.

Stalin and Nadya enjoyed cosy, loving holidays on the Black Sea, though both had fiery tempers and there were often rows. The rulers of Soviet Russia were a tiny oligarchy who tended to holiday and dine together constantly: here are the Stalins (on the right) with the plodding Molotov and his clever, passionate Jewish wife, Polina. Stalin and Nadya laughed at Molotov. But the dictator never forgave Polina’s friendship with Nadya.

At Zubalovo, their country house near Moscow, the Stalins and the other top families enjoyed idyllic weekends. Here Stalin comes in from the garden, carrying Svetlana.

Stalin built his power slowly, informally and charmingly—despite the rigid facade of Party Congress, Central Committee and Politburo. The real business took place behind the scenes in the Kremlin’s smoky corridors. Here in 1927, Stalin chats at a Party Congress with allies Sergo Ordzhonikidze and (right) Premier Alexei Rykov. But Rykov soon opposed Stalin’s harsh policies—and paid the supreme penalty.

Stalin had been the dominant Soviet leader since the mid-twenties—but he was not yet dictator. Many of his magnates were powerful in their own right. Here at a Party Congress, Stalin holds court among his grandees: Sergo Ordzhonikidze (front left) and Klim Voroshilov turn to face him; Kirov (standing, to right of Stalin) laughs, while Kaganovich and Mikoyan (far right) and Postyshev (second from left) listen.

After her tragic death, Nadya lay in state. Stalin never recovered from her suicide and avenged himself on those who he believed had encouraged her. “She crippled me,” he said. He sobbed when he saw her in her coffin. “Don’t cry, Papa,” said Vasily, who was holding his hand.

Nadya’s funeral: Stalin walked for a while behind the surprisingly traditional coffin, but then he drove on to the cemetery. His chief of personal security Pauker, a Jewish former hairdresser from the Budapest Opera, arranged the orchestra that can be seen on the right.

Stalin leaving the Kremlin’s Great Palace with two of his closest allies: Sergo Ordzhonikidze, the flamboyant, irascible and emotional scourge of his enemies, who was said to be “the perfect Bolshevik,” and to resemble a “Georgian prince,” stands in the middle. Mikhail “Papa” Kalinin (with walking stick), the Soviet Head of State, was a genial, womanising ex-peasant. Kalinin opposed Stalin—he was lucky to survive. Sergo confronted Stalin and found himself cornered.

Lazar Kaganovich, a brawny and handsome Jewish cobbler, was Stalin’s coarse, energetic, cruel and intelligent deputy in the 1930s. Here during the famine that accompanied collectivisation, he personally leads an expedition into the Siberian countryside to search for grain hidden by peasants. The pace of Stalin’s campaigns was punishing: Kaganovich (below, in middle) falls asleep afterwards surrounded by his