Page 243 - The Chief Culprit

204 y e Chief Culprit

his back in June? In a defensive war, Stalin used his well-tested method of ruling the coun-
try: he took all important decisions, but the responsibility for them was borne by Molotov,
Malenkov, Timoshenko, and Zhukov. Only a month later did the members of the Politburo
force Stalin to take the official post of People’s Commissar for Defense, and on August 8
the post of Supreme Commander in Chief. Would Stalin, “foreseeing a defensive war,” have
taken a high leadership position, just to shun all responsibility as soon as such a war started?
We are left with the third explanation: Stalin had crushed Europe using Hitler’s hands,
and was preparing a sudden attack against Germany. Stalin planned to personally lead the
“liberation” as the head of the government of the USSR.
e Communist Party prepared the Soviet people and army for the fact that the com-
mand to begin a “war of liberation” in Europe would be given personally by Stalin. Pravda
wrote on August 18, 1940: “And when the Marshal of the Revolution comrade Stalin gives
the signal, hundreds of thousands of pilots, navigators, [and] paratroopers will descend upon
the enemy’s head with all the might of their arms, the arms of socialist justice. e Soviet
air force will bring happiness to mankind!” Similar statements filled the pages of Krasnaya
Zvezda and all other Soviet newspapers and magazines.
Upon entering into office, every head of state declares his agenda. Stalin did so as
well. Only Stalin gave his speech, which could be counted as an agenda, in the tight inner
circle of the highest Red Army commanders, behind closed doors. On May 5, 1941, the day
after his appointment as head of state, Stalin spoke in the Kremlin at a reception in honor
of graduates from the military academies. e audience in the convention hall of the Great
Kremlyovski Palace, where he gave the speech, consisted of graduates, professors, and teach-
ers from sixteen academies of the Red Army and nine faculties of civilian universities, as well
as representatives of the Red Army and the Fleet High Command (including the People’s
Commissars in both organizations and the Chief of General Staff). Stalin arrived, followed
by members, actual and potential, of the Politburo (except for N. S. Khrushchev, who was
holding a Central Committee plenary meeting in Kiev). e audience numbered two thou-
sand people. Stalin spoke for forty minutes. Considering Stalin’s capability for silence, forty
minutes was an extraordinarily long time.
Stalin did not speak before graduates of military academies every year. ere were only
two such occasions. e first time had been in 1935. e Great Purge was secretly being
planned when Stalin told the graduates of military academies that “cadres determine every-
thing.” e meaning of Stalin’s words was simple: for great feats, the country needed good
teams; good commanders would solve all problems, but without them, everything would
be lost. It is doubtful that anyone at the time understood the meaning of Stalin’s words.
But Stalin had in mind nothing less than the complete extermination of almost all of the
Communist hierarchy—state, party, military, technical, scientific, cultural, and all others.
Stalin planned almost a complete transformation of the leading layer of the country. Almost
everyone who listened to Stalin’s speech in 1935 in two years landed in torture chambers and
execution cellars.
In May 1941, Stalin for the second time spoke before graduates of military academies.
Now, a more serious and dark deed was being planned, because this time Stalin’s speech was
given in secrecy. Stalin spoke about the situation in Europe, the war, and Germany. In his
usual manner, Stalin posed questions and then answered them. Was it true that the German