Page 315 - The Chief Culprit

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Stalin’s Panic

It is very fortunate for Russia in her agony to have this great rugged war chief at her head.
He is a man of massive outstanding personality, suited to the sombre and stormy times in
which his life has been cast; a man of inexhaustible courage and will-power and a man di-
rect and even blunt in speech, which, having been brought up in the House of Commons,
I do not mind at all, especially when I have something to say of my own. Above all, he
is a man with that saving sense of humour which is of high importance to all men and
all nations, but particularly to great men and great nations. Stalin also left upon me the
impression of a deep, cool wisdom and a complete absence of illusions of any kind
—W C,    H  C,
S , ­

fter Stalin’s death, Nikita Khrushchev recounted that in 1941, having found out
about the German invasion, Stalin panicked, retreated to his dacha-fortress outside
AMoscow, completely kept out of all affairs, did not receive anybody, did not ask
about developments on the front, and did not answer telephone calls. Stalin was totally apa-
thetic. He isolated himself from all state and party obligations. Stalin was extremely depressed
for over a week, and only on July 1 did the members of the Politburo manage to force him to
return to the reins of power. is story was accepted and repeated in thousands of books and
essays. It served as the main proof of Stalin’s lack of readiness for war.
After 1991, the Soviet archives became more accessible, and researchers saw logbooks
documenting visitors to Stalin’s office from 1927 to 1953. It turned out that Stalin worked ex-
tremely hard in the first days of the war. e entry from June 21, 1941, read: “ e last [visitors]
left at 11 .” is did not at all mean that Stalin’s workday ended. After the last visitors left,
he could have worked on the documents himself, talked on the telephone, worked outside of
the office, in his Kremlin apartment or at his dacha. Stalin began receiving visitors on June 22,
1941, at 5:45 . He worked for eleven hours without breaks. His visitors included Molotov,

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