Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin daughter Lydia. Sexual secrets of the Kremlin

The people called him the All-Union Headman. Stalin said: “All-Union goat.” And he added: “lustful.” Mikhail Ivanovich KALININ loved to communicate with milkmaids and weavers, wives of people's commissars and ballerinas. After his death, those to whom his memory was especially dear could visit the memorial office on Mokhovaya Street at any time. But the Soviet Union collapsed and the museum was closed. And after 15 years, the furnishings of his office were finally taken out of storage and placed in a branch of the Museum modern history Russia on Delegatskaya street. However, this small exhibition is silent about the most interesting facts of the biography of the former Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee.
Maria SVETLOVA

Our new exhibition is dedicated to the interiors of the 20th century, - presents the opened exhibition Lyudmila Kovaleva, head of the branch of the Museum of Contemporary History of Russia on Delegatskaya Street - we recreated the Kalinin Reception Room as an example of decoration bureaucratic office those years. And they chose it mainly because of the magnificent furniture set in the Art Nouveau style of the beginning of the century.
The office of the All-Union headman is nicely furnished for life. It is clear that his owner loved simple earthly joys: drinking tea with sugar, sitting at a comfortable table and lying on a sofa made of good leather.

Fouette on the table

In the center of the office, as expected, is a huge table. The guide said that, sitting behind him, Kalinin signed decrees, including those on mass repressions. But she kept silent about the legends that surround this outstanding piece of furniture.

As soon as Mikhail Ivanovich took office as Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in 1922, he was assigned to oversee the work of the Bolshoi Theater. The all-Union headman shared the responsible party assignment with Avel Enukidze, Secretary of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. And immediately favors showered on the Bolshoi. Previously, the authorities exploited the theater for any reason: they were obliged to provide premises for all kinds of events, ballerinas were forced to dance for free at concerts. Kalinin and Enukidze immediately freed the temple of art from “corvee labor.” They ordered the artists to increase their salaries twice a year, assigned them to the Kremlin’s medical and sanatorium management, and included the “ballet” housing cooperative in the construction plan out of turn.
Favors were not explained at all passionate love two high-ranking Soviet officials to art - they did not distinguish pas de deux from fouetté. Both Kalinin and Enukidze liked to have fun in the company of pretty ballerinas. And since both were public and busy people, they invited dancers directly to the office. The ballerinas took off their tutus and performed fouettés naked, so much so that under the influence great power art Kalinin grunted and groaned, and the well-made legs of the table only creaked quietly.

The All-Union elder presented the beauties with imported lingerie, cosmetics and trinkets. He especially liked the youngest dancers. Not all the girls understood what a great honor they were receiving. 16 year old Bella Uvarova conquered Mikhail Ivanovich with her beauty, but did not reciprocate the high patron. This is what brought upon herself the wrath of the sensualist. After another call to the Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the girl disappeared. And soon her disfigured body was found in a forest near Moscow. Stalin ordered the creation of a special commission to investigate the incident. Kalinin was urgently sent on leave to “get medical treatment.” And then another “spy” process began in Moscow, where the names of the parents of the missing artist appeared. They were repressed, and Kalinin returned to his duties and continued his patronage of the Bolshoi Theater.
Ballerina mentor Ekaterina Geltser Once, having learned that Michal Vanych had dishonored her young student, she threw a statuette of Mephistopheles at the old libertine. It's a pity, but this figurine is not among the museum exhibits.

The wife was responsible for the violence

Unfortunately, the exhibition does not include another memorable exhibit, which testifies to the versatility of the interests of the all-Union headman.

After all, we must give Mikhail Ivanovich his due: he loved not only ballet. The chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee paid no less attention to operetta. Historians could confirm this fact in printed words, taken from the collections of the Library named after. V.I. Lenin issue of the newspaper “Izvestia” for 1924 with a feuilleton Demyan Bedny“About how our elder Kalinich recaptured Tatyana Bakh from Averbakh.” For half a page, the poet painted in vivid colors the incriminating evidence against Kalinin provided to him by the NKVD, skillfully bringing down his anger at “certain old men, those in power, who are getting mixed up with young actresses from the operetta.” Mikhail Ivanovich, who at that time had an affair with a young singer Tatiana Bakh, however, did not calm down and did not stop seducing the girls. He just stopped making friends with Stalin’s opponents in the party. The leader appreciated the faithful elder for his understanding and thanked him, turning a blind eye to his fornication.
But Kalinin’s wife did not want to tolerate her husband’s adventures. In 1924, after 18 years life together, Ekaterina Ivanovna left for Altai, leaving her unfaithful husband and five children in Moscow. She was tired of living under the same roof with her husband's mistress - the housekeeper Alexandra Gorchakova.

Beautiful, educated, from a noble family, Gorchakova initially took care of the Kalinin children and ran the household, and then extended her influence to Mikhail Ivanovich.
However, the 50-year-old headman was gradually slowing down. Affected nervous work- more and more often girls left him unsatisfied. But the All-Union headman was not used to giving in to difficulties. He looked for unconventional ways to restore his former strength. Helped him in noble cause friend is an artist Meshkov, whose workshop was located not far from the reception room of the Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Kalinin often, tired of receiving walkers, ran to a painter friend for a glass of liqueur. Meshkov advised Michal Vanych old folk way for impotence - bee stings to improve blood flow to the penis. At the artist’s dacha, the all-Union elder sat down naked on a bee hive and endured the bites of angry insects for the sake of love. However, the method had no effect. Rumor about the sexual weakness of the All-Union elder in a mean way spread across Moscow. The girls began to avoid meeting with Mikhail Ivanovich. In 1938, the aging head of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee took a 17-year-old young lady to her dacha and tried to rape her. Unfortunately, it turned out that the victim turned out to be a relative of the military leader Alexandra Egorova. Kalinin tried to settle the trouble by paying the victim a large amount. But Stalin really didn’t like this next big story. Rumor has it that, enraged, the leader ordered the arrest of Kalinin’s wife, allegedly because she could not keep her husband by her side. Ekaterina Ivanovna spent seven years in the camps. She was released in 1945. She did not forgive the offense and did not return to her husband. And a year later Mikhail Ivanovich passed away.

QUOTE
“After another call to the Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, the girl disappeared. And soon her mutilated body was found in a forest near Moscow.”

P.S.
After the death of the All-Union mayor, the city of Tver was renamed Kalinin, the former Koenigsberg was named after him, and until recently the city of Korolev near Moscow was Kaliningrad. In Moscow, his name was given to an avenue (now Novy Arbat) and a metro station (now Alexandrovsky Garden). None of the figures Soviet era never received such honors large sizes. Strange coincidence, but after the breakup Soviet Union and ten years of oblivion, they remembered him, and not his party comrades, and it was his office that was recreated, and not Kirov or Molotov. Perhaps this happened because Kalinin, like no one else, sincerely loved the people, a good half of which were women.

BY THE WAY
Galina Danelia, wife famous director Georgiy Danelia, in her youth was friends with the grandson of Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin - also Mikhail. According to her, he was smart person with phenomenal thinking, knew perfectly Japanese. Galina lived with him in a 5-room apartment on the street. Alexei Tolstoy. The girl tried to seduce Mikhail. But, ironically, the descendant of a loving admirer of women adhered to an unconventional sexual orientation. One day Galina caught him with painted lips in a lady's dress. A later Mikhail he reproached that by living with him, Galina was preventing him from inviting his friend Stasik over for intimate meetings.

Once, when I was at the dacha in Kuntsevo, Stalin received a call from the checkpoint.

Who has arrived?... Kalinin... let me in.

Should I leave? - I asked.

Stay, Verochka. The “butt-fool” arrived, entangled in dirty affairs due to the fact that he could not miss a single skirt. If you are interested, then I will tell you in more detail the ins and outs of this “celestial”;

Kalinin entered, greeting Stalin like a soldier. It was noticeable that he could not see well.

Sit down, Mikhail Ivanovich. What's new? What's the urgency?

Sorry, Joseph Vissarionovich, but I don’t know this beautiful lady...

Do you have sclerosis, Mikhail Ivanovich? You don't recognize the pride of the Bolshoi Theater?

How can you... - Kalinin kissed my hand. - I'm happy to meet you! Please contact me, here is my phone number, I am always at your disposal.

Stalin said reproachfully:

Either he doesn’t find out, or he immediately invites you to visit!

Joseph Vissarionovich, - the old man changed the topic

pretender, - today the radio broadcast three times the resolution of the Central Committee on strengthening the fight against child crime.

In a week, give me the exact numbers arrested - 11>1 x adult relatives of criminals. They need to be imprisoned for a long time so that they learn to work. A child is not born a criminal - his parents are responsible for his crimes. Mobilize the press, radio, cinema. Re-education is the task of our party.

Kalinin left, and Stalin called the waitress:

Prepare fried trout with potatoes.

It will be served in ten minutes.

While we were waiting, Stalin said the following.

One day a woman came from another city with a request to Kalinin. Seeing her daughter in the corridor, Kalinin fulfilled this request and invited them to stay in Moscow at the Metropol Hotel. One day, under the pretext of a tour of Moscow, he took his daughter to his dacha and raped her. The mother turned out to be a close relative of the major military leader Yegorov. To hush up the scandal, Kalinin gave this woman a large sum of money. But we taught him a lesson: thirty of his relatives were exiled to Verkhoyansk. Now he is meek as a lamb. This is how the disciples and associates of the great Lenin work!

Comrade Stalin, thank you for your trust...

If I didn't trust you, I wouldn't tell this story.

Later I learned about another tragedy, the culprit of which was Kalinin.

He really liked ballerinas and often went to the theater. It must be said that the young ballerinas, knowing his power, recklessly flirted with him. Mikhail Ivanovich gave them chocolate, imported linen, and invited them to dinner. In anticipation of gifts, they did not refuse him small liberties and kisses on the neck.

One day, Kalinin became seriously interested in sixteen-year-old ballerina Bella Uvarova. The director of the ballet school did everything to protect the girl, but Kalinin followed her everywhere.

Bella's father was an engineer, worked in the People's Commissariat, her mother was a translator and knew several European languages. Bella has been dancing since she was four years old. Then she began to study choreography and staged ballet sketches herself. One day, without telling her parents, she called alone famous ballerina and asked to look at it. The ballerina really liked Bella and she helped her enter the choreographic school. The Bolshoi Theater pinned its hopes on Uvarova.

Bella Uvarova disappeared two weeks after meeting Kalinin. Only a month later, Bella’s mutilated corpse was found in a forest near Moscow. The girl was buried on Vagankovskoe cemetery. An investigation began, which established that after the performance, on the day of her disappearance, some unknown people forcibly put Bella into a car and drove away. The family saw Bella at Kalinin’s dacha, judging by the photograph of the girl they identified...

The management of the Bolshoi Theater turned to Comrade Stalin for help. It was absolutely by chance that the complaint fell directly into his hands. A commission was created consisting of Malenkov, Yezhov, Poskrebyshev, Mehlis. Kalinin was pretty battered, but Stalin needed him, and these saints saved the old rapist: they sent him on a long vacation “for treatment.”

Passionate orgies, debauchery and debauchery, seduction of minors and abuse of subordinates... Long years we were told that in Soviet Russia there was no sex, hiding documents about the sexual revolution that the Bolsheviks staged in 1917 under the “top secret” headings.

ACCORDING TO ILYICH'S TEACHMENTS

The Bolsheviks, who seized power, declared a “revolt of sensuality.” Simply put, all moral norms and restrictions were abolished. Leon Trotsky wrote to Vladimir Lenin: “The family, as a bourgeois institution, has completely outlived its usefulness!” Lenin answered him: “...And not only family. All prohibitions regarding sexuality must be lifted... Even the ban on same-sex love.”

Since Ilyich himself gave the go-ahead, why not have some fun? The ruling elite reveled in permissiveness for many years. There was a feeling of intoxicating freedom: do what you want, and nothing will happen to you for it. All women, without exception, became available to the leader's associates: some went to bed for ideological reasons, others were easy to bribe, others were driven by fear for their lives - theirs and those of their loved ones. The time of executions without trial or investigation. And sexual promiscuity...

PEDOPHILE WITH UNLIMITED POWER

The fashion for sexual entertainment originated in the highest echelons Soviet power in the early 1920s and until 1937 it was on the rise. They played tricks to the extent of their depravity.

One of the worst debauchees of that time, as contemporaries claim, was the secretary of the USSR Central Executive Committee, Avel Enukidze. The chief economic officer of the Kremlin was in charge of not only the distribution of food and housing among the top leadership, he, according to the recollections of many, also ensured the satisfaction of their sexual whims. For example, he organized orgies for his comrades, supplying young women to Kremlin banquets, like batches of fresh fish and caviar. He himself loved to relax... in the company of little girls.

Even his contemporaries understood that his unbridledness bordered on pathology. A relative of Stalin’s first wife, Maria Svanidze, wrote in her diary: “Abel had a tremendous influence on our life for 17 years after the revolution. Being himself depraved and voluptuous, he stinked everything around him - he took pleasure in pimping, family discord, and seducing girls. Having in his hands all the blessings of life, unattainable for everyone, especially in the first years after the revolution, he used it all for personal dirty purposes, buying women and girls. It's sickening to talk and write about this. Being erotically abnormal and, obviously, not a 100% man, every year he moved on to younger and younger ones and finally reached girls 9-11 years old, corrupting their imagination, corrupting them, if not physically, then morally...”

In 1935, Yenukidze was suddenly accused of immoral behavior and expelled from the party “for political and everyday corruption.” And in 1937 he was shot. Historian Boris Ilizarov is sure that Stalin’s close friend “supplied girls not only” to the right people”and to his comrades, but also to the friend of his youth. It turns out that the leader removed the most important witness and protected himself from revelations on his part.

DEMONS IN THE RIB

“All-Union lustful goat” - this is what Mikhail Kalinin was called in a narrow circle of those close to him. Handsome, with a beard and glasses, grandfather Kalinin looked much older than his years - in 1917 he was only 40, but he looked like a very old man. He became famous for his irrepressible love for the theater. Or rather, to young actresses.

From the outside it looked very touching when Mikhail Ivanovich after the performance in Bolshoi Theater he went behind the scenes and warmly, in a simply fatherly way, asked the young ballerinas about life. Affectionately stroking the girls, most of whom were barely 16-17 years old, on their bare arms, or even kissing their bare shoulders, the head of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee invited them to visit him - to the government dacha or directly to his office. The table with green cloth, at which the All-Union headman received visitors during the day, in the evening turned into a stage on which ballerinas in their mother’s clothes danced for a single spectator...

For the satisfaction of his lust, Kalinin paid with the patronage of the entire theater: the troupe’s salary was increased annually, the dancers were given rations and were allowed to relax in Kremlin sanatoriums. Most of the artists did not complain about their fate: if they pleased Kalinin, they could even get housing in the capital.

But not everyone was pliable dolls in the hands of the “affectionate grandfather.” One of the young ballerinas, Bella Uvarova, flatly refused to indulge the “benefactor.” She was brought to him more than once for a “conversation,” but the girl was unapproachable. After one such meeting, she simply did not return home. Soon she was found in a forest near Moscow. The unfortunate parents could not even immediately identify their girl - her body was so disfigured. A scandal broke out and Kalinin immediately went on sick leave. Stalin himself intervened in the investigation. And then, by a strange coincidence of circumstances, it suddenly “turned out” that Bella’s mother and father were foreign spies. They were quickly shot and the case was closed. After this incident, the girls no longer objected when Kalinin called them to him.

Over the years " lustful headman“I was getting weaker, but I wasn’t going to quit the race. They say that at the dacha he took off his pants and sat on an open beehive, believing that bee stings would increase his potency. The peak of the aging Mikhail Ivanovich’s depraved behavior was the rape of an underage relative of Marshal Egorov, for which Kalinin’s wife was immediately arrested. Ekaterina Ivanovna was accused of not being able to restrain her husband and he was mired in debauchery. And they sent me to camps for 15 years...

FROM CLOTHES - ONLY SHOES

For a long time it was believed that the prototype of Satan’s ball in Bulgakov’s novel “The Master and Margarita” was the pompous receptions at the American embassy. However, the French historian Rene Bouvet, having rummaged through the archives, found out that Mikhail Bulgakov described receptions in the mansion of the People's Commissar of Education Anatoly Lunacharsky, which he himself attended several times. For the first time, what he saw plunged the writer into deep shock. The men, dressed in tailcoats, walked decorously small talk with the ladies, who had only... shoes and feathers in their hair. At the same time, the beauties were not at all embarrassed by their nudity and flirted with might and main with their gentlemen. Witches, and nothing more!

These receptions ended, as you might guess, with noisy orgies in which the Leninist elite had a blast. Lunacharsky, educated person, comes from noble family, loved to invite ballerinas from the Bolshoi Theater to such spree parties, which he personally supervised.

When the People's Commissar appeared in the box, the corps de ballet became excited: every artist dreamed of attracting Lunacharsky's attention. After all, his favor promised many benefits: gifts and trips, perfumes, stockings and silk foreign underwear, and generally a heavenly life. For example, one of his mistresses, Inna Chernetskaya, gained the opportunity to stage ballets as a director, and even received government funding for her private school dancing. The People's Commissar had many passions: at one time he simultaneously had fun with two actresses at once - Rukavishnikova and Ruts. In general, no one probably knew the exact number of women “supervised” by him.

Meanwhile, Anatoly Vasilyevich was married. He adored his second wife, a mediocre artist, but, as they say, a very skillful lady in bed, Natalya Sats-Rosenel, to the point of hysterics. He got her control of the Alexander Palace, the former residence of Nicholas II. On the mezzanine floor, the People's Commissar's wife set up her chambers; on Lunacharsky's orders, all the palace furniture, the library and the wardrobe of the members were taken there royal family. He was ready to do anything for his wife. Which, however, did not stop him from making her own niece his mistress as well...

Lunacharsky was not alone in his love “for art.” Actresses were adored by Semyon Budyonny, Klim Voroshilov, who, by the way, was the patron of the opera, Mikhail Tukhachevsky, Deputy People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs Lev Karakhan, and many other party officials vested with power.

SEX IS LIKE A GLASS OF WATER

Not only Bolshevik men went to great lengths - women also stood up for free love without borders. A society agitated by the decline of morals needed a female standard - a beautiful, liberated and sexually free revolutionary. The “First Lady” of the country, Nadezhda Krupskaya, was in no way suitable for this role. But Alexandra Kollontai - People's Commissar of Charity in the Soviet government - quite. Whatever they called her in Russia of those years: both “sexual revolutionary” and “eros in uniform”...

Kollontai really liked the theory about sex and a glass of water, which was fashionable at that time among Komsomol members. If you want to drink, have a drink, if you want sex, have it. No love is needed for this, all these are bourgeois prejudices. Alexandra Mikhailovna, having married her second cousin, had rather disorderly intimate relationships with party comrades and just random partners.

Kollontai turned 45 when she fell head over heels in love with the handsome young Minister of Naval Affairs Pavel Dybenko. He completely shared the theory of his bed partner, and was not averse to hitting on other beautiful representatives of the revolutionary youth. And then, as they say, the scythe found a stone, because the owner suddenly jumped into Kolontai. She did not want to give “into the wrong hands” the young, tall, handsome man. But still she lost him, terribly experiencing this tragedy all her life and trying to console herself in the arms of younger and younger lovers.

In short, the glass of water theory played a cruel joke on her...

The second wife of the hero of the revolution, Semyon Budyonny (his first wife, a simple Cossack woman, shot herself) was Olga Stefanovna Mikhailova, soon to be an opera prima of the Bolshoi Theater. They lived together for almost 14 years.
In 1937, in the winter, Stalin called Budyonny and said that Budyonny’s wife was not behaving well and that the People’s Commissar of the NKVD Yezhov would tell him more about everything. According to Yezhov, it turned out that Olga visited foreign embassies too often, and in addition, she was the mistress of the Bolshoi artist Alekseev Theater. In August 1937 she was arrested. The interrogations quickly broke her, and she wrote to Yezhov that “Budyony conducted secret criminal activities against Stalin and Voroshilov.” However, for some reason Stalin does not give way to this “recognition” - Budyonny remains free, and Olga Mikhailova is sentenced to eight years in the camps. In 1945, she would receive another three years of imprisonment, after which she would be sent into exile in Krasnoyarsk region, where she will work as a caretaker-cleaner. She will return to Moscow in 1956...

"Is it true", January 22, 1939, No. 22
"January 21, 1939 at the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of the USSR. In the presidium of the mourning meeting dedicated to the 15th anniversary of the death of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (from left to right) - comrades Beria, Yezhov, Mikoyan, Kaganovich, Shcherbakov, Andreev, Dimitrov, Kalinin, Shkiryatov, Malenkov, Molotov, Budyonny, Mehlis, Zhdanov, Badaev, Stalin, Voroshilov. (Photo by M. Kalashnikov)."

***
Budyonny wasn’t the only one who had a weakness for dancers. There were legends about high-ranking lovers of ballerinas. They said that the handsome Enukidze had two or three ballerinas as his mistresses at a time, which aroused undisguised envy among his party comrades (he would be shot in 1937).
Stalin also loved ballerinas. Rumor attributed to him love affairs with Bolshoi Theater dancers Olga Lepeshinskaya, whom Galina Ulanova called “a fiery Muscovite,” and Marina Semenova, a ballerina who “alwaysremains a queen,” as her student Nikolai Tsiskaridze said about her. Perhaps it is no coincidence that it was the image of Semyonova that inspired Vera Mukhina to create another masterpiece - and it turned out, I must say, with a very sexy back.


Vera Mukhina. "Ballerina Marina Semenova." 1941

The artist A. Gerasimov, known for his no less inspired images of Stalin and other Soviet leaders, was very inspired to embody the image of Olga Lepeshinskaya.


A. Gerasimov. "O. Lepeshinskaya."

From the memoirs of Maya Plisetskaya about Olga Lepeshinskaya:
“She was a noisy social activist, an energetic, tireless member of the party, who was a member of all bureaus, committees, and presidiums. Olga Vasilyevna did not miss a single opportunity so as not to climb up to the podium and loudly express for the thousandth time her affiliation with the Bolshevik pariah and teach wisdom to everyone and everything “in the light of the latest party decisions.” And she was also the general’s wife.” (from the book “I, Maya Plisetskaya...”).

Newspaper "Volga Commune", 01/30/1946
“The Kuibyshev audience warmly and enthusiastically greeted the performance in the concert of the outstanding ballerina Olga Lepeshinskaya.
The first meeting of the Kuibyshevites with Olga Vasilyevna Lepeshinskaya took place during the difficult years of the war, when she came to our city together with the Bolshoi Theater staff. Charming, full of sparkling enthusiasm and cheerfulness, simple and understandable, Lepeshinskaya, with the brilliance of her talent, gave the audience an incomparable aesthetic enjoyment. New meeting with Olga Vasilyevna, with her tall, complex art- a holiday for the city."

***
But most of all, M. Kalinin became famous for his endless connections with the ballerinas of the Bolshoi Theater. They even deliberately slipped them on him in order to have dirt on him.

Sverdlov Square, Bolshoi Theater. Circa 1939, although the postcard is from 1946.

There is a story that one day a 16-year-old Bolshoi Theater ballerina, Bella Uvarova, was brought to the All-Union headman. After which she disappeared. Kalinin was urgently sent on vacation. On behalf of Stalin, an investigation began. But then another espionage process began in Moscow - and Uvarova’s parents were very opportunely repressed. And soon the mutilated body of a ballerina was found in a forest near Moscow. Bella Uvarova was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery. No one doubted that the death of the ballerina was on Kalinin’s conscience. But the matter was hushed up.

***
American diplomats also loved ballerinas.In 1933, diplomatic relations were established between the USSR and the USA. Of course, the American embassy immediately aroused the keen interest of Soviet counterintelligence officers. Under the Main Directorate of State Security of the NKVD of the USSR, there was an 11th department - its agents, or rather agents, were mainly ballerinas of the Bolshoi Theater. It was they who managed to establish pleasant relations with some American diplomats in 1938.

***
From the diary of Maya Plisetskaya:
“September 6, 1946.
I'd really like to dance" Swan Lake", but Lavrovsky says that the insidious seductress Odile will not work for me..."


1946, artist S. Pomansky

***
On April 27, 1947, at the Bolshoi Theater, Maya Plisetskaya danced the part of Odette-Odile in Swan Lake for the first time. Since thenand Plisetskaya has been bringing special guests for decades, and without fail, just like to the Kremlin.


Orlova V.A. "It's like spring." 1947

From the diary of Maya Plisetskaya:
"April 27 1947 year I danced my premiere of "Swan". The performance was during the day. I didn’t believe myself that I was dancing, that my dream had come true. Everyone participating in the performance applauded me after each act on stage..."

"She will dance Swan Lake for 30 years...

Today he is completely forgotten. But he was once part of Stalin’s inner circle. Under Khrushchev he became Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. Prime Minister. Formally, he is the first person of the state. At least for the West. In the political hierarchy adopted there, “our dear Nikita Sergeevich” only headed the ruling Communist Party in the country. And Bulganin is Churchill’s level. It was not for nothing that in 1955, the American Times magazine dedicated a cover to the new Soviet prime minister. High honor!

The people called Nikolai Alexandrovich Nikolai the Third. By analogy with the last Sovereign of Russia Nicholas II (also Alexandrovich!)

Shadow Man

Among Soviet leaders, Bulganin stood out as one rare quality, says writer Gennady Sokolov. - Satisfied everyone! Even being the first in rank, he remained a supporting figure and always kept in the shadows. “Everyone liked him a little because he didn’t bother anyone,” Molotov said.

Before his Kremlin career, our hero managed to work as security officers and directors, was a Moscow mayor and the main banker of the country. But the real takeoff began in 1947. Then he received a marshal's star. Not for military merit - during the war the apparatchik did not smell gunpowder! And in addition to the post of Minister of the Armed Forces, which was previously held by Stalin himself. The appointment of a civilian was to spite Marshal Zhukov. He rightfully deserved such a high post, but after the war he turned out to be too popular among the people and too influential in the army.

Nikolai Bulganin on the cover of Time magazine, 1955. amateur.media

Stalin did not allow such competitors into his inner circle. And the accommodating Bulganin, incapable of conspiracy or even the slightest intrigue, was convenient for the leader of the people. Although he was clearly not suitable for leading a powerful and influential department.

Who's speaking? - the commander-in-chief asked ground forces Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, the Minister of Defense of the USSR called him on HF. - Marshal Bulganin? I don't know such a marshal.

He served as Minister of War for only two years. Already in 1949, Stalin appointed him as his deputy. And soon - first deputy on the Council of Ministers. In this status, Bulganin actually replaced Molotov, for a long time considered the second person in the Soviet state hierarchy. After the death of the leader, he became a key figure in the new configuration of power. Together with Beria, Malenkov and Khrushchev.

Nikita Sergeevich considered him his man since the time of their collaboration in Moscow in the mid-30s. At that time, Khrushchev led the party organization of the capital, and Bulganin led the Moscow Soviet. Both were on duty at Stalin’s Kuntsevo dacha on the March night of 1953, when the Generalissimo suffered a stroke. Then the couple decided to act together against Beria and support each other in the approaching troubled times.

Bulganin turned out to be true to his word given that night. It was he who, after Stalin’s death, proposed Nikita Sergeevich to the post of party leader. Supported him in the fight against Malenkov.

Khrushchev managed to remove his main competitor from the post of head of government, and his ally Bulganin became prime minister. Finally, on the final day of the 20th Congress, it was he who gave the floor to the “First” for the famous secret report, to which a good half of the Presidium of the Central Committee objected. The report became the first public exposure of Stalin's personality cult.

The main Soviet balletomane

This faceless apparatchik, however, had one frantic passion! - writer Sokolov continues the story. - Ballet. More precisely, ballerinas.

Apparently, he wanted to live up to his nickname. Nicholas II, before marrying Alexandra Fedorovna, had an affair with famous ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya.

Galina Vishnevskaya and Mstislav Rostropovich.

The passion began long before the premiership. And she was much more prosaic. In the Kremlin archives I discovered an interesting report from Beria.

January 8, 1948

Secret

Council of Ministers of the USSR

Comrade Stalin I.V.

On the night of January 6-7, 1948, Marshal Bulganin, being in the company of two ballerinas of the Bolshoi Theater in room 348 of the National Hotel, got drunk and ran in his underpants along the corridors of the third and fourth floors of the hotel, waving pistachio pantaloons tied to a mop handle the colors of one of the ballerinas and demanded from everyone he met to shout “Hurray for Marshal of the Soviet Union Bulganin, Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR!

Then, going down to the restaurant, N.A. Bulganin, having brought several generals who were dining there to attention, demanded that they “kiss the banner,” that is, the above-mentioned pantaloons. When the generals refused, the Marshal of the Soviet Union ordered the head waiter to call the duty officer of the commandant's office with a platoon of guards and gave the command to the arriving Colonel Sazonov to arrest the generals who refused to carry out the order. The generals were arrested and taken to the Moscow commandant's office. In the morning, Marshal Bulganin canceled his order...

Stalin imposed a resolution on Beria’s report. The adjutant and guarantors of Marshal Bulganin, who failed to prevent Bulganin’s brawl, were demoted to military ranks and send for further passage military service in the Order of Lenin Far Eastern Military District. The ballerinas with whom Bulganin enters into contact are instructed about their personal responsibility for preventing the drunken Marshal Bulganin from appearing undressed in public places, with the exception of the hotel room.

However, one day the “balletomania” of our “Nicholas the Third” played a very positive role in international politics. In conditions of the most severe " cold war"helped break through" iron curtain"between West and East.

How?

1956 Khrushchev and Bulganin arrived with official visit in London. (I write about this in detail in the book “Death Line. The failure of Operation Claret”). As part of the cultural program, distinguished guests were taken to the ballet in Royal Opera(famous Covent Garden). They were accompanied by Prime Minister Eden and Foreign Minister Reading.

Reading turned out to be a true balletomane. I introduced our prime minister to the primas there. He was delighted. And he asked: “Have you ever watched productions of the Bolshoi Theater?”

Lord Reading could not boast of this. Then Bulganin suggested that he invite the Bolshoi to the UK. They quickly signed an agreement on cultural exchange. The Bolshoi went to London, the prima ballerinas of Covent Garden performed in Moscow and Leningrad. The Old Vic Theater with Laurence Olivier showed his best performances for Soviet viewers. The dance ensemble of Igor Moiseev performed on the London stage...

Thus began the world triumph of the Bolshoi Theater and Soviet ballet. Then there were long tours in the USA...

It turns out that it is thanks to Bulganin that “in the field of ballet we are ahead of the rest”?

Yes. Otherwise, Bolshoi would have been locked up in his homeland for a long time. And then, you see, ballet would become fashionable. Whether Bulganin visited the rooms of the National with the English primas, history is silent...

At the age of 60, Bulganin fell in love with Galina Vishnevskaya. Photo: RIA Novosti

Swan song - prima Vishnevskaya

Something else is known for certain. At the age of 60, Bulganin fell in love with Galina Vishnevskaya, the leading soloist of the Bolshoi Theater, and became her patron. And even tried to recapture young husband, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich in the midst of their honeymoon. Vishnevskaya was half the prime minister’s age.

“Among the clumsy, rude faces of government members, he stood out for his intelligent appearance, soft, pleasant manners,” she writes in the book “Galina. Life story". “There was something in his appearance from an old-regime retired general, and he really wanted to appear in my eyes as an enlightened monarch, a kind of Nicholas III. In all his interactions with me, he always tried to emphasize that I did not need to be afraid to visit him. Of course, accustomed to power, he wanted to get his way at all costs, but perhaps he really loved me... Almost daily invitations - either to his dacha or to his Moscow apartment. And, of course, endless “libations.” Nikolai Alexandrovich drank a lot, forced Slava to drink too much, and even without persuasion he grabbed too much out of anger. It used to happen that both would get drunk, the old man would fix his eyes on me like a bull, and begin:

No, tell me how you love her? Oh boy! Can you really understand what love is? So I love her, this is my swan song... Well, it’s okay, let’s wait, we know how to wait, we’re accustomed to it...”

Returning home after another drinking session at Bulganin’s, a jealous Rostropovich, wearing only his shorts, jumped onto the windowsill to throw himself down. The cellist was stopped from taking the fatal step by Vishnevskaya’s cry: “I’m pregnant!”

Vishnevskaya admits: it is unknown how her fate would have turned out if she had “accepted the courtship of the Soviet monarch in a completely different way and sat as an impostor queen, like Marina Mnishek, “on the throne of the Tsars of Moscow.” Although the fate of impostors has long been known to everyone, the temptation was great.”

Prima acted wisely by rejecting the advances. Soon, the always cautious “Nicholas the Third” got into trouble. More precisely, to the famous “anti-party group of Molotov, Kaganovich, Malenkov, Voroshilov, Bulganin, Pervukhin, Saburov and Shepilov who joined them.” In the summer of 1957 they tried to remove Khrushchev. He, with the help of KGB Chairman Serov, gained the upper hand. The group was defeated. And although Bulganin was not in the first role in the conspiracy, Khrushchev took the position of prime minister from his traitor friend, took away the marshal’s star and sent him into exile in Stavropol. Chairman of the Economic Council. In 1960, Bulganin retired. Died in 1975. He was buried at Novodevichy. Just like Khrushchev.

Nikolai Bulganin at the May Day celebration. nevsedoma.com.ua

There was another case!
How the British stole the Soviet Prime Minister's golden pen

Bulganin's recorder was recently put up for auction in London. The seller claimed that he received it as a gift from the leader of the USSR on April 22, 1956 in Oxford, when he visited the university there with Khrushchev.

In the book by Gennady Sokolov “Death Line. The failure of Operation Claret, however, the story of this fountain pen is told in detail. There was no smell of a gift there. With the consent of the author we present short excerpt from this book.

“People hung from the balconies of old low houses, crowded on the sidewalks near stone walls and along the roads along which the motorcade with the Soviet delegation was supposed to pass. The cobblestone squares and neatly mowed lawns at the entrances to the colleges the guests were to visit were crowded with people. Three of the most desperate students even climbed to the top of the four-meter column that marked the name of the street “Broad Street” in order to get a better bird's eye view of the arriving guests. The poor fellows could barely keep their balance on the narrow platform at the top of the column, barely supporting each other, every minute risking falling to the ground.

As soon as the car escort entered the city, it was filled with human mass came to life, began to move, threatening to demolish any obstacles in its path. The police officers responsible for security and order were in despair own helplessness. They were unable to stop this chaos.

Khrushchev and Bulganin were delighted with this movement of the masses. In it, for the first time during the days of their visit, they felt the sincere interest of the British in themselves, and therefore in the country they represented.

Khrushchev and Bulganin in London, 1956.

Slender, lean students, gathered in Oxford from all over the planet, like bees in a hive, circling around their portly, well-fed queen, revolved around two elderly fat men from a distant and mysterious Russia. As the prime minister of this mysterious country, Bulganin was especially popular among them. Nikolai Alexandrovich felt like the hero of the day. The rest of the delegation remained in the shadow of his unexpected success.

Young female students held out their notebooks to him, asking for his autograph. A crowd surrounded him on all sides, and Nikolai Alexandrovich smiled shyly, signed autographs and shook outstretched hands. For a moment he became the idol of the youth of all skin tones and all races who studied at Oxford.

Students have always sympathized with left-wing political movements. Bolshevism, Leninism, Trotskyism, Stalinism, Maoism - all these “isms” invariably found fertile soil in the immature student environment, including at Oxford. There were also many admirers of the Soviet Union and fans of communist ideology here. After the prim anti-Soviet London, such a reception in Oxford could not but please the Soviet guests.

Bulganin triumphed most of all.

- What a welcome, friends! - he exclaimed, every now and then turning to his colleagues in the delegation. - What a welcome! - and continued to sign autographs and smiles.

When the motorcade of Soviet guests headed back to London, the euphoria from the enthusiastic reception gradually began to fade from the consciousness of the Soviet leaders. The smile on Bulganin’s face gradually faded. She was replaced common expression slight fatigue and indifference.

- Damn it! - Nikolai Alexandrovich suddenly broke the silence in the Rolls-Royce salon. − Where did my fountain pen go?

The Prime Minister feverishly searched all the containers of his huge jacket, but could not find the treasured pen.

Khrushchev chuckled sarcastically and said:

- Well, Kolya, did they steal your priceless hand?

- What a pen it was! - Bulganin lamented sadly. - With a golden feather!

“There was no need to sign autographs for hours on end,” Nikita Sergeevich remarked edifyingly. - You, Kolya, have lost your vigilance, and so you’ve lost your pen. It will serve you right.

Bulganin became gloomy from what he heard more than from the loss of his beloved pen, turned his face to the side and stared out the window.

To relieve tension, Oleg Troyanovsky decided to tell Khrushchev and Bulganin a similar story from the historical past of Anglo-Russian relations.

“This curious incident,” he began, “happened with the favorite of Catherine II, the famous Count Grigory Orlov. In 1775 he also visited London. Mighty, stately, handsome man, Orlov made a great impression on the British, but especially on the Englishwomen. He willingly flirted with them. His luxurious clothes, gold jewelry and the sparkle of diamonds - all this could not leave the English thieves indifferent.

One day, leaving Covent Garden after a performance, Orlov discovered that his favorite golden snuff box, strewn with precious stones. As it turned out, she was kidnapped by the famous thief throughout London, George Barrington, nicknamed the “king of pickpockets.”

Orlov was a no-nonsense man, and immediately caught the thief in the crowd. True, it was not possible to put him behind bars. During the commotion, the trickster managed to put the stolen snuffbox back into Orlov’s jacket pocket.

Book by G.E. Sokolov Death Line Failure of Operation Claret.

They say,” Troyanovsky finished his story, “this story greatly amused the empress. Catherine laughed for a long time and said: “I knew that in England they would do justice to Prince Orlov.”

Bulganin attempted to smile in response, but apart from a grimace on his face, “First”’s joke did not cause anything.

Here's the story...

However, there was an interesting comrade - Nikolai Aleksandrovich Bulganin.

Powerful "lovers" of ballet

Nicholas II. In my youth I had whirlwind romance with Matilda Kshesinskaya, official prima ballerina imperial theaters. He even wanted to marry her. But because unequal marriage could no longer lay claim to the throne. He chose the throne and a wife of royal blood. Later, Matilda was the mistress of the Grand Dukes Sergei Mikhailovich and Andrei Vladimirovich Romanov. With Andrey Vladimirovich, grandson Alexander II, in She got married in Cannes in 1921.

Joseph Stalin. According to rumors, he patronized the Bolshoi Theater prima Olga Lepeshinskaya. Memoirist Gronsky wrote that in the mid-30s, the leader of the peoples often returned from one ballerina to the Kremlin in the dead of night. Lepeshinskaya herself argued that “Stalin did a lot for the Bolshoi Theater, under him the theater turned into a single whole. First-class musicians appeared, and the orchestra itself became a workshop like ballet and opera.” The leader's favorite ballerina received as many as 4 Stalin Prize(the highest in the Union at that time!), title People's Artist USSR, orders...

Mikhail Kalinin. Permanent Chairman of the USSR Central Executive Committee (the highest body state power, later renamed the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR) “patronized” young ballerinas of the Bolshoi for many years. The “All-Union Headman” was known as a great reveler. He often visited the theater, dropped in on rehearsals, looked behind the scenes, not considering it shameful for himself to communicate with ordinary dancers. And then the girl they liked was called for a conversation with the chairman of the Central Election Commission. The all-Union elder generously rewarded the young beauties for their understanding and accommodating behavior.

Stalin knew about his faithful servant's weakness for ballet. On his instructions, the GPU, and then the NKVD, carried out appropriate work with the dancers. Masters from Lubyanka used these “campaigns to the left” as dirt on Kalinin. They were told to write detailed reports. But Kalinin did not allow himself any political deviations. Therefore, the “father of nations” turned a blind eye to Kalinin’s love affairs, appreciating him for his selfless devotion. And for his sexual exploits he dubbed him “the all-Union goat,” often adding another biting word to this nickname - “lustful.”

The artists of the Bolshoi Theater, however, were quite satisfied with the patronage of the all-Union headman. After all, he included them among the select few who were allowed to use the services of the Kremlin’s medical and sanatorium administration. The ballet dancers were allowed to create their own housing cooperative; they were allocated finance and Construction Materials. They began to supply food rations. They began to increase wages twice a year. This suited everyone.

Together with the head of the Central Executive Committee, famous party “walkers”, Secretary of the Central Executive Committee Avel ENUKIDZE and member of the Central Executive Committee, Deputy People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs of the USSR Lev KARAKHAN, were carried away by the dancers of the famous theater. Both “walkers” were shot in 1937. Yenukidze was officially accused of systematically molesting young girls. And it was true.

Sergey Kirov. Member of the Politburo, secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, leader of the Leningrad communists. He had many mistresses both at the Bolshoi Theater and at the Leningrad Opera and Ballet Theater, which after his death received the name of Kirov, wrote NKVD General Sudoplatov, citing KGB sources who oversaw culture. When the handsome Bolshevik began an affair with Milda Kraule, an employee of the Leningrad Regional Committee, a number of his ballet lovers began to slander their rival. And they ended up in camps for “slander and anti-Soviet agitation.” Kirov was killed by Milda Nikolaev's jealous husband.

Lavrenty Beria, Mikhail Tukhachevsky were also “ballet walkers”.

Gennady Evgenievich Sokolov, 65 years old. Graduated from MGIMO University of the USSR Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Worked in Great Britain, Denmark, Switzerland. Was sent to more than 30 countries around the world. Author of books on the history of the confrontation between Russian and British intelligence services, published in Russia and abroad: “The Naked Spy”, “Bomb” for the Prime Minister. Russian spy in London”, “Death Line. The failure of Operation Claret”, “Shah of the House of Windsor. The Hunt for royal porn", "Spy number one". Co-author of Russian and foreign documentaries on the history of intelligence.