Fear of Joseph Stalin’s wrath contributed to his death

Stalin ruled with an iron fist but the fear he instilled in others may have contributed to his death

Former Russian leader Joseph Stalin reads paper while reclining in his bed in the 1930s.

JOSEPH Stalin ruled with an iron fist. Political opponents, allies and even close friends feared him. To go against the leader of Soviet Russia was a one-way ticket to the gulag.

However in a twist of fate his fearsome reputation, forged by the murder of millions, contributed to his own demise on March 5, 1953.

This defining moment of 20th century history is the subject of British satirist Armando Iannucci’s new film, The Death of Stalin, released on Thursday.

Given the farcical nature of his death, the comedy director said he toned down some of the details, fearing nobody would believe the chain of events.

On the night of February 28, then aged 74, Stalin had enjoyed a night of heavy drinking at his dacha (country retreat) in Kuntsevo, just outside Moscow.

Undated pic of Josef Stalin and daughter Svetlana, possibly in 1930.

Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin with his daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva. in 1935.

He retired to his quarters in the early hours and his bedroom light went out shortly after.

As morning came, the guardsmen awaited his call. But 10am soon became midday, then 2pm. Silence. He hadn’t even turned on the lights.

There was understandable concern but the guards were under strict orders not to enter his room without authorisation.

The unfortunate pair on duty were Mikhail Starostin and Vasily Tukov. Wracked with worry, they willed each other to check on Stalin before convincing themselves he was probably just catching up on sleep.

But as evening approached they knew something must be wrong. They paced up and down the corridor putting their ears to the door in the hope of hearing something. It was a lose-lose situation for them. If anything had happened to Stalin they would be prime suspects. If he was fine and they disturbed him unnecessarily there was no telling what he might do.

But as midnight approached — and nearly 24 hours since Stalin had been seen — the dacha commandant, Pyotr Lozgachev, decided enough was enough.

Russian dictator politician Joseph Stalin.

“I opened the door, walked loudly down the corridor,” he later said. “I looked through the open door into the small dining room and saw the boss lying on the floor.”

Stalin was sprawled out in front of him, soaked in his own urine. His pocket watch and a copy of Russian newspaper Pravda beside him.

“Comrade Stalin, what’s wrong?” he said. “He made some incoherent noise, like ‘Dz dz’. I froze. My arms and legs refused to obey me.”

Just metres from his terrified guards, Stalin had been slowly dying on the floor, unable to cry out for help.

Lozgachev called for Starostin and Tukov and the trio stood there, paralysed by fear. They started phoning Stalin’s inner circle, each official and general referring them on to the next.

What Stalin needed was urgent medical attention but it was more than four hours later, at 3am, that the doctors arrived. A severely paranoid Stalin had locked up the Kremlin’s top physicians. One, because he dared to tell the Soviet leader to slow down due to his age and several others because he was convinced — incorrectly of course — they were plotting to kill his senior politicians.

So with the cream of Moscow’s medical profession behind bars the next best physicians were rounded up.

“The doctors were all scared stiff,” Lozgachev recalled. “They stared at him and shook. They had to examine him, but their hands were too shaky. To make it worse, the dentist took out his dentures, and dropped them by accident. He was so frightened.”

The funeral of Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in 1953.

They got to work, taking his pulse, blood pressure and even applying leeches behind his ears.

Of course, it was all too late and over the next few days Stalin only regained consciousness briefly, before finally succumbing to the inevitable on March 5.

As he lay there slowly dying, his generals and ministers bickered over who would succeed him. All the while his beloved daughter, Svetlana, watched on. “His face became dark and different … his features were becoming unrecognisable ... the death agony was terrible. It choked him slowly as we watched … at the last moment he suddenly opened his eyes. It was a horrible look — either mad, or angry and full of fear of death ... Suddenly he raised his left hand and sort of either pointed up somewhere, or shook his finger at us all … The next moment his soul, after one last effort, broke away from his body.”

And with that one of history’s most influential, brutal and divisive men, was gone. The terror with which he ruled contributing to his slow and painful demise.

Originally published as Fear of Joseph Stalin’s wrath contributed to his death