Until the end of April 1953, the Central Committee received about two and a half thousand such applications. To work with this spontaneous flow of popular initiatives, a special commission headed by NS Khrushchev. The appeals that aroused the greatest interest of the commission were deposited in the archives of the Central Committee in their entirety1.
Among the hundreds of generally expected and quite traditional proposals to perpetuate Stalin’s memory (complete publication of the leader’s works, place his silhouette on banknotes, union ballots and other documents, erect grandiose monuments, name the Bolshoi Theatre, Red Square after from him, to rename the Lenin order to the Order of Lenin – Stalin, etc.) stand out completely extraordinary and sometimes fantastic (Rodina spoke about one such project to revive the leader in N 3 for 20182) . We offer our readers a selection of original folk initiatives.
Authors’ spelling and punctuation retained. Titles arranged by the editors. First published.
Inventor’s Revitalizing Apparatus
Malenkov GM
Drawing of the revitalizing apparatus, made by the inventor Shubin. Photo: RGANI F.5. Op.16. D.593A. L.149
I am Shubin, as an inventor, I am preparing a second revitalization apparatus, because it is needed forever in our union and for the whole world and, at your request, and first of all, I will bring it to you and we will do it. organize a revitalization chamber and various revitalization apparatus in Moscow […] Beloved Stalin IV […]
RGANI. F. 5. Op. 16. D. 593a. L. 147(b)-149.
Master’s Pantheon
Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Comrade Malenkov GM
[…] I am neither an architect nor an engineer, but a simple teacher, but I want to make a suggestion, what should be the construction of the pantheon. In my opinion, this building should reflect the era of development of the society, in which the color of the building should play the leading role. Therefore, I propose to build a building of colored minerals; put a square as the base of the building, and complete the building with two towers, on whose spiers five-pointed ruby stars will be installed. The bases for columns and columns should be five-pointed stars. At the bases of the columns are erected silver monuments – Lenin and Stalin in growth.
Between the columns, a cylindrical column, on which to place a model of the earth (globe) with a red tone of the states of people’s democracy for this period and the USSR. Place the USSR coat of arms in a cylindrical column below the earth model. The towers are covered with a golden roof.
The basis of the Pantheon is to put a square of a green mineral, for example, jasper, 1 m high, which will reflect primitive society, when people used only what nature gave them. Higher above this wall, with a 0.5m lip, is an 8m high wall made of polished black granite with no lip, which will reflect the dark days of our slave-age ancestors while at the same time time the mourning of our ancestors of outstanding people. On these walls, on the right side, place portraits and names of outstanding commanders of all eras. On the left side of the wall, place portraits and names of outstanding state figures of all eras. Post portraits and names of leading scientists from all eras on the back wall.
Pantheon of the work of the master Baranovsky. Photo: RGANI F.5. Op.16. D.593A. L 55.
Above, with a ledge of 1-1.5 m, there is a wall of polished gray marble, consisting of two ledges: one 1.5 m, the other 0.5 m, which will reflect the feudal era.
Above, the wall goes with a cornice of 1 m, made of gray marble (black with red), the cornice is 0.5 m, which will reflect the era of capitalism, where the red marble between black will reflect the revolutionary struggle of the people.
Above is a wall with a 1.5m ledge, 1.5m high, made of polished dark red marble, which will reflect a happy life in our country. This will complete the upper platform, on which the columns I have described are being built.
I attach a drawing – a rough appearance of the Pantheon.
Of course, the attached diagram is technically illiterate and crude, but I’ve already mentioned that I’m not an architect or an engineer, so please excuse my crude and illiterate drawing. It seems to me that my project, if it is developed by architects, engineers, will fit and meet the requirements.
If my project doesn’t fit at all, sorry for the extra trouble.
Regards
Baranovsky Pavel Kuzmich. polotsk region
RGANI. F. 5. Op. 16. D. 593a. L 51-55.
Disabled working world globe
Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR
Georgy Maksimilyanovich comrade. Malenkov
I learned about the death of our beloved Father, Teacher and Friend Joseph Vasarionovich Stalin. I had an idea that Iosif Vasarionovich did not die, we should see him on the Risen balloon.
I have a request for you to build a large globe of the whole world with your image Georgy Maksimelyanovich and place on this globe the grandiose great construction projects of communism. Iosif Vasarionovich shows them with his hand the great construction projects of the communism of the future earthly Paradise on the globe. The peoples of the whole world will see Iosif Vasarionovich with you Georgy Maksemelyanovich alive on the globe. Who will be in Maskve near the Kremlin and on Red Square, the whole world will see that Stalin is alive and will live with us forever until the construction of immortal communism in our centuries is completed. The balloon will be built in Red Square by the luminaries of our beloved Capital. The globe so that it rotates slowly like the Earth, so that our great victories can be seen from all sides, our future wonderful life Showing the whole world to follow our Great cause.
Highly respected Georgy Maksemelyanovich, I wish you the best of success in the work of developing our future Building of Communism in our country.
I wish you many years of your life and a healthy life. Long live our beloved party, guide of all the progressive humanity of the whole world. Long live peace throughout the world.
Sorry, I’m illiterate. Goncharov Philip Viktorovich
disabled workforce. Leningrad region, Vsevolzhsky district, Danube station
RGANI. F. 5. Op. 16. D. 593a. L. 103-104 (rev.).
World Walk of Memory by an Hobbyist Gardener
Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of the USSR Comrade. GM Malenkov
[…] We workers always respond with actions to the calls of our Party, and I want to remind VI Lenin and IV Stalin who were immortalized by actions. But what can be done that can serve as an eternal monument worthy of our great leaders? Trees can be such a monument, many of them live for thousands of years, and multiplying, trees live forever. And I decided to plant two trees and take care of them until they are fully ripe, in memory of two great people of my Motherland VI Lenin and IV Stalin
But our leaders have done a tremendous amount for workers around the world, and these two trees of mine will look like a very modest monument. I call on all citizens of the Soviet Union and workers of all countries who cherish the memory of the Great Leaders to follow my example. If we all plant two trees each, several million new trees will appear on earth. […]
Our land will be transformed, it will turn green even more beautiful, fruit trees will flourish, our Great Works of Communism will be adorned with groves and gardens, new forests will change the arid climate in many areas of our Homeland.
Let us accelerate the fulfillment of the Great Stalin’s mandate to transform our Country.
Planted in memory of our brilliant leaders VI Lenin and IV Stalin, the trees will become a symbol of peace, for which our leaders fought.
Agronomists, gardeners and public organizations will help us to plant at the right height in a harmonious state system. […]
15/III. 1953 Shchekochikhin AV
RGANI. F. 5. Op. 16. D. 593b. L 156.
Monument “TV” of an engineer
[…] In order to give a more complete reflection of the feelings of the peoples, to complete the symbol of the great ideas of communism, to perpetuate the living images of the leaders loved by all the peoples, I make a proposal to build a television monument to Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin so that every day at 24:00 Moscow time, at the time of the performance of the National Anthem of the Soviet Union, against the background of a promising map of the transformation of nature and the great projects of construction of communism, the leaders appeared and moved like living images. One of the walls of the Kremlin towers or the wall of the pavilion assigned for construction can serve as a screen for image projection.
I think I will express the wish of many, many people that all long-range broadcast stations at night also broadcast the images of the leaders during the performance of the National Anthem. Short is the hour when, together with the solemn melody of the Anthem of the Soviet Union, the eternally living images of the Great Lenin, of the Great Stalin will be transmitted and received everywhere.
At present, our country has every opportunity to implement this proposal, and if our specialists deal with this matter, we must expect the appearance of a remarkable monument of Soviet culture.
Lest my proposal sound fanciful, the general idea of building a monument can be imagined as shown in the adjacent diagram.
[…] The image must be built clear, colored in dynamics (like cinematography). Power off, display image, power off and home, for later demonstration, the position should be done automatically from the watch […] The images of the leaders must be taken from documentaries […]
IN. Kravchuk, engineer
RGANI. F. 5. Op. 16. D. 593a. L. 193-195.
Stalin’s mausoleum from a prisoner
To the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of the Soviet Union
At the same time, an address addressed to Comrade NS Khrushchev is sent. the closed package of the prisoner Cherno-Ivanov Mikhail Ivanovich-for consideration of him.
Application: closed package.
The project of the Stalin mausoleum of the prisoner-architect Cherno-Ivanov. Photo: RGANI F.5. Op.16. D.593A. L 95
No. 510 1.1V.53
Head of Prison N3, Mosk Internal Affairs Department. Region
Solomon Internal Service Lieutenant Colonel
Explanatory note
To the reconstruction project of Manezhnaya Square in Moscow in memory of IV Stalin
Cherno-Ivanov Mikhail Ivanovich, engineer-architect
Moscow 6-8 March 1953
RGANI. F. 5. Op. 16. D. 593a. L 92-95.
1 The main matrix has been preserved in two special cases: RGANI. F. 5. Op. 16. D. 593a and 593b.
2 Jalilov T., Mazing Yu., Smirnov A. Live a hundred years, Comrade Stalin! // Homeland. 2018. No. 3. S. 56-58.
