Dead Lenin. Secrets of the last days. How and from what did Vladimir Lenin die. Worsening of the leader's health, moving to Gorki

Soviet children in kindergarten and school were told many stories about how the leader of the world proletariat loved. At the same time, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was affectionately called grandfather, giving his appearance something family-related.

And only later, having become adults, people understood that the creator of the world's first workers' state passed away at a rather young age, he was only 53 years old. Of course, it is not uncommon for men to become grandfathers, having exchanged their sixties, but outwardly they can still be attractive, and they rarely correspond to the image of an elderly, bent old man.

How Lenin died was told more briefly than about his love for children. The main version is the consequences of being seriously wounded by a poisoned bullet fired by the terrorist Kaplan. The fact that almost six years had passed from the time of this attempt to the death of the leader was taken into account, but the explanation for this was also given quite logical. Pathological changes in the vessels of the brain accumulated, there was a gradual liming of the circulatory system and, as a result, three strokes in a row, the last of which turned out to be fatal.

In the winter of 1924, in Gorki, where Lenin died, doctors made persistent attempts to revive him. The events took place at six in the afternoon on January 21, a medical device, which was very rare at that time, was connected to the patient, but it did not help. An autopsy showed that the brain was indeed in an extremely painful state, which had been developing, most likely, for more than one year. Thus, a conclusion about the mental state of the "genius of the revolution" was suggested, which was formulated somewhat later nobel laureate Professor Pavlov, author of brilliant works on reflexology. According to him, the coup in Russia was conceived and implemented by a mentally ill person who suffered from an advanced form of syphilis that had penetrated the brain.

How Lenin died, and the circumstances preceding his death, became known to the general public only in the nineties. The widespread version of Stalin's involvement in the death of Vladimir Ilyich arose in the second half of the fifties. It was based on vague hints of the then First Secretary, NS Khrushchev, who sought to impress upon everyone that he knew something about how Lenin died, and how Kirov was killed, and something else ...

The goal was simple: even more demonize the image of his predecessor with the aim of his own whitewash. There was simply no sense in physically eliminating a helpless, indistinctly speaking and beaten by a merciless illness, and the notorious "Letter to the Congress", despite all its "super secrecy", was not a secret to anyone in the Central Committee.

Another version of the cause of the death of the leader, defined as a genetic predisposition, was also expressed. The reason why Lenin died, namely a cerebral hemorrhage, was the reason for the death of his father, Nikolayevich, the Samara inspector of education. His age was also by no means old, only 54 years old. However, the difference consisted in the fact that the respected state councilor, even in his last days, did not suffer from dementia or pathological cruelty towards people of all ages.

The circumstances of how Lenin died and the general symptoms do not contradict Pavlov's version. As often happens, the cause of death could be a complex of destructive factors, including injury, and the unhappy visit of a 32-year-old political emigrant to a Parisian woman of easy virtue, and unhealthy heredity. But all of them in some way explain the cruelty that this "good grandfather" showed when composing orders for the destruction of hundreds of thousands of people, the color of the people of Russia.

In fairness, it should be noted that this version has not received official confirmation. In addition, the outstanding German neurologist M. Nonne, who examined Lenin in 1923, later refuted it, claiming that he did not find any signs of neurosyphilis in the patient. Therefore, disputes about the causes of the death of the leader of the world proletariat are likely to continue for many years to come.

V.I.Lenin began to be seriously ill in 1922. It was alleged that his illness began after the assassination attempt in August 1918, and also due to severe congestion.

For the treatment of Vladimir Ilyich, leading specialists from Germany were called in to deal with nervous diseases. Otfried Foerster became Lenin's chief physician.

But, both foreign doctors and domestic doctors could not make an accurate diagnosis.

Scientists from Germany believed that the poisoning with a poisonous composition of the two bullets that were in Lenin's body caused the leader to feel unwell and insisted on removing them.

We decided to remove one less dangerous bullet and leave the second bullet alone. Despite feeling unwell, Vladimir Ilyich did not stop his work. His last national performance was recorded in November 1922.

Two years later, Lenin's condition changed for the worse. And on January 21, 1924, he died. He was 53 years old. But the cause of death was never revealed. Epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and even syphilis were considered as the diagnosis.

The last disease, according to the famous writer and historian Helen Rappoport, he received in 1902 from a courtesan in Paris. According to the writer, Vladimir Ilyich had all the signs of brain syphilis.

This disease is known to be a chronic infectious process that affects both internal organs and the nervous system. Defeat nervous system in a syphilitic person it can be expressed in the form of syphilis of the brain or in the form of progressive paralysis.

In Soviet times, politicians were threatened with execution if this topic was raised. But was Lenin sick with syphilis, as rumors say, and from what did he die? These questions were asked by many scientists and doctors. Let's look at the veracity of this question.

Myths attributed to famous historical figures

Homosexuality, many mistresses ... What kind of myths were not invented to discredit Lenin's personality. And this is not strange, since most of the deaths of famous historical figures have always been accompanied by some kind of rumors.

So they said that Hitler liked to take various tests. Yes, in part, it was true.

But he did not like it, but had to give it up. The Nazi had a painful depression (hypochondria) and doubtfulness.

Therefore, he looked for all sorts of diseases in himself, drew up a new will every three years and made his own doctor, Theodore Morel, do new examinations every week.

But Stalin was credited with the fear of doctors because of his mental disorder. He was accused of poisoning Academician Vladimir Bekhterev, Maxim Gorky and many other famous personalities. Everyone said he was crazy. But Stalin was a perfectly healthy man.

And he did not go to doctors, like any healthy person. And after the death of the Soviet party and statesman Andrei Zhdanov due to medical negligence, he began to treat them worse.

Versions confirming a sexually transmitted disease

The first to put forward the theory that Lenin died of syphilis was Vladimir Ippolitovich Terebinsky, doctor of medicine and head of the department of cutaneous and syphilitic diseases at the University of Saratov.

In his report "On the causes of death of V. I. Lenin according to the autopsy report (Lues cerebri)" he laid out his hypothesis. But over time, everyone forgot about it and these rumors died down.

Later this question was raised by the Russian writer and publicist Akim Arutyunov. In his works, he reveals his assumptions.

Professor Osipov, who was one of Lenin's treating doctors, in his work "The Red Chronicle" in 1927 spoke about the methods of treating the leader of the world proletariat.

Patient Lenin was given iodine, mercury, arsenic as a medicine and was vaccinated with malaria. At the same time, doctors from Israel's Ben-Gurion University released their test results.

One of the important facts confirming that Lenin had syphilis was a drug for syphilis - salvarsan, consisting of mercury and bismuth. Such components could bring Lenin's death closer.

Also, many drew attention to the presence of the German physician Max None, who specialized in neurosyphilis.

What was the official diagnosis?

There are also opponents of this theory, proving the opposite, since the official diagnosis of the death of the leader was atherosclerosis, which provoked a cerebral hemorrhage.

Harry Winters, an American neuroscientist from the University of California, argued in his work that the symptoms of Lenin's disease are not associated with neurosyphilis.

Everyone knows that this disease is transmitted through sexual intercourse. And if the leader really had such a disease, then he would have to infect his women with syphilis. But neither Nadezhda Krupskaya nor Armand had such a disease.

Krupskaya, who had been ill for almost her entire life, was studied by many foreign specialists. But no signs of syphilis were found. Nadezhda outlived her husband and passed away at the age of 70.

The version of hereditary syphilis was also considered incorrect, since it was not found either in Vladimir Ilyich's parents or in his brothers and sisters.

So the Russian neuropathologist and doctor of medicine Alexei Yakovlevich Kozhevnikov, who was invited to study Lenin's disease, studied analyzes for the Wasserman reaction (RW).

This diagnostic method is considered the most popular and has been used since its discovery in 1906. It consists in the fact that antibodies are secreted in the blood of an infected person, which can be determined using the Wasserman reaction.

Alexander Yakovlevich analyzed not only Lenin's blood, but also his cerebrospinal fluid. But the professor could not one hundred percent exclude brain syphilis.

Soon a qualified ophthalmologist M. I. Averbakh arrived to examine the state of the inner surface of the eyeball.

With this examination, you can examine the optic discs and the state of the blood vessels in the brain. According to the result of his research, no special pathological formations were noticed, which ruled out syphilis of the brain.

And in 1939, a German doctor and professor Felix Klemperer, definitely announced the exclusion of the presence of a venereal disease of Vladimir Ilyich.

What happened to Lenin at the last moment of his life?

The last day of the life of the commander-in-chief of the world proletariat was described by Professor Osipov. He stated that the day before the death of the leader, there was a lack of appetite, bad mood and lethargy.

The next day he was kept to bed and did not get up. But towards evening the patient developed a slight appetite and was offered broth.

After that, the mind was lost and convulsive movements of the limbs appeared, especially strong on the left side. Convulsions were accompanied by disruption of the cardiovascular system and rapid breathing.

Professor Osipov also recorded a very dangerous type of breathing (Cheyne-Stokes), which in many cases indicates the onset of a fatal outcome. In the evening at 18 hours 50 minutes, Lenin died.

The commission, based on the autopsy results, concluded that Lenin's death was due to atherosclerosis. This commission was headed by Aleksey Abrikosov, head of the Department of Pathological Anatomy at Moscow State University.

Until now, no one can refute this diagnosis. Since many modern Russian scientists, including Professor Starchenko and Academician Petrovsky, adhere to the theory of the correctness of the official diagnosis.

To this day, Lenin's brain is in the Institute of the Brain, designed specifically for his examination. He was repeatedly subjected to various analyzes and studies.

All the signs and autopsy results of prominent pathologists report that Lenin did not have syphilis.

Therefore, it can be argued that the main reasons for the early death of the leader of the proletariat were stress, intense activity and heredity, but not a venereal disease.

Probably, the life of any famous person is shrouded in a kind of aura of mystery and enigma. The details of his life and death arouse genuine interest among the people. The life of the leader of the proletariat, the creator of a new state on the map of the world, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, is no exception. Until now, scientists argue about some details of his life and work, and the circumstances of his death look a little mysterious. We will talk about this.

What preceded the death of Lenin?

Of course, such a significant political figure as Vladimir Ilyich had both admirers and ill-wishers. There were many of the latter, especially after Lenin became the head of state and began to pursue his policy, which was different from the opinions of other party members. Of course, we should not forget about the people who enthusiastically met the changes in the life of the country, but over time their ardor faded a little. People gathered in secret circles, where they discussed the possibility of physically eliminating the leader. There was also a direct executor - an anarchist revolutionary.

On August 30, 1918, Lenin was supposed to speak at a meeting of workers at an electromechanical plant. Kaplan fired three shots - one was past, two hit the target - Lenin was wounded in the neck and jaw. The 28-year-old woman was detained almost immediately. During interrogation, Fanny did not deny and confessed that it was she who shot at Lenin. During the search, they found a Browning with license plate 150489. From whom she received this weapon, the woman did not confess and replied that the assassination attempt was entirely her own initiative and the investigators would not receive other details.

Kaplan was executed on September 3 of the same year - she was shot without due trial (here, willy-nilly, one can draw a parallel with a few months earlier).

Whether Fanny really acted alone, or whether someone more important was in charge of her hand - we will never know. The result is much more important - it was after this assassination attempt that Ilyich's health deteriorated.

The last six years of life

Some readers may ask quite a reasonable question - if the leader's health weakened after two rather serious wounds (in the neck and jaw), how did he last for another six years? Why didn't he die immediately or soon? Scientists dealing with this issue suggest that the destruction of blood vessels in the brain occurred gradually. In addition, the enormous tension that accompanied Lenin for many years, while he was preparing for the revolution, also affected.

Civil war, devastation in the country also negatively affected his health. Occupying the main post in, Vladimir Ilyich could not help but understand that an enormous responsibility for the people falls on his shoulders - over time, he began to be bothered by constant headaches and general body fatigue.

The consequences of the assassination attempt were obvious - the condition of the leader was rapidly deteriorating. In 1922, Lenin suffered his first stroke, which deprived him of speech and partial mobility. It is worth noting that in the same year, the bullet left after the unsuccessful attempt on the life of Fanny Kaplan is pulled out of the body. The recovery took about six months, and Ilyich returned to work, full of strength and energy, although the schedule was facilitated.

In December, he draws up a will, in which he points out some aspects of state administration, and also criticizes party members, for example, Bukharin. Ilyich also does not bypass Joseph Stalin, whom he made the general secretary of the party in April of the same year. In the document, Lenin questions the ability of his successor to rule the state in the manner in which he began and bequeathed to his fellow party members.

Soon there was a second stroke, which again took away the possibility of full movement and partially blocked the speech apparatus. To recover, Lenin went to the Gorki near Moscow, where his wife took care of him,. There he learned to speak and write again with his left hand.

It was surprising that Stalin at that time became a frequent visitor to Lenin's estate. Was there something behind these visits? Maybe.

The third stroke was not long in coming - in March 1923, Lenin was completely immobilized and speechless. It was already impossible to recognize in the weak old man, confined to a wheelchair, the very leader who had called for the revolution in St. Petersburg. Some historians claim that he even asked Stalin to give him a portion of potassium cyanide - the pain was so intolerable. Why did Lenin turn to Joseph, and not to his wife, for example?

Perhaps Ilyich believed that Stalin was devoid of compassion and humanity, so he would do it with a light hand. But even the future leader of the peoples could not cope with this difficult mission and refused, although it is worth recognizing that poisoning will later become the favorite method of eliminating opponents and competitors in the struggle for power.

Lenin's death

Despite complete immobility and problems with the vessels of the brain, as well as the vegetable lifestyle, Lenin lasted almost a year. While in Gorki, he still tried to pay attention to political affairs, although Stalin had already taken over most of the rule. Vladimir Ilyich died on January 21, 1924. He was only 53 years old. In fairness, we note that his father died at the same age and from a cerebral hemorrhage. Bad heredity? Probably. But the attempt also played its fatal role. When the autopsy was performed, they noticed that the brain was almost completely destroyed, and this did not happen one day, but over several years.

The organization of the funeral was taken over by Stalin, who became the next general secretary, already officially. For four days, Lenin's body lay in the Moscow House of Unions, so that all comers could say goodbye to him, of whom there were many - almost a million people. Further, his corpse was embalmed and displayed in a wooden mausoleum, which in 1930 turned into a marble one. The brain was removed from the cranium and cut into small plates for the purpose of a detailed study of its activity.

His widow, Nadezhda Krupskaya, was against putting her husband's body on public display - she wanted to bury him humanly. But who will listen to a woman? Stalin began to create a cult of Lenin's personality, deifying him. Thus, he prepared the ground for his rule, which was not always distinguished by humane methods. Already from the end of the 30s of the 20th century, repressions began, and Joseph Vissarionovich would unfold with might and main, forgetting about the ideals of the revolution and those that his predecessor taught.

And Lenin remained in his place - in the mausoleum, where anyone can come, even remotely unfamiliar with communism, but undoubtedly having heard of Vladimir Ilyich.

The illness and death of Vladimir Lenin are still covered with a dense veil of secrecy. The chief physician of the Scientific Medical Gerontological Center, a neurologist and a geriatrician, Valery Novoselov, spent several years studying archives that contain documents about Lenin's last days, as well as monographs by doctors of the head of the Soviet state. Based on the results of the research project, a scientific documentary book is being prepared for printing. Why Lenin's diagnosis is still not disclosed,
for what purposes does the state use medical workers and why the dark historical past still interferes with the normal relations between doctors and patients, I spoke with Valery Novoselov.

"Lenta.ru": Why did you decide to deal with Lenin's disease? Do you like historical detectives?

Novoselov: In 1989 I entered the postgraduate study at the Brain Research Institute of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences. The topic of my work was "Neurophysiological analysis of brain activity in normal aging and in vascular dementia." Therefore, he became interested in the clinical picture of Lenin's disease, who is believed to have had multi-infarction brain damage. There are a lot of publications about his state of health, but basically these are the arguments of various historians, of course, without signs of medical knowledge and not supported by any historical documents.

For the entire period, only two books were published in 1997 and 2011 by Academician of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Director of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Medicine Yuri Mikhailovich Lopukhin “Disease, death and embalming of V.I. Lenin ". Since 1951 he worked in the laboratory at the mausoleum. Actually, there is little about the leader's illness. Most of the story is still about the embalming story. Yuri Mikhailovich eventually wrote that due to his illness he had more questions than answers. The documentary part was missing in his book.

Have you met him?

When I started writing my book, Lopukhin was no longer alive. He died in October 2016. In January 2017, I wrote a request for access to the patient's documents that are in the archive. Now it is called RGASPI (Russian State Archive of Social and Political History - approx. "Lenta.ru"), and me, which is unusual, was admitted. From January to April 2017, I spent all my free time in the archive. And at some stage I had to give a report to the Moscow Scientific Society of Physicians-Therapists. They urged me on: let's hurry. And I sent a request to RGASPI about the need to make copies of documents to speed up the work.

Why weren't they just photographed?

It is forbidden, and I am a law-abiding person. Therefore, he worked with a computer within the framework of the regime determined by the archive staff. The answer came from the archive: "We cannot provide you with photocopies of documents, since access to them is limited for 25 years." I ask how so? In accordance with the federal law on secrecy, documents in the archives of the Central Committee of the CPSU related to Lenin's illness were closed for 75 years after his death. In 1999, all restrictions were to be lifted. It turned out that the management of the archive extended the term at the request of Lenin's grand-niece. That is, I was allowed to work with documents with a restricted access status, but the responsible persons did not notify me of this.

When does the new restriction end?

In 2024. But it is not a fact that these documents will again not be given the status of "limited access", which means, translated into intelligible Russian, "no access." Indeed, in 1999 Rosarkhiv did not have any authority to extend the restriction. They knew they were breaking the law. But, as they explained, “we went to meet (...) the niece of V.I. Lenin ". In their reply, RGASPI told me that they did not mind if the information I received in the archive would be used for scientific purposes. And now I have finished writing a scientific documentary book about doctors and their patient Lenin. For me, this book is a kind of point in the history of medicine in the Soviet period. In the near future, a report or a series of reports will be made at the Scientific Society of Medical Historians.

Aren't you afraid that you may be charged with divulging state secrets?

We have a lot of stories about how people got some information from scientific journals, the press, and then the state really charged them with treason. I would not like to receive a restriction in rights, for example, when traveling outside Russia, so I sent in a request about what rights I have to work with archival documents. And he asked if the employees of RGASPI had violated Russian law when they allowed me to work in the archive. I am waiting for an official reply.

What did you find out?

Given the difficult situation with the state secret, today I can rely in my story on documents that are in the public domain. These are monographs of the founders of Russian neurology and the doctors of our patient themselves. And there is a diary "with restricted access" (records of Ulyanov's doctors themselves), to which I was allowed. It is a thick folder with a brown leatherette cover, 410 A4 pages. Formally, this is not medical documentation, the word "diagnosis" is not used anywhere. It contains a lot of information: what the patient ate, who he met. The records begin from the end of May 1922, when it is believed that Lenin fell ill. And they end in 1924 - with his death. Three doctors kept a diary: Vasily Vasilievich Kramer, who collected the patient's anamnesis; who began to treat him; and, who completed treatment. No one in Russia and the world, except me, has seen the diary. Here's an amazing fact. But this document contains the direct speech of the doctors of Lenin's patient, who found themselves in a difficult historical situation.

What specialty were they doctors?

All the main doctors were neurologists. According to the official version, Lenin suffered a series of strokes, which these specialists are dealing with. By the way, from the very beginning of Lenin's illness, an intrigue can be noticed. In Russia, by 1922, there were three leading neurologists, three world stars: Lazar Solomonovich Minor, Liveriy Osipovich Darkshevich and Grigory Ivanovich Rossolimo. When, at the request of Soviet leaders, foreign doctors came to Moscow to examine Lenin, they were surprised that none of these celebrities were involved in the leader's treatment. Look: Lenin turned the history of the whole world, with what sign, plus or minus, is another question. But his personal doctor Kozhevnikov is generally unknown to anyone. Today there is only an inscription on the gravestone.

Have you specially chosen a gray mouse among the doctors?

I think they made him unknown later. I read the memoirs of the academician, the founder of the Soviet school of pathological anatomy. He mentions Kozhevnikov several times, and in the list of outstanding doctors. In addition to him, of the leading neurologists of the RSFSR (the USSR was not yet there) Lenin was observed only by Vladimir Mikhailovich Bekhterev, who was poisoned in 1927.

Precisely because he watched Lenin?

There is a popular version that Bekhterev was poisoned because of the diagnosis he gave to Stalin: paranoia. But I met with Bekhterev's great-grandson, director of the Research Institute of the Human Brain Svyatoslav Medvedev, and, of course, asked him about it. Relatives are sure that the reason is precisely in Lenin. In Petrograd, under the leadership of Bekhterev, the Institute of the Brain was then working, and the scientist rightly believed that Lenin's brain should be stored with them. However, Stalin was against it. He was afraid that the brain might carry information that could be used.

But why not just take and leave the brain in Moscow?

Bekhterev could not be ordered to step aside. He is the world's luminary. Lump in science. In medicine, 47 symptoms, syndromes, diseases are named after Bekhterev. Until now, none of the scientists in the world has managed to surpass this record. That is, for the leaders of the Soviet state, Bekhterev was an unattainable figure. He was also a very stubborn man. On the eve of his death, he was going to go to a major neurological conference abroad. Probably, they were afraid to release him as a carrier of the secret of Lenin's illness and death. Since there was no influence on the academician, they decided to act with a proven method - they poisoned him. He fell ill in the evening and died in the morning. The clinical picture was typical for arsenic poisoning. All subsequent events with an autopsy at home - or rather, just a brain fence and instant cremation - only confirm the political order. As well as the lack of forensic research that should have been done in this case.

What was Lenin sick with, if even today all documents about it are classified?

It is impossible to study Lenin's disease from the standpoint of modern medicine. I do not consider the clinical picture from the point of view of today's medical thinking, but try to get up to the level of development of medical science of that time. I walk from two sides: I am carefully examining the doctor's diary and the postmortem report on the autopsy of Lenin's body. The document was written the day after his death, January 22, 1924, in an estate near Moscow in Gorki. In this situation, too, everything is strange. The patient is opened on January 22, and the next day, January 23, the body is delivered to Moscow. Does it raise questions? Why not immediately take the body to a specialized institution, where there are pathologists, section tables, instruments, dissectors? And it is first opened in Gorki, where there is nothing. There is also a medical consultation - 11 people. Of these, only three doctors had been at the estate since their death, the rest had to be brought to the place. Moscow at that time ended not far from Saratov (now Paveletsky) railway station. The Gorki estate is far away. Around the estate there is an extensive forest park area. There are about 30 Latvian riflemen guards around.

The doctors wrote the conclusion at gunpoint?

At least the moral atmosphere was appropriate. It is quite obvious that in Moscow it would be difficult to ensure the required level of secrecy, so they chose a manor in the forest. But even in remote Gorki, an incident nevertheless occurred. The medical commission that was present at the autopsy was Fyodor Alexandrovich Getye, the personal doctor of the Ulyanov family. He is a Russian man with French roots. Of all those present, he was the only one who did not sign the postmortem report on the examination of Lenin's body. However, there is a second document, also dated January 22, 1924, signed by Guetier.

What is the difference between these securities?

In the document signed by Guetier it was said: "Found a sharp change in the blood vessels of the brain, fresh hemorrhage, which caused death ..." With this, Dr. Guetier agreed. But his signature is not under the conclusion that "the cause of the deceased's illness was atherosclerosis of the vessels due to their premature wear ..." The diagnosis of Abnutzungsclerose did not exist either then or now. At the beginning of the last century, the theory of vessel wear was recognized as untenable by all experts in the world. And the number one pathologist in the country and in the world, Aleksey Abrikosov, who opened the body, could not help but know this. As his colleagues invited to Gorki could not help but know. The autopsy lasted 3 hours 10 minutes, as indicated in the report. In his memoirs, Abrikosov indicated the time of 3 hours 50 minutes. Doctors can pay attention to this nuance.

Is the duration of the procedure an important detail?

Such an autopsy should have taken no more than two hours. What did you do for the remaining two hours? There was a telephone in Gorki, and, most likely, the extra time was spent coordinating the diagnosis with the Politburo. That is, two pages of the act were written by doctors, and the final paragraph on unusual atherosclerosis is omitted from above. But if you carefully read the pathological report, then a person with a medical education will become clear that Lenin did not have any atherosclerosis.

What is atherosclerosis? It is characterized by certain morphological changes. The first is necessarily lipid (fatty) spots on the walls of blood vessels, the second is atherosclerotic plaques. A plaque is a structural morphological formation that has edges. With a sharp development of atherosclerosis, the number of plaques becomes very large, they partly merge with each other and give the inner surface of the affected arteries a rough, bumpy appearance over a large extent.

Photo: provided by Valery Novoselov

In the act of Lenin's autopsy it is written: vessels are like cords. And other details. All this describes another disease: meningovascular syphilis of the brain. The chief pathologist of Moscow in those years, Ippolit Davydovsky, has a detailed description of the characteristic features of this pathology. If its definition is imposed on the act of the autopsy of Lenin, the specialists will have no doubts.

The doctors saw syphilis at the autopsy, but were afraid to publish it?

In open documents, Lenin's doctors clearly wrote that during his lifetime the patient received treatment that corresponded to the diagnosis. And Lenin was treated only with anti-syphilitic drugs. These are heavy metals: mercury, bismuth, arsenic, large doses of iodine every day. All this is described by Academician Lopukhin. At that time, all over the world, syphilis was fought only in this way.

The composition of the team of doctors who treated Lenin also speaks volumes. For example, his main attending physician Kozhevnikov in those years was considered the leading specialist in neurosyphilis in Russia. Also, specifically for Lenin's consultation, Max Nonne, Europe's chief specialist in the treatment of neurosyphilis, was called from Germany.

Do you want to say that Lenin's illness was not a secret for the inner circle?

Lenin had a standard clinical picture for that time. In psychiatric departments of Russian hospitals, patients with exactly the same symptoms were 10 to 40 percent. Therefore, everyone perfectly understood what it was. Including this patient, it is no coincidence that he asked for poison. He saw how this disease usually ends: progressive paralysis, dementia. The chief pathologist of Moscow, Ippolit Davydovsky, wrote: “According to the data of the sections (autopsies - approx. "Lenta.ru"), the number of patients with syphilis in 1924-1925 was 5.5 percent of the population. " That is, out of a hundred Muscovites at least five were sick. And these statistics are incomplete. The regions were very different from each other. In Kalmykia, for example, patients were up to 43 percent of the payroll of the population. General examinations in the 1920s showed that in some villages of Central Russia, up to 16 percent of residents were sick with syphilis.

That is, there was an epidemic of syphilis in Russia?

Syphilis was a colossal problem not only for Russia, but also for Europe. When antibiotics were discovered in 1940, the disease was easy to treat, and before that it posed a threat to national security. How Lenin got infected - we do not know, the anamnesis is poorly collected. But I want to emphasize that at that time, household syphilis was widespread. Well, the path of infection itself is not interesting to me, for me it is an ordinary disease, which has become the most confusing event in the history of not only our medicine, but medicine of the whole world.

If syphilis is everyday, in theory, it's not a shame to talk about it. Anyone could get infected, even a child. Why was it all kept secret?

Syphilis, no matter what, has always been considered an "unworthy" disease. It had many names: French, Polish, rotten disease, French venus. For doctors, it does not matter who to treat and for what: even white ones, even red ones. There is deontology - the science of what should be. The doctor chose his own path, followed the path of duty. But then politics intervened in medicine. What were the revolutionaries building? A man of a new type. Syphilis did not fit into this "red project" in any way.

You mentioned the science of ought. But is it not a violation of deontology that the doctors made a deal with the authorities, hiding the truth?

Nobody harmed the patient. The deal with the authorities consisted in keeping the doctors silent, participating in a political game with the printing of false bulletins with information about the health of the head of state. In total, 35 bulletins were published during the illness. Even Lenin laughed when he read these medical reports. A diary entry has been preserved about this. “I thought the best diplomats were in The Hague, but in fact they are my doctors,” he said. But after all, it was not the doctors who wrote the bulletins, which reported that Lenin had gastroenteritis.

GPU (Main Political Directorate under the NKVD - approx. "Lenta.ru") walked around Europe, like at home. In addition, foreigners received a lot of money. Someone 50 thousand, someone 25 thousand gold rubles. Today this amount is equivalent to millions of dollars.

What happened to the Soviet doctors who treated Lenin?

I think there was an unwritten agreement: while the doctors are silent, the authorities do not touch them. The People's Commissariat of Health Nikolai Semashko ensured its implementation. He served as a buffer between the doctors and Stalin, trying to smooth out the roughness. It did not work only with Fyodor Gettier, who refused to sign the autopsy report of Lenin. They treated him very cunningly. Old Guetier had an only son, Alexander Fedorovich, at the time a famous boxing coach. He was shot in 1938. Father could not bear it and died two months later. Nikolai Popov was also shot - in the Leninist brigade, he was the youngest doctor, had just entered the residency and, with a famous patient, served as a nurse. In 1935, he tried to question Nadezhda Krupskaya

Is there a connection between the Stalinist "Doctors' Plot" and Lenin's disease?

In 1949 Nikolai Semashko, the guarantor of the unspoken agreement between Stalin and doctors, dies. Himself, by my own death. And then you can put forward many versions. Perhaps Stalin remembered how the doctors “agreed”. And he just imagined what could happen to him. And the "Doctors' Plot" was born. In 1953, about 30 leading professors of medicine were arrested in Moscow and Leningrad. How many ordinary doctors - no one counted. At the end of March 1953, they were to be publicly hanged in the squares of both capitals. But - lucky. Stalin died. However, the consequences of all these cases are still felt.

How?

I believe that today's attitude of Russians to doctors is a merit, among other things, of the case with Lenin. I talked a lot with people, outstanding historians of the country and the world, great doctors, scientists and ordinary citizens. The majority thinks that Vladimir Ilyich was treated “for the wrong thing and for the wrong thing.” As a result, many people have deep in their minds distrust of doctors. Therefore, we must show that our hands are clean, that Lenin was treated according to the highest standards of that time, the doctors did everything they could. Maybe then at least a small percentage of Russians will understand that doctors should not be treated like pests. Our colleagues, doctors from that story, earned the right to the truth.

Is it possible to establish an official diagnosis of Lenin with modern scientific methods?

We need political will. Since the collapse of the USSR, 38.5 million people have been born in Russia and 52 million have died. The population is completely different than in Lenin's times. When those who studied scientific communism in universities, and the former Octobrists, will finally become a thing of the past, then changes will become possible. History requires study and publication so that this does not happen again. Today, when I observe the speed of criminal proceedings against doctors, it seems to me that the authorities have started playing games with doctors again. Maybe there was no direct command to put doctors in prison. But there are also non-verbal signals.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin was a Russian statesman and politician, the founder of the Soviet state and the Communist Party. Under his leadership, the date of Lenin's birth and the leader's death took place - 1870, April 22, and 1924, January 21, respectively.

Political and state activities

In 1917, after his arrival in Petrograd, the leader of the proletariat led the October uprising. He was elected Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars (Council of People's Commissars) and the Council of Peasant and Workers' Defense. was a member of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. Since 1918, Lenin lived in Moscow. In the conclusion, the leader of the proletariat played a key role. Since 1922 it was discontinued due to serious illness. The date of Lenin's birth and the politician's death, thanks to his active work, went down in history.

Events of 1918

In 1918, on August 30, a coup d'état began. Trotsky was not in Moscow at that time - he was on the Eastern Front, in Kazan. Dzerzhinsky was forced to leave the capital in connection with the murder of Uritsky. A very tense situation has developed in Moscow. Companions and relatives insisted that Vladimir Ilyich did not go anywhere, did not attend any events. But the leader of the Bolsheviks refused to violate the schedule of speeches by the leaders of the regional authorities. A performance was planned in the Basmanny District, at the Bread Exchange. According to the recollections of the secretary of the Yampolskaya district committee, Lenin's security was entrusted to Shablovsky, who was then supposed to escort Vladimir Ilyich to Zamoskvorechye. However, two or three hours before the supposed start of the rally, it was reported that the leader had been asked not to speak. But the leader came to the Bread Exchange. It was guarded, as expected, by Shablovsky. But there was no security at the Michelson plant.

Who killed Lenin?

Kaplan (Fanny Efimovna) was the performer of the attempt on the life of the leader. From the beginning of 1918, she actively collaborated with the Right Socialist Revolutionaries, who were then in a semi-legal position. Kaplan, the leader of the proletariat, was brought to the place of speech in advance. She shot from Browning almost point-blank. All three bullets fired from the weapon hit Lenin. The leader's driver, Gil, was a witness to the assassination attempt. He did not see Kaplan in the dark, and when he heard the shots, as some sources testify, he was confused and did not fire back. Later, diverting suspicions from himself, during interrogations, Gil said that after the leader's speech, a crowd of workers came out to the yard of the plant. This is what prevented him from opening fire. Vladimir Ilyich was wounded, but not killed. Subsequently, according to historical evidence, the perpetrator of the attempt was shot, and her body was burned.

Worsening of the leader's health, moving to Gorki

In 1922, in March, Vladimir Ilyich began to have quite frequent seizures, accompanied by loss of consciousness. In the following year, paralysis and speech impairment developed on the right side of the body. However, despite such a serious condition, the doctors hoped to improve the situation. In May 1923, Lenin was transported to Gorki. Here, his health improved markedly. And in October he even asked to be transported to Moscow. However, he did not stay in the capital for long. By winter, the Bolshevik leader's condition had improved so much that he began to try to write with his left hand, and during the Christmas tree, in December, he spent the whole evening with the children.

Events of the last days before the death of the leader

As the People's Commissar of Health Semashko testified, two days before his death, Vladimir Ilyich went hunting. This was confirmed by Krupskaya. She said that Lenin had been in the forest the day before, but, apparently, was very tired. When Vladimir Ilyich was sitting on the balcony, he was very pale and fell asleep in an armchair all the time. In recent months, he has not slept at all during the day. A few days before her death, Krupskaya already felt the approach of something terrible. The leader looked very tired and exhausted. He turned very pale, and his look, as Nadezhda Konstantinovna recalled, became different. But, despite the warning signs, a hunting trip was planned on January 21st. According to the doctors, all this time the brain continued to progress, as a result of which parts of the brain were "turned off" one after another.

Last day of life

Professor Osipov, who treated Lenin, describes this day, testifying to the general malaise of the leader. On the 20th, he had a poor appetite and was in a sluggish mood. On this day, he did not want to study. At the end of the day, Lenin was put to bed. He was assigned a light diet. This state of lethargy was noted the next day, the politician remained in bed for four hours. He was visited in the morning, afternoon and evening hours. During the day, an appetite appeared, the leader was given broth. By six o'clock, an increase in malaise was observed, cramps in the legs and arms appeared, the politician lost consciousness. The doctor testifies that the right limbs were very tense - it was impossible to bend the leg at the knee. Convulsive movements were also observed on the left side of the body. The seizure was accompanied by increased cardiac activity and increased respiration. The number of respiratory movements approached 36, and the heart was contracting at a rate of 120-130 beats per minute. Along with this, a very threatening sign appeared, consisting in a violation of the correct breathing rhythm. This cerebral type of breathing is very dangerous and almost always indicates the approach of the fatal end. After a while, the condition stabilized somewhat. The number of respiratory movements decreased to 26, and the pulse rate to 90 beats per minute. Lenin's body temperature at that moment was 42.3 degrees. This increase was caused by a continuous convulsive state, which gradually began to subside. Doctors began to harbor some hope for the normalization of the condition and a favorable outcome of the seizure. However, at 18.50, blood suddenly rushed to Lenin's face, it turned red, turned purple. Then the leader took a deep breath, and the next moment he died. After that, artificial respiration was applied. The doctors tried to bring Vladimir Ilyich back to life for 25 minutes, but all the manipulations were unsuccessful. He died of heart and respiratory paralysis.

The mystery of Lenin's death

The official medical report indicated that the leader had advanced cerebral atherosclerosis. At one point, due to circulatory disorders and hemorrhage in the soft membrane, Vladimir Ilyich died. However, a number of historians believe that the murder of Lenin took place, namely: he was poisoned. The leader's condition worsened gradually. As the historian Lurie testifies, Vladimir Ilyich suffered a stroke in 1921, as a result of which the right side of his body was paralyzed. However, by 1924 he was able to recover so much that he was able to go hunting. The neurologist Winters, who studied the medical history in detail, even testified that a few hours before his death the leader was very active and even talked. Shortly before the fatal end, several convulsive seizures occurred. But, according to the neurologist, it was just a manifestation of a stroke - these symptoms are characteristic of this pathological condition. However, the matter was not only and not so much in the disease. So why did Lenin die? According to the conclusion of a toxicological examination, which was carried out during the autopsy, traces were found in the leader's body. On this basis, experts concluded that the cause of death was poison.

Explorer versions

If the leader was poisoned, then who killed Lenin? Over time, various versions began to be put forward. Stalin became the main "suspect". According to historians, it was he who more than anyone else benefited from the death of the leader. Joseph Stalin strove to become the leader of the country, and only by eliminating Vladimir Ilyich could he achieve this. According to another version about who killed Lenin, suspicions fell on Trotsky. However, this conclusion is less plausible. Many historians are of the opinion that Stalin was the customer of the murder. Despite the fact that Vladimir Ilyich and Iosif Vissarionovich were associates, the former was against the appointment of the latter as the country's leader. In this regard, realizing the danger, on the eve of his death, Lenin tried to build a tactical alliance with Trotsky. The death of the leader guaranteed Joseph Stalin absolute power. In the year of Lenin's death, a lot of political events took place. After his death, a personnel reshuffle began in the management apparatus. Many leaders were eliminated by Stalin. New people came to replace them.

Opinions of some scientists

Vladimir Ilyich died in middle age (how old Lenin died, it's easy to count). Scientists say that the walls of the cerebral vessels of the leader for his 53 years were less strong than necessary. However, the reasons for the destruction in the brain tissues remain unclear. There were no objective provoking factors for this: Vladimir Ilyich was young enough for this and did not belong to the risk group for pathologies of this kind. In addition, the politician did not smoke himself and did not allow smokers to visit him. He was neither overweight nor diabetic. Vladimir Ilyich did not suffer from hypertension or other cardiac pathologies. After the death of the leader, rumors appeared that his body was affected by syphilis, but no evidence of this was found. Some experts talk about heredity. As you know, the date of Lenin's death is January 21, 1924. He lived a year shorter than his father, who passed away at the age of 54. Vladimir Ilyich could have a predisposition to vascular pathologies. In addition, the party leader was in a state of stress almost constantly. He was often haunted by fears for his life. There was more than enough excitement both in youth and in adulthood.

Events after the death of the leader

There is no exact information about who killed Lenin. However, Trotsky in one of his articles claimed that Stalin had poisoned the leader. In particular, he wrote that in February 1923, during a meeting of members of the Politburo, Joseph Vissarionovich reported that Vladimir Ilyich urgently demanded him to see him. Lenin asked for poison. The leader began to lose his ability to speak again, he considered his position hopeless. He did not believe the doctors, he was tormented, but he kept his thoughts clear. Stalin told Trotsky that Vladimir Ilyich was tired of suffering and wanted to have poison with him, so that when it became completely unbearable, he could end everything. However, Trotsky was categorically against (in any case, he said so then). This episode has confirmation - Lenin's secretary told the writer Beck about this case. Trotsky argued that in his own words, Stalin was trying to secure an alibi for himself, planning in reality to poison the leader.

Several facts refuting that the leader of the proletariat was poisoned

Some historians believe that the most reliable information in the official conclusion of the doctors is the date of Lenin's death. The autopsy was carried out in compliance with the necessary formalities. The general secretary, Stalin, took care of this. During the autopsy, the doctors did not look for poison. But if there were shrewd specialists, then, most likely, they would have put forward a version of suicide. It is assumed that the leader did not receive poison from Stalin. Otherwise, after the death of Lenin, the successor would have destroyed all the witnesses and people who were close to Ilyich, so that not a single trace would remain. In addition, by the time of his death, the leader of the proletariat was practically helpless. Doctors did not predict significant improvements, so the likelihood of health recovery was low.

Poisoning facts

However, it should be said that the version according to which Vladimir Ilyich died of poison has many supporters. There are even a number of facts confirming this. So, for example, the writer Soloviev devoted many pages to this issue. In particular, in the book "Operation Mausoleum" Trotsky's reasoning is confirmed by a number of arguments:

There is also evidence from the physician Gabriel Volkov. It should be said that this doctor was arrested shortly after the death of the leader. While in the isolation ward, Volkov told Elizaveta Lesotho, his cellmate, about what had happened on the morning of January 21. The doctor brought Lenin lunch at 11 o'clock. Vladimir Ilyich was in bed, and when he saw Volkov, he tried to get up and held out his hands to him. However, the forces left the politician, and he fell back on the pillows. At the same time, a note fell out of my hand. Volkov managed to hide it before the doctor Elistratov entered and gave a soothing injection. Vladimir Ilyich fell silent, closed his eyes, as it turned out forever. And only in the evening, when Lenin had already died, Volkov was able to read the note. In it, the leader wrote that he was poisoned. Soloviev believes that the politician was poisoned with mushroom soup, which included the dried poisonous mushroom cortinarius ciosissimus, which caused Lenin's quick death. The struggle for power after the death of the leader was not stormy. Stalin received absolute power and became the leader of the country, eliminating all the people he disliked. The years of Lenin's birth and death have become memorable for the Soviet people for a long time.