Leo Mehlis. Biography of the chain dog Stalin

Stalin's entourage consisted of people who were inferior to the General Secretary in both intellect and volitional qualities. From time to time, when doubts arose in someone's loyalty, the leader of the party and the people checked her with rather cruel methods, for example, sending his wife "ringing the bowler" in the camps.

The Soviet state system had a strictly and clearly organized vertical structure, and at the very top of the pyramid sat the supreme ruler, I.V. Stalin, who became a deity during his lifetime. A few people could challenge his decisions, and to merit his anger often meant to sign a death sentence for himself. Often, but not always.

One of the people who annoyed Stalin, but who did not pay for this life, was Mehlis Lev Zakharovich. His biography as a politician was not distinguished by his impeccability from the Bolshevik point of view. He was not a worker, a underground worker who fought the tsarist regime, he too can not be called. The clerk, then the tutor, unlike many members of the Politburo, he did not have a prison record. Membership in the Zionist party can hardly be called an active struggle against the autocracy, Poalei Zion could hardly claim the leadership of the proletariat of Russia.

With the outbreak of World War I the twenty-five-year-old Lev obediently goes to serve in the army and, having reached the non-commissioned officer rank, meets the February Revolution. Then comes the October Revolution. What does the striker Mehlis do at this time? Biography at least the official is silent about it. Then - a fast career. Entering in 1918 in the RCP (b), he immediately commissions, at first at the level of the brigade, then - the division. It took Lev Zakharovich just two years to become the leader of the political group of troops.

Since 1921 Mehlis is Stalin's ally, and the most direct, he is assistant to his secretary. Unencumbered by completely unnecessary university diplomas, he is perfectly oriented in the party line, which often fluctuates in the turbulent twenties. This ability helps in the work of the editor-in-chief of Pravda.

Despite impressive posts, the image of this leader does not cause any great sympathy. A common party chatterbox, capable of reasoning only in general terms, without going into specifics, there were many such, and Stalin did not really like them. What did he like Mehlis so much? The biography of many co-workers repressed in the thirties was heroic, and knowledge deeper.

The father of the peoples himself answered this question. He said somehow that Lev Zakharovich is completely incapable of creating anything, he can only destroy. Obviously, such a narrow specialization affected the quality of his work: if you have already instructed, it will precisely fulfill.

Army commissioner of the first rank - a position in which Mehlis met in 1941. His biography was enlarged with a bright chapter, he began to deal with the causes of the military catastrophes of the Red Army of the initial period of the war. In his old habit, Lev Zakharovich tries to occupy a position that is advantageous for himself, criticizing the actions of military commanders, harshly denouncing them and not responding to the result of combat operations. During the failed actions of 1942 in the Crimea, Stalin sends him an extraordinarily verbose telegram for him, in which he criticizes this attitude to the mission assigned.

He was demoted, removed from the posts of the chief of Glavpur and the deputy defense minister, it would seem that everything is over. Why Mehlis was not shot? The biography continued, the career was restored - by 1944 he was a colonel-general. Probably, the organizational skills were still appreciated and could be useful in the future ...

About how Lev Zakharovich received his doctorate in economics, history is silent. He obviously became a doctor of political science deservedly.

Ruthless struggle with enemies undermined the health of a loyal Leninist-Stalinist. In 1950, he was no longer able to perform the paladic functions and was sent to retirement. On February 18, 1953, just twenty days before the great leader, Mehlis finished his earthly journey. His ashes were buried in the Kremlin wall.