472
PAR.TISAN R.EVIEW
owned, that Molotov never had an individual car - and that nobody in
America did things like that in the first place. Nonetheless, Stalin stopped
inviting Molotov to screenings; as Khrushchev put it, Molotov was
"suspended."
[n
addition, he was married to "an agent of world Zion–
ism." His fate was sealed, like the fate of two other Politburo members,
Mikoyan and Voroshilov. They, too, were no longer invited, since Stalin
thought them to be British spies. When Khrushchev narrates Stalin's sus–
picions, he explains that his purpose is to explain "the situation, the
delusions that Stalin had in the final stage of his life." [f only this referred
to the final stage alone....
When the screening was over, all five - Stalin, Beria, Malenkov,
Bulganin, and Khrushchev - went to the "Close Dacha," the one in
Kuntzevo that was closer to Moscow than Stalin's other dachas. Ac–
cording to Khrushchev, the dinner stretched until five in the morning;
according to the staff, Stalin was alone by four. Khrushchev's last mem–
ory was of Stalin walking his guests to the lobby and playfully jabbing
Khrushchev in the stomach. He called Khrushchev "Mikita," which was a
good sign. "When he was favorably disposed, he always called me
'Mikita,' the Ukrainian version of Nikita."
After the guests were gone, Stalin surprised his guards. ''I'm going
to bed," he said. " [ won't need you. You go to bed, too."
He had never given such orders before.
At noon on March 1st, the guards noted the absence of any
movement in Stalin's study and rooms. That made them wary, but at
about 6:30 p.m., the lights went on in the study and in the hall. They
sighed relief, expecting that Stalin would summon someone. But nothing
happened.
[t
was quickly getting dark. Seven, eight, nine, ten o'clock.
Now the guards were worried: Stalin's daily routine was clearly being
disrupted.
[t
did not matter that it was Sunday: his weekend routine was
the same as on weekdays. By ten thirty, they became suspicious: some–
thing was wrong.
P. Lozgachev, the Dacha Deputy Commander, writes: "Starostin,
who was my commanding officer, kept insisting that [ should go see
Stalin. You're my superior, I told him; you go. So we kept arguing,
passing the buck.
"Finally the mail arrived, giving us a pretext to go see him. [
picked up the letters, and confidently went in to report. I passed through
a couple of rooms, but Stalin was nowhere to be seen . Finally I looked
inside the smaller dining room. The sight was horrible. I froze com–
pletely; my limbs would not obey me. Stalin was lying on the rug, next
to the table, leaning on his arm in an odd manner. He was still con–
scious, but he cou ld not talk: he had lost his speech ability. Yet he must
have heard my footsteps, and seemed to be calling me with his faintly
