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PAR.TISAN REVIEW
In Beria , Stalin found his match. Beria was slyer and shrewder,
compared not only to his predecessors but to Stalin as well. All Stalin's
guards had been selected by Beria. After Stalin's death, it was discovered
that his Kremlin apartment and his dachas were bugged, that his conver–
sations had been taped, and that all the recordings had been sent to Beria
on a daily basis. Stalin might have suspected this but could hardly have
been sure. Beria, though, was aware of every word Stalin uttered. Stalin
found himself in a trap that he, assisted by Beria and his ilk, had laid out
for his enemies, both real and imaginary.
Under
glasnost,
the Soviet media has been filled with rumors that
Stalin was ultimately assassinated by Beria. Whether this is true or not,
only Beria had a real chance of learning of Stalin's plot against him and
of preempting it. And it cannot be denied that at that point the Kremlin
was too small for both of them. The tyrant could be murdered, or have
his death speeded up, only by a nascent tyrant like himself.
Lozgachev recounts that the doctors arrived between half-past nine
and ten, that is, only the next day: ten hours after the guards had found
Stalin lying on the floor, "The clock struck four, five, six, seven a.m.
Still no medical assistance. It was looking like treason . Khrushchev ar–
rived at 7:30 and said that the doctors from the Kremlin hospital were
on the way."
Svetlana Alliluyeva , who was summoned later, recalls that none of
the doctors were familiar. It was the first time that they had seen the
patient, which was understandable: all the Kremlin physicians were in jail
by then. No wonder the newly arrived doctors treated their august
patient with a mystical awe.
Khrushchev remembers : "Well, we told the doctors to get going
and find out Stalin's condition. Professor Lukomskoy approached Stalin
warily. I could understand that. You know, he would touch Stalin's
hand as if it were a hot iron, shaking a bit. Beria said gruffiy, 'Are you a
doctor, or what? He's a patient, take his hand.' "
Lozgachev: "The physicians were extremely nervous. Their hands
were shaking so badly, they could not take the shirt off their patient, so
it had to be cut off with scissors. Once they had a look, they diagnosed a
blood hemorrhage. They started him on treatment: a camphor shot,
leaches, oxygen. Surgical treatment was out of the question. What sur–
geon would shoulder such responsibility, with Beria posing questions
like, 'Do you guarantee Comrade Stalin will live?' "
By then the whole country, through government and medical re–
leases, knew that Stalin was sick. Well-meaning doctors kept calling the
dacha: they begged to be let in and assured that they would cure Com–
rade Stalin. Some calls came even from abroad. A guard named Tukov
tells of a caller so persistent that eventually Beria grabbed the phone and,
