Vladimir Dmitrievich Uspensky is known to most readers as a writer, from whose pen came a novel dedicated to the study of the personality of Joseph Stalin. This book was created over thirty years, consists of 15 parts and is devoted to an attempt to objective literary research.
The first part of The Secret Advisor to the Leader was first published in 1988, although it was written much earlier. And the novel was completed in 2000.
Background of creation
The writer had the desire to create a literary work about Stalin back in 1953, when he accidentally got an archive document that slightly lifts the curtain of secrecy over perhaps the most incomprehensible ruler of Russia of modern times.
A historian by training and a military historian by vocation - as Vladimir Uspensky spoke of himself - more than once helped to create memoirs for famous military leaders. And here is the following case: in the early 70s, the writer met with a certain Lukashov Nikolai Alekseevich (a fictitious name). The latter handed Ouspensky a large amount of diary, memoirs of his service as secret adviser to Joseph Stalin.
On the advice of Sholokhov, who praised his novel Unknown Soldiers, Vladimir Dmitrievich began work on a novel about a leader of all time. The main task is objectivity or its attempt, which, as you know, is not torture.
Confession or eyewitness accounts?
So, to the writer, who created more than one book about the "fiery revolutionaries", two suitcases with manuscripts fall. These are notes of a person who enjoys the exclusive trust of Stalin.
In the novel, he is called Nikolai Alekseevich Lukashov. This is a fictitious name of a real person, according to legend from a book, a former tsarist officer who, even during the revolutionary events, turned out to be close to Stalin by chance. The real name of the character is not called. Lukashov not only made friends with the future leader, but also, thanks to his education and diplomatic art, became his secret adviser.
One can only guess how, when and why a diary was kept about all the significant events taking place around I. Stalin. It gives characteristics of the leader’s comrades-in-arms, relations with them, the history of the adoption of certain decisions and the reasons that influenced the events in the country (which preceded them) are recorded.
The narration is conducted on behalf of Lukashov, and it seems that the Privy Councilor was invisibly present under Stalin forever. It is impossible, say, to penetrate into personal conversations of a leader, for example, with Sergo Ordzhonikidze. It is impossible to know what their ongoing disputes were about, and also what is more important - the party or its leader. The impression that wiretapping was installed everywhere, everyone listened, including Sam recorded all his conversations.
In this case, maybe this is not a memoir at all, but a chronology of events recorded by kilometers of recordings of all behind-the-scenes, cabinet and public conversations in which Stalin and his shadow were present - secret adviser Lukashov?
Country development or a course towards personality cult
The chronology of events, the adoption of the most important decisions for the country in the novel are described in sufficient detail and benevolently towards Stalin.
It was the benevolent tone of the book, the explanation of the behind-the-scenes intrigues and the comprehension of various actions of the leader as the only possible, maybe not always true, that caused a storm of indignation among opponents of the policy of I. Stalin. Accordingly, the novel was repeatedly criticized, but was at the same time the most widely read book.
The Book Review newspaper, summing up the reader’s interest for 1991, states that Vladimir Uspensky was the most widely read writer of the time thanks to his latest novel. The library data also informs that in 1995 the book came out in second place after Astafyev’s novel “Damned and killed.”
The nineties allowed people to learn the secret, to be interested in an unknown, silent history, it is not surprising that the memoir book about Stalin aroused genuine interest, because it did not go for the sake of time, was not published in connection with the current situation, but quite the contrary - went contrary to known stereotypes.
It is difficult to say whether the author managed to answer the question: who was Joseph Stalin, but he is an integral part of the country's history. It was not in vain that Vysotsky wrote: “closer to the heart we pricked profiles (of Stalin) so that he could hear the beating of the heart” ... and it’s true that the country sobbed soberly the deceased leader.
The phenomenon of the novel
Often this book is called a novel of confession, without the shadow of a lie or falsehood. However, when it comes to confession, the real face of the "Privy Counselor" must be open. Using the technique of memoirs, Uspensky Vladimir leaves a secret to the true identity of the narrator. There is intrigue, but is it possible to trust the "mask"?
Indeed, a confessional tone is present in the narrative, the author of the memoirs Lukashov, as it were, explains the sources and results of actions. True, not his own, but the leader. Therefore, here, rather, not a confession, but a frank one that is called “uncolluted”, a retelling of the events that took place, various decisions of the leader, their influence on the fate of the country.
Throughout the course of the action, not only the scale of building communism in Russia changes, but the scale of Stalin’s personality also changes. Multiplying his authority and Lenin’s idea of ​​communism, Joseph Stalin irretrievably loses something profound and universal in himself, he loses friends, wife, children. Is it a lot or a little nationwide? Could Stalin remain the same as he came to the revolution? Probably not, time and power were doing their job.
However, the phenomenon of the novel is an attempt to remain apolitical regardless of propaganda and politics in the country. The existence, outside of politics, of the most important instigator of all political movements, the choice of the grain of the novel: Stalin is a man, not a “father of peoples” —this task is accomplished by writer Uspensky Vladimir Dmitrievich 100%.
Before the reader appears the image of first and foremost a person - contradictory, harsh, ideological; adherent of the revolution and a fan of power. The deep conviction that no one except him knows how to build communism makes Stalin fight even harder for power. He was a faithful Leninist and hoped to put the ideas of the leader of the revolution into reality, whatever the cost to himself.
Does the book have a future
In connection with the appearance of the novel, the phrase "secret adviser to the leader" began to be used in a figurative sense, talking about unofficial rulers of various structures.
It is unlikely that this meaning was put into the phrase by the author of the novel. But secret advisers have always been with the rulers and, apparently, will be. The openness of power is desired by the people, but is it always useful.
However, having read the book, he will be able to find out not only unknown facts about events in power and in the country, receive biographical information about many outstanding personalities in the history of the Soviet period. But also to understand how the most insignificant movement of the eyebrows or mustache of the ruler-leader can lead to tragic consequences for the whole country.
Future generations decide whether to read or not. But it seems that those who are interested in history should learn to read not only the written, but also between the lines, revealing the unexplored and hidden facts of our rich history.