185. The USSR had lost to Mexico by a single vote. Stalin added that “now you couldn’t chase Litvinov from the assembly presidium with a broom.” Khlevniuk et al., Stalin i Kaganovich, 561–2 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 89, l. 92–3: Sept. 11, 1935), 562–3 (l. 93: Sept. 11), 563 (l. 103: Sept. 12), 563–4 (l. 99–102: Sept. 12). See also DVP SSSR, XVIII: 523–4 (telegram to Litvinov, Oct. 4, 1935), 525–6 (Potyomkin speech Oct. 10), 661 (Potomykin telegram, Oct. 11); Adibekov et al., Politbiuro TsK RKP (b)—VKP (b) i Evropa, 329–30 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 162, d. 18, l. 173), 330 (l. 175), 330–1 (l. 178), 332 (l. 187), 333 (op. 162, d. 19, l. 14), 334 (l. 32), 337–8 (d. 20, l. 4, 8); and Walters, History of the League of Nations, I: 358–9. Stalin allowed Litvinov to support sanctions against Italy, but the politburo instructed him to “follow an independent Soviet line . . . and avoid anything that could be interpreted as a subordination of our line to the position of Britain.” Adibekov et al., Politbiuro TsK RKP (b)—VKP (b) i Evropa, 331 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 162, d. 18, l. 178: Oct. 15, 1935).
186. DGFP, series C, IV: 778–9 (Oct. 29, 1935).
187. Murin, Stalin v ob”iatiakh, 183 (Svanidze diary: Nov. 17, 1935).
188. She was either 75 or 77 (Keke’s birth year remains uncertain because of a possible effort to increase her age at marriage). Stalin had visited her, briefly, in 1921 and in 1927.
189. Murin, Stalin v ob”iatiakh, 16–7 (l. 45–6: March 24, 1934). “I. V. profoundly suffered from the loss of his wife and friend,” Vlasik would recall. Loginov, Teni Stalina, 97. Artyom recalled an incident when Vasily told his father that he and his buddies had seen old women crossing themselves and praying, and how they threw a firecracker at their feet. Stalin erupted: “Why, why did you do that?! Vasily: “Why were they praying?!” Stalin: “Do you respect grandmother? Do you love her? She prays. Because she knows something that you do not know!” Sergeev and Glushik, Besedy o Staline, 89–96; Moskovskii komsomolets, Aug. 3, 2004.
190. Sukharev, “Litsedeistvo,” 106 (citing PA IIP pri TsK KP Gruzii, f. 8, op. 1, d. 17, l. 20, 24: G. V. Khachapuridze, 54).
191. A visiting Moscow inspector had just approved the plans. Sokolov, Beriia, 97–8 (Sept. 1935).
192. Stalin, in a letter to his mother (June 11, 1935), mentioned she was ill (“Do not be afraid of illness, get strong, it shall pass”). Murin, Stalin v ob”iatiakh, 18 (APRF, f. 45, op. 1, d. 1549, l. 55–6). Beria had had a journalist transcribe and edit what were purported to be Keke’s “memoirs,” which he evidently intended to use to flatter Stalin. (Instead, they were buried in the Georgian party archive.) The interviews took place on Aug. 23, 25, and 27, 1935. Dzhugashvili, Moi syn Iosif Stalin. See also the hearsay about Stalin in Georgia at this time: Blagoveshchenskii, “V gostiakh u P. A. Sharii,” 472n28.
193. The same source has Stalin saying, “Mama, do you remember our tsar? Well, I’m something like the tsar.” “You’d have done better to become a priest,” Keke is said to have replied. Radzinsky, Stalin, 24 (recollections of N. Kipshidze, a doctor who treated Keke, quoted without citation).
194. On the supposed lingering influence of Georgian literary styles on Stalin, see Vaiskopf, Pistael’ Stalin, 130–1, 181–98.
195. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 92, l. 22–3.
196. Dorofeev, “Mat.” One observer in the same issue reminisced that “whoever has met comrade Stalin even just once, will never forget his modesty, wisdom, and ability to size up events quickly and offer correct, clear directives, will never forget his sagacity, his ability to cultivate in a person a lifelong selfless dedication to the cause of the working class, implacability against all enemies of the revolution.” Here was a self-portrait in another’s words.
197. “Beseda s mater’iu tovarishcha Stalina,” Pravda, Oct. 27, 1935; Zaria vostoka (Oct. 28).
198. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 92, l.82.
199. DGFP, series C, IV: 482–3 (July 26, 1935), 493–6 (July 27), 507–10 (July 30), 596–8 (Aug. 29), 618–20 (Sept. 5), 825–9 (Nov. 18), 833–5 (Nov. 19), 835–7 (Nov. 19), 841–2 (Nov. 20), 847–9 (Nov. 22), 849–51 (Nov. 23), 859–62 (Nov. 27), 866–8 (Nov. 30), 872–4 (Dec. 8), 925–6 (Dec. 18). The French Assembly would ratify the pact with the USSR on Feb. 27, 1936 (353 votes to 164); the Congress of Soviets would do so on March 8, 1936.
200. DGFP, series C, IV: 778–9 (Oct. 28, 1935), 783–4 (Nov. 1), 811–3 (Nov. 11, 1935); Na prieme, 171; Weinberg, Foreign Policy, I: 221–2. Schacht and Kandelaki haggled over how much of existing debts the Soviets needed to pay in gold and hard currency.
