211. Zaria vostoka, Oct. 29, 1937. See also Wilson, “Stalin as Ikon,” 271–3 (Wilson attended a physical culture parade on Red Square that glorified Stalin). Also on Nov. 15, 1937, two nervous functionaries in the party’s culture-enlightenment department wrote to Kaganovich and Yezhov about perceived shortcomings in Man with a Gun, the play by Nikolai Pogodin (Stukalov) on the October Revolution, which had premiered at Moscow’s Vakhtangov Theater. Kerzhentsev had inserted the character of Stalin, played by Ruben Simonov (b. 1899), days before the opening. “Simonov was given this important part [young Stalin] because he was Armenian and looked somewhat like a Georgian, and because next to Shchukin Simonov was the best actor in our company,” the letter writers complained. “But all this was not enough to transform the charming, spruce, somewhat eccentric Ruben Simonov into a future father of the people.” Kerzhentsev had dressed down Shchukin for his portrayal of Lenin (“Shchukin turned white and we stood frozen in amazement”), but Molotov told the actor that Kerzhentsev would regret his criticism. Maksimenkov, Bol’shaia tsenzura, 487–8 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 120, d. 256, l. 161–3: F. Shablovsky and K. Yukov); Jelagin, Taming of the Arts, 107–9. Molotov had witnessed Stalin’s positive reaction to Shchukin’s portrayal of Lenin in Romm’s film. See also Shchukin, Boris Vasil’evich Shchukin.
212. Stalin had instructed a visiting Chinese Nationalist delegation (Nov. 18, 1937) to build their own weapons and aviation factories, in the rear, because capitalists tended to sell mostly substandard arms, and might stop selling to China altogether. Ledovskii et al., Russko-kitaiskie otnosheniia v XX veke, IV/i: 151–7 (November 18, APRF, f. 45, op. 1, d. 321, l. 20–8). See also Ledovskii et al., Russko-kitaiskie otnosheniia v XX veke, IV/i: 136–8 (APRF, f. 45, op. 1, d. 321, l. 16–9: Voroshilov, Nov. 1).
213. Taylor, Generalissimo, 161.
214. MacKinnon, Wuhan. Membership would reach 800,000 by 1940.
215. Ledovskii et al., Russko-kitaiskie otnosheniia v XX veke, IV/i: 180 (APRF, f. 45, op. 1, d. 324, l. 21, Dec. 24, 1937).
216. The Soviet of Nationalities was to be filled by representatives of the union and the autonomous republics without regard to their size or population.
217. Pavlova, “1937.” As one soldier in the Soviet Far East aptly commented, according to an NKVD report, “So Stalin says that’s the way it will be and then everything is democratic.” Merritt, “Great Purges,” 168.
218. Pravda, Dec. 7, 1937; Getty, “State and Society.”
219. Fitzpatrick, Everyday Stalinism, 179–82. See also Golubev, “Esli mir obrushitsia na nashu Respubliku,” 68 (citing TsAODM, f. 3, op. 50, d. 16, l. 117–9).
220. RGASPI, f. 558, op. 1, d. 5011, l. 1–2. At factories and collective farms, Cheka anniversary lectures were staged.
221. Khaustov et al., Lubianka: Stalin i glavnoe upravlenie, 459 (RGASPI, f. 17, op. 3, d. 994, l. 17: Dec. 9, 1937).
222. Pravda, Dec. 21, 1937; Izvestiia, Dec. 21, 1937; Sultanbekov, “Nikolai Ezhov,” 28; Mlechin, KGB, 176–7.
223. Conquest, Inside Stalin’s Secret Police, 50–1.
224. Vecherniaia Moskva, Dec. 21, 1937: 1.
225. Jelagin, Taming of the Arts, 167. Pravda (Dec., 17, 1937) had denounced Meyerhold in a broadside titled “A Foreign Theater.”
226. Na prieme, 227.
227. Khaustov et al., Lubianka: Stalin i glavnoe upravlenie, 268 (APRF, f. 3, op. 24, d. 316, l. 50–61; July 23, 1937).
228. Bowing to practical demands, Molotov had to acquiesce in the promotion of non-party specialists to factory and administrative positions. “We have to admit at the present time, it is not simply a question of the selection of cadres,” Molotov said of a draft decree on Dec. 29, 1937. “What we are doing is a broad-front promotion of new cadres. We need to select new cadres who can work better than the old ones, who have not turned sour or gone over to the enemy camp.” Khlevniuk, “Economic Officials in the Great Terror,” 60 (citing GARF, f. 5446, op. 22, d. 1065, l. 10–7, 19–20).
229. This was evidently a meeting of the politburo, which commenced at 6:05 p.m. The logbook lists Molotov, Kaganovich, Kalinin, Chubar, Mikoyan, Voroshilov, Andreyev, Yezhov, and Zhdanov (candidate members), and Voznesensky (not a member). It does not list Kosior (full member) or Postyshev, Eihe, or Petrovsky (candidate members). Na prieme, 227–8.
230. Chigirin, Stalin, 88–114 (RGASPI, f. 558, op. 11, d. 1482, l. 60–99). Yezhov would have the medical record forwarded to Vlasik on Dec. 12, 1938.
