How many times did Stalin go to the front during the Great Patriotic War? How Stalin went to the front the only time Where did Stalin go abroad

Soviet Union They are often depicted as a territory of evil, in which they did nothing but oppress their citizens. Especially now they like to speculate that the USSR en masse “preserved” its citizens within the country and in no case agreed to release them abroad. As usual, in all such legends there is truth and fiction together.

Here, as they say, there is a double-edged sword. In the country of the Soviets it was possible to travel abroad. But there were several BUTs here.

Did you have a USSR passport?

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Firstly, diplomats (they were required to do so as part of their duties), cultural and sports figures (although this was not without its own nuances) and also, of course, intelligence service employees, traveled more or less freely abroad. Even without much delay, high-ranking party members were given the right to travel. Well, this is not surprising. But with ordinary citizens everything was completely different.

Does the director mind?

One of the first things that needed to be resolved was with the authorities. The director of the enterprise where a citizen who wanted to travel abroad worked, regardless of the place of travel - to the countries of the socialist camp (although here it was simpler) or to the countries of the camp - had to obtain permission and a positive reference from his boss.

Then it was necessary to get the same from the head of the trade union committee and the political committee. Here, basically, it could not be done without bribes and “souvenirs”. This is when someone who wanted to see the world obliged to bring all this brethren some souvenirs from distant and not so distant countries. He obliged, of course, unofficially. If everything went smoothly and no one put a spoke in the wheels, we could move on to the next stage.

State passport

In the USSR there was such an amazing institution - OVIR, or in its entirety - the Department of Visas and Registration. It was there that you had to go with permission from your superiors, characteristics, your own passport, as well as a detailed and detailed explanation of why you, a citizen of the best country in the world, were going to go somewhere abroad, especially to the countries of “decaying capitalism.”

Expert opinion

Mercury Stepan Igorevich

A prominent historian, expert in the field of research into the history of the USSR, member of the archaeological society, academician.

Quite often, without such an invitation, the application might not be considered at all. But still, they deigned to satisfy your desire and considered your application to travel abroad. But that was far from the end of the story. Applications had to be submitted very in advance - 45 days before the date of intended departure to capitalist countries, 30 days if a person wanted to travel around the socialist bloc.

Subject to all the bureaucracy, the citizen’s request was transferred to the Moscow department of the KGB, where it was carefully considered on an individual basis. Otherwise, maybe you’re dysfunctional, or you might even have valuable information for the enemy. By the way, people working at state-owned enterprises associated with the military or space industry, and all others, were not allowed to go abroad at the official level. When they started working, they signed a written undertaking not to leave the place.

When the decision was positive, a foreign passport arrived in the mail of the Soviet citizen who expressed a desire to visit abroad. He had to be approved by the same OVIR, and also had to pay 105 rubles - 5 for the foreign trip itself, another 100 for the work done.

It is forbidden to talk to strangers

But even here the influence of the Soviet system on the life and leisure of its people did not end. When visiting abroad, USSR residents were accommodated only in certain hotels, wandering around “anywhere” was forbidden, and it was also forbidden to enter into conversations with foreigners.

Throughout the rest of the time preceding Gorbachev’s reign, soviet man Even though he could travel around the world and see distant countries, all this was connected with such a bureaucracy that only the most persistent remained.

The first step of the Soviet government to restrict exit from the country was the Instruction to the Commissioners of Border Points Russian Republic“On the rules of entry and exit from Russia” dated December 21, 1917. According to the new rules, foreign and Russian citizens were required to have a foreign passport to leave the country. Russian citizens were required to obtain permission to travel from the foreign department of the Internal Affairs Committee in Petrograd, or in Moscow, from the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs. Thus, strict supervision was established over all citizens crossing the state border.

New rules for the entry of citizens into the country from abroad were approved by the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs on January 12, 1918, and the decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR "On ownerless property" dated November 3, 1920 practically excluded the possibility of the return of emigrated citizens ever in the future. Thus, Soviet authority in fact, it deprived millions of emigrants and refugees of their property, and therefore of all the basics of existence in their native land and the prospects of return. If before 1920 foreign passports could be obtained from the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs, then with the introduction of changes this document also had to receive a visa from the Special Department of the Cheka.

For the first time, the proposal to impose the death penalty for attempting to return from abroad without the sanction of the authorities was voiced by Lenin in May 1922 at a meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee during a discussion of the draft Criminal Code of the RSFSR. However, no decision was made.

According to new rules introduced on June 1, 1922, it was necessary to obtain special permission to travel abroad People's Commissariat Foreign Affairs (NKID). It is quite obvious that this further complicated the exit process, making it almost impossible. Neither journalists, nor writers, nor other artists could go abroad; these people had to wait special decision Politburo of the Central Committee of the RCP (b).

The procedure for traveling abroad became more stringent every year, and the “Regulations on entry and exit from the USSR”, issued on June 5, 1925, became a new stage in tightening travel rules. The situation made the exit procedure extremely strict. All foreign countries were declared a “hostile capitalist encirclement.”

A logical continuation in the chain of tightening procedures for traveling abroad and construction “ iron curtain"became Stalin's law of June 9, 1935. Escaping across the border was punishable by death. At the same time, the relatives of the defectors were, naturally, also declared criminals.

The introduction of such a severe penalty for fleeing the country was dictated not only by the logic of total repression, but was also a kind of reinsurance. The authorities feared the start of mass emigration if famine recurred in the country.

The law providing for execution for illegal emigration was repealed only after the death of Joseph Stalin. Escape from the territory of the USSR was now punishable by imprisonment. Strict restrictions regarding the possibility of leaving the USSR lasted almost until its collapse. The first serious step towards liberalizing migration legislation was the Law “On Entry and Exit”, adopted in 1990.

In addition to diplomats, military personnel traveled abroad under Stalin (Spain, Mongolia, China, and then everywhere), scientists, sales representatives, engineers, doctors. They all traveled on business. But was it different in other countries? It happened, but only in one country. In Germany, before the war, cruise ships were built specifically for the organization engaged in leisure activities for workers, “Strength through Joy,” so that ordinary German workers could travel around Europe on their legal vacation. 20 million people have traveled abroad in this way. This fact is exceptional because in the first half of the twentieth century, paid leave was a very new trend, and in Germany even seasonal workers had the right to leave.

I wish the shit of the nation would think: why the hell and where did the Soviet people under Stalin, who had a guaranteed right to vacation, have to go? For what? There was no fashion to lie belly up on Turkish beaches at that time. Wild Soviet people - they didn’t know what it meant to “get high”, “have a blast” and “stick out”. Their entertainment was somewhat primitive, mostly related to sports. It was generally impossible to get into the flying clubs - there were 10-15 applicants for one place. They also loved to dance to the accordion, go to the cinema, walk in the city park and read books. The villain Stalin bullied the poor so much Soviet people that they didn’t even want to go abroad. Horror!

Another question is more interesting: why did the Soviet shit of the nation consider the most heinous crime of the communist regime to be the fact that this filthy regime did not allow the intelligentsia to wander idly abroad? The fact is that the Soviet intelligentsia was plagued by a terrible inferiority complex. After all, the shit of the nation considered itself an elite, and wanted to behave like an elite - that is, to push around the cattle and enjoy the material joys of life. And the damned Soviet regime forced intellectuals to work. And in the West, there was a real elite, living a full-fledged elite lifestyle, and the Soviet shit of the nation sought to join this real life at any cost.

But this desire was expressed in the most primitive fetishism. The intelligentsia stupidly tried to imitate all Western fashions, even if they did not understand their meaning. Everything foreign was idolized, a trip abroad was perceived as a sacred act (well, like for a Muslim to perform the Hajj). What attracted intellectuals abroad - books, museums, architecture, nature? No way! The shit of the nation attracted only three things abroad - junk, junk, and more junk. Well, and also a little bit of the smell of freedom, because it smelled like junk.
Under Stalin, the intelligentsia was kept in a black body, and therefore the Soviet Union was a strong world power. Then the shit of the nation multiplied, became ugly, stank and killed the Soviet Union. The intelligentsia never became an elite. But she got the opportunity to shit with impunity, calmly degrade and jerk off to Western fetishes, which are shown to her on TV as a consolation for not being allowed into the elite.