Young Stalin (69 page)

That day on Yerevan Square: Roy Stanley De Lon,
Stalin and Social Democracy, 1905–1922: The Political Diaries of David A. Sagirashvili
(henceforth Sagirashvili), pp. 183–86. Candide Charkviani, “Memoirs,” p. 15, on Kamo and Kote. Robert Service,
Stalin
, p. 163. Okhrana on Kamo spending all July with Lenin at dacha: Edward Ellis Smith,
The Young Stalin
(henceforth Smith), pp. 200–206. Boris Souvarine,
Staline
, pp. 93–110. Essad Bey,
Stalin
(henceforth Essad Bey), p. 82. L. D. Trotsky,
Stalin
, pp. 96–100. Miklos Kun,
Stalin: An Unknown Portrait
(henceforth Kun), pp. 73–75.

On Tiflis: Stephen F. Jones,
Socialism in Georgian Colors
(henceforth Jones), pp. 160–67. Razhden Arsenidze, “Iz vospominaniya o Staline” (henceforth Arsenidze). Boris Bazhanov,
Stalin
, p. 107. A. V. Baikaloff,
I Knew Stalin
, p. 20. Arrest of Djugashvili, known as teacher of workers and said to be always holding himself apart: GMIKA 116, Report of Chief of Kutaisi Province Gendarmerie to the Police Department, 9 Apr. 1902.
Armenian Review
no. 2 (3), 7 Sept. 1949, p. 114. Martov libel case: RGASPI 558.2.42. Kun, pp. 81–84;
Pravda
, 1 April 1918;
Vperod
, 31 March 1918. Stalin’s role: interviews with Voznesensky, 20 Sept. 1907, and 10 June 1908, and with Comrade Koba (J. Stalin), 19 Mar. 1908: RGASPI 332.1.53: 15 (2) O2. 23 (10), 1905–1910, TSL Organized Committee to Investigate Tiflis Expropriation. Stalin on the bank robbery: GDMS 87.1955–368.11–13, Alexandra “Sashiko” Svanidze-Monoselidze: Kamo’s sword. The other inside man: GF IML 8.2.1.54.214–15, Kote Charkviani, in which the memoirist, recording his memoirs in 1936, specifies how Stalin and Kamo groomed Gigo Kasradze, who was the brother-in-law of the priest’s son Kote Charkviani. International newspapers:
Moskovskie Vedomosti
, 14, 15, 16, 17, 21 June 1907.
Isari
, 14 July 1907.
Le Temps
, 27 June 1907.
Daily Mirror
, 27 June 1907.
The Times
, 27 and 29 June 1907.

2.
Berlin: Ostrovsky, pp. 256–59. I. V. Stalin,
Sochineniya
, 13:122 Stalin to Ludwig; also Smith, pp. 198–99. Trotsky,
Stalin
, pp. 96–107.

3.
Arsenidze, p. 220—young men followed Stalin. GF IML 8.5.384.3–10, Autobiographical notes by Kamo. Stalin’s magnetism by Kamo’s sister Dzhavaira Khutulashvili: Kun, p. 75. Kamo’s face: Sergei Alliluyev and Anna Alliluyeva,
Alliluyev Memoirs
, pp. 220–21. Role of girls, etc.: GF IML 8.2.1.624.1–26, Bachua Kupriashvili.

4.
GDMS 87.1955–368.11–13: Alexandra “Sashiko” Svanidze-Monoselidze.

5.
Davrichewy, pp. 174–77, 188–89, 237–39. Charkviani, “Memoirs,” p. 15—Kamo truly amazing.

6.
On the balcony as the bombs explode: GDMS 87.1955–368.11–13, Alexandra “Sashiko” Svanidze-Monoselidze.

7.
Kun, p. 69, quoting Shaumian’s son Levan—interview with Kun. Dirty business: Stalin to Yuri Zhdanov, see S. Montefiore,
Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
(henceforth Montefiore), p. 507.

8.
Stalin’s knowledge of the bank robbery before and after: GDMS 87.1955–368.11–13, Alexandra “Sashiko” Svanidze-Monoselidze. Souvarine,
Staline
, p. 100, quoting Tsintsadze. Charkviani, “Memoirs”—the fanatic Marxist. Minadora Ordzhonikidze-Toroshelidze, “Memoirs”—“man in grey,” possibly a reference to Leonid Andreyev’s play
Life of Man
.

9.
Davrichewy, pp. 237–39, 174–77, 188–89.

10.
RGASPI 558.4.647—Stalin carries Mauser: see Kun, p. 117. Arsenidze interviews, Nikolaevsky box 667, series 279, folder 4–5. See
chapter 18
, note 1.

11.
RGASPI 332.1.53:15 (2) O2. 23 (10), 1905–1910, TSK Organized Committee to Investigate Tiflis Expropriation. GDMS 87.1955–368.11–13: Alexandra “Sashiko” Svanidze-Monoselidze. GF IML 8.2.1.54.214–15, Kote Charkviani. GF IML 8.2.1.22, memoirs of G. Kasradze quoted by Ostrovsky, pp. 259–67. Razhden Arsenidze, interviews nos. 1–3, 103–4, Nikolaevsky box 667, series 279, folder 4–5.GF IML 8.2.1.624.1–26, Bachua Kupriashvili.

12.
GF IML 8.2.1.624.1–26, Bachua Kupriashvili. Trotsky,
Stalin
, p. 104, quoting Bessedovsky on Sumbatov. Baikaloff,
I Knew Stalin
, p. 20. Radzinsky,
Stalin
, p. 61, quotes P. A. Pavlenko. Arsenidze, interviews nos. 1–3, 103–4, Nikolaevsky box 667, series 279, folder 4–5.

13.
Report of Chief of Kutaisi Gendarmerie Maj.-Gen. Shopchansky:
Batumskaya Demonstratsia 1902 goda
(henceforth
Batumskaya)
, pp. 235–36.

14.
Handwritten account by Raphael Bagratuni of the memoirs of his relation the Okhrana officer Alexander Bagratuni/Bagratov sent to Isaac Don Levine: thanks to Roman Brackman private collection. This source is highly dubious yet its claims are well informed on details that have only recently surfaced in the Okhrana files in Tiflis and Stanford, such as the fact that the Okhrana expected the expropriation earlier in the year and the involvement of the SRs of Tiflis. His reference to a mansion perhaps has the same source as the Trotsky-Bessedovsky tale of Prince Sumbatov’s house. Tbilisi folklore: Dr. Peter Mamradze interview on stories of Kamo’s drunken claims in early 1920s.

15.
Arsenidze, interviews nos. 1–3, 103–4, Nikolaevsky box 667, series 279, folder 4–5.

16.
GF IML 8.2.1.624.1–26, Bachua Kupriashvili. Dubinsky-Mukhadze,
Kamo
, pp. 71–84. GF IML 8.2.1.5. RGASPI 558.6.658; Ostrovsky, p. 454; Niall Ferguson,
The World’s Banker: History of the House of Rothschild
, pp. 1034–36, Appendix One, “Prices and Purchasing Power.” A scholar of Imperial Russia, Greg King, simply converts Romanov-era roubles into today’s U.S.$ by multiplying by ten, which turns 341,000 roubles into $3.4 million (one halves that dollar figure to convert into today’s pounds sterling). None of these figures, however, gives the real value of the rouble in 1907; see Note on “Money.” Contemporaries reckoned that the Emperor of Russia’s private fortune of land, art, palaces, jewels and mineral wealth was about 14 million roubles. In today’s money, that is only about £70 million ($140 million). One simply has to conclude that the bank robbery scored a very substantial amount of money. Greg King’s
The Court of the Last Tsar
, pp. 231–39. GDMS 87.1955–368.11–13: Alexandra “Sashiko” Svanidze-Monoselidze. Capt. Zubov bribed: Ostrovsky, pp. 545–47.

17.
Nadezhda Krupskaya,
Memoirs of Lenin
(henceforth Krupskaya), pp. 40 and 151–52. Radzinsky,
Alexander II
, p. 227, on Bakunin. Frank Owen,
Three Dictators
, pp. 114–15.

18.
Uratadze, p. 234. Kun, p. 127. Davrichewy, pp. 237–39, 174–77, 188–89. GDMS 87.1955–368.11–13: Alexandra “Sashiko” Svanidze Monoselidze. Owen,
Three Dictators
, pp. 114–15. GF IML 8.2.1.624.1–26. Dubinsky-Mukhadze,
Kamo
, pp. 71–84. Akopian,
Shaumian
, p. 64. GF IML 8.2.1.5. RGASPI 558.6.658. Ostrovsky, p. 454.

1 · KEKE’S MIRACLE: SOSO

1.
Beso-Keke marriage. The main source of this chapter, unless otherwise stated, is Keke herself in her memoirs, GF IML 8.2.15.2–15, E. G. Djugashvhili, recorded on 23, 25, 27 Aug. 1935 by L. Kasradze (henceforth Keke). Marriage records: GF IML 8.5.213 and RGASPI 558.4.1.1,
Zaria Vostoka
, 8 June 1937, and RGASPI 558.4.665, M. K. Abramidze-Tsikhatatrishvili. Keke’s chestnut hair, slender, large eyes: GF IML 8.2.1.1.143–6, M. K. Abramidze-Tsikhatatrishvili. Keke pretty, Beso a runt: Davrichewy, p. 26. Beso’s originality: GF IML 8.2.1.48, N. Tlashadze. Gori weddings: D. Suliashvili,
Uchenichesky gody
(henceforth Suliashvili), p. 24. Sources quoted from: V. Kaminsky and I. Vereshchagin, “Detstvo i yunost vozhdya” (henceforth Kaminsky-Vereshchagin). The home: V. Vishnevsky, “Domik v Gori,”
Zaria Vostoka
, 27 Dec. 1937, pp. 27–28.

Georgian behaviour ritualized: D. Rayfield,
Stalin and the Hangmen
, p. 15. Singing on way to market: Kun, p. 227.

2.
Ossetia: Kun, p. 19.
Genealogichesky Zhurnal
no. 1,2001, pp. 39–40. Stalin,
Works
, 2: 363.

3.
Beso’s own account of his origins: Keke, pp. 2–15. Davrichewy, p. 26. The best review of the evidence is by Ostrovsky, pp. 76–82. Zaza: M. Lobanov,
Stalin: v vospominaniyakh sovremennikov i dokumentov epokhi
(henceforth Lobanov), p. 13. Beso’s death, registered as “Ossetian”: GF IML 8.14.160.1–8.

4.
Geladze family: Ostrovsky, pp. 82–84. Keke, pp. 2–15. Kaminsky-Vereshchagin, pp. 22–101, especially G. I. Elisabedashvili (p. 25) and Maria Abramidze-Tsikhatatrishvili.

5.
Davrichewy, p. 26. GF IML 8.2.1.48, N. Tlashadze. GF IML 8.2.1.49.185.210, Kote Khakhanashvili. GF IML 8.2.1.9, Ivan Geldiashvili.

6.
Births: GF IML 8.5.213.41–53. RGASPI 71.10.275.24/558.4.2.1. RGASPI 558.4.2.2. New dates: Kun, p. 8; Ostrovsky, p. 83. “Kogda rodilsa I. V. Stalin,”
Izvestiya TSK KPSS
no. 1,1990, p. 132. Stalin looked more and more like Beso: GF IML 8.2.1.53, Alexander M. Tsikhatatrishvili.

7.
GF IML 8.2.1.53, Alexander M. Tsikhatatrishvili. Author’s interview with Gulia (Galina) Djugashvili, daughter of Yakov Djugashvili.

8.
Nikita Khrushchev,
Khrushchev Remembers
, 1:301–2 (henceforth Khrushchev). Stalin speech to generals of VVS RKKA and government on 22 Mar. 1938, quoted in Ostrovsky, p. 55. Dato: GF IML 8.2.1.8, Dato Gasitashvili. Kamo: GF IML 8.2.1.50.239–55, Dzhavaira Khutulashvili,
née
Ter-Petrossian, Kamo’s sister.

9.
Suliashvili, p. 8. Charkviani, “Memoirs,” pp. 1–2. Keke GF IML 8.2.1.53, Alexander M. Tsikhatatrishvili. Author’s interview with Gulia (Galina) Djugashvili. Baedeker, p. 446.

10.
Davrichewy, pp. 26–28. Keke.

11.
Paternal candidates: author’s interviews with Koba Egnatashvili’s grandson Guram Ratishvili, son of Sasha Egnatashvili, about the family house, Koba’s wrestling and businesses, attitude to Stalin, substitute father, great affection and later destiny of Egnatashvili boys Vaso and Sasha. There are huge inaccuracies in most accounts of the Egnatashvili connection, but Stalin was very close to Sasha Egnatashvili. Within NKVD, attitudes to Stalin’s relationship with Egnatashvili: GARF 7523.107.127.1–6, General N. Vlasik and other interrogations. Guram Ratishvili is by far the most revealing and intelligent of the family witnesses. On genetic connection: author’s interview with Tina Egnatashvili, great-niece. Davrichewy, pp. 26–28, and see also Davrichewy, “Je suis le demifrère de Staline,” where Gori mayor Jourouli is quoted as saying, “As far as I know, Soso was the natural son of
pristav
Damian Petrovich Davrichewy, my friend . . . Everyone knew about the liaison with the pretty mother of Soso, Kato [Keke]. Besides, the armed attack on
pristav
Davrichewy is the proof.” Stalin’s fondness for Father Charkviani, and closeness to Egnatashvili family: Charkviani, “Memoirs.” Stalin’s comment about priest as father—“Comrade Liapidevsky, your father was a priest—mine was a priest too”—quoted in Robert Tucker,
Stalin in Power
, p. 627. Mgeladze, p. 242. V. Sukhodeev,
Stalin v zhiznin i legandaakh
, pp. 19–20, on rumours that Stalin said that Egnatashvili was his father and that Egnatashvili married Beso to Keke to hide his sin. Prince Amilakhvari: Davrichewy, p. 69. Stalin and Beso: GF IML 8.2.1.1.143–6, M. K. Abramidze-Tsikhatatrishvili. GF IML 8.2.1.53, Alexander M. Tsikhatatrishvili.

12.
Sergo Beria,
Beria My Father
(henceforth Beria), p. 21. Keke.