![]() ![]() Doctors - who were terrified by the ongoing crackdown known as the Doctors' Plot that targeted "saboteur-doctors" who purportedly were trying to assassinate top officials – were reluctant to treat him aggressively and he spent the next three days on a couch at the dacha.Īt around dawn on March 4, Radio Moscow issued the first news report on Stalin's condition, stating that he had suffered a stroke and was partially paralyzed. On March 1, 1953, he was found unconscious on the floor of his dacha in a Moscow suburb, having suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. For many Soviet citizens, he was a semi-deity who, among other things, led the country to triumph over Nazi Germany. In Stalin's case, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, itself molded by his leadership, had constructed what was later called a "cult of personality" around Stalin. But the 20th century was the era of mass communications, with domestic and international audiences that had be communicated to - or manipulated. Sure, kings, queens, and emperors of centuries past were also shuffled off into the afterlife with elaborate rituals. That goes double if the question of who the next leader will be is up in the air, as is often the case in authoritarian countries.Īrguably, the death of Stalin was where the textbook on how to stage-manage authoritarian-regime death rituals in the 20th century was written. If it's not managed properly, it could undermine how a country's citizenry, and the world, perceive the leader and sow doubts about a regime's viability. In the post-Soviet era, just as when the Soviet Union existed, it's a fraught process trying to figure out how to announce an authoritarian leader's death. It was also true for the deaths of Soviet leaders Andropov, Chernenko, Brezhnev, and even, to some degree, Stalin. So was that of Islam Karimov, the longtime leader of neighboring Uzbekistan, in 2016. The fevered speculation of his death was put to rest on August 12 when he appeared as the host of the Caspian Economic Forum and met with several government leaders.īut his disappearance from public appearances and national television - where his presence to the Turkmen people each night was a virtual certainty - led many to recall the 2006 death of his predecessor, Saparmurat Niyazov.Ĭalling himself Turkmenbashi (Father of all Turkmen), Niyazov's disappearance and eventual death was clouded in uncertainty. This question was raised recently when the fate of Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov was shrouded in rumor, confusion, and official obfuscation. Who's going to succeed him is an open question. The regime's titular leader is ailing, possibly on death's door. You're part of the elite governing an authoritarian regime.
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