To some, he was being taken out of the scene by his critic and rival at that time, Joseph Stalin, who later on went on to become the man in charge of the entire Socialist state(Mail). This concept is strongly held by historians and experts of such cases like Lev Lurie.
Autopsy report:
The autopsy conducted reveals that there was no major health issue as such. The blood pressure was pretty much normal, he did not smoke; neither did he suffer from diabetes. These are few of the reasons which could result in possible heart failure or abrupt death, however since none of these reasons was found in autopsy, the possibility of natural death was further weakened by this and the entire case tilted towards the possible unnatural cause which may have resulted in his death.
Evidences:
According to Lurie, while Lenin was already ailing, Stalin may well have contributed to numbering his days. The possible reasons behind it can be traced back to political rivalry based on his parting from Stalin on basis of ideological difference and his siding with Leon Trotsky.
According to Lurie, the possible use of substance and method used in eliminating his strong critique later on was that of poisoning. Since Stalin was on the record believed to have poisoned many of his rivals in later years, therefore this act can be contributed to his skills and silencing of his critiques.
Lurie’s claim strengthened by solid claims:
Further claims of Lurie can be verified through number of evidences. While Trotsky’s last days revelation was a major one, the more practical one can be deduced in form of the brain that is frozen and preserved in modern day Russia. If investigated through modern means of forensic, it could possibly reveal the real cause of death of Vladimir Lenin, which according to Lurie was the poisoning done by Stalin.
Evidence: Dots leading to lines:
While many people have claimed different things, the strongest of claims came in form of the man from that era himself Lenin and the man who was most closely associated with Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin and the entire scenario. Hence his verdict towards this claim does make a lot of sound in the corridors of evidence and suspicion on earlier claims. In his last days apart from the time where he was critically ill and could hardly move or talk, the times where he was able to respond and interact, were full of criticism for Stalin, he would come hard at his policies, his foreign relations, and other events and planning which certainly did not go well with Stalin by any means and as suggested by Trotsky, could have led to poisoning of the arch enemy Lenin.
Trotsky’s contribution to list of evidences:
A strong evidence of this can be extracted from the revelations made by Trotsky in his last days. While he himself had to reside in Mexico in his last days, he revealed that Stalin was the man behind Lenin’s death and it was executed in form of poisoning that was added to his meals. While Trotsky contributed a lot to the world of politics, Soviet Republic in particular and Socialist revolution as well, however his noticeable contribution can be traced in form of the revelation made in his last days of life. Which stirred the world and revealed the real relationship, the rivalry between the two greats of Socialist state and the possible personal enmity which resulted in the life termination of Vladimir Lenin.
Lenin, in his public interactions and a stenographer whom he confided in, told him about the grieve level of relationship between the two (Lenin and Stalin) and the possible causes of it. Hence all these reasons make up a solid case for conviction of Stalin as the potential offender who might have poisoned the man behind the socialist revolution.
Other pieces of links and possible evidences:
Yagoda who practiced pharmacy was a strong confidant of Joseph Stalin and remained in his company for quite a while. However he too was later on terminated and eliminated on causes of differences with the incumbent. According to evidences, Yagoda had a large collection of poison in his armory as a pharmacy owner and since Stalin is believed to have used it on many of his rivals, this is another supporting evidence of possible poisoning of Lenin by his counterpart.
Further assumptions:
While lots of people have invested their research in to the possible causes behind the death of the legendary man, some of them term that he died of disease caused due to the sexually transmitted disease (S.T.D) called syphilis.
Analysis:
Doctor Vinters on other hand does not believe in the conspiracy being hatched and states that he possibly died of natural cause that could be traced to poor health, stress of work, the paralysis attacks, family history factor and several other possible factors which had no link to poisoning as supported by Lurie over his claim. Doctor Vinter in his presentation shed some light on his childhood, his habits, his adult life habits, and his siblings’ life time (Kolata).
The case of Self mercy:
Another aspect of the entire drama and episode tells us that Lenin himself had asked for poisoning on one of the occasion. Since he had undergone much physical disturbances, paralysis on number of accounts. While he suffered number of strokes, crippled state and being unable to talk and walk, he feared the same again and had supposedly asked for poison (Brackman, 121)in order to relieve himself from the suffering. This point did come to the table and was discussed by Stalin and number of his confidants. However the choice of Stalin for confidant in this matter was the possible and most evident reason that he knew how much Stalin liked him or how much he would want the back and end of Vladimir Lenin. If this is proved by solid evidences, Stalin as the leader at that time, could not have asked for any better opportunity and would have believed it to be an opportunity begging to be taken with both hands, hence he got just what he would have dreamed of, already got rid of Trotsky through deporting, and Lenin, who was weak enough would die of poisoning and he wouldn’t be held accountable just because he had asked for it himself.
However despite the possible self mercy claims and requests by Vladimir Lenin, Trotsky was confident enough to claim that Stalin was the man who poisoned Vladimir Lenin.
Dr. Philip Mackowiak is another man from the profession of doctors, who supports the idea that natural cause wasn’t the prime reason for the man’s death, rather some unnatural means might have contributed to the cause. He defends his claim with the age factor, being the normal age, and secondly while he was physically ailing, he had no chronic diseases (Dominguez) as such which might have resulted in his possible death as such an age which is not all that dangerous(53).
Conclusion:
It is no mystery and no wonder that the great leaders and those who have been part of revolution occasionally are conspired after and at times killed through unnatural means. Lenin played a great role in the history of socialist revolution; he too potentially fell for conspiracy and was killed accordingly. Since so many people have come up with the claim of poisoning and unnatural death, this factor cannot be ruled out, while on medical front doctors claim this claim through evidences, on political grounds and evidence from those times can be best stretched back to the statement by Trotsky who was the first hand evidence to the entire episode and he is the possibly right person who told then what actually happened. The possibility of contribution to his death cannot be ruled out by any means, though it is not hundred percent evident through any solid evidence and science at that time was not as advanced as is in modern day, rather the assumptions and theories are based on traces, yet these traces are sufficiently strong to term this death as mysterious and probably caused by sources that may have resulted and contributed towards the death of already ailing man.
Works cited:
Brackman, Roman. The Secret File of Joseph Stalin: A Hidden Life. Taylor & Francis, 2003.
Dominguez, Alex. What killed Lenin? Stalin may have poisoned ailing Russian leader, says new
research. 4 May 2012. 22 Nov 2012 <http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1173052--what-killed-lenin-stalin-may-have-poisoned-ailing-russian-leader-says-new-research>.
Kolata, Gina. Lenin’s Stroke: Doctor Has a Theory (and a Suspect). 7 May 2012. 22 Nov
2012 <http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/08/health/research/lenins-death-remains-a-mystery-for-doctors.html>.
Mail, Daily. Was Lenin poisoned by Stalin? Sensational theory claims founder of Russian
communism was bumped-off by successor. 4 May 2012. 22 Nov 2012 <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2139527/Vladamir-Lenin-poisoned-Joseph-Stalin-Russian-communism-founder-bumped-political-rival.html>.
by
sashavirko (student)
