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Stalin's half-man, half-ape super-warriors
CHRIS STEPHEN AND ALLAN HALL

THE Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered the creation of Planet of the Apes-style warriors by crossing humans with apes, according to recently uncovered secret documents.

Moscow archives show that in the mid-1920s Russia's top animal breeding scientist, Ilya Ivanov, was ordered to turn his skills from horse and animal work to the quest for a super-warrior.


According to Moscow newspapers, Stalin told the scientist: "I want a new invincible human being, insensitive to pain, resistant and indifferent about the quality of food they eat."

In 1926 the Politburo in Moscow passed the request to the Academy of Science with the order to build a "living war machine". The order came at a time when the Soviet Union was embarked on a crusade to turn the world upside down, with social engineering seen as a partner to industrialisation: new cities, architecture, and a new egalitarian society were being created.

The Soviet authorities were struggling to rebuild the Red Army after bruising wars.

And there was intense pressure to find a new labour force, particularly one that would not complain, with Russia about to embark on its first Five-Year Plan for fast-track industrialisation.

Mr Ivanov was highly regarded. He had established his reputation under the Tsar when in 1901 he established the world's first centre for the artificial insemination of racehorses.

Mr Ivanov's ideas were music to the ears of Soviet planners and in 1926 he was dispatched to West Africa with $200,000 to conduct his first experiment in impregnating chimpanzees.

Meanwhile, a centre for the experiments was set up in Georgia - Stalin's birthplace - for the apes to be raised.

Mr Ivanov's experiments, unsurprisingly from what we now know, were a total failure. He returned to the Soviet Union, only to see experiments in Georgia to use monkey sperm in human volunteers similarly fail.

A final attempt to persuade a Cuban heiress to lend some of her monkeys for further experiments reached American ears, with the New York Times reporting on the story, and she dropped the idea amid the uproar.

Mr Ivanov was now in disgrace. His were not the only experiments going wrong: the plan to collectivise farms ended in the 1932 famine in which at least four million died.

For his expensive failure, he was sentenced to five years' jail, which was later commuted to five years' exile in the Central Asian republic of Kazakhstan in 1931. A year later he died, reportedly after falling sick while standing on a freezing railway platform.

from www.news.scotsman.com [news.scotsman.com]

Has anyone ever heard of such evil embodied in one person? I heard Fr. Benedict Groeschel say that on his death bed Stalin shook his fist at the sky and cursed.

Actually, on his death-bed Stalin sent for a priest and made his Confession, according to Stalin's daughter (who herself was a practicing Orthodox Christian - and presumably remains one if she is still among the living).

As to Georgians, I prefer George Papashvili - his book Anything Can Happen in America has actually been an important source for the history of the Crusades, believe it or not - and he wrote the section on "Georgia" in the book on Russian Cooking in that Time-Life series of cookbooks about 40 years ago.

Incognitus

What was the history of the Crusades mentioned? I actually saw a while ago a picture in a book of photographs of Tsarist Russia something that might be related. It was a group of men somewhere in Georgia who were wearing chain mail and helmets with swords. I think the caption said something about Crusaders, I can't remember the details.

Also, those cookbooks are incredible. My Mother has the whole set along with the small recipe books and she doggedly refuses to let me have them. The same Russian one that Mr. Papashvili wrote in has some very good pictures of Pascha at St. Alexander Nevsky in Paris in the 60's.

Andrew

Stalin had a stroke which paralyzed his entire right side, and died 4 days later, so whether he was cursing or blessing may have a matter of interpretation.

Dear Andrew,

George Papashvili and the history of the Crusades - hang on to your metaphorical hat!

With your metaphorical hat firmly in hand, re-read Anything Can Happen in America. You will then find that George and one of his friends were singing a Georgian song to the effect that "The Frankish men, they have a queen, Ail-i-nor!

The Queen in question was Eleanor, usually called Eleanor of Aquitaine (she was Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, and became, in succession, first Queen of France and later Queen of England, both times by marriage). The extent of her involvement with the Crusade was disputed, until some professor with good eyesight spotted this song in Papashvili's book. This then proved that the Georgian contingent was aware of Queen Eleanor. Eleanor (whose second husband was Henry II of England) became the mother of Richard the Lion-Hearted, who in turn was the not-quite hero of the next Crusade.

Anything Can Happen in Academia.

Incognitus

I really don,t believe that Stalin sent for a priest on his deathbed.I read an autobiography of his daughter in Russian and nowhere there was this mentioned.

It seems that the events surrounding Stalin's death are up for interpretation. He still was an evil monster.

The problem with describing or envisioning such people as Stalin as evil monsters is that by dehumanizing them we incur the risk of thinking that we ourselves are not capable of such evil. Alas, we are capable of it.

His death-bed Confession is interesting for another reason - when the priest had finished, as he left the bedroom the police promptly arrested him and he was killed almost immediately. Now the question is: was the priest arrested and killed on Stalin's orders (which must have been given, if they were Stalin's orders, prior to Stalin's Confession) - in which case when could cogently argue that Stalin was looking for a form of magic rather than a Christian sacrament - or were the arrest and murder of the priest done on someone else's orders? Beria is a distinct possiblity. If that is true, then Stalin is not morally responsible for the priest's sad fate.

Shevardnadze much later recounted how, one Pascha, he happened to have stopped in on Stalin's invitation for some irrelevant reason, and as he was leaving, Stalin slipped something into his jacket pocket while smiling conspiratorially. . When Shevardnadze got into the car, he looked in the pocket - to find a nicely decorated Easter egg, of all things.

Incognitus

I don't know about you but I'm not capable of ordering the Genocide of 10s of millions of people. I might punch someone out for insulting my wife, but I'm not capable of killing even one person in cold blood.

Dear Dr. Eric,
Concerning yourself, I pray that you are correct. Concerning myself, I don't really know just what depths I'm capable of sinking to, and I'm not altogether anxious to find out.
Our Liturgy enjoins each of us to acknowledge that "I am the first of sinners" immediately before receiving Holy Communion. This is best done without any mental reservation. I have no use for Stalin, Hitler or any of that species, and I've been abused by some ugly customers in my time - but the only sinner I have any business judging is myself.

Incognitus

Father, bless! I also read the same autobiography, and understanding a bit about her life I do think she would have included such a conversion and reconciliation with the Church. I think Fr. Benedict's assessment cited by Dr. Eric probably paints a more plausible picture.
Deacon Diak

I agree that the only sinner that I can judge is myself, and I am the worst. But---the fruits of Stalin's life were not good and he did many, many, many terrible things. I think in not trying to de-humanize those who commit horrible crimes we tend to forget those who suffered and died under those persons who committed the abominable acts. Let's remember them when we try to downplay the crimes of criminals. (Not that I am saying anyone on the forum has done this.)

Dear Dr. Eric you said:

"Mr Ivanov was now in disgrace. His were not the only experiments going wrong: the plan to collectivise farms ended in the 1932 famine in which at least four million died."

And I ask:

I had asked someone about the famine in Ukraine in which it was said that eleven million had perished because of political reasons. I didn't realize that there had been a famine in the Soviet Union in 1932 so I am curious about the following:

Was the famine in Ukraine in 1932 or 1933? Did the dead from the famine in the Soviet Union include those in Ukraine, or was it only in Russia? Also, if in Russia, did it precede the one in Ukraine, and was the food shipped out of there and into Russia in order to aleviate the suffering? Or was it just plain genocide on one account and/or on both accounts? Just curious!

As for Stalin, it was not him, but rather the 'entity' that he had subjecated himself to, that committed the crimes. But then again, neither was it Hitler, Lenin, Marx, etc. etc., either...and I could go on and on.

Zenovia

Dear Icognitus you said:

" Concerning yourself, I pray that you are correct. Concerning myself, I don't really know just what depths I'm capable of sinking to, and I'm not altogether anxious to find out."

I say:

We can fall to extreme depths when we are willing to 'gang up' on others, or willing to go along with what's politically 'correct' at a certain time and place. But then again, it takes a great deal of strength not to, especially when one's livlihood, one's life or one's family is at risk. Look at Saint Peter. He denied Jesus?

Zenovia

Can one really blame Saint Peter for having denied Jesus? After all, Jesus had healed Saint Peter's mother-in-law!

Incognitus