Chapter 167 May Day Celebration
May Day, International Labor Day, was a relatively grand festival in the Soviet Union. After all, it was initiated by the great mentor Engels and promoted by the Second International. It was a holiday for the working class all over the world.
Because it was during the war, the May Day celebrations in the Soviet Union this year were much simpler than in previous years. There were only 29 parade teams, mainly from colleges and factories in and around Moscow.
The celebration officially started at 9:00 a.m. and lasted for an hour and a half. After 10:40, the groups began to parade in the city of Moscow to celebrate. In order to reflect the festive atmosphere, Comrade Kaganovich proposed, with Stalin's approval, that the Moscow Wartime Supply Committee allocate a certain amount of materials to be distributed to Moscow citizens during the festival, including a certain amount of meat and dairy products.
Yuri was actually not interested in the noise of festivals and celebrations. However, the situation this time was a little special because it was the first time he had the opportunity to go to the viewing platform of Lenin's Mausoleum. Even if he was only at the end of the line, it was an opportunity to show himself to everyone in the Soviet Union.
All the preparations were done very well. The Red Square was covered with various colorful flags. Several red flags with Lenin's portrait were erected in the center of the square. The national flags of the various republics were hung on the outer walls of the Kremlin.
Unfortunately, when the festival officially arrived, an accident occurred. On May 1st, it started to drizzle at six in the morning. By eight o'clock, the rain not only did not stop, but it got heavier.
Yuri arrived at the Kremlin before dawn. For today's celebration, he put on a general's uniform that he had never worn before. He also wore all the medals he had won since joining the war on his chest, so that his left chest was filled with medals.
Stalin also wore a white military uniform today. Don't get me wrong, this was not the uniform of the Air Force or the Navy, but his own, the only style. However, he did not wear any medals, which was completely different from Brezhnev, the medal lover who came later.
Those who were qualified to attend the celebration and climb Lenin's Mausoleum gathered in Office Building No. 1. The huge conference room was full. Everyone was waiting for the start time to come and for Stalin to appear.
At 8:40, Stalin appeared at the door of the conference room on time. The leader was obviously in a good mood today. When he appeared in front of everyone, he had a smile on his face. He even made a few jokes with Molotov who was standing at the door.
As time was tight, Stalin did not stay in the conference room for long. He just had a brief conversation with a few people, then went out and got in the car to rush to Lenin's Mausoleum to attend the celebration.
Although it was raining moderately, the enthusiasm of the people gathered in Red Square remained unabated. According to statistics from relevant departments, a total of 200,000 people were mobilized for this year's celebration, and the noisy voices could be heard clearly even in the Kremlin.
Unlike those politicians, Yuri and his fellow soldiers in military uniforms rode in jeeps and took a different route: they left the Kremlin from the entrance of the Savior Tower and headed for Lenin's Mausoleum, while politicians like Khrushchev went in the direction of the Nikolai Tower and headed for Lenin's Mausoleum.
As soon as the car left the Kremlin and went out of the doorway of the Saviour Tower, Yuri, who was sitting in the car, felt a "heat wave" blowing towards him. Everywhere he looked, there were swaying crowds, swaying flowers and flags, and noisy cheers one after another.
The soldiers of the Internal Guard set up a passage where vehicles passed so that the generals could drive around to the back of Lenin's Mausoleum.
Yuri sat in the car, feeling inexplicably nervous. For him, standing on the viewing platform of Lenin's Mausoleum was, to a certain extent, like climbing to the pinnacle of power in this country. However, very few people could actually stay on this peak.
The car turned on the square right in front of the Tower of Christ the Savior. Almost at the same time, the crowd gathered in Red Square burst into thunderous cheers: "Ura... Ura... Ura!"
Yuri secretly guessed that it must be the vehicle that Stalin was riding in that appeared on Red Square. No matter how future generations judge this leader, at least in today's Soviet Union, his prestige is unmatched.
When the convoy arrived at Lenin's Mausoleum, soldiers in military uniforms came over and opened the door for Yuri and his companions. At the moment they got off the car, someone came up with an umbrella to shield them from the rain.
Yuri followed the rules and kept his eyes on Antonov. He only moved when he saw the other person move. He followed Antonov up the stairs on the right side of Lenin's Mausoleum, then turned two platforms and went up to the top viewing platform.
Throughout the entire process, Red Square was filled with the cheers of the people, which seemed to indicate that the protracted Soviet-German War had reached a turning point and this huge country had finally caught its breath.
Just as Yuri stepped onto the last step of the viewing platform and had not yet stood firm, dozens of loudspeakers arranged on Red Square simultaneously played music, the majestic "Internationale". When Yuri stood firm but his figure had not yet appeared outside the viewing platform, cheers had already sounded in the square, and at the same time, Molotov's voice sounded, and he began to deliver a speech for this year's celebration - all of this indicated that although Yuri had already been close to the highest power core of the Soviet Union, he was only just rubbing his tail.
However, Yuri still has a good mentality. He does not care about these things. After all, he is still young and the road is still long. He has reason to believe that one day, the arrangement of this process will take his rhythm into consideration.
Finally, Yuri stood in front of the guardrail of the viewing platform of Lenin's Mausoleum with a casual attitude, overlooking the square below. There were dense crowds of people everywhere. Although the rain was getting heavier, it was extremely rare to see people holding umbrellas. Regardless of whether they could see clearly or not, everyone looked in the direction of Lenin's Mausoleum with a fanatical mentality. To them, it was a supreme place, and the people standing there were also supreme.
After Molotov's speech, Stalin's speech followed. When Molotov's voice said Stalin's name through the loudspeaker, the entire Red Square suddenly became silent, and at this moment, Yuri's thoughts drifted away.
In Yuri's memory, the last time he attended such a grand event was during the Battle of Moscow last year. At that time, he appeared in Red Square as a flag bearer, standing next to the eternal lamp under Lenin's Mausoleum. Now, a year later, during this celebration, he has climbed to Lenin's Mausoleum.
So, how did I get to where I am today in more than a year? And how did I get from under Lenin's Mausoleum to the viewing platform of Lenin's Mausoleum?
In Borodino, Yuri assisted Polosukhin in commanding the 32nd Infantry Division. In the end, the Soviet army lost more than half of its troops, with thousands of casualties. In Klin, Yuri was in charge of commanding the 133rd Infantry Division. In the subsequent battles, although the Soviet army made good progress, the final number of casualties was no less than 2,000. In Novosili... in Stalingrad...
If he hadn't counted carefully, he wouldn't have noticed it. Now, after a careful calculation, Yuri was surprised to find that although he had not suffered a real defeat since the outbreak of the war, the number of Soviet soldiers killed under his command was still estimated to be tens of thousands.
Tens of thousands of people, if their bodies were laid together, they would probably have covered the entire Red Square. Of course, if they were piled up, the height would have been enough to carry him from the Martyrs' Cemetery to the viewing stand.
It is said that the success of a general is the result of the sacrifice of hundreds of soldiers. In the past, Yuri never had an intuitive feeling about this saying, but now thinking back, it really makes sense.
Yuri felt that these tens of thousands of soldiers who had died had all sacrificed their lives under his orders. It was he who sent them to the battlefield and to the brink of death. Now, the honor belonged to him, but these people had fallen forever on the wasteland on his road to success.
Haha, Yuri pulled his thoughts back from his trance. He felt that he was complaining without reason. War was like this. Not everyone could be a general. Just think about it. In the beginning, didn't he also start as a cannon fodder and work his way up? If he had to say what the difference was between him and others, especially those soldiers who were still fighting on the front line, then he could only say that he was luckier.
Abandoning those unrealistic thoughts of compassion, Yuri began to focus all his attention on the ongoing celebration. However, by this time, several phalanxes responsible for the celebration performances had already passed through Red Square, and the groups of representatives from various industrial and mining enterprises were passing by. After passing through Red Square, the parade crowds would continue to march through the city of Moscow, and such celebrations would last for a whole day.
Such a grand event naturally entails interviews from foreign journalists, and the Soviet government is also happy to show this prosperous scene to the world.
"... the grand May Day celebrations indicated that Stalin and his generals, with their iron will, had led the country through the most difficult period," Time magazine said in its commentary on the celebrations. "At the same time, it also meant that the world's anti-fascist war had reached a turning point."
The day after the May Day celebration, Molotov submitted to Stalin an initiative from US President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Churchill. The initiative stated that the victory of the Battle of Stalingrad opened a new chapter in the world anti-fascist war. In order to determine the common principles of action of the three countries in future wars against Germany, the leaders of the three countries should hold a "timely" meeting.
