This aphorism, which describes the attitude of the Secretary General to the work of doctors, is often used both in the context of the Soviet past and to describe the current situation. We decided to check whether it really belongs to Stalin.

The mention of this phrase by Stalin can be found in numerous media: in “Moskovsky Komsomolets", "Vestyakh.Ru", "Novaya Gazeta", "Kommersant", "Radio Liberty", "Rossiyskaya newspaper" In other publications, this phrase is attributed to People's Commissar of Health Nikolai Semashko. This attribution is found in the materials “Mercy", Air Force, "Vedomosti", "Arguments and facts", as well as in the already mentioned "Moskovsky Komsomolets" And "Kommersant"

In the main subcorpus of the National Corpus of the Russian Language this phrase not found in general, in the newspaper - only her mentions with attribution to Semashko and without any attribution at all.

Gradually limiting the search period on Google allows you to find the first mention of this phrase - in publications magazine "Kommersant" Money" dated October 18, 2000. The article “Neither give nor take” says: “It is no coincidence that Stalin, as they say, once refusing to increase the salaries of medical workers, noted that the people themselves will feed a good doctor.” There is no mention of Nikolai Semashko, nor the fate of bad doctors in the phrase.

The Google Books service allows you to find this idea in earlier publications, but without mentioning Stalin - for example, in collection “The Flood” by Leonid Podolsky: “Father’s arguments had everyday logic: a strong profession, a roof over one’s head, a piece of bread and butter (“the people will feed the doctors”).”

The earliest appearance of a similar thought in books, according to Google Books, is 1958. Published in Russian translations Kazakh poet Sultanmakhmut Toraigyrov, written by Alexander Zhovtis, contains the lines: “You need to take up and learn agronomy. And the people will willingly feed the agronomist as they would a doctor.” However, this translation is posthumous, Toraigyrov died back in 1920.

A significant role in government, in particular the ability to raise or not raise wages, Stalin couldn't received before 1922. Not a single historical document, transcript of the congress or memoirs of people personally acquainted with it mentions any idea that the people will feed their doctors. As can be seen from Toraigyrov’s poem, this idea was popular no later than 1920.

Thus, it is most likely that the aphorism about the people feeding the doctors existed long before Joseph Stalin led the Soviet Union. At first it appears without mention of such an attribution, but after publication in Kommersant in 2000, along with the name of the politician, it begins to acquire details. Such details of the conversation appear as communication with the People's Commissar of Health Semashko about increasing salaries for doctors and adding about the fate of bad doctors.

Cover image: Public domain