And instead of a heart - a fiery motor

famous 60 years ago
Pasha Angelina, who created the first female tractor brigade in the USSR, received the Star of the Hero of Socialist Labor

She herself, as they said then, saddled the “iron horse” and called other young girls after her. 200,000 women across the country followed her example on a tractor. Soviet propaganda did not spare colors, painting this as an example of the equality for which female comrades in the world of capital fought unsuccessfully.

That was Pasha Angelina's first Golden Star. The second one was handed to her 11 years later - in the Kremlin hospital shortly before her death. It was already a completely different woman - exhausted by the disease, with sadness in her eyes. Praskovya Nikitichna passed away at the age of 46 from cirrhosis of the liver. Neither the fresh air of the collective farm fields, nor the natural health of the peasants, nor the Kremlin doctors, according to the high deputy status, - nothing helped.

Evil tongues gossiped that, while working with men (after the war, Angelina led an exclusively male brigade), she drank with them on an equal footing. In fact, cirrhosis of the liver was an occupational disease of tractor drivers of those years: they had to breathe fuel vapors from morning to evening. Her children are sure that Angelina would have lived twice as long if it were not for the grueling work exceeding her own records and constant fatigue. And now stands in front of the entrance to her memorial museum tractor, on which this woman performed her labor exploits - a monument of the communist era, which promised a bright future and did not spare human lives in the present ...

Angelina's life went along the route Starobeshevo - Moscow - Starobeshevo: from the collective farm field to the Conference Hall of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and back. The personal life of the order-bearer was always in sight, she was envied, ridiculous rumors were spread about her. Fearing evil tongues, Praskovya Nikitichna traveled everywhere with her eldest daughter Svetlana.

The daughter of the famous tractor driver Pasha Angelina Svetlana: “They said about my mother that she was Stalin’s mistress, an alcoholic and we don’t have a house, but a brothel”

"MOM EVEN AT HOME WEARED CREPE-DE-CHINE DRESSES"

- Svetlana Sergeevna, you often accompanied your mother Praskovya Nikitichna on her trips. Have you noticed - she liked men?

You can’t call your mother a beauty, but nature endowed her with charm. She smiled from the pages of Soviet newspapers and magazines like a real movie star. By the way, in the female form from the famous sculpture "Worker and Collective Farm Woman" there are also mother's features - after all, she was friends with Vera Mukhina. Mom was very feminine.

- Wow, but according to Soviet history textbooks, she seems to be such, sorry, a man in a skirt. Indeed, in the portraits of Praskovya Nikitichna is always in overalls or in a formal suit with orders and medals. Did she care about her appearance?

I never saw my mother in a nightgown, she got out of bed and immediately dressed. She did not recognize bathrobes and even wore crepe de chine dresses at home. She used lipstick, put on an emerald ring and an engagement ring at meetings. I washed my hair every day, even though I went to bed after midnight, and at five in the morning I was already leaving for work.

I will remember this story for the rest of my life. Arriving in Moscow for a session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, my mother stayed at the Moskva Hotel, where deputies were served out of turn at the hairdresser's. I decided to get a manicure, but the queue took, like everyone else. And now I hear one woman whispering to a manicurist: “There, it seems, Pasha Angelina is sitting in the queue.” The manicurist was surprised: “She’s supposed to do it without any queue!” Then my mother sat down at the table, and the manicurist said to her: “Imagine, there, in line, Pasha Angelina herself is waiting.” I could not stand it and through laughter said: “Praskovya Angelina is already in front of you.” The manicurist could not believe: “Wow, you have such amazingly delicate skin, I would never have thought that you were a machine operator!”.

Mom was a very chaste person. Only with age I began to understand why she tried not to go to the session of the Supreme Council and to the resort alone - at first she took her niece with her, then me. Mom rented a room for two, and there I was waiting for her from long meetings. It was very wise move. Who will molest a woman who is always with an adult child? And after the meetings, we went everywhere together. So from the age of 10 I already visited the Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin Museum, the Bolshoi Theater. It gave me a lot for the rest of my life. At the entrance exams at Moscow State University, no one believed that I grew up in the village. I lived in a hotel with my mother even when I was already a student.

- But the rumors still could not be avoided?

Yes, there was a lot of dirt. They said that she was Stalin's mistress, they attributed a relationship with other famous people. They even chatted that she was an alcoholic - in front of the neighbors, my mother drank a glass of water, and it seemed to someone - vodka. These dirty rumors live on to this day. I have not yet told anyone about one terrible incident. Suddenly a team of doctors came to us. The doctor said something to my mother, and I saw how her face changed. It turned out that they came to take a blood test for syphilis from the whole family, even from children. I realized that something terrible was happening.

Mom began to call the secretary of the district committee of the party, but this did not give any results. She was told: "It is in your best interest to donate blood." One of the villagers wrote an anonymous letter saying that we do not have a house, but a brothel, every evening there are men, booze. Then, after all, the anonymous people had a green light. Then they apologized to my mother very much, but I will never forget her face at that moment. All this is human envy, she pursued and killed her mother. Growing up, I realized that in her environment there were many envious people who could not be trusted. I could name these people, but why? God is their judge.

- Praskovya Nikitichna had a direct telephone connection with Stalin. This honor was awarded to a few people - Stakhanov, Chkalov, Papanin ... Couldn't she pick up the phone and complain to him?

Mom never called Stalin. I think belonging to higher circles weighed on her. Mom did not hide the fact that it was very difficult for her to attend meetings. She is a different type of person. She was always very cautious, she warned that in the room of the Moskva Hotel, in which we stayed with her, nothing could be said, because here even the walls have ears. When I asked her some serious questions, I answered: "Grow up - you will figure it out yourself." During the World Youth Festival, I was invited to take part in a scientific conference, but my mother did not allow me: “There is nothing for you to communicate with foreigners.” I was very upset then.

- And in what way, besides a direct telephone, was Stalin's benevolence expressed towards the famous tractor driver?

- Nothing. Even repression touched our family. Mom's brother, Uncle Kostya, was the chairman of the collective farm. He planted grain when he considered it necessary, and the chairman of the district executive committee intervened in the sowing schedule. Uncle Kostya took it and sent him obscene. He was arrested and kept in prison for several months. They beat me so that no marks were left on the body, but the lungs were beaten off. Uncle Kostya - a military sailor, survived the blockade, was an incredibly healthy person. But he could not stand these abuses. When his mother brought him to Moscow for a consultation, the professor said that he had three months to live.

During the times of repression, my mother tried to protect the Greeks, but what could she do? By the way, when I told someone in my youth that Pasha Angelina was Greek, they laughed at me: “What are you, she is a Russian heroine!”

“DRUNK DAD SHOOT AT MOM BUT MISSED”

- The official biography of Praskovya Angelina claims that her husband, and your father, Sergei Chernyshev, died of wounds shortly after the war. But it wasn't like that. Who needs this lie?

Mom cut her father out of her life and made a promise to herself that she would raise four children herself. And I told everyone that my father was dead. He drank heavily and it ruined their marriage. I think mom loved him even when they broke up. Mom got married already with a child in her arms - she adopted her nephew Gennady, whom her own mother, after the death of Uncle Vanya (this is her mother's brother), threw out into the street.

My father was sent to the Donbass according to the party order from Kursk. When his parents met, he worked as the second secretary of the Starobeshevsky district party committee, was a very capable person, a leader by nature, spoke well, drew, wrote poetry. If not for his mother, he would certainly have made a great career. But it is difficult for two leaders, like two bears in one lair, to get along. By position, the father was the owner of the district, but for everyone he remained, first of all, the husband of Praskovya Angelina. At the age of 22, my mother had the Order of Lenin on her chest. Letters came to her from all over the world, even the address was not always written on envelopes - just “USSR, Pasha Angelina”, and that’s it.

At 24, my mother already became a deputy of the Supreme Council. She stood the test of glory, but paid a very high price for it. She didn't really have a personal life. In winter, meetings, sessions, constant traveling - Moscow, Kyiv, Stalino ... In the summer in the field until dark. In addition, my mother also studied at the Timiryazev Agricultural Academy, and my younger brother Valery was born in Moscow. The war prevented me from graduating from the academy. Mom with a tractor brigade was evacuated to Kazakhstan (all the equipment that was transported in two trains was also taken there), and my father was called to the front.

During the evacuation, my mother was “lost” in the Ministry of Agriculture, but when her brigade began to give large crops of bread to the country, a telegram of thanks came from Stalin. In 1942, Kalinin summoned her to a session of the Supreme Council, and her mother, pregnant with another child, in the process of being demolished, with swollen legs, left for Moscow. On the way back, near Saratov, the train in which she was returning was bombed, and only the last carriages remained intact. There, under the bombardment, my mother gave birth. But we did not know any of this and, frankly, we thought that she would not return. She was gone for several months, and then she arrived with a thin girl - skin and bones. The baby screamed all the time, often got sick. A child of war - what can I say. Mom decided to call her Stalin, in honor of Stalin and the victory at Stalingrad.

Father fought, and we considered him a hero, wrote letters to him at the front. After the war, he did not immediately come home - he remained to serve in Germany as the commandant of a military camp. He returned a complete alcoholic, but his entire chest was in orders. The war got him. Following him, a woman with a child came to us, as it turned out, his front-line wife. Mom treated her with understanding and accepted her well, but since then we have not heard anything about these people.

Once, in response to reproaches, a drunken father shot his mother. I managed to throw myself on her neck, she deviated - a miss! We had a bullet in the wall for a long time. I lost consciousness from stress, then a terrible depression began, I was treated for a long time. The morning after this incident family life parents is over. Dad left for the Volnovakha district, married a teacher, a girl was born - Svetlana Chernysheva. We could have been full namesakes if my mother had not changed our last names from Chernyshevs to Angelinas.

Svetlana and I corresponded, and then got lost. After the divorce, my father came to us only twice - in last time to his mother's funeral, and before that he was already completely ill, and she herself, already unwell, sent him to a sanatorium. My father did not drink at one time, but still could not resist. The teacher, his wife, a very respectable woman, endured for some time, and even kicked him out. He ended his life as a bum.

- Really no one else wooed Praskovya Nikitichna?

- It was. She met this man in Kazakhstan - Pavel Ivanovich Simonov. Highly handsome man, widower, secretary of the Ural regional party committee. I saw him in Moscow, and he came to us in Starobeshevo. I was surprised then that my mother met him, had lunch together, and then she suddenly thought that she had some important business, and went to her sister in a neighboring area. My grandparents and we, the children, stayed at home. He lived with us for several days. He, of course, was offended that his mother did this to him. I remember that Pavel Ivanovich rudely pulled one of the children, and grandmother heard this. She complained to her mother when she arrived...

In general, the guest left with nothing, although he was very passionate about his mother. She didn't marry because of us. I think if my mother had a husband, she would have felt sorry for herself and would not have worked to the point of self-torture.

“MOM, AS A DEPUTY, HAD TWO ROOMS IN A COMMUNE APARTMENT”

- After returning from Kazakhstan, Angelina's brigade consisted only of men. Was it difficult for her to deal with them?

- Maybe it's hard for someone to believe - my mother never used strong words. But her authority was indisputable! She led the brigade as a girl, but from the first days she was called "Aunt Pasha." Our grandfather, by the way, an illiterate person, also never cursed in the house. I never heard him raise his voice to my grandmother. And my mom never hit me. With the boys, however, was strict. They grew up without a man's hand. I had pedagogical disputes with her, defended the brothers.

She knew how to listen and spoke little. Maybe after work she didn’t have the strength to talk. In the evenings she knitted socks and mittens, sewed for us school uniform. I think mom would be a great dressmaker. She also cooked very well.

- Soviet propaganda blinded a real icon from Praskovya Nikitichna, she was presented as a role model. For such people at all times there were considerable privileges.

Judge for yourself. A deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR then received one hundred rubles for expenses and the right to free travel. Mom, as a deputy, had two rooms in a large Moscow communal apartment. Before the revolution, a doctor like Professor Preobrazhensky lived there, and after 1917 10 families settled there. There are 42 people in total. One toilet and washbasin for all - can you imagine? My mother's niece lived in Moscow at the time. With her husband, Hero of the Soviet Union, and with a small child, they filmed some kind of bedbug. And my mother begged for a corner for them. Later, I also settled with them - it was believed that this was better than a hostel. Those were the perks.

And after the death of my mother, almost everyone left us. Only my mother's friend, Galina Evgenievna Burkatskaya, took care of her. I can call her my second mother. She was a great woman, blessed be her memory. Cavalier of two orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, twice Hero of Socialist Labor, headed a collective farm in the Cherkasy region, was a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. It was she who got me a two-room apartment in Moscow. Galina Evgenievna was twice awarded the Order of Princess Olga. She died last year at the age of 90.

I remember another such case. Once my mother and I were walking to the Moskva Hotel along Chernyshevsky Street. By the way, she liked to walk a lot. It was a very hot day, I was tired and hungry. She began to ask her mother: “Come, feed me.” We went to the dining room where we had lunch. The food turned out to be ordinary: pea soup, goulash with buckwheat porridge, and compote the color of childhood malaise. Mom was dressed in a crepe de chine dress, on her chest were two medals of the Hero of Socialist Labor, a deputy badge and a laureate. The cleaner, when she saw her, was stunned. Indeed, the deputies, who were fed in the Kremlin for free, never entered their institution. The headmistress comes out, smiles and asks her mother to leave a review - did you like the dinner. Mom nodded at me: they say, my daughter is literate, so let her write ... I look at today's deputies and think: what a bright mother was compared to them.

- So, Praskovya Nikitichna had nothing to do with your admission to Moscow State University, or with the search for a prestigious job?

- What do you! When I entered the Faculty of Philology of Moscow State University, they asked me if I was Angelina's daughter. I answered that I was just a namesake and grew up in those places where there are many Angelins. I had to study well so that they would not say that they were doing me favors. After university, she found a job at Soyuzpechat. She started as an instructor, rose to the rank of first deputy director. I had a team of 2700 people under my command. Soyuzpechat was responsible for subscribing to periodicals throughout the USSR. I think I got very a good education- after all, we were taught by professors who themselves studied before the revolution.

Everything I earned for my retirement is trash now. My husband and I no longer work, we live in the suburbs in the country, which we inherited from relatives. We insulated it and wintered here for two winters. Moscow has become completely different now, we do not like it.

- How did it happen that the doctors did not keep track of the health of the famous Pasha Angelina?

Mom worked very hard. Never slept well, never ate well. Twice she suffered Botkin's disease on her legs. I came from Moscow and noticed how she lost weight. Aunt Nadya, my mother's sister, who took paramedic courses during the war, was also worried. They called the doctors, and they said that things were bad and that they needed to take my mother to Moscow. Donetsk doctors were simply afraid of responsibility. Mom was very surprised that they gave me a permanent pass to the hospital, although according to the rules, patients were allowed to visit only twice a week. They made an exception for me, because my mother was a hopeless patient. In the hospital, we had such a game - I called her daughter, and she called me mom. She died six months later. They buried her in Starobeshevo.

There are many centenarians in the Angelina family, but my mother left so early - at 46 years old. But I think she, despite everything, was happy man. And very kind... She made good money and helped many people. Once every two or three years I went to a sanatorium and could take half the brigade with me. In her every act, a maternal attitude was manifested, even to tractor drivers who were older than her. The pockets of her overalls were always stuffed with sweets. He drives a “victory”, sees a boy, stops, wipes his nose, kisses him, treats him. She has the mind of a mother, and he cannot be masculine. This is what they say: "a man in a skirt."

She believed that the most important thing in life is bread. There will be bread - there will be life. After the death of her mother, her brigade still existed until the collapse of the Soviet Union. Gagarin, before flying into space, once said in an interview: "I eat bread grown by Pasha Angelina." Even though my mother was no longer alive.

VALERY ANGELIN: "THE MOTHER HAD A PERSONAL PISTOL, BUT SHE CAN HIGHLY SHOT A HUMAN"

Praskovya Angelina knew how to get along with men - whether they were party leaders, deputies different levels, chairmen of collective farms, tractor drivers of her post-war brigade. Otherwise, I simply would not be able to work. And two more little men were waiting at home - sons Gennady and Valery. To be children of the world famous woman- means to correspond to it in everything and live with care. Once, speaking on the All-Union Radio, Angelina promised the whole country that each of her four children would receive a higher education. This almost happened, and only Valery, once a student of not even one, but two universities, never received a higher education. He lives in a tiny house on the edge of Starobeshevo, from time to time he sabbats. They say that his character is not simple. He does not give interviews to anyone on principle, but he made an exception for Gordon Boulevard, although he was laconic.

- Children of famous people often bask in the rays of parental glory for many years after their death. Did you get anything from maternal popularity?

- I have always been proud of my mother, but I never showed it and did not cling to her glory. My mother’s secretary was a teacher from our school (later she was appointed director) - she told me everything about me, my mother didn’t even have to go to school. Yes, I didn’t do anything bad at school, I didn’t drink, I didn’t smoke. Thanks to my mother, I traveled a little around the country, even met with Grigory Ivanovich Petrovsky, Lenin's ally. He was deputy director of the Museum of the Revolution.

- Praskovya Nikitichna made a promise to herself that all her children would receive a higher education. And so it happened: Gennady is a mechanical engineer, Svetlana is a philologist, Stalina studied to be a doctor. And it just didn't work out for you...

Yes, I didn't finish my studies. I managed to work with my mother as an accountant - I went and counted who fulfilled the norm. But this was a formality, because there was a rule in the brigade - to divide everything equally. Then he studied at two universities - in the Melitopol energy and Dnepropetrovsk agricultural. But the year my mother died, I crashed my motorcycle and broke my back. At the age of 20 he became an invalid of the first group. Before that, having the first category in football and volleyball, I could not walk even 50 meters - my back hurt so much. And a simple doctor put me on my feet. After my recovery, I burned all my medical records so that nothing would remind me of my disability.

- What do you remember from your childhood?

lived in simple house of an old building, although the mother could build any mansions. The furniture was also ordinary, but a rich library - a lot of Russian classics, "A Thousand and One Nights", Maupassant ... Mom loved to read, but she did not have time. She dressed very simply, wearing overalls to work. I remember my grandmother baked bread for the whole team. After the war, the stove was heated with adobe. We often had guests - they came important people on obkom cars, and my mother treated them to chebureks. Khrushchev called in, there were also foreign delegations. Mom always took them at home. The Germans will drink three glasses each and begin to sing "Katyusha", although they said that they do not know Russian. Mom did not sing with them, but her sisters Nadya and Lelya sang very beautifully - so that it took the soul.

- Did Praskovya Nikitichna spoil you at least sometimes?

- Mother sometimes came from Moscow with gifts. A model of an airplane once brought me a ballpoint pen - it was such a curiosity! But at school, no one would have allowed me to write with this pen, and the pasta ended later.

- Angelina's work was not female, but character?

She was a very kind person. It happened that he would offend one of the children, slap me, and then sit and cry. After the war, people came to us and asked her for food on their knees. She endured both flour and sunflower oil. In communication, the mother was easy. We often played chess with her, but she did not like to lose. I drove a car coolly, but sometimes I drove it if I asked, even when I didn’t have a driver’s license due to my age and I didn’t have a driver’s license.

She did not shine with a diploma, but, as far as I remember, she always found time to study with tutors. Starting from scratch, she went through a school course in a few years. In general, her school was work. Our grandmother took care of us all the time and after her death she was with us. He and his grandfather are long-lived with us - grandfather lived until the age of 87, grandmother did not reach the 90th birthday for a year. Mom called them on you, as was customary in Greek families.

- Today the mistress of the tractor brigade could be a very wealthy person. And then? Did you live better than others?

- After the war, for two years, we, like everyone else, were starving, until my mother got better with the brigade. In the queues for food, they also stood for help that came from America, too. In 1947, my mother received the first Star of the Hero of Socialist Labor. Life began to improve, although there was devastation in the country. In the brigade, her people earned smartly. For example, before the monetary reform on the collective farm, the salary was 400 rubles, and her trailer earned 1400. Tractor drivers and combine operators received 12 tons of pure grain. Not some barley, but real grain. Rest only on Sundays. They had their own canteen in the field, they dug out a “refrigerator”, pork, beef is always fresh, clean. They built a pool for rainwater to pour it into the radiators - they rusted from plain water. People built houses for themselves, had many motorcycles, and still some people ride them. Everyone in the brigade could take a car, and if there were problems, the mother, of course, would have bothered.

Then, especially for tractor drivers, my mother ordered 20 cars (these were the first "Muscovites"), but after her death they never reached here.

- And that - she had no enemies?

Many envied. Relatives were offended if they did not ask for them somewhere upstairs. She didn't like asking. After the war, the police guarded our family for two years. Mother had a personal pistol, but she could hardly have shot at a person. People respected her and knew her by sight. One day, a woman appeared in Kyiv, who introduced herself as Pasha Angelina and wanted to stay in a hotel under her name, but they immediately realized that she was a swindler.

Mother also told how once she was returning from a meeting from the region and four robbers came out onto the road. She had to stop and get out of the cab, but they recognized her and immediately disappeared. Each deputy once every two or three months conducted a reception of people. Praskovya Nikitichna wrote down all the requests and always fulfilled them. In 1938, as far as I know, people were dragged out of the NKVD. But she didn't tell us anything about it, and we didn't ask either. Who knew that the mother would live so little? They thought that by old age they would tell everything.
Tatyana Orel

In 1928, a foreign "miracle of technology of the 20th century" appeared in our backward village, rattling throughout the entire district. The tractor not only increased the speed of tillage, but also changed the whole habitual patriarchal way of life of rural residents. Even women's emancipation in the countryside went along the tractor track: there appeared Pasha(Praskovya) Angelina, a pretty girl who, for the first time in the history of the Russian village, took up "not a woman's" business. Hundreds of thousands of other women followed her.

Why Pasha Angelina at 16 she dreamed of becoming a tractor driverN Why did she organize the first female tractor brigade in the USSR at the age of 20, instead of quietly getting married, having children and poking around in her gardenN

Our correspondent Dmitry Tikhonov talks with the nephew of the legendary tractor driver - Alexei Kirillovich Angelin.

My father, Kirill Fedorovich, and Praskovya Nikitichna are cousins. My grandfather, Fyodor Vasilyevich, died very early due to a wound received in the First World War, and Praskovya Nikitichna's father, Nikita Vasilyevich, actually adopted his brother's children. Grandfather Nikita treated our family as his own.

We were all born in the regional village of Staro-Beshevo, Donetsk region. My mother, brother and son of Praskovya Nikitichna, Valery, still live there. By the way, Valery and I studied at the same institute, and I always go to him when I am in those parts.

Praskovya Nikitichna's husband worked in party bodies, and during the war he was badly wounded and died in 1947. She did not marry again, she said that the main thing for her was to put her three children on their feet. The eldest daughter Svetlana graduated from Moscow State University and has been living in Moscow for a long time, already retired. The middle son Valery remained, as I said, at home. Youngest daughter Stalina graduated from medical school, but died early. It was still Foster-son Gennady is the son of her brother. When the brother died, his wife abandoned the child, and Pasha adopted him.

What kind of person was she

They say about such women: a man in a skirt. She really had male character. She was directly drawn to tractors! But then in the village it was not very welcome. Those women who dared to sit on a tractor were subjected to real persecution. She even described it in her memoirs. In addition, Praskovya Nikitichna is Greek by nationality, and among them women were generally forbidden to get into men's affairs. Her father and the whole family were categorically against it, but in spite of everything she mastered this purely male specialty and became first a machine operator, and then the foreman of the first female tractor brigade in the USSR.

In 1938, attention was drawn to her. She got into the groove. As a result, she appealed to all Soviet women: "One hundred thousand friends - to the tractor!". And 200 thousand women followed her example.
She was a purposeful person, assertive, demanding, even tough, but very fair. And, of course, a great organizer. The team is always in perfect order and cleanliness. By the way, the women's brigade was from 1933 to 1945, but when they returned from Kazakhstan, from the evacuation, the women fled, and only men remained in the brigade. And Praskovya Nikitichna is their foreman. They called her Aunt Pasha.

I must say that she was a real ace driver: she drove both a tractor and a car, she practically did not get out of her "Victory" and did not want to change it for a new fashionable at that time "Volga".

Really, except for tractors, she was not interested in anything else in lifeN

She had a great passion for books. And although she did not receive a higher education, she loved to read terribly. When she was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, she sent dozens of parcels with books from Moscow. And all the neighbors thought that she was sending all sorts of scarce things from the capital. Her library was excellent. I subscribed to a whole pile of different newspapers and magazines. The postman brought them in bags.

By the way, at that time Praskovya Nikitichna was quite famous, or, as they said then, a noble person. It helped her in life

She never used her opportunities and connections for herself personally. Although she had great connections. Judge for yourself - a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, twice Hero of Socialist Labor, laureate of the Stalin Prize, had several Orders of Lenin, 20 years in a row - a deputy of the Supreme Council, knew Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin, met Stalin several times. But until the end of her life she remained a foreman, although she was repeatedly offered to become the chairman of the collective farm.

I remember such a case. She, as a deputy of the Supreme Council, had a personal driver. He once broke some rules, so she made him apologize to the sentry. She did not allow anyone to use her connections. Her family often resented her because of this. I think that the famous surname helped us in only one thing - our family escaped repression.
- Praskovya Angelina died in January 1959, when she was only 46 years old...
- She had cirrhosis of the liver, which is not surprising with such work. The constant presence of fuels and lubricants in the body affected. Previously, fuel was sucked through a hose. She died very quickly, within a few months, and literally worked to the last. I arrived at the session of the Supreme Council, felt bad, turned to the doctors. She was treated in a Kremlin clinic, but it was no longer possible to save her. The second star of the Hero of Socialist Labor was awarded to her when she was already in the clinic, almost before her death. They wanted to bury in Moscow, on Novodevichy cemetery, but at the request of relatives they were buried at home, in Staro-Beshevo. There is still a monument to her and an avenue named after her.
- Why did you connect your life with agricultureN
- My father was also a machine operator and worked as a foreman of a tractor brigade in a neighboring farm. And we, children, followed in his footsteps. I am the eldest son. Initially, he worked as a mechanic at MTS, then he graduated from the Melitopol Institute of Mechanization and Electrification of Agriculture, and became a mechanical engineer. He worked in the Kuban, was the chairman of the collective farm. My younger brother is also a mechanic. True, my children are no longer connected with the village. The granddaughter generally studies at MGIMO.
- What do you think, in modern conditions, the experience of Pasha Angelina applicableN
- All is well in due time. Then it was simply necessary, especially during the war and after it. And today, it seems to me, it is not necessary to involve women en masse in such a difficult task. There is no need for this. The men can do it themselves

While the country was carrying Angelina in her arms, her own husband almost shot her, and doctors went to the house to examine the family for "bad diseases"

Pasha Angelina was from a Greek family, but this was not mentioned. She became a symbol of the industrial Soviet era - a girl in work overalls, holding tractor levers in strong hands. She also differed from the heroines of that time in that no one created or embellished her artificially. Pasha was like this from birth: loving technology, deeply devoted and possessing the highest sense of duty. This ended her life at the age of 46.

Wikipedia

Guy in a skirt

Her first child was adopted. Pasha was barely 18 years old when her sister abandoned her son. Angelina was always ready to lend a hand to anyone who needed help. But she also knew how to take care of herself.

In their Christian Greek family, which had long settled in the village of Starobeshevo, Mariupol district, in the Donbass, and sacredly preserved patriarchal traditions, she grew up as the most stubborn and persistent child. She went against the will of her relatives, who insisted that the woman's place was at the stove, and not at all near the iron cars that appeared in the village. She was teased as a "guy in a skirt", but she graduated from the courses of machine operators and became the first female tractor driver in the USSR.

Pasha was born on January 12, 1913, and started driving a tractor at the age of 16. And for exactly 30 years, until her death on January 21, 1959, Praskovya Nikitichna did not leave this main “workplace”.


It's not easy being a symbol

The year 1929, when a young tractor driver amazed her fellow villagers by appearing in the field on an "iron horse", was a special year in the history of the country: a movement of shock-innovators was unfolding. The initiative of Pasha Angelina turned out to be most welcome. Other girls followed her example, and in 1933 Pasha led the women's brigade, which showed good results in the first year, and the foreman Angelina received the title of "Excellent Tractor Driver". The metropolitan newspapers began to write about her.

Youth like a spell repeated the names of the miner Alexey Stakhanov and other record holders. Pasha Angelina also entered the list of idols. She became a symbol of a woman of a new era - free, strong, technically trained, not inferior to men in anything.

Praskovya was awarded the highest award of the country - the Order of Lenin for her success in work. She was accepted as a member of the CPSU (b), and in 1938 she became famous with the slogan "100 thousand friends - to the tractor!" Not 100, but 200 thousand women responded to the call. She met with Stalin I could even call him personally. But Pasha was embarrassed by her high-profile fame and practically only once took advantage of it: she had to rescue her arrested brother, the chairman of the collective farm. He was released, but too late: he quickly died from beatings received in prison.

She never asked for anything more for herself, but always helped out others. She was often asked for help, and she used her influence more than once to get vouchers for the villagers, help them enter universities, and find work. She herself carved out minutes to adjust her knowledge and pass exams at Timiryazevka. From Moscow, where she was invited to sessions, she sent parcels home. At first, fellow villagers thought that there was a shortage, it turned out - with books. Having become famous all over the country, Praskovya Nikitichna still remained the foreman of her women's brigade and, returning from the capital, made up her plowing norm day and night, keeping up with her friends.

Scythe on a stone

And here's her husband Sergei Chernyshev, the glory of his wife was across the throat. He himself was a leader by nature - energetic, intelligent, he could perform for several hours without any cheat sheets, he drew well, composed poetry. Yes, and he held a decent position - the second secretary of the district committee of the party. In 1935, he married Pasha Angelina, who already had an adopted son in her arms. Gene.

Everything seems to be fine, and he could feel confidently as the head of the family. Yes, but it turned out that neither his talents nor his position had a price. He is simple for everyone - Pasha's husband. And in the invitations that the famous tractor driver received, it was usually indicated: "Praskovya Nikitichna Angelina with her husband." No wonder - after all, since 1937, his wife began to be regularly elected as a deputy of the Supreme Council.

All this literally brought Sergei out of balance. Pasha's worries kept increasing, the family grew - before the war they had two children of their own - Valery and Svetlana, and she still disappeared from dawn to dusk in the field.

In September 1941, Sergei Chernyshev went to the front. And Praskovya with her children was evacuated to Kazakhstan and continued to set her records there, although there were already four children in her arms. She nearly lost her last daughter. The fact is that she, pregnant, already at a critical time, in the summer of 1942, was summoned to Moscow for a session. She, afraid to disobey, went, and on the way back she gave birth right on the road. The train near Saratov was bombed. It is terrible to say what Praskovya had to endure during the few months that she traveled back to Kazakhstan with her newborn. They named the girl Stalin.

“You can’t fall below the tractor”

The war ended, and Praskovya Nikitichna returned to her native Donbass. Her pre-war women's brigade broke up, and she led the men's team. The performance of the “Angelins” was still going off scale, and even in the dry year of 1946 they collected a record harvest. Angelina first became a laureate of the Stalin Prize, and on next year received the star of the Hero of Socialist Labor. Pasha came home after midnight and left at four in the morning.

In the family, this caused constant scandals; her husband, who returned home in 1946, reproached Pasha for paying little attention to the family. However, this did not prevent him from bringing with him his “front-line” wife with a baby in her arms. Ignoring the gossip of fellow villagers, Praskovya helped her with money. And she forgave her husband.

Maybe because she understood: she can’t be alone. Too many envious people around. They said that she was Stalin's mistress, that the children were not from her husband, they wrote dirty anonymous letters. All this fueled Sergei's jealousy.

In addition, he returned from the war a complete alcoholic. Once in a frenzy in front of eldest daughter shot at his wife from a personalized Browning. The bullet miraculously passed by, the girl fainted from fear. Praskovya could not forgive him for this. She refused alimony, transferred the children to her last name, and did not meet with her ex-husband again.

She did not marry again, although she was married more than once. She had to be very careful, because for 22 years she was elected as a deputy supreme body authorities of the country, on every business trip they had to participate in feasts. To keep a fresh head, Praskovya imperceptibly changed vodka for water, and on a business trip she always took one of her children with her, she believed that it would never occur to anyone to molest a woman with a child.

But even these precautions sometimes did not save her from the envy of local party organs: she behaved painfully independently. Her daughter Svetlana told in an interview how one day in 1949, doctors raided their house in Starobeshevo, where guests from all over the country often came. They took a blood test from all the households ... for syphilis (!). They explained: they say, there was a signal that there were often drinking and partying in the house and it was generally unknown what they were doing. Only after Angelina's appeal to Nikita Khrushchev, who at that time headed the Communist Party of Ukraine, the persecution of the famous tractor driver stopped.

Praskovya Nikitichna was repeatedly offered a promotion - to become, for example, the chairman of a collective farm or even the deputy minister of agriculture of the republic. But she refused, believing that "it is necessary to hold on to the ground", "the tractor is low, you will not fall lower." But she dreamed of giving her children a full-fledged higher education. And it almost came true. Daughter Svetlana became a philologist, Stalin - a physician, Gennady - an engineer. Only Valery did not receive a diploma.

Praskovya Angelina died when she was only 46 years old. She never complained, on her feet she suffered Botkin's disease twice, she literally burned out at work. When they rushed to save her, it turned out that she had cirrhosis of the liver - from many years of work with diesel fuel and machine oils.

For the Land of Soviets, Angelina Praskovya Nikitichna always remained Pasha. She was considered the first tractor driver. She was known in the same way as the legendary Stakhanov, Chkalov and Papanin.

She liked to say that she was able to saddle the "iron horse", calling other representatives of the weaker sex behind her. True, this occupation deprived her not only of health, but also of personal happiness ... Pasha Angelina's biography will be presented to the reader's attention in the article.

Greek family

Praskovya Nikitichna Angelina was born in 1913 in one of the villages of the Donetsk province in a peasant family. Her ancestors are Greeks. She was brought up in Christian traditions.

Young Pasha was originally preparing for rural life. When she was only five, she worked as a shepherd. And a few years later she was already working in the mine as an auxiliary worker. Of course, she gave all her earnings to her mother.

In addition, from an early age, the future record holder was attracted to technology and various mechanisms. Although in Greek families since ancient times women have to deal exclusively with children and household chores. But Pasha was originally considered a "boy in a skirt." And when the first tractor appeared in their village, Angelina could not remain indifferent. She decided to learn the profession of a tractor driver.

Of course, members of the Angelin family reacted very negatively to this desire. However, the sixteen-year-old girl still achieved her goal. She brilliantly graduated from the courses of machine operators and began to work in the fields of Donbass. She was the very first woman to drive a tractor. Since then, the development of agriculture in the Stalin era literally depended on it. She was able to become a legend.

Pasha Angelina - the legend of labor Donbass

A few years ago, Angelina also headed the first female team of tractor drivers. N. Radchenko, L. Fedorova, N. Biits, V. Kosse, V. Zolotopuup, V. Anastasova and others worked with her.

In the very first plowing, the girls managed to double the plan. In addition, they did not allow a single downtime of equipment during this period. Although at that time Soviet agriculture was going through far from the best of times. There was a significant shortage of spare parts and fuel. Also, repair teams have not yet been formed.

But despite this, in the same memorable year, Angelina received the title of "Excellent Tractor Driver". And the news of this reached the capital. Leading periodicals began to regularly publish her photographs. Under the conditions of the first Soviet five-year plan, the country needed new "heroes". And so was Pasha. There was a Stakhanov movement in the USSR. And party leaders began to "sculpt" from her the image of a real worker who was devoted to the head of state.

Deputy

In 1935, Pasha Angelina was awarded the prestigious Order of Lenin for the first time. Two years later, she became a member of the Communist Party and a deputy of the Supreme Soviet. Repeatedly at personal meetings, she spoke with Stalin. She even had the opportunity to directly call the leader of the country.

But she never used it. According to her recollections, belonging to the party elite weighed her down terribly.

However, due to her status in society, she had to constantly fuss about sending equipment. She also punched out vouchers for the villagers to the south, helped them with admission to universities, and much more. In a word, she took care of literally everyone except herself. It was extremely inconvenient for her to use her position. Although, perhaps, her surname at one time saved the whole family from Stalinist repressions. True, her brother, who headed one of the collective farms, nevertheless ended up in the dungeons of the Chekists. A little later he was released, but after bullying and beatings in prison, he became disabled and soon died.

highly educated worker

Countrymen marveled at her exceptional energy. So, in 1938, she decided to appeal to all Soviet workers. She went out to them with an appeal: “100,000 friends - to the tractor!” And soon this example was followed by more than a hundred thousand Soviet women, but twice as much.

In addition, the villagers were amazed at her craving for knowledge. Angelina Praskovya Nikitichna sincerely dreamed of becoming a highly educated worker. At the same time, initially she did not shine with diploma. But she always managed to find time to study with tutors. So, in a few years she managed to complete the entire school course. And on the eve of the war, she even managed to get a diploma of higher education, graduating from the famous Timiryazevka.

She loved literature. She constantly read and subscribed to lots of books. And as a result, she herself took up the pen, writing her book. It was called "People of the collective farm fields."

During the war

When the war began, Angelina moved to Kazakhstan, where she again became the foreman of the women's team.

She slept 4 hours a day. And in these conditions, she continued to develop agriculture and set records.

In 1945, she returned to the Donbass. Her partners were in different cities. But she again led a new brigade. Only there were no women besides her at all. But the representatives of the stronger sex unconditionally recognized her authority.

post-war period

In the post-war period, Angelina, as always, continued to reach new heights. Her brigade received 12 tons of grain. As a result, in 1947, for shock work, she was awarded the first Star of the Hero of Labor.

Over time, life generally began to improve. A canteen and a refrigerator were built in the field. In addition, a special pool for rainwater was built. The matter is that from drinking radiators quickly rusted.

Its employees received huge salaries. In the end, many of them built houses, bought motorcycles. Also, anyone could buy a car. And if there was not enough money, the foreman immediately helped to solve this problem. So, once for tractor drivers she ordered two dozen "Moskvich".

New realities

After Stalin's death, completely new times came. This era required other idols and heroes. But Angelina still could not complain about the reality. She was elected to the Central Committee of the Ukrainian Communist Party. Then she continued to receive new awards. As before, she was praised in the press. She was constantly invited to various events and meetings.

She had her own personal car "Victory". She drove the car as skillfully as a tractor. Then she was offered to take the prestigious and fashionable Volga at that time. But she refused.

She also refused the post of chairman of one of the collective farms. She remained an ordinary brigadier until the last. However best time it was already gone for her...

Death of the Brigadier

Tractor driver Pasha Angelina never complained about her health to anyone. But throughout recent months her life she was troubled by liver pains. But she held on.

When she arrived in the capital for the session of the Supreme Council, she felt very bad. She had to go to the doctors.

She was placed in the famous "Kremlin". In another hospital ward, by the way, was the famous Papanin. They were friends.

There she was also awarded the second Star of the Hero.

Meanwhile, the doctors put Angelina terrible diagnosis- cirrhosis of the liver. In those days, this disease was professional for tractor drivers. They constantly breathed poisonous vapors of fuel.

Pasha was offered to be operated on, and she agreed, since she sincerely hoped that surgery would really help her. But the miracle didn't happen. She died in January 1959. She was only 46.

She was going to be buried at the Novodevichy churchyard. But relatives insisted that she be buried after all in her homeland.

After the death of Angelina, the brigade did not disintegrate at all. Until the crash Soviet empire she worked hard and continued to set records.

Also, for a long time, a club of women machine operators functioned in honor of famous woman. This organization brought together several thousand rural workers.

In the homeland of Praskovya, in the village of Starobeshevo, a bust of Angelina was erected, an avenue was named after her and her museum was opened.

Unhappy family of Angelina

At one time, Angelina had an exemplary soviet family. Her husband was a party leader. His name was Sergey Chernyshev. He came to Donbass from Kursk on the order and became one of the leaders of the region. They say he was considered very capable and talented person. He wrote poetry and painted.

Perhaps he would have risen even higher. career ladder if not for his wife. The fact is that for everyone he remained, first of all, the husband of the famous tractor driver, and not the owner of the district. And it madly hurt his vanity. He began to roll scary scenes and abuse alcohol.

When the Great Patriotic War began, he went to the front. He went through the entire war and was an order bearer. But during this period he has already turned into a real alcoholic.

After the Victory, he continued to serve in Germany. He was the commandant of one of the military camps.

After some time, he nevertheless ended up in the Donbass. A little later, his front-line wife came to him with a child. Surprisingly, Angelina managed to withstand this blow of fate. She treated this woman with enviable understanding. Moreover, later she began to financially support both her and the child herself.

Well, Chernyshev continued to be jealous of his wife for her inexhaustible glory. Over time, the relationship between them finally went wrong. And when, in a state of intoxication, her husband wanted to shoot Praskovya (he missed), she herself filed for divorce, not forgiving him this trick.

She completely cut him out of her life. She decided not only to refuse his alimony, but also to change the name of the children. Now they have all become only Angelinas.

After these events, Chernyshev only visited them twice. At the first meeting ex-wife even sent him to one of the sanatoriums, as his health left much to be desired. The second time he arrived at Praskovya's funeral. True, when she was still in the Kremlin hospital, Chernyshev wanted to see her, but the children did not let him in ...

Meanwhile ex-husband Pasha started a new family. His chosen one was a school teacher. At one time, Chernyshev completely stopped drinking, but then he began to abuse again. The wife kicked him out. And later he died.

... Angelina herself never married again. Although they wooed her several times. So, even during the war, one of the Ural party functionaries P. Simonov became seriously interested in it. But he had a sick wife. And so Praskovya stopped these courtship in the bud.

Descendants

Angelina raised 4 children. And one of them is adopted. She adopted her nephew into the family when his own mother abandoned him.

The first two children, Sveta and Valera, were born before the war. The youngest daughter was born already in 1942. She named the girl Stalin in honor of the leader of the Soviet state. In the family, she was simply called Stalochka.

Today, the descendants of the legendary tractor driver live in the Russian capital and in the Don region.

2013-01-11 16:15
Through the pages of the Pravda newspaper, Vladislav Sherstyukov

Praskovya Nikitichna Angelina, the first tractor driver of the USSR... One cannot write about this person without surprise, admiration and even delight. I am happy that fate brought me to the daughter of this legendary worker of the 20th century...

What was she, her mother? I learned a lot about this by talking with her for a long time.

They also talked about Angelina in books and newspapers of the Soviet era.

The daughter of a laborer gained all-Union fame

Galina Burkatskaya, chairman of the Club of Women Machine Operators named after her, wrote brightly and objectively about her:

“Pasha Angelina... In the thirties, this name became a banner in the countryside, under which stood those who asserted the strength of the still young collective farm system, the beauty of collective labor, the beauty of the moral principles of our socialist life.

Pasha Angelina... Having organized and led the country's first women's tractor brigade, she is an ever-calling example of selflessness in work, innovative flair, motherly love for the land.

I had to meet with Praskovya Nikitichnaya... Most of all I remember her swiftness - in her gait, her gaze, in her peculiar ability to carry on a conversation. And I also remember that young people were always crowding around her. Questions poured in, someone reached out with his hand to her hand, someone carefully touched her stars on her jacket. Twice Hero of Socialist Labor!

And also a communist. And also - the winner of the State Prize of the USSR. And also - a strong, beautiful, cheerful person. Our contemporary."

Pasha was born on December 30, 1912 (January 12, 1913) in the village of Starobeshevo in Ukraine (now Donetsk region), in a small house under a thatched roof large family Efimiya Fedorovna and Nikita Vasilyevich Angelins.

Education for the children of the poor was then unavailable. We have already forgotten the meaning of the painting by V. Semisenko “At the Threshold of the School”. But 70 percent of the population was illiterate.

Residents of Starobeshev had no idea about medical care. Many died from smallpox, dysentery, typhoid fever ... In 1889, diseases were registered: dysentery - 61, typhoid fever - 53, measles - 30, chicken pox - 6. Of the ten children of the Angelinas, ten-year-old Fedor and three-year-old Lena died of typhus. Ivan, Kharitina and Pasha herself suffered from smallpox (traces on her face remained).

The family worked hard. Life was difficult. From the age of five, Pasha, together with the whole family, worked for the kulak.

I will quote the words from Demyan Bedny's poem "Flowers and Roots", written, as I read, according to the memoirs of Pasha's brother Angelina Vasily:

Our hut is a barn more precisely,

Where the bug reigned and tyrannized us, -

My grandfather couldn't tell about her

Who and when bungled it.

In it, obsolete for a long time,

As the time came for the night

Family of ten

We went astray like herrings in a barrel,

Everyone slept together. Tightness…

“Is it just enough to feed ten mouths?”

So we all have plenty of stale bread

Never ate.

By the way, Nikita Vasilievich Angelin was one of the first to join the TOZ (association for cultivating the land), and later became the chairman of the Lenin collective farm. In 1927 he joined the ranks of the CPSU (b). Pasha's elder brother was elected secretary of one of the first Komsomol organizations.

Pasha worked on the collective farm, shepherded calves, cows, and worked in a field team. And in 1929, the first equipment appeared in the countryside - four Fordzones. The first training courses for tractor drivers were created in Yuzovka. Recommend the most capable, the most courageous for training new profession. Pasha's brother Ivan also got there. He became one of the first tractor drivers in the village, and his sister was proud of him. It was then that she had a dream: to lead the iron horse across the field herself!

When courses for tractor drivers were opened in the village of Styla, Starobeshevsky district, the only girl among the students was Pasha Angelina ...

Success was not long in coming. The very first year of work on a tractor - and the first record in my life: I exceeded the norm by 30 percent! At a meeting of the MTS, a seventeen-year-old Komsomol member was presented with a drummer's ticket, a badge of excellence in agriculture, and a valuable gift.

The star of the worker did not go out all her unusually radiant life. The number of female tractor drivers grew next to her: Natasha Radchenko, Vera Anastasova, Vera Kosse, Lyubov Fedorova, Vera Zolotopup, Nadezhda Biits, Maria Radchenko ... In 1933, the first in the country (probably in the world) female tractor brigade loudly declared itself: the field work was carried out, not allowing a single downtime of equipment for the entire season. In 1934, the output for each tractor was already 795 hectares instead of the planned 497. The team did not forget about the quality of land cultivation, which led to an unprecedented harvest at that time. Angelina's brigade was presented with the challenge Red Banner of the district committee of the party. Then labor was the mirror of society. There was also poetry of labor ...

The first women's tractor brigade was spurred to new achievements, of course, by the Stakhanov movement in the USSR. Girlfriends become his initiators in agriculture! At the II All-Union Congress of Collective Farmers-Shock Workers (1935), Pasha Angelina promises on behalf of the brigade to plow 1,200 hectares of land with each tractor.

And these were not empty words. They were based on a well-thought-out organization of labor. The brigade introduces innovations: the exact schedule of tractor work, plowing at night, refueling tractors right in the furrow, scheduled repairs of machines ... The world's first women's tractor brigade kept its word. On the night of November 12, 1935, the last hectare of land was plowed. A telegram went to the Kremlin: “The promise given at the congress of collective farmers-shock workers, the Starobeshevskaya women's tractor brigade has fulfilled. Each KhTZ tractor worked 1,225 hectares of land and saved over 20,154 kilograms of fuel.” Such was the bond between people, honor and government...

Former museum director P.N. Angelina Lidia Pavlovna Dotsenko (I will refer to her facts below) wrote about the winter All-Union Conference of Agricultural Leaders: “Member of the brigade P.N. Angelina V.E. Mikhailova-Yuryeva recalls: “We, simple peasant girls, were given so much attention and respect! We couldn't dream of it. For the rest of their lives they remembered the meeting with N.K. Krupskaya. She received us in her office, seated us in armchairs, on the sofa. She came up to each of us, stroked our hands and said: “Such small hands - how do you turn such a heavy tractor?” Many kind words were told to us by M.I. Kalinin, S.M. Budyonny, K.E. Voroshilov. We visited museums, theaters, plants and factories. At the furniture factory, we were presented with a wardrobe, beds and six chairs each.

The labor glory of the first tractor driver blazed and blazed ...

January 6, 1936 M.I. Kalinin presented Pasha Angelina with the Order of Lenin, and other orders for her friends. On that day, Pasha gave her word to bring the output of the tractor to 1600 hectares, to create ten women's tractor brigades in the region. Upon arrival from Moscow, the women were sent to foreman courses, after which they headed tractor brigades. There were ten of them!

For her there was a front in the rear

The initiative of Pasha Angelina received wide support in the country: women's tractor brigades were created in many parts of the Soviet Union. She, the first tractor driver, in 1936 was elected a delegate to the VIII Extraordinary Congress of Soviets, which adopted the Stalinist Constitution of the USSR. And in 1937, Praskovya Nikitichna Angelina was elected to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Vesky memories former first Secretary of the Central Committee of the Komsomol (1938-1952) N.A. Mikhailova: “When the first elections to the Supreme Soviet of the USSR took place in 1937, I worked in Pravda as the head of the group preparing for the elections. We prepared abundant information, essays on candidates for deputies, materials on how the country is meeting the first elections. Praskovya Nikitichna Angelina became a deputy. At that time she was 25 years old. Energy bubbled through her. In the life of Pasha Angelina happened significant event- in the same 1937, she joins the ranks of the Communist Party. The Soviet people built new life. Designers created the best machines to save people from hard manual labor, agricultural specialists were looking for ways to increase productivity in order to give people plenty of bread, meat, milk, scientists worked on the problem of prolonging human life.

Stop the pen: it was the USSR! And I will continue Mikhailov: “At that time, clouds were gathering in the West, the flames of a new world war were flaring up in Europe. Praskovya Nikitichna Angelina understood well that if fascist Germany attacked the USSR, male tractor drivers would go to the front and then women should replace them. In a number of major cases, it was planned to organize the training of 100,000 women machine operators in the countryside. On this topic, I had a conversation with Pasha Angelina when she arrived in Moscow. The fact is that there were skeptics who believed that it was hardly possible to train, and whether so many female machine operators were needed. "Who is speaking? Pasha asked angrily. - Yes, if something happens, even a hundred thousand will not be enough for us. We know what they said at the congress about Nazi Germany. If you need to keep your eyes open, then it means that you need to prepare for everything.

And here is Pasha Angelina, others noble tractor drivers threw a cry: "A hundred thousand girlfriends - to the tractor!" This was the beginning of the all-Union campaign of girls to master the art of driving a tractor. Newspaper reports of that time are interesting: “800 collective farmers of Khakassia decided to become tractor drivers”, “In the Nikolaev region, all tractor drivers undertook to teach their wives and sisters their profession.” AT Central Asia female tractor drivers appeared: in Kyrgyzstan - 1087, in Turkmenistan - 1306 ... But in general, after the call of Pasha Angelina and her associates, more than two hundred thousand girls and women mastered the profession of a tractor driver in a few months.

One cannot omit such an episode from the biography of my heroine: in September 1939, in order to get an agricultural education, Pasha Angelina entered the All-Union Academy of Socialist Agriculture. She handed over her brigade to her younger sister Elena for the duration of her studies.

The beginning of the war found Pasha in his native collective farm. Her speech at the rally was fiery. She called for a resolute rebuff to the enemy, triple efforts in labor, and timely harvest. On June 26, 1941, the Socialist Donbass newspaper publishes an appeal by the three Angelina sisters to housewives, state farm workers, and collective farmers with a proposal to quickly master the profession of a machine operator. The result: in the three MTS of the Starobeshevsky district, 170 tractor drivers and 15 combine operators were trained in the shortest possible time! The farms of this region successfully completed the field work, handed over the grain of seed, fodder and other funds to the state, and cattle and sheep were evacuated in an organized manner to eastern regions Union.

In this formidable time hanging over the country, Angelina proved herself a true patriot. Praskovya Nikitichna on August 21, 1941 (this is recorded on the receipt) handed over 4840 rubles to the National Defense Fund. She wrote about those days: “Humming and trembling, NATI walked. In Belaya Kalitva, I handed over to the Red Army a detachment of powerful, serviceable vehicles, seven wagons and fourteen horses.

After the evacuation, the labor and moral feat of Pasha Angelina continued. Her front line now passed through the Budyonovsky MTS of the Terektinsky district of the West Kazakhstan region. It was very difficult! Burning winds (and I felt them when I served in this republic) dried the lands of the collective farm named after S.M. Budyonny. Harvest before her arrival - seven to eight centners per hectare. But Pasha was an experienced grain grower and was always convinced that it is possible to grow the desired crop on any land if you seriously follow the rules of advanced agricultural technology and, of course, work sparingly.

Here is how L.P. Dotsenko: “Sowing should be carried out as soon as possible, after the seeder, light harrows should be launched in order to plant seeds deeper, loosen the ground. After that, immediately destroy the formed crust, close all the ways of evaporation of moisture.

Yes, the development of virgin lands in Kazakhstan for Pasha Angelina's brigade began back in the war years. Recalls assistant foreman G.T. Danilova: “I had to work day and night. In the first year alone, we developed 1,200 hectares of virgin lands. Before us, winter wheat was not cultivated in Kazakhstan. Pasha asked permission from the Ural Regional Party Committee to sow this crop. She received permission, but no seeds. Pasha goes to Saratov and from there comes with seeds of winter wheat, which gave an excellent harvest in the first year.

She did not tolerate a passive attitude to business, firmly believed in the victory of reason and diligence. In 1942, Angelina's tractor brigade completed the agricultural work plan by 156.4 percent, saving almost 13.5 tons of fuel. Instead of 2100 hectares, she cultivated 5401 hectares! Feat? Feat! Any reader will be delighted with her dedication to achieving a noble goal on mother earth. P.N. herself Angelina recalled: “But the most encouraging thing is that we helped the Budyonovskaya MTS to grow new female personnel, which she did not have before us. Now, by right, MTS can be proud of such combine operators as Katya Holot, Motya Tarasenko and others.”

The news of the miracle spread throughout Kazakhstan. Still, the team of Pasha Angelina collected 150 pounds of grain per hectare! Delegates came, learned from her the advanced methods of cultivating the land. And she willingly shared her experience. In the regional newspaper "Leninsky Way" her appeal to all tractor drivers and tractor drivers of Kazakhstan was published with an appeal to participate in the All-Union competition for increasing assistance to the Red Army in defeating the enemy. The shock work of Pasha Angelina's brigade was awarded the title of Guards.

I cite surprising in content the memoirs of the assistant foreman G.T. Danilova: “One morning we were told that there was no gasoline, everything was going to the front. And the harvest of 1942-1943 was very high. We did not have the right to lose a single grain, the combines were idle, and then Pasha suggested making additional barrels for gasoline in order to only start the combines, and work ... on kerosene. I worked as a machine operator for many years, but I did not hear that it was possible to harvest crops on kerosene. It was a bold move, a bold move by our brigadier. In one day, the tractor drivers of our brigade made these barrels themselves. The next day, at our initiative, everyone in Budyonovskaya MTS switched to kerosene.

What kind of workers were in the Land of Soviets - I write and I myself am surprised ...

The initiative of my heroine continued to multiply the ranks of women machine operators, which is difficult to overestimate during the years of the Great Patriotic War. Four hundred thousand of them raised and harvested bread for the army in the rear!

Without a book, like without a tractor, she could not live.

In the fall of 1943, Donbass was liberated from the Nazi invaders, and in early 1944, Praskovya Nikitichna returned to Starobeshevo. It was destroyed, the reference and indicative MTS of Ukraine was overshadowed by ruins. And the brigade of Pasha Angelina returned life to the wounded earth. In 1944, on an area of ​​693 hectares, they received 133 poods of winter wheat per hectare ...

The famous tractor driver again introduced a lot of new things into agriculture. On her initiative in the Donbass in 1945-1946, snow retention was carried out for the first time. It is known that in 1946 a great drought broke out, not a drop of rain fell all summer, and thick, solid wheat was earing on the fields of her collective farm. As a result, an average of 17 centners of grain was collected from all areas. It is no coincidence that in November 1946, Praskovya Nikitichna Angelina was awarded the Stalin Prize for the improvement of labor in agriculture and excellent performance in the production of grain crops.

In December 1947, she was invited to a board meeting of the USSR Ministry of Agriculture, where she made a presentation. For more than a quarter of a century (!) her brigade has been participating in VDNKh every year. During this time, 200 thousand hectares of land have been cultivated, 6 million poods of grain have been grown, and 52 annual norms have been met! And this is not a fairy tale, but a real labor result based on thought, diligence, love for the land. In February 1958, for obtaining high and stable yields, the daughter of a former farm laborer, who became an innovator of collective farm production under Soviet power, was an active party, state and public figure, was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor for the second time.

The legendary tractor driver was a delegate of the XVIII, XIX, XX congresses of the CPSU, a number of congresses of the Communist Party of Ukraine, a member of its Central Committee.

But it's time to touch on other interesting points in her biography. Praskovya Nikitichna was the mother of four children - Svetlana, Valery, Stalin (her relatives) and the adopted Gennady - the son of the deceased brother Ivan. Here is what Svetlana Sergeevna Angelina, who graduated from Moscow State University, told me about her mother’s culture: “She had an amazing passion for books. This is not yet an open topic. We must not forget for a moment that she was a machine operator, she worked in the field. And when she sent parcels from Moscow, none of them contained anything but books. They were books, books, books. Truth: most better education- books. Mom understood this with all the fibers of her soul, and we have formed an amazing library, probably no worse than the district one. She also subscribed to a lot of newspapers and magazines. Lots of! She was a modern, intelligent person: she could not live without reading, as well as without a tractor. And that was the time."

Svetlana Sergeevna also spoke about such an order, amazing to tears: “In the tractor team of Angelina, in this field camp, hygiene and beauty were lovingly observed. There were men of different ages, and they all called her Aunt Pasha. I was amazed that the visiting delegations from the Union and from abroad, especially women, were interested in what kind of sheets tractor drivers sleep on. I can assure you that the linen was always amazingly clean. There was a woman in the brigade who washed clothes. Mom loved cleanliness and watched it. And more importantly, my mother loved flowers. She brought roses and planted them in the brigade. These roses bloomed, which no one had planted here before and had not even seen, in the steppe expanse. Roses were never plucked, even for the dearest guests.

Another detail: “When she became famous throughout the Soviet Union, she was invited to work in Donetsk, and in Kyiv, and in Moscow, but my mother believed that you should do the work for which you are destined. She often repeated: “My destiny is to grow bread. This is my destiny." She never left the ground. Never. Its goal is land, arable land, bread.

During a conversation with Svetlana Sergeevna, I asked the question: “The modern reader knows little whether your mother met I.V. Stalin? Her answer: “Of course, I met, and many times. For the first time she saw Stalin in 1933 at a meeting of agricultural leaders. In 1935, during the work of the II All-Union Congress of Collective Farmers-Shock Workers, Stalin received in the Kremlin her entire female tractor brigade, as they were then called - "nine girls in green berets" (she was then 22 years old). And Stalin personally received her ... Minister Ilya Pavlovich Lomako told me something that I did not know before: my mother was one of those few people of her rank (for example, Stakhanov) who could always call Stalin ... "

Praskovya Nikitichna died on January 21, 1959 and, according to her will, was buried in the cemetery in Starobeshevo. In 1962, her bronze bust was installed in the center of the village of Starobeshevo, and a memorial museum was located nearby in the building. It contains the entire biography of the heroine: personal belongings, numbers of victories, dates, reviews, numerous photographs ... By 1988, about 300 thousand people visited the museum. In November 2012, I called the director of the museum, Evgeny Evgenyevich Kotenko. He said that the historic house is still operating today. Since 2000, 40,000 visitors have been here.

History knows many outstanding women. Among them will forever remain a great name from the Soviet era - Praskovya Nikitichna Angelina, a unique grain grower, communist, innovator, a wonderful woman who never abandoned the steering wheel of a tractor and remained true to the moral principles of socialist labor. She is - worthy representative Soviet socialist civilization, which, of course, belongs to the future.