Struggle in Soviet Russia

In the villa on the side of the boulevard, in the bathroom in the master bedroom on the second floor.

The mist filled the entire bathroom, and a figure lying in the oval bathtub could be vaguely seen.

After immersing his whole body in warm water, Victor lay in the bathtub, only feeling that the muscles of his whole body seemed to relax, but the more so, the more tired he felt. The whole body was soft and weak. There is still a little soreness in the calf.

"Ling Ling..."

Outside the open bathroom door, a crisp telephone ringing came in. Victor opened his closed eyes and listened carefully. He heard the sound of footsteps coming in. Then the ringing of the telephone stopped and Anrina’s soft voice was heard. Come in.

Lying in the bathtub, of course it was impossible for Victor to hear who was calling. He overcame the inertia in his heart and struggled to sit up from the bathtub, stretched his hand over a bath blanket hung on the wall, and stood up. Stand up, wrap the bath blanket around your body, and step out of the bathtub.

With a "click", the phone seemed to be hung up, and then, the sound of footsteps from far and near, soon reached the door of the bathroom.

"Have you done it?" Walking in from the bathroom door, Anrina took a towel and moved to Victor's side. While wiping his dripping hair, she said, "It just so happened that Comrade Malinkov hit Call me and ask if you have time at night, and he said that if you have time, you might as well meet him."

"Okay, I see," Victor nodded, and took the towel from Anrina, and said, "You arrange a car for me, and I'll be there later."

It was late at this time. In fact, it was nearly ten o'clock when Victor left the Kremlin before. In his opinion, Malinkov invited him to meet up at this time. It is estimated that he should not sleep tonight. All right.

An Lina is obviously aware of this problem, she said: "I'll drive you there."

Since the official cohabitation with Victor, Anrina has also had a job of her own in the past period of time, working as a cashier in the Stalin factory in Moscow. Yes, it is the military factory that specializes in the production of Poposa. .

As a person close to Victor, although Victor himself has not intervened or said anything, there will always be someone who will do the relevant work abnormally. Therefore, although Anlena is only a cashier at the Stalin factory, she has a regular car. The only problem with the car dedicated to her is that she has just learned to drive for a short time and is not very proficient.

Victor did not refuse Anrina's proposal. He dried his hair as quickly as possible, put on the clothes Anrina prepared for him, and hurried out to go on a date with Malinkov.

………………………

It was late at night, the streets of Moscow were almost empty, and the street lights on the side of the road had been extinguished. Only the light from the headlights led the direction of the car.

Inside the car, Victor was sitting in the passenger seat-Anrina’s driving skills are a bit of a two-handed meaning, but she still likes to master the steering wheel, because it is too late, so Victor did not dare to sit in the back seat, but Sit in the passenger seat so that he can deal with emergencies.

The place where Malinkov met was at his house, not very far from Victor's house.

For Malinkov's hurried appointment to meet himself, Victor could somewhat guess some of the reasons.

During the time he went to West Ukraine to resolve the issue of banditry, the situation in Moscow was not very peaceful. From some perspectives, it could even be said to be quite responsible.

As the war came to an end, many of the alliance’s work was faced with the problem of turning, and in the field of economic work, there was no consensus among the high-level powers in Moscow on how to turn the war economy to a peaceful economy.

In terms of Victor's personal observation and understanding, the current views on economic transformation can be roughly divided into three types: those of Comrade Stalin, those of moderates, and those of hardliners.

All day long, no matter what kind of point of view, they all have one thing in common, that is, they all believe that the transformation of the economic model is a very simple matter, so as long as the implementation is started, it can be done in a very short time. Finish. In this regard, a sentence of Comrade Zhdanov can be used as a basis. He believes that the work of reforming the national economy in accordance with the needs of peacetime can be completed by the end of next year and the beginning of the next year, that is, by the beginning of 1946 at the latest. It can be done.

At the Central Plenary Session convened by Comrade Stalin not long before, Comrade Zhdanov's view was also approved by almost all the Central Committee members, including Victor.

But the question is, is there no objection to a premise that these three views are recognized? Of course not. Here, there is another economic viewpoint in addition to the three factions, and that is the faction headed by Voznesensky.

During the time that Victor rushed from Warren Oblast to Wakarbach, Comrade Voznesensky published an article in the "Bolshevik" magazine. In this article, he first listed the alliance The huge losses suffered in the war in the past few years include 20 million people, 1,710 cities, more than 70,000 villages, 31,850 companies, and so on. It is impossible to fully recover from such a heavy loss in a short time. Therefore, regarding the work of economic recovery after the war, he believes that Moscow should make adequate psychological preparations. The so-called "good life after the war" is very important. It may not be as perfect as everyone thinks.

Of course, this view put forward by Voznesensky is not the most fundamental basis for his position different from Comrade Stalin, moderates, and hardliners.

It depends on the difference between his views and the remaining three, and also on the economic thinking of the remaining three.

From Comrade Stalin’s point of view, the leader obviously still has certain illusions about the post-war relationship between the Soviet Union, the United States and Britain. Therefore, when he formulated the post-war economic policy, he determined the short-term and long-term plans. . In the short term, it is necessary to restore the economy to its pre-war level as soon as possible, pay attention to the production of daily necessities to a certain extent, and continuously reduce commodity prices to improve people's living standards. In terms of long-term planning, it is still necessary to follow the pre-war guidelines and policies and attach importance to the development of heavy industry.

Contrary to what people imagined, in terms of economic policy, the one who holds a moderate view is a tough comrade Zhdanov. He believes that the international situation faced by the post-war alliance will tend to ease overall. The pre-war situation of tension between alliances and Western countries will no longer occur. Therefore, the alliance should shift its main focus of economic development from heavy industry represented by the defense industry to an economic situation oriented to meet consumer demand.

As for the representatives of the hardliners, it is Comrade Malinkov and his ally, Comrade Beria. At the previous Central Plenary Session, Comrade Malinkov expressed his position with four reinforcements, that is, "we must first strengthen our strength, strengthen our armed forces, strengthen our socialist country, and strengthen our glorious Red Army and Navy." Comrade Beria directly attacked Zhdanov and pointed out that the other party's view that strengthening military and economic power is outdated is completely wrong.

What is worth noting here is that as a loyal follower of Comrade Stalin and a representative figure who has always been unclear in the party’s position, Molotov. With Beria's support. In addition, even at the bottom of the Politburo rankings, Mikoyan, who is in charge of trade work, also stood up clearly for the first time and expressed support for Malinkov and Beria.

There is a saying, yes, only when the tide is low do you know who is swimming naked, and in politics, it is only at a critical moment that you can figure out what everyone's basic position is.

For Comrade Zhdanov, the wind that appeared at the plenary session this time made him very passive. Of course, what made him the most passive was Voznesensky’s position on economic policy. A political star who came from the Leningrad faction and was pulled up by Zhdanov with one hand, he clearly expressed a standpoint that was completely different from Zhdanov.

From a fundamental point of view, the economic policy advocated by Voznesensky should be regarded as a synthesis of Comrade Stalin’s position and the hardline policy. He believed that within a short period of time after the war, the focus of the alliance’s economic work should be restored as soon as possible. The level before the war, but at the same time, the development of heavy industry cannot be ignored.

Of course, as a person who has always been in the national security system, Victor does not have much sense of existence in the field of economic construction, and he does not have his own economic view, and he does not even touch the door of many jobs in the economic field. However, his political sense is relatively keen. Through this plenary session, he can see Zhdanov's passivity, the Leningrad faction leader, who returned to Moscow with a seemingly unparalleled momentum. The deputy's menacing appearance could not reverse the fact that he was in charge of military affairs in Leningrad for a long time during the war, which was actually equal to being blocked from the central leadership of Moscow. It may take some time for him to regain the position he had before the war.

When the car drove outside Comrade Zhdanov’s residence, Victor's thoughts were pulled back from the mixed considerations. He pushed the door and got out of the car, his forehead was blown by the cold wind in the middle of the night, and his original groggy consciousness instantly became sober. come over.

"Be careful on your way back," Victor lowered his head and said to Anrina in the car, leaning on the door with one hand.