Struggle in Soviet Russia

In the document on Victor's desk, there are two basic information attached, one of which is Aganozel and the other is Kosto Muksa. Among these two place names, the former is still unknown, and the latter is unknown. , there are only two inconspicuous small villages and towns, and a small iron ore processing plant named "Kosto Muksa", which is equally inconspicuous.

In the memory of Victor's previous life, these two places are very important areas in Karelia. Aganozel is an extremely rich chromium mine area, which belongs to the extension of the Komi chromium deposit in Finland. , the reserves of chromite are quite staggering. The underground of Kostomuksa is rich in iron ore. The Finns have long discovered that this place is rich in iron ore resources, and have already started to set up mining enterprises there, but unfortunately, they are 38 The first concentrator was established locally in 2009, and the Soviet-Finnish war broke out in the following year, and the whole place was subsequently placed under the Union.

In the memory of Viktor's previous life, the iron ore reserves of Kostomuksa obviously did not get the attention of Moscow for a long time. It was not until the 1970s and 1980s when the subway ore resources began to enter a period of large-scale mining. The city of Kostomuksa was also established at that time. In the following decades, hundreds of thousands of people in this city were parasitic on the local subway mine.

Yes, Victor is currently focusing on Karelia's rich natural resources for the time being. There is no doubt that the best way to make a region rich in the short term is to sell resources. Of course, this point The premise is that there must be sufficient local resources, and Karelia is undoubtedly able to meet this. Although this policy does not have any technical content, it is an absolute shortcut.

In Victor's view, the whole of Europe has been smashed in the past few years of war, and with the end of the war, no matter which country it is, the first problem to be solved is the task of post-war reconstruction. In this In the process, all kinds of building resources are in the highest demand. Fortunately, Karelia has an absolute congenital advantage in this regard, because it not only has extremely rich pine wood resources, but also has iron ore resources that need to be developed urgently. At the same time, There are also extremely rich granite and marble resources. If Karelia can exert its own advantages, then it should not be difficult for the local economy to develop.

The memory of the previous life told Victor that after the war, not only the Eastern European region will receive the reconstruction support of the alliance, but also the countries of Western Europe and Northern Europe will also receive the aid from the Marshall Plan of the United States. Viktor thinks that what he needs to do is to firmly grasp the pulse of the times, formulate a policy that is in line with the characteristics of the Karelian-Finnish Soviet Republic itself, and firmly implement it.

Of course, for the current Victor, after going to Karelia to serve, there is still a first task to be solved, that is, the problem of running in with the local political forces.

Through the recent period of understanding, Viktor has made it clear that the political environment in Karelia-Finland is not as calm as it seems on the surface. In the past few years, to be precise, in Before the outbreak of the Soviet-Finnish War, as the first secretary of the Republic of Karelia, there existed a series of contradictions between Kuprianov and Kuxinin. In the past few years of war, Kuprianov has been serving as a member of the military committee of the Karelian Front, and his reputation among the Karelian local cadres has grown, and gradually constituted a direct influence on Kuxinin. threat.

In addition, Kuprianov himself is one of Comrade Zhdanov's cronies and a core member of the standard Leningrad faction. At the same time, he is also one of the cadres that Comrade Stalin admires. Therefore, there are All these factors are mixed in, which makes it able to compete with Kuxinin in the political composition of Karelia.

As a newly selected cadre, Viktor, who went to work in Karelia for the first time, could not be compared with Kuprianov in terms of contacts or political influence. A reality that Viktor has and must recognize.

If it is placed somewhere else, similar to Victor's situation, once he replaces the former first secretary, then, as the new first secretary, there is always no need to worry about the lack of supporters. Those who have ambitions , Those who are motivated will naturally come together at the first time and form a new leadership core beside him.

But the situation in Karelia is a bit special. In the final analysis, it is still the territory of the Leningrad faction. Even if Kuprianov is transferred, this reality may not be so easy to change. Therefore, Victor must first To open up the situation locally, to have a greater voice, and to be free from constraints in work and decision-making, it is necessary to spend more effort and do more work.

Why did Viktor choose Andropov as the second secretary? To put it bluntly, this person is young, but he has a long-term experience in Karelia, and he is familiar with both personnel and basic affairs. At the same time, his qualifications are relatively shallow. Although he has chosen the camp of the Leningrad faction, he has not been included in the core decision-making circle by Kuprianov, but is a newcomer on the periphery. Under normal circumstances, young cadres who are ambitious but not yet appreciated are the easiest to win over.

In addition, Victor also has certain ideas on the issue of dealing with Comrade Kuxinin. If conditions permit, he is more willing to maintain a harmonious working relationship with the old man. In personal interactions, try to stay away as much as possible.

The reason why it is said to keep a "respectful" distance with Kuxinin in personal relations is because Victor, who controls the Internal Intelligence Bureau, knows very well that there are many problems among these Karelian Finns, some of which are quite Sensitive.

For now, Kusinen's prestige in the Karelian-Finnish Soviet Republic is very high. He is not only the chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Republic, but also the general secretary of the "Karelian-Finnish Communist Party". A veritable local leader. As a representative of the Finns who are absolutely pro-Soviet, Kuxinin himself has no problem with his position, which is certain. However, among those under his leadership, there is no shortage of positions and ideological problems.

As mentioned earlier, there has never been a shortage of "Great Finnish" nationalists in Finland, who have always believed that Karelia should be entirely Finnish. Similarly, among the Finns in Karelia, there are also such nationalists. There are many elements of "Greater Finlandism" in their thoughts, but the way they realize "Greater Finland" is different from that of Finland. There are differences among the nationalists in the country - the "Great Finnists" in Finland, who want to incorporate the whole of Karelia into Finland by all means, including war, and the "Great Finlandists" in Karelia. ”, who hoped to incorporate Finland into the territory of Karelia by all means, thus establishing a true Finnish “Karelia-Finnish Republic”.

Take a look at the ideas of the Karelian "Great Finnists" and compare the purpose of Moscow's formation of the "Karelian-Finnish Soviet Republic". What is the difference between the two? Yes, there is no difference, the former wants to merge the whole of Finland, Moscow also thinks so, but what the former wants is to build a Finnish nation-state, while Moscow's idea is to merge Karelia and Finland. All merged into the territory of the alliance. In the final analysis, Moscow is using the concept of Karelia's "Great Finlandism". Once Finland is really incorporated into Karelia's territory one day in the future, then Moscow must first liquidate those Karelia. Leah's "Great Finnish".

Viktor sees this very clearly, because an important investigation of the Internal Intelligence Service in Karelia is to monitor the activities of these "Great Finnists", and as far as Viktor knows, "Karelia -The Communist Party of Finland", there are many people who are themselves being monitored.

In short, the new job has not officially started, but the complexity of the myriad of threads can already make people feel the taste of physical and mental exhaustion.

In this world, a lot of work is not because people don't want to do it well, nor is it because they don't have the ability to do it well, but when people try to do it well, in addition to dealing with the work itself, There are still many things that are related or even unrelated to it that need to be solved. Sometimes, these seemingly unrelated things need to be solved first. They are like the premise of doing a good job. conditions, or obstacles.

Viktor has a long-term experience of presiding over the work of the People's Commissariat of State Security. His starting point is very high. During the several years of war, he almost worked in Moscow. He was one of the most trusted people around Comrade Stalin. People like Danov and Malenkov, but even so, when he left Moscow and went to work in Karelia, he also faced many constraints and troubles. The most important thing is that if he does not want to be considered incompetent by Comrade Stalin and other members of the Politburo, he must rely on his own ability to overcome difficulties, and it is obviously not a good choice to go back to Moscow to seek support.