Struggle in Soviet Russia

(Two updates will be resumed tomorrow)

"What's your opinion?" Pushing the document in his hand slightly forward, Victor put his elbows on the table, resting his chin on the back of his clasped hands, looking at Sophia and asking.

"I think this is an opportunity," Sophia glanced at the door and saw that the door was tightly closed, then stood on tiptoe, sat on the corner of the table a little casually, and said, "According to your original plan, I hope to reach a tacit understanding with Comrade Kuxinin, and on this issue, you obviously have a very good opportunity."

Sophia's remarks are very clear, that is, after Victor came to Karelia, in terms of governance, he needed to cooperate with Comrade Kuxinin. At least, he needed to maintain a political tacit understanding. It is conducive to the smooth development of all the work he promotes. The current cooperation with the "Finnish-Soviet Association" is obviously an opportunity to show goodwill to Comrade Kuxining. After all, the close relationship between the "Finnish-Soviet Association" and the Communist Party of Finland determines the relationship between Comrade Kuxining and the association. The relationship between them is also extraordinary.

Victor nodded, then looked down at the document on the table.

"The Finns are facing a lot of problems right now," Sofia continued, apparently doing enough work, "to get over the current difficulties, they also need to use as many means as possible, and this proposal is clearly a One of the means they're going to take."

As Sofia said, the current life of the Finns is indeed very difficult, although in today's Finland, pro-Soviet is the mainstream public opinion strongly promoted by the government, according to the order issued by Helsinki, in Finland, all related to the Soviet Union Before entering the field of propaganda and public opinion, the topic needs to undergo strict relevant review. The Finnish government led by Baskivi is doing its best to ensure that no slander or criticism of the Soviet Union is allowed in Finland. the sound of.

However, although the Finns tried their best to maintain their obedience to the alliance, according to the provisions of the armistice agreement, the Finns needed to pay the alliance's war reparations, but they were not relieved at all. As the prime minister of Finland, Baskivi is a very realistic And sensible people, although Britain and the United States have been instigating them behind their backs, claiming to support Helsinki and Moscow against Moscow, but Baskivi knows very well how close Finland is to the Soviet Union, and also knows that Britain and the United States cannot really be as they say. any substantial assistance to the Finns at a critical moment,

Therefore, when Finland could not stay away from the Soviet Union, Baskivi chose the seemingly weak but most practical path. In the case of Finland's extremely difficult economy, he gave priority to paying war reparations to the Soviet Union. Of course, this It also made things worse for Finland, which, for now, is actually worse than Karelia.

But having said that, what Viktor doesn’t understand is that the current situation in Finland is actually similar to that of Karelia. The difficulties faced by the latter are also present in the former. To give the simplest example, the problem of insufficient labor force has been a problem for several years. The war has almost exhausted the labor potential of Karelia, and the situation in Finland is similar. In this case, what potential does the Finns have in exchange for grain for Karelia's timber resources?

Thinking of this, Viktor couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. When he was still in charge of the People's Commissariat for National Security, all he needed to know about Finland was a phone call, but now, the advantage in this regard is obviously already Disappeared.

"The Fensu Association..." Victor said, frowning slightly, "Why do you think they prepared such a proposal? According to the conditions in the proposal, it doesn't seem to be very beneficial to them."

"I had some conversations with the Finns," Sofia said. "From what I've heard, the Finns believe that in the next two years, post-war reconstruction will be the main task of the whole of Europe, so they I think that building materials, including wood, will have a very good market, and cooperation with us is actually a plan to hoard building materials."

Victor's lips moved, and he wanted to ask: since he was going to hoard building materials, why would he use the pretense of a paper industry, but he swallowed this question again, because he thought about it a little, That is, according to the alliance's foreign trade policy, the export of logs will be subject to many restrictions on a series of tariff issues, but wood exported as a raw material for papermaking can save a fortune just in tariffs.

"Let's put this matter aside for now," Victor said, putting the papers on the table together. "When Petrozavodsk comes, we can bring this proposal to the meeting for discussion."

After a pause, he changed the subject and said, "Now, the first question we have to consider is how to deal with the "Pravda" interview."

Sophia smiled and said nothing.

As the new first secretary of the Karelian-Finnish Soviet Republic, Viktor, who is just in his early thirties, is a young cadre who has recently emerged and is in the limelight. In the past period of time, his name has frequently appeared in newspapers and related radio programs, but there has never been an interview that is really dedicated to him personally. Now that he came to Karelia to take up his post, Pravda specially arranged an interview with him, and this interview was jointly planned by the Central Secretariat and the Propaganda and Agitation Department.

......................................

In late August, the rainy weather in Moscow became more frequent, and the temperature began to remain high. The sultry and humid weather became the main theme of the whole city.

The Kremlin, the door of Comrade Stalin's office, Comrade Boskrebyshev, holding a newspaper in his hand, walked hurriedly from the stairs, saw that Comrade Stalin's office door was open, he raised his hand on the door Knocked, and then walked in.

In the office, Comrade Stalin was sitting on the sofa smoking a pipe. Opposite him were Comrade Kalinin, who looked like a haggard, and Comrade Shvernik, who wore a mustache and was in good spirits.

Seeing Comrade Boskrebyshev walking in from outside the door, Comrade Stalin took off the pipe he was holding in his mouth, and then nodded towards him.

Comrade Boskrebyshev came over, handed him the newspaper in his hand, and then turned around and walked towards the door without saying anything.

The newspaper was Pravda published this morning. The headline on the front page was a report about the rapid advance of the Soviet army on the South Sakhalin Island. The general content was that the Soviet army liberated the cities of Luohe and Fengyuan, and the local Japanese welcomed it. Reports of Soviet troops entering the city.

What Comrade Stalin wanted to read was obviously not the headlines on the front page. Compared with the reports in the newspapers, he had to know more about this kind of news in more detail and earlier.

Turning over the newspaper, Comrade Stalin found the third edition, and finally found what he wanted to read.

He first looked at the recent photo of Victor on the third page, and then looked at the page number, and the expression on his face instantly flashed a hint of displeasure. He shook the newspaper in his hand and said without raising his head, "Pyotr Nikolaevich failed to understand the intention of the Politburo."

Pyotr Nikolaevich Bosbelov, director of the Lenin Institute and editor of Pravda, was in charge of this interview with Viktor. However, Comrade Stalin obviously Not satisfied with his work.

Opposite Comrade Stalin, Kalinin, who was clearly in poor spirits, did not respond. He no longer has so much energy to think about political issues. Of course, he does not want to waste that energy. Therefore, it is natural to speculate on Comrade Stalin's thoughts. just can't keep up.

On the other side, Shivernick's thick eyebrows trembled. He knew what Comrade Stalin was paying attention to, and he knew where the leader's dissatisfaction with Bosbelov should lie.

Obviously, Comrade Stalin just took over the newspaper and turned to the relevant page. The content of the report must have been too late to read. Since he expressed his dissatisfaction at this time, there is naturally only one possibility. He was not satisfied with the edition arranged by the report, either because the layout was not in line with his wishes, or because the edition number was not to his taste. In Shvernik's view, of the two possibilities, the latter is more likely, which means that Comrade Stalin was not satisfied with Pravda's arrangement of this report on the third edition.

Thinking about these possibilities secretly in his heart, Shvernik didn't ask anything too talkative.

Comrade Stalin's attention was on the newspaper. He didn't speak. The other two people who were present could only sit there, and the office fell silent for a while.

After about five or six minutes, Comrade Stalin apparently finished reading the newspaper. He first put the newspaper on the coffee table in front of him, then stood up and walked to his desk.

Seeing that Comrade Stalin picked up the phone, Shvernik tilted his head and glanced at the newspaper on the coffee table.

"Opportunity for the current Karelian-Finland" is the headline of this report in the third edition, and the subhead is an interview with the first secretary of the Karelian-Finnish Soviet Republic.

Shivernik hesitated for a while, and finally reached out and took the newspaper over, and carefully read the report of this exclusive interview with Victor.

This kind of interview with the "big frontier" actually gives the other party an opportunity to announce his personal policy program. The same is true for this report. Through it, Victor explained to the outside world several basic tasks that he intends to promote when he takes office. .