Struggle in Soviet Russia

Moscow, Karanchevsk, Leningrad railway station.

With a look of exhaustion on his face, Viktor walked out of the green passage of the station with empty hands. A dozen steps behind him, Varenka was retrieving his ID from the station guard.

Just outside the exit of the green passage, a young man in a Lenin suit was already waiting there. Seeing Victor coming out of the green passage, he hurried up to meet him.

"Comrade Viktor Viktorovich," the young man said with a stern expression when he rushed to Viktor, "You...you have worked **** the road, I am..."

"Okay, I know who you are," Victor interrupted the other party in a sullen tone, and said in a weary voice, "Where is the car parked?"

"Just in front," the young man looked at most in his early twenties. He probably just started working not long ago. He was a little shy and introverted when dealing with people, and his accent seemed to be from the Far East, with a heavy pronunciation, "I, I'll drive over."

Victor shook his head, followed him forward, and said at the same time, "No, let's go over together."

After taking two steps, he asked again: "Where is Comrade Georgi now? Are there any urgent work arrangements?"

The young man was arranged by Comrade Malenkov to pick up Viktor. Today, Victor's work has left Moscow. Although the Karelian-Finnish Soviet Republic has a special office in Moscow, Victor has a special mission when he comes back this time. He didn't want to disturb the Karelia side, so, There was also no contact with the republic's office in Moscow.

Comrade Malenkov arranged for a black Muscovite sedan, and the young man was the driver. However, when he got into the car, Varenka robbed him of the driver's seat, and the introverted young man did not dare to raise any objections. Opinion, I can only go to the passenger seat aggrieved.

For the past two weeks, Victor has been running around, hardly ever stopping to rest, and now that he has something on his mind, he feels more and more tired. After getting in the car, he sat in the back seat, Originally, he just wanted to close his eyes and rest for a while. Who knew that not long after the car started, he went straight to sleep. When he woke up again, the car was parked outside the special committee office building on Film Studio Avenue.

Seeing Victor wake up, Varenka, who was sitting in the passenger seat looking back, asked in a low voice, "Would you like to sleep a little longer? Half an hour, I'll wake you up then."

Victor waved his hands, then yawned while rubbing his face with his hands, "No, I just slept for a while, it's much better."

A moment later, getting out of the car, Viktor glanced up at the building in front of him. He had been here countless times during the war in the past few years. After all, many parts of his work at the time required working with Comrade Malenkov. Do the handover, and now...

In fact, Viktor also knows where the nuclear power plant is located, and Comrade Malenkov has a great say, because among the two committees responsible for the project, the special committee dedicated to leading the secret scientific research project is the one who is truly responsible at the technical level. responsible department. In addition, Comrade Beria is now the Deputy People's Committee of the People's Committee. Although he cannot occupy a dominant position in the People's Committee, if there is the cooperation of Comrade Malenkov, there is no problem in intervening in this matter.

Logically speaking, as a "comrade-in-arms" in the same camp, at such a time, Victor should first think of asking Comrade Malenkov for help, but he doesn't know why. He seems to be asking "comrades-in-arms" for help. In the matter, there was some inexplicable psychological obstacle, so the whole thing was delayed until today.

In fact, at this time, Victor himself had not realized that as he was getting closer and closer to the core power layer in Moscow, he also had his own views and positions on some political issues, especially policy issues. The views and stance tendencies do not match the views and positions of Comrade Malenkov and Beria, and there are even obvious differences. To put it in a cliché, in politics, he vaguely realized that he and the two comrades Malenkov and Beria were not the same.

Then, the question is, he is not the same as Malenkov and Beria, and who is the same as him? Unfortunately, so far, Viktor himself has not begun to summarize this issue, or rather, he has not found his true fellow traveler in the current Soviet political arena.

For example, he agrees with Comrade Woznetsensky's series of views on economic policy, but he does not agree with his style in the work of the Planning Commission; he agrees with Comrade Molotov's series on foreign affairs He did not agree with his leadership style within the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs; even on the issue of dealing with Comrade Stalin, he also had parts that he did agree with, and parts that he did not agree with.

A lot of times, the mood swings caused by this disagreement would confuse Viktor, but he didn't really understand the nature of the problem himself, so he didn't know how to solve it.

In fact, at this time Victor also did not realize that the reason why he was still so confused was due to his gradual maturity in politics. According to this trend, he will become more and more "mature", and the manifestation of this maturity is that he will become more and more confident psychologically, so that he will become more and more aware of others' policies and positions. Low. Taking the current structure of the core of power in Moscow as an example, he will increasingly disagree with the positions and attitudes of Malenkov, Beria, Zhdanov and others on a series of issues. , these people have problems with their ideas, the same policy should be led by him, the same discussion should be decided by him, and the same decision should more reflect his will.

Perhaps one day in the future, he will become the first person under Comrade Stalin, and at that time, it may be time for him to express his dissatisfaction with Comrade Stalin.

This is the process of growing up as a political leader, and Victor is no exception.

Of course, these are all digressions. Today's Viktor is relatively weak. If nothing else, even if the current Comrade Malenkov is facing a lot of trouble, his influence is not comparable to him, so , In the face of the passive situation that the nuclear power plant project may flow away, Victor must turn to Comrade Malenkov for help no matter how unhappy he is.

Comrade Malenkov is very busy... Really busy, he is not only busy with his work, but also busy preparing for a review at the Central Committee's office meeting, about what he did when he was the People's Commissar of the Aviation Industry Committee. A review of the series of mistakes made. As for the decision to let him conduct a review, it was proposed by the Central Supervisory Committee. Comrade Andreyev had a special talk with him, on the one hand to appease him, and on the other hand to persuade him.

Undoubtedly, for a Politburo member like Malenkov, to conduct a public review at the Central Committee's working meeting is itself a kind of humiliation to him, especially since he is still young and his political future is boundless. , once he comes forward to do this review, the consequences will be very serious, not only may affect his political future, but also may be used by others as a tool to attack him.

When Viktor walked into Malenkov's office, the comrade with more experience in institutional work than in local work was sitting behind the desk and biting the cap of the pen. The cap of the pen seemed to be made of iron. Victor looked at it. As the cap turned between his teeth, he felt the roots of his teeth sore and his back cold.

Seeing Viktor walking in from the open door, Comrade Malenkov didn't say a word. He just took off the cap of the pen that was between his teeth and pointed at the sofa opposite, obviously meaning to let him sit by himself.

Victor didn't go to the sofa to sit down, he went straight to Comrade Malenkov's desk, first glanced down at the letter in front of him, and after reading the contents clearly, he picked up a pack of cigarettes on the table. , ordered one for himself, and said, "If it's about the quality of aviation production, then I suggest you don't do this review, Georgi, it's a very serious suggestion."

Comrade Malenkov threw the pen cap on the table, and his fat body twisted on the chair, perhaps because he still felt uncomfortable, he pressed the armrest of the chair with both hands and propped himself up from the chair.

"Of course I know it's not a good idea to do this review," said Comrade Malenkov with a sigh of relief, standing up, "but, as Andrei said, the problems of the Aviation Industry Council always need someone to take care of. , as the deputy people's commissar who managed the department during the war, it was my duty to do so."

"It should be the people who are responsible for the quality problem," Victor said disapprovingly, "Don't you think the investigation organized by Andre is completely targeted? Yes, it has been a while. There are many people who have criticized the Aviation Industry Committee, but the work that the Central Supervisory Committee needs to be responsible for does not make decisions according to the bias of public opinion, otherwise, all we need is a newspaper, and what does the Supervisory Committee do?"

Comrade Malenkov smiled. He seemed to think that Viktor was making a fuss.

To be honest, Comrade Andreyev talked to him and asked him to review at the work meeting of the Central Committee, he did feel very uncomfortable and thought he had been humiliated, but after thinking about it, he thought it should be Comrade Stalin the opinion of Comrade Stalin, which he obviously could not go against.