Struggle in Soviet Russia

A light knock on the door interrupted Victor's thoughts. He closed the documents in his hand, looked up at the door, and said, "Come in."

The person who pushed in the door was Sophia, because she had a special relationship with Victor. Usually, when she entered Victor's office, Sophia knocked on the door, and would push the door directly to come in without waiting for him to reply. However, in this office of the Kremlin, she He is still very disciplined. After knocking on the door, he will only push the door in after getting permission from Victor. The reason for this is that this office is quite special, and Comrade Stalin will appear in this office from time to time, so Sophia has to avoid it.

"Comrade Yuri Vladimirovich is here," Sofia said, pushing the door open from the outside. "Would you please come in?"

"Please come in," Victor said, nodding.

Comrade Yuri Vladimirovich in Sofia's mouth naturally refers to Andropov. When Viktor was in the Republic of Karelia-Finland, the other party was his assistant. At that time, the cooperation between the two was still very good. It's good, relatively tacit. After the Karelia-Finnish Republic was banned, the former Karelia-Finnish Communist Party was also dissolved, and its members were directly incorporated into the Bolsheviks. Comrade Andropov, who was the second secretary of the Republic, naturally lost his this most important job.

At that time, Viktor was directly transferred back to Moscow after the republic was banned, and soon took over the work of the Central International Department. At the same time, he also served as the director of the Secretariat of the Central Secretariat. In terms of rank, although he was not promoted, But the importance of the position has increased. However, Comrade Andropov was not so lucky. Because there was no suitable position for him, he was arranged to study at the Lenin Red Academy for a period of time in the past half a year, and only recently got a new one. arrange.

Of course, Comrade Andropov's new job was also arranged by Victor. After the reorganization of the Central International Department, a lot of positions were vacated. The most important thing is that under Comrade Zhdanov's great efforts Under the promotion, the alliance has put the establishment of the "Communist Party and Workers' Party Intelligence Bureau" on the agenda, and the related work will be carried out one after another. In the work of establishing the "Communist Party and Workers' Party Intelligence Bureau", the Central International Department needed to set up a special liaison department to contact the party organizations of the member states on behalf of the Union Central Committee. Victor recommended Comrade Andropov to the Central Committee. , was finally approved by Comrade Stalin and Comrade Zhdanov, and the relevant appointments have just been issued.

Several months have passed since Victor accepted the job of the International Department of the Central Committee. During these few months, although he still has to take care of the work of the Central Secretariat and prepare for Comrade Stalin. Auxiliary, but he did not leave the work of the Central International Department. With the support of Comrade Zhdanov, the International Department of the Central Committee not only completed the reorganization, but also reached a basic division of powers and responsibilities with the People's Committee of Foreign Affairs to a certain extent.

In fact, the division of powers and responsibilities between the Central International Department and the People's Committee of Foreign Affairs has been clearly divided during the establishment of the two institutions. From the very beginning, the alliance has the disadvantage that the party and government are not divided. Therefore, the Central International Department and the People's Committee of Foreign Affairs will compete with each other for power and profit for a long time.

In fact, both the Central International Department and the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs are departments responsible for foreign affairs, but the former represents the Bolshevik Party and belongs to the party's organization, and its work should be linked to foreign political parties. The People's Committee for Foreign Affairs is a government department, and it should be connected to a foreign government.

The party and the government are not the same thing. Just like the United States, there are two political parties in the country. When the Democratic Party comes to power, the Democratic Party represents the government, and vice versa. When the Republican Party comes to power, if the Central International Department of the Alliance Dealing with the Republican Party is dealing with the ruling party. On the contrary, if dealing with the Democratic Party, it is dealing with the opposition party, and its nature is different.

But in the final analysis, if the official procedures are followed, the Central Committee should be responsible for the decision-making of the alliance's foreign policy, the Central International Department provides advice to the Central Committee, and the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs is responsible for the specific implementation. The Alliance did not follow this procedure, and the role of the International Department of the Central Committee was weakened to the limit. Apart from liaising with the Communist and Workers' Parties of various countries, it basically had no role.

Of course, Viktor has not been able to completely reverse this situation in the past few months. However, since he was in charge of the work of the Central International Department, because of his regular meetings with Comrade Stalin, the Central International Department has been making suggestions to the Central Committee. On the other hand, it has begun to play an increasingly important role. The establishment of the "Communist Party and Workers' Party Intelligence Bureau" was said to have been suggested by Viktor when he was in the People's Commissariat of State Security. Comrade Zhdanov was also in charge of the actual implementation process. After he got up, he was in charge of the International Department of the Central Committee and had nothing to do with the People's Committee of Foreign Affairs.

Regarding Comrade Andropov, Victor not only hoped that he would be in charge of the liaison work with the Communist and Workers' Parties of various countries during the establishment of the "Communist Party and Workers' Party Intelligence Bureau", but also hoped that after the intelligence bureau was really established, Victor would also be able to In other words, in Viktor's mind, Comrade Andropov is the best candidate for the first director of the Intelligence Bureau.

After receiving an affirmative reply from Victor, Sofia turned around and walked out the door. After a while, she walked back with Comrade Andropov.

I haven't seen each other for a few months. Compared to when he was in Karelia, this young comrade like Viktor seems to be much more mature and calm. His originally thin face has also been slightly rounded. But that unsmiling expression didn't change at all.

"Good afternoon, Comrade Viktor Viktorovich," Coming in from the door, Comrade Andropov changed the briefcase he was carrying in his right hand to his left, and walked quickly to Viktor's desk, extending his hand Say hello.

"Good afternoon, Comrade Yuri Vladimirovich," Viktor also said hello to the other party, then shook the other party's hand and said, "Remember the last time we met, it was six months ago, how is your recent work? went well?"

"It went very well," said Comrade Andropov with a smile. "This is the first time I have stayed in Moscow for so long. The conditions here are much better than in Karelia."

Victor smiled, then pointed to the sofa not far away, motioning for the other party to sit down and talk.

"Have you received a notice from the cadre department?" Victor walked out of the desk, carrying a document in his hand, and said while walking towards the sofa.

"I have already received it," said Comrade Andropov. "However, I don't know anything about the new job, so I am still a little nervous."

"Don't be burdened," Victor smiled, sat down in front of the sofa next to the other party, handed over the documents in his hand, and said, "You have been in charge of party and caucus organization work and have rich experience in this area, so, in The international department should be competent in the external liaison work, and you need to have enough confidence in yourself.”

Comrade Andropov has a long experience in the work of the Communist Youth League. Although the Communist Youth League is a retreat department, it is indeed a very training place. Working in this department, one must be good at organizing various activities, and also be good at all kinds of activities. In dealing with people, you have to learn to serve people, and you have to be good at comprehending the spirit of various instructions, etc. All in all, people who have worked in this department for several years can basically handle all kinds of big things and small things.

Although he said that he was very nervous in his heart, there was no sign of timidity in Comrade Andropov's eyes. When he saw the document handed over by Victor, he took it directly and said humbly: "I I will try my best to do every job well, at least I do have enough self-confidence to be strict with myself.”

Victor smiled, pointed to the document, and said, "This is the work you need to be responsible for in the future. The important content is covered here..."

"The Intelligence Bureau of the Communist Party and the Workers' Party?" Comrade Andropov asked curiously, looking at the cover of the document in his hand, "Are you going to form a brand new intelligence agency?"

"Hehe, you can think of it as an intelligence agency, but it's not the same as an intelligence agency in the traditional sense," Victor didn't mind the other party interrupting his words, he smiled and said, "Like I said Yes, after reading this document, you can probably know the nature of this organization. Of course, because this organization is currently only an assumption of ours, its specific operation depends on the actual situation in the future, so , for the working principles of the organization and further detailed ideas, you should gradually summarize them in your actual work in the future."

"Me?" Comrade Andropov raised his head in surprise. From Victor's remarks, he heard an implication that this so-called "Communist Party and Workers' Party Intelligence Bureau" would be established and promoted by him. Its follow-up first step.

Becoming the leader of a newly formed department and being the first leader can be quite a challenging job.