Struggle in Soviet Russia

"These two appointments are too sudden for me," Victor said with a wry smile after taking a few puffs of cigarettes in silence. "I wasn't mentally prepared before, so I'm still a little nervous now."

"Oh, when any job needs you, it is impossible to ask you in advance whether you are ready to accept it," Comrade Stalin said with a smile, "and, as I said before, we In the process of appointing cadres, in order to correctly select cadres, it is necessary to fully understand the cadres, and to carefully examine the strengths and weaknesses of each cadre. What kind of position is the easiest to use his talents. Now, the adjustment of your work by the Central Committee is a process of inspection of you. You must not only be mentally prepared for hard work, but also be prepared to accept the inspection of the organization. Mental preparation, these two points are the key, and you need to grasp both.”

Viktor's expression turned pale, as can be seen from the current scene, no matter what the outside world thinks of Comrade Stalin, at least he treats Victor very well. Comrade Stalin's remarks clearly revealed a message, that is, the Central Committee has started the inspection process of his cadres, which is a sign of preparation for his further promotion.

According to the regulations, the inspection conducted by the Central Committee of a cadre should be kept secret. That is to say, when the inspection is carried out, it will not be disclosed to the inspected. This rule was disclosed to Victor in advance, and this was not the first time he had done so.

"I'll take note," said Victor, nodding, "I've read a lot about the two rules that the Bolsheviks should follow when selecting staff, which you mentioned at the close of the Central Plenum in 1939. Studying, I will firmly follow those principles and norms, strictly demand myself in accordance with your requirements, work hard to exercise myself, and actively improve myself.”

In the past few years, Victor has specialized in studying the various speeches and reports made by Comrade Stalin in the past few decades. Just now Comrade Stalin said "as I said before", that is, the one Fan's remarks about how to properly appoint cadres were exactly the issues he was talking about in his closing speech at the 1937 Plenary Session of the CPSU Central Committee.

Comrade Stalin was obviously very satisfied with Viktor's attitude. He nodded with a smile and said, "Your ability and attitude are not a problem. All the comrades in the Politburo agree on this point. The key point is to Pay attention to the angle of looking at the problem and the way to deal with the problem when you are working. You are still young, and you are the youngest among our existing Central Committee members. As a young cadre, you will inevitably have some shortcomings. Compared with the old comrades, you lack rich experience, have not been trained in Marxism-Leninism, lack the knowledge of proving facts and the ability to flexibly grasp the direction, but what you have is the ability to accept and learn new things, so , your progress in work will also be very fast, which is worth looking forward to."

Saying so, he stood up from the sofa, smoking his pipe, and walked to the window.

The curtain in front of the window was closed, and Comrade Stalin walked to the window and tore a gap in the heavy curtain before continuing: "Do it with all your hands and feet, but you must also be careful to keep your balance, and of course you must pay attention to your work. Results, but also pay attention to the means needed to achieve the results. No matter what kind of work, in order to keep the process of achieving the results smooth, it is always necessary to unite the vast majority of people, and at the same time, to exclude those who cannot be united. people."

Coming out of Comrade Stalin's office, Victor's mind was still thinking about what Comrade Stalin had said to him a moment ago.

In the conversation of Comrade Stalin, he obviously affirmed his work ability and work attitude, that is to say, he had no problems in these two aspects, and it was unlikely that he would have any problems when dealing with the inspection of the Central Committee. And apart from these two points, what else did Comrade Stalin mention? Two points: first, the angle of looking at the problem, and second, the way to deal with the problem.

So, on these two points, what kind of problem does he have? In fact, Comrade Stalin summed it up in the following conversation. What is lacking in the training of Marxism-Leninism, the lack of in-depth knowledge of facts, and the ability to flexibly grasp the direction, that's all. As for how to understand these issues, it is up to Victor himself. Understand and get it done.

He couldn't count on Comrade Stalin to explain it to him in more detail. After all, Comrade Stalin was the leader of the alliance, his leader, not his teacher.

Going downstairs, without leaving directly, Victor first went to the special place to meet Comrade Boskrebyshev, had a cup of tea in his office, and briefly chatted for a while. During this process, Viktor tried to get some information out of the mouth of the big secret comrade, but unfortunately, Comrade Boskrebyshev did not know much about his appointment by the Central Committee. He only Knowing that the proposal to appoint him to be in charge of the International Department of the Central Committee was proposed by Comrade Zhdanov, and Comrade Stalin made the final decision. As for the more detailed situation, he did not know much about it.

In addition, Comrade Boskrebyshev still has some important documents belonging to the International Department of the CPSU Central Committee. Because Comrade Dimitrov left in a hurry, many things were not handled in time. Therefore, at present, the specific details of the International Department are Work is like falling into a state of disorder. The most important thing is that in the past few months, with the end of the war, several war-torn European countries have successively established left-wing governments. Well, it's the Left Front Alliance.

These political parties that have held power in various European countries are in fact all led by the Bolsheviks, and Moscow is specifically connected with these parties is the Central International Department. In other words, although this department sounds lacking in existence, it can be In recent times, it is still very important.

Therefore, when Viktor came out of Comrade Boskrebyshev's special office, he had a thick pile of documents in his hands, don't get me wrong, this thick pile of documents was not an official document that he needed to deal with , they are just a catalogue of official documents. In other words, Victor may have a lot of headaches when he goes into the affairs of the International Department that he needs to deal with.

After coming out of the office building, Victor got into the car. When Varenka started the car, he leaned his back into the back of the seat and let out a long breath.

Earlier, he said in front of Comrade Stalin that he had no mental preparation for these two sudden appointments. This was not pretentious, nor was he showing pity in front of Comrade Stalin, but telling the truth.

To be honest, he didn't intend to stay for too long when he returned to Moscow this time. According to the original plan, he planned to return to Petrozavodsk in the next two days. After all, the work there was still waiting for him. . But now it seems that his previous plans were all in vain, and neither Comrade Stalin nor those comrades in the Politburo clearly had no intention of letting him go back to Karelia.

Before, he knew that he was going to be the director of the Secretariat of the Central Secretariat, but he didn't know that he also needed to take up the work of the Central International Department, the work of the Central Secretariat, he was still a bit of a touch, after all, he only gave Stalin Comrades are assistants, as long as they are willing to work and pay more attention to it, there will not be too many problems. After all, the work of the Central Secretariat does not require him to make decisions. The real decision-makers are the secretaries and comrades.

But the work of the International Department of the Central Committee is different. Although Comrade Zhdanov is the nominal minister of the department, but... he is really only the nominal minister, and he is not needed for the daily work of the entire International Department. The one who is in charge, the one who is really in charge of the operation of the department, is the first deputy minister. This is similar to the principals of key high schools in various counties in the country in Victor’s previous life. The day-to-day work of the school is the executive vice-principal. No one can ask the secretary of the county party committee to actually preside over the daily work of a high school. That is not realistic at all.

In this way, it means that once Victor takes up the post of the first deputy minister of the International Department of the Central Committee, he needs to take up the work of the entire International Department, and he is responsible for dealing with the leaders of the Communist Parties, Workers' Parties and the left-wing alliance of various countries. , need to deal with the issue of the international communist movement.

What did Comrade Stalin say about his shortcomings? There is a lack of training in Marxism-Leninism, the lack of knowledge of proving facts, and the ability to flexibly grasp the direction. Well, as far as these three items are concerned, he needs to be used in the position of the first deputy minister of the Central International Department, because this position itself tends to be retreat, doing more theoretical work and doing pragmatic work Rather less.

"Where are we going?" The Volga car drove from the Kremlin to Red Square. When turning a corner, Varenka glanced at the rearview mirror and asked in a low voice.

Victor's thoughts jumped out of the chaos, he took a breath, and said, "Go to Moscow Film Studio Street."

Varenka nodded knowingly. Victor definitely didn't go to this street to really go to the Moscow Film Studio. Don't ask, he should also go to see Comrade Malenkov.

Victor is indeed going to meet Comrade Malenkov, and he needs to get some inspiration from the other party... Well, the word inspiration is a bit too big, but it must be admitted that Victor now knows the situation in Moscow Not much, he needed Comrade Malenkov to give him some pointers.