Struggle in Soviet Russia

Theater Street, a room on the third floor of the Metropolitan Hotel.

In front of the large floor-to-ceiling windows, Victor was holding a cup of hot water in his hand, quietly overlooking the front square of the hotel downstairs.

This time, when he returned to Moscow from Petrozavodsk, he still did not go back to the villa he assigned to live. However, the reason why he did not go this time was not for any other reason, but because the road to the villa was not very good. It's good to go, at the same time, his star lover is not in Moscow recently. It is said that he went to Kyiv to shoot a film. Therefore, Victor decided to live in this hotel temporarily.

In today's Moscow, the Metropolitan Hotel is definitely the premier luxury hotel. In the past, Victor would never choose to live in such a place, but now the situation is different. As the first deputy minister of the International Department It is most suitable for him to live here, because the Metropolitan Hotel now belongs to the Central International Department.

It was dark outside the window, it was already dusk, and just half an hour ago, there were snowflakes in the sky again, but the snow was not very big. According to the forecast of the meteorological department, the snow will stop soon, and in the future It will be sunny for a few days, and the temperature will also have a steady rise in the process.

I don't know how long I've been standing in front of the window. Victor only felt that his legs were a little numb. He put the water glass in his hand to his mouth and drank the lukewarm water in the glass. Go to the desk with the lamp on.

On the large desk, there are a lot of documents. This is all in the afternoon. He specially asked Varenka to go to the International Department to get it back. Although he has not officially taken office, the news of the relevant appointment has already spread. Therefore, if he wants to read the relevant documents in the ministry, no one will jump out to stop him ignorantly.

To be honest, Victor has no idea about taking up the post of the director of the Secretariat of the Central Secretariat. He believes that he is capable of this job. However, as the first deputy director of the Central International Department, he has no idea whether he can do it. Competent, really is not too sure.

Indeed, this department must not be regarded as an irrelevant existence. On the contrary, as one of the twenty departments directly under the Central Committee, the International Department occupies a very important position in the decision-making body of the alliance.

Why do you say that? Just imagine that in the institutional system of the alliance, the International Department belongs to the Central Committee. Its main responsibilities can be summed up in the definition of the Central Committee: to guide the activities of the Communist parties of various countries, and to report to the relevant policies of foreign affairs. The Central Committee of the CPSU made recommendations. It can be seen that this department is directly affiliated to the Central Committee and is dedicated to formulating foreign policy as a "party agency".

In the institutional system of the Union, there is also a department for foreign affairs, and this department is the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs, that is, the institution headed by Comrade Molotov. So, what agency does the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs belong to? There is no doubt that it belongs to the People's Committee, that is to say, the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs is a "government agency" and is responsible to the People's Committee. In theory, the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs is not responsible for foreign policy formulation, but only Responsible for the implementation of specific policies.

In contrast, the International Department of the Central Committee is responsible for making recommendations to the Central Committee on foreign policy issues, while the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs is responsible for implementing the foreign policy determined by the Central Committee. Responsibility, who is higher?

Of course, this statement is only theoretical, and in the actual implementation process, the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs is not responsible to the People's Committee, but to the Politburo. After all, Comrade Molotov himself is a member of the Politburo. The position within the party, ranking in the Politburo, is higher than that of Kosygin. How could the department he leads be accountable to the People's Committee led by Kosygin?

However, to be honest, since the establishment of the International Department of the Central Committee, this department has indeed been doing nothing with the People's Committee of Foreign Affairs. The two sides have both competition in terms of power and cooperation in terms of work.

In addition, the Central International Department is also a large-scale department. When Victor established the Foreign Intelligence Bureau of the People's Commissariat of State Security, he merged two intelligence agencies, namely the Foreign Intelligence Bureau of the Soviet Academy of Sciences and the General Staff Intelligence Bureau. In the alliance's intelligence system, there is actually a large-scale intelligence agency. Victor had cooperated with this intelligence agency at the beginning, and received a lot of help from the other party.

That's right, this intelligence agency is the "International Intelligence Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU". It is directly subordinate to the International Department of the Central Committee and is responsible for and serves the agency. However, just a month ago, this department changed its name, and now The name is called the "Foreign Policy Department of the CPSU Central Committee", but it is still led by the International Department.

The "International Intelligence Department of the Central Committee of the CPSU" was originally under the leadership of the Comintern. It was also established under the efforts of the Comintern. It is the most important legacy of the Comintern. Two years ago, it was also followed by the dissolution of the Comintern. , this department was placed under the leadership of the Central International Department.

At this time, on Victor's desk, there is a very detailed list, which directly lists all the subordinate institutions currently under the leadership of the Central International Department, which includes: a series of foreign broadcasts in 18 languages. Foreign Broadcasting Station, Foreign Language Press, News Agency, etc.; there are seven regional bureaus including the Commonwealth, North and South America, Slavic and Balkans, Central Europe, Southwest Europe, etc., plus an Intelligence Publishing Bureau, which are the eight major bureaus under the department ; the 205th Scientific Research Institute, which is engaged in foreign broadcasting and propaganda; the 100th Scientific Research Institute, which is responsible for secretly communicating with the Communist parties of various countries and training radio technicians; A very large special agency.

Most importantly, as the nominal head of the department, Comrade Zhdanov seldom intervened directly in the work of the department, but ... perhaps in order to receive advice from Comrade Molotov and the People's Commissariat of State Security. Divide some power there. He has been promoting the establishment of the "National Social Organization Bureau" recently.

In Comrade Zhdanov's conception, this "National Social Organization Bureau" belongs to the leadership of the Central International Department, and its main responsibility is to supervise all organizations and groups in the Union that are involved in foreign affairs. From the responsibilities of this department, we can see what Comrade Zhdanov's purpose is. He intends to control the supervision and control of foreign affairs personnel through the establishment of this department, so as to intervene in the People's Committee for Foreign Affairs in the organization of personnel. operation.

How to put it, Comrade Zhdanov's plan cannot be said to be entirely for his own power and profit. In fact, he expanded the scope of power and influence of the International Department of the Central Committee, which itself is strengthening the CPSU Central Committee's foreign affairs. The power of supervision and control is in line with the party's principle of leading everything. On the contrary, Comrade Molotov regarded the People's Committee of Foreign Affairs as his own territory, resulting in the lack of supervision and supervision of the work and system of the People's Committee of Foreign Affairs. It's the wrong way to do it.

In addition, on Viktor's desk, there are also several summaries of Comrade Zhdanov's recent work of the International Department of the Central Committee. Victor took a look and found that its general content can be summarized into four points, including that the education of Marxism-Leninism for foreign affairs personnel must be fully improved; attention should be paid to foreign propaganda; Among them, Victor believes that at least active publicity and improving relations with the Communist parties of various countries are very necessary.

Now, one of the more troublesome things for Victor is that once he takes up his post in the Central International Department, he should consider the issue of his position.

Undoubtedly, if he takes the idea of ​​serving the public as his starting point, then he should do his best to implement Comrade Zhdanov's suggestion and promote the supervision of foreign affairs by the Central International Department, especially considering that the Union constitution will regulate foreign affairs activities. The powers of the Confederacy have been delegated to the respective republics. If Comrade Zhdanov's suggestion can be implemented, it can be regarded as a spell for the foreign affairs of the republics.

But the reality is that Victor and Comrade Zhdanov are not the same travelers in terms of position. On the contrary, Comrade Molotov treats him very well. Supporting Comrade Zhdanov's proposal, the leader of the Leningrad faction is unlikely to accept his favor. On the contrary, it is likely to break the tacit understanding between him and Comrade Molotov.

Holding the empty water glass, Victor walked back to the desk. He put the glass on the edge of the table and looked down at the open document under the lamp.

The document is a report already signed by Comrade Zhdanov and specially submitted to the Politburo. In this report, Comrade Zhdanov proposed that the organization of the International Department of the Central Committee should be further strengthened and work should be increased. It is possible to consider adding 2 deputy ministers, 10 directors, and 45 to 50 intelligence analysis officers. It is best to select 50 outstanding students from liberal arts universities and foreign language universities and send them to the 205th Institute of Science for further study, so as to provide foreign affairs. The department cultivates the reserve force.

This document cannot be sent to the Politburo just like this, because only the signature of the minister, without the signature of the real first deputy minister in charge, is not in compliance with regulations. In other words, after Victor takes office, this document needs to be processed. , he needs to consider whether he should sign his name on it.