Struggle in Soviet Russia

The village of Usovo, on the outskirts of Moscow.

Before the outbreak of the October Revolution, the famous oil tycoon Zubarov built the first luxury villa at the junction of the Lubrjevo-Uzbeni highway at the entrance of the village. After the October Revolution, this At the periphery of the forest on the east side of the road, next to the banks of the Moskva River, more than 20 villas have been built scattered around.

By the 1930s, these villas were all nationalized and became government villas specially provided to leaders of the alliance countries. Of course, the ownership of these villas belonged to the alliance, and the people who lived here only owned the residence. Power is nothing more.

As for now, the existing more than 20 villas here belong to Comrade Stalin, Comrade Voroshilov, Comrade Budjoni, Comrade Shaboshnikov, Comrade Molotov, etc., of course, Comrade Beria also owns a villa here, and next to his villa is Comrade Zhukov’s villa. Ha, this may be a fate.

Although these villas are all occupied, the villas on both sides of the road are usually empty. Once it enters the night, it is dark and there is no light at all, because before summer, the owners of these villas will not come over.

However, the situation tonight is obviously a bit special, because from the fork to the east, lights are projected from the sixth villa, and in front of the courtyard of the villa, in the parking lot outside the forest, there are also a few cars parked-this villa Comrade Beria belongs to him. There are guests in his villa tonight.

This is Victor’s first visit to the villa area. To be honest, he also hopes to own a villa here. Of course, what he wants is not a symbol of status, but because of the scenery and environment here. Very good, it is a good place for retreat and vacation.

Victor asked Varenka to park the car at the door of the villa. When he got out of the car, he saw two people standing in the door of the villa's courtyard. By the lights in the courtyard, he could see that these were two housekeepers. The soldiers of the committee, obviously, they should be Beria's guards.

The two soldiers apparently recognized Victor, and one of the soldiers opened the courtyard door for him, and then, when he walked into the courtyard, gave him a military salute.

Tonight, Victor came here in casual clothes. Even the coat jacket was a black double-breasted cotton coat. Therefore, he did not pay the military salute, but just nodded to the two soldiers and walked into the yard.

One characteristic of the villa here is that the courtyard is large, and some ornamental conifers are planted in the courtyard. However, because of the snow that just fell during the day, the entire courtyard was covered with snow.

The architectural style of the villa is very luxurious. The two-storey small building has a high foundation. There are double rows of stairs in front of the building. The left and right sides directly lead to the front platform. Therefore, although the small building of the entire villa is two-story, but In terms of height, it should actually be considered three floors.

As Victor took off the leather gloves he was wearing, he walked up the stairs on the left unhurriedly. When he walked up the last step, he happened to see a tall, thin figure, fluffy hair and face. The middle-aged man wearing a pair of round-rim glasses opened the door and walked out, standing at the door and smiling at himself.

"Comrade Victor," the middle-aged man pushed open the doors of the double-leafed villa, then turned to his side and smiled at Victor, "Good evening, isn't it smooth on the way?"

"Good evening, Grigory," Victor smiled as he walked over and reached out his hand to the other party before smiling. "Everything is going well. The road is a bit slippery and the snow is a bit deep."

The middle-aged man is Malinkov's deputy, Koshachenko. This person is a true technical bureaucrat. In Viktor's view, his level of economic work is not much worse than that of Voznesensky.

Of course, what Victor doesn't know yet is that this Comrade Kosyachenko will take the seat where Voznesensky had been in a few years' time, as the director of the Soviet State Planning Commission. His predecessor is Sabrov, and his successor is still Sabrov.

Now that Korshachenko is here, Malinkov must have arrived, and obviously not only three people attended tonight's dinner, Victor can't judge how many people there are now.

After having a brief conversation with Korshachenko at the entrance of the villa, Victor walked into the front entrance of the villa. He changed a pair of shoes at the porch. When he entered the living room, he saw two people sitting on the sofa in the middle of the living room. Who else could it be if it wasn't Marinkov and Beria?

Seeing Victor coming out of the hallway, Malinkov, who was facing the door, raised his arm, waved to him, and said, "Victor, you are late."

After a pause, he replied: "If you want something to drink or eat, just prepare it yourself. There is no service staff here tonight. Everything is on your own. Oh, thanks to our Comrade Lav Lianji, He has prepared too much."

Beria, who was sitting across from him, shrugged, turned her head, took a look at Victor, and said, "I think you can go to the restaurant to have a look. I had someone prepare something before, but I just don’t know if it’s to your taste. If you want to drink some wine, there is it in the wine cabinet opposite, of course, you also need to do it yourself."

"Do you need my help?" At this moment, Korschachenko also followed, and he walked over to Victor and asked with a smile.

"No, I'll do it myself," Victor shook his head and refused, and then walked towards the restaurant. He was really hungry, and he didn't want to be polite at this time.

Unlike what Malinkov said, there are a lot of food on the dining room table. Of course, they are some cold cuts and desserts. Victor is not very particular about it. He found a plate, picked something to eat, and went straight. Carrying back to the living room.

In the living room, Koshachenko had sat on the sofa next to Malinkov, and the three were talking together.

Victor walked over with the dinner plate, and sat down opposite Koschachenko, first put the dinner plate on the coffee table in front of him, then turned his head to look at Beria, smiled and said: "Congratulations, Comrade Lavrenji From today, you will be the first deputy people’s committee."

At the Politburo meeting that ended this morning, Beria was nominated as the first deputy people’s committee of the People’s Committee. This post is equivalent to the first deputy prime minister of the State Council and is a very important post.

However, everyone knows that Beria’s appointment as the first deputy commissar of the People’s Committee was actually to give Kuznetsov a place. Although the Soviet Union does not currently have a theory of separation of party and government, as the People’s Committee It is obviously not appropriate for the First Deputy People’s Commissar to continue to be in charge of national security work. Therefore, he has to give up this position and hand it over to Comrade Kuznetsov.

In addition, now is a time of war. Since the outbreak of the war, the various powers of the People’s Committee have been greatly weakened. It is the People’s Committee for National Defense that is really performing the functions of the People’s Committee, and the chairman of the People’s Committee for National Defense is Comrade Stalin. Do you still want Comrade Beria to divide the power of Comrade Stalin?

Therefore, this appointment meant that Comrade Beria lost a very important position, but only got a tasteless new position.

Facing Victor’s gloating remarks, Beria just smiled and said: "You should really congratulate, perhaps Comrade Serov? Just as we are meeting here tonight, our Comrade Serov I should have gone to visit Ms. Zinaida Dmitrievna, maybe Sherafim Dmitrievich is also there."

Victor smiled and didn't say anything. In Beria's words, a lot of news was revealed.

Needless to say who Serov is, Victor’s former leader is also his Bole, the current People’s Commissar of the People’s Committee of the Interior. And Zinaida Dmitryevna refers to Kuznetsov’s wife, Serafim Dmitryevich is Kuznetsov’s number one secret. That is, Serafim Dmitriyevich Voinov.

After being transferred from the NKVD to the NKVD, Comrade Serov worked very low-key on Comrade Beria’s one-third of an acre of land. Of course, this low-key may also be compelling. Comrade Beria’s skill , Enough to make him have to keep a low profile.

But now, once Kuznetsov really takes over Beria’s work in the Secretariat of the Central Committee and begins to supervise the work of the NKVD and the NKVD, then with Serov’s support, he is expected to be in In the shortest possible time, firmly control this special powerful department.

As for Serov, with the support of Kuznetsov, he will also reverse the passive situation in the NKVD and truly implement his status as a NKVD.

How should I put it, the current situation is critical, but when he heard what Beria said and knew that Serov had begun to establish contact with Kuznetsov, Victor was slightly relieved.

There is no doubt that once Serov and Kuznetsov get together, even if the latter really succeeds Beria and is responsible for the supervision of national security, the first arrangement he made should be first. Starting with the NKVD, after all, Serov created convenience for him.

If Kuznetsov’s attention was focused on the NKVD, then his attention to the NKVD would be weakened a lot, and Victor would still have more chances to breathe.

Thinking of this, Victor turned his head again and looked at Malenkov who was opposite. In his opinion, it seemed that the comrade was the one who was really facing trouble now.