Struggle in Soviet Russia

In Kiev in June, the weather has begun to get a little hot. When Victor left Moscow and went to Kiev, the logistics department of the National Security People’s Committee just received a dress-up application from the Ukrainian National Security People’s Committee. It’s time for comrades to change their summer clothes.

This time when he came to Kiev from Moscow, Victor did not take a plane, but came here by train. This was also in response to Comrade Stalin’s call. The leader always believed that it was not safe to travel by plane. It is possible not to take an airplane, and he always recommends not to take an airplane as the first option when other people travel.

On the outskirts of Kiev, in the town of Vasilkovo, in the collective farm of the same name as the town, with a slightly tired Victor on his face, mixed in a team of more than 20 people, standing on the periphery of an endless wheat field, like green Looking towards the southwest like the sea.

Among the two dozen people, most of them came from the top leaders from all over the republic of Ukraine, mainly the first secretaries of the states. For example, the one who walked next to Victor at this time was the state committee chief of Odessa Oblast. One secretary Kirichenko.

Before coming to Ukraine, Victor knew the basic situation of some people, including Kirichenko, who worked in Ukraine before the war broke out, and after the war broke out, he became Khrushchev Like the latter, he also works in the military committees of various units and has the rank of major general.

After the liberation of Odessa, this man quickly left the army and returned to the Ukrainian party organization, becoming the first secretary of the Odessa region and chairman of the Odessa Post-War Reconstruction Committee.

The person walking at the forefront of the line was Khrushchev in a Lenin costume. He was walking with a small, middle-aged man with glasses and an intellectual image. The two were leaning together in a quiet voice. Talking about something.

Today is the fourth day that Victor arrived in Ukraine. In the past four days, he has done nothing, and has been following Khrushchev's buttocks all day long.

In these four days, he first ran from Kiev to Odessa, then from Odessa to Kharkov, and then Donetsk and Nikolaev, until today, Only then returned to Kiev.

"...Andrei? Andreievich is old, he doesn't understand anything." Just when Viktor felt a little bored, Khrushchev at the front of the team suddenly raised his voice, as if listening When he got the news that made him feel angry, so while waving his arms, he said loudly, "He will only look at the reports handed by others to make a decision. At least to find out the actual situation from the real farmer brothers."

Victor blinked and looked up at the front of the team. He heard that Khrushchev was attacking Andreyev, because the good-tempered Comrade Andreyev is now in charge of the league. Agricultural work.

At the moment he looked up, Victor happened to see a middle-aged man in the uniform of the NKVD, quickly approaching Khrushchev and saying something beside him.

This man is worthy of the rank of major general. Victor knew him and knew that his name was Strokács. During the war, he was the commander of the Ukrainian garrison, and Khrushchev's security work was in charge of him. Before the outbreak of the war, this man was a colonel in the border guards. Therefore, he has now returned to the NKVD, but has not yet been assigned a specific job.

Strokács should have made some suggestions to Khrushchev, but the latter did not accept it. Instead, he continued to say loudly: "Why can't I express my personal opinions? Is it possible that the Bolshevik Party constitution does not allow politics? Is there a rule for members of the Bureau to complain in private? Or is it that I no longer have the right to speak?!"

"Why should I worry that my words will be spread to Moscow by others? Isn't it true that I am telling them?" I don’t understand the situation in Ukraine. This is not Moscow or the Urals. Here, especially since June, for those places that have not caught up with the agricultural period, it is no longer appropriate to replant spring wheat. Even if it is planted, eventually I’m afraid there are not as many seeds sown yet. Isn’t that the case?”

Speaking of this, he turned around, looked at the many Ukrainian local officials behind him, and asked: "In the past so many days, we have traveled throughout Eastern Ukraine, and more than half of Western Ukraine, and visited hundreds of households. Farmers, don’t their experience compare to the so-called agricultural experts of those academies of sciences?"

Seeing Khrushchev's gaze seemed to swept away from him inadvertently, Victor touched his nose and lowered his head again, avoiding the other's gaze.

Yes, among these people today, only he, Safonov and Goryakov are outsiders, who are not local officials in Ukraine.

"There is also Nikolai Alekseyevich. I suspect that his experience in the planning committee is far less experienced than Maxim Zakharovich." Khrushchev didn't seem to intend to control his emotions. , He aimed his gun at Voznesenski, who had just assumed office as chairman of the State Planning Commission, "Look at what kind of mission he gave us, and what is the total amount of grain required to be handed in throughout the year? 300 million pu Special, and according to the people of the Planning Commission, the reason why this number is set is because the total amount of food handed over by Ukraine before the outbreak of the war was already 500 million ponts. So, this is already taking care of us."

Victor listened below, and he knew what Khrushchev was complaining about.

His previous complaints to Andreyev mainly focused on a current dispute. This argument is a bit funny, but it is directly related to the overall situation of Ukraine's agriculture. Since the West Ukraine region has just been liberated, it is obviously destined to miss spring plowing. The whole hope there is the harvest in the second half of the year.

As a result, there is a question of what to plant in the second half of the year. The Moscow side, that is, the guiding opinion issued by the People’s Committee of Agriculture, is to replant winter wheat in West Ukraine. This guiding opinion is that of Andre. Comrade Leyev asked several agricultural experts.

The reality is that farmers in West Ukraine have never planted winter wheat, and they do not accept this so-called "guideline opinion."

You know, before the outbreak of the war, the Alliance had just retaken the Western Ukraine from Poland. Soon afterwards, with the outbreak of the war, this land fell into the hands of the Germans. Therefore, they lived in that land. People on the Internet do not have much sense of belonging to the alliance, they are not very obedient.

This time, Moscow issued an administrative order to promote the cultivation of winter wheat in Western Ukraine. This was directly met with resistance from Western Ukrainian farmers, and related promotion work could not be carried out at all.

In the past few days, Khrushchev has taken people to visit many places in Western Ukraine. Therefore, he has a good understanding of the thinking of Western Ukrainian peasants. Some of what he said just now is actually correct. Don’t they know what they should grow?

As for the complaints against Voznesensky, it comes from the indicator of Ukraine’s grain turnover this year issued by the Planning Commission. This indicator was formulated and released by Voznesensky. After the autumn harvest, Ukraine should hand in 300 million pods of grain, which is equivalent to 5.4 million tons.

The reason why the Planning Commission set the grain procurement index so high is of course after careful calculations. It is impossible, as Khrushchev said, to simply examine the pre-war standards and make a few additions and subtractions. Such a number.

But to be honest, considering the current reality in Ukraine, this standard is indeed a bit high.

What is the reality in Ukraine now? Having just experienced a brutal war, Eastern Ukraine has almost nothing left to burn due to the German scorched earth policy, while Western Ukraine has just been liberated and has missed a season of harvest.

Of course, in addition to these unfavorable factors, there is another point that cannot be ignored, and that is the lack of population. In Ukraine, the problem of labor shortage is very serious. Healthy adult male labor is almost invisible. Those who are really engaged in agricultural work are all women, children and the elderly, as well as some disabled people.

God knows whether the Planning Commission took these factors into consideration when formulating the grain expropriation policy.

Well, these complaints of Khrushchev are actually meaningless, because he can't change anything at all. Perhaps the only effect is to be able to win some extra points for himself in front of his subordinates.

However, in the past few days, even though Viktor was taken by Khrushchev to run around, he did not do the task that really belonged to him. There are still some changes in the impression, at least from the situation of the past few days, this person is also a person who is really willing to bury his head and do things.

In the past life, people always heard that bureaucracy in the Soviet Union prevailed, but from the current reality, at least in these years, bureaucracy has not yet become the mainstream phenomenon in this country.

As the first secretary of the Ukrainian republic, Khrushchev cares about everything. He is concerned about the resumption of work at the Donets Coal Mine and the restoration of the Dnepropetrovsk Iron Mine. At the same time, he is still concerned about Shipyard in Odessa and wheat fields in Kiev.

In the era when Victor lived, there were really not many people who could really be like him.