Big Time 1958

   "Compared with Andropov, Chernenko is still a little worse. Okay, let's go." Listening to the report of Director Pavlov of the Central Office, Brezhnev responded somewhat weakly. Of course he himself prefers his comrades-in-arms a little bit, but no, no, even if he is the general secretary, he does not have the ability to forcibly support the next general secretary.

  The demarcation of the Central Presidium is so obvious that Andropov has the support of the three departments directly under him. This tendency is too obvious, Serov's National Security Council, Ustinov's Ministry of Defense, Gromyko's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Because of the renewed intensity of the Cold War, the three major departments have more and more right to speak.

   sighed and looked out the window. Since Suslov's death, Brezhnev has often fallen into memory. It wasn't a good inclination, but he just wanted to do it. Memories of my own work, memories of the Great Patriotic War, memories of everyone, Kozlov, Sherepin, Podgorny, Kosygin.

The door of   's office was pushed open, and Nina, the general secretary's professional nurse, walked in and checked Brezhnev's body. And the great leader of the people of the Soviet Union, with a dull face like a puppet, let the female nurse play with it. There is no demeanor of a great leader, more like a dying old man.

"Nina, you have been here with me for four years." After the examination, Brezhnev looked at the beautiful female doctor with absent-minded eyes. In the past four years, the time he has seen this personal care has been far away. Far more than seeing other people. More than his wife Brezhneva, more than members of the Central Presidium.

   "Yes, General Secretary!" Nina wore a gentle smile, which was not a routine smile. But it has a certain emotional meaning. She has seen with her own eyes that the great leader has become what it is today. Although the KGB should not have personal feelings, she still has some sympathy for this general secretary.

Well! Brezhnev was noncommittal, and said silently, "I want to talk to you today, can you be an audience member? You are not a cadre, you are just an ordinary person. I really want to talk to an ordinary person now."

  Nina did not answer, but sat directly opposite Brezhnev, looking at the general secretary with expectant eyes.

"If I look back on my life from the current perspective, the happiest day in my heart was when I was the secretary of the Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. At that time, I could see with my own eyes what I had done for the people, and Now, I can only hear the mouths of some departments and hear what the people think of me, I am already the general secretary, but I can't see the people." Brezhnev recalled to himself.

   Dnipropetrovsk left the happiest time in his life. After taking office, Brezhnev's first task was to complete the grain purchase plan. Natural disasters cannot be changed, so avoid man-made disasters. Since most of the reconstruction work in various places is mainly industrial, it is impossible to concentrate enough vehicles and machinery to transport and process agricultural products, resulting in grain rot in the fields. In response to this problem, Brezhnev gave orders with the consultative leadership that he later became famous for.

"I know that Shurik once said that my ability is only to be a good secretary of the state party committee. He was wrong, and he was not wrong. He lost to me!" Brezhnev was a little gentle to Nina He said with a smile, "A second secretary who is recognized as capable and skilled, and has many supporters, is not my opponent in the end. When Shurik left, my heart was very complicated, and his views on many things were not wrong. If He's willing to be as focused on safety as Serov, and maybe he won't go."

  The Soviet Union does not have a nominal second secretary, that is a joke about the central secretary who has the ultimate right to speak. Under normal circumstances, the central secretary who is responsible for two tasks is the most authoritative, one is the ideological field, such as Suslov, the other is the central secretary of the personnel organization, Kozlov in the Khrushchev era, and when he first came to power Sherepin. Even Kirilenko, Brezhnev's old comrade-in-arms, was not the second secretary, although Kirilenko always thought so himself. But in the eyes of others, Suslov is still there.

"The person I can't face the most is Comrade Kozlov, who has passed away. If Shurik has a lot of supporters, then Kozlov is the one that everyone expects. Even myself, I don't think I can get along with Kozlov. Zlov confronted him. But a disease knocked him down in an instant. Fate is so wonderful." Brezhnev pointed to himself when he said this, "Now I have understood the kind of disease that plagues me. Feeling, Nina, can you understand this feeling?"

   "General Secretary, everything will be fine." Nina pushed the glasses on Qiong's nose and comforted gently.

"I hope so. Among the current Central Presidium, I am actually the most optimistic about Sierbitsky. If possible, for example, I still have two or three years. I think Sierbitsky can lead our country." Lezhnev whispered, "The others are either too old or not in good health. Of course, I have not forgotten the master of Lubyanka. The international situation forced me to hand over foreign policy to him, but I was born in the KGB and always It's worrying. So I can only use Andropov to hold him down. In terms of qualifications, after Suslov's death, only Andropov has this qualification."

  Brezhnev has been hesitant to drive away the last of Sherepin's men. On the one hand, Serov has a good relationship with Ustinov, Andropov, and Gromyko. In addition, Brezhnev has always believed that maintaining the status quo is best for the model that is running well. Moreover, Reagan is aggressive, and seeing that a more fierce confrontation is coming, he must consider the country and continue to rely on this operation. KGB chairman for foreign policy.

   "When people are old, they are prone to being sentimental. I almost forgot that Brezhnev was a sentimental person!" Serov hung up the phone and put out the cigarette. There have always been three power centers in the Soviet Union that will never be weakened.

   The first is the Central Presidium of the Soviet Union, which is the real core of the Soviet Union. The direct leader is the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and the second is the Secretariat. Most of the time, the Central Presidium was responsible for formulating the line and policy, and the Secretariat was responsible for supervising the implementation of the party's policies and handling daily work. The secretary of the Central Committee who presides over the work of the Central Committee and the Secretariat is usually ridiculed as the second secretary of the CPSU—the second-in-command and successor in the party.

   Nominally only the second secretary can check and balance the general secretary, but there is a third center of power in the Soviet Union. No one recognizes the third center of power, and the center has been trying to eliminate it, but because the fierce cold war has continued, the third Lubyanka can always grow back after being weakened.

   Like many cadres in the Brezhnev era, Serov was also a beneficiary of stable cadres. Except for Foreign Minister Gromyko, Serov himself served as the leader of a separate department for the longest time.

As for the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union and the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet, we can see from the experiences of Sherepin and Kosygin that they are institutions that will not be able to compete with the General Secretary. You must know that the prestige of the two people in the early days was even higher than that of Brezhnev. powerful.

In the past two decades, Lubyanka has been much more stable than the Central Presidium and the Secretariat. Once Lubyanka has not weakened for a long time, its strength will naturally become stronger and stronger. As long as there is an opportunity, every owner of Lubyanka will be He is a strong candidate for the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. The advantage of the KGB over the Ministry of Defense is that the KGB represents the police, albeit uncomfortable. But it is still less lethal than the pure soldiers of the Ministry of Defense. It is simply impossible for the USSR Minister of Defense to become General Secretary.

   As a level of confrontation with the United States, the Soviet Union at least has to face, and will not let active soldiers lead the country, otherwise it will be similar to the structure of the military government, the party, government, army, special, on the contrary, the last spy organization KGB, it is easier to aspire.

"It turns out that I have been pretending to be dead for so long, and I almost forgot. It's already 1982." When welcoming Le Duan, the general secretary of the Vietnam Workers' Party, Brezhnev came after two months. Show up again. Led all members of the Soviet Central Presidium to hold talks with Le Duan. Likewise, Le Duan awarded him the Order of Ho Chi Minh First Class and the title of Hero of Vietnam Labor.

   It seems that Brezhnev has received more medals this year than in previous years. The General Political Commissar forgot that, a few months ago, he himself proposed to award Brezhnev the fifth Hero of the Soviet Union.

In the just-concluded 1981, because Reagan's reforms were in the groping stage, the Soviet Union's gross industrial and agricultural production had historically reached 88 percent of that of the United States. Of course, when it was announced, it became the Ninety percent of such trivial matters are skipped by the statistics department.

  Although the statistics department has falsified 2% of the data without integrity, it is absolutely impossible for the general public to find out. Even a professor who is proficient in mathematics cannot be the opponent of the group of math monsters in the statistics committee.

"This is already data that can try to bring the United States down!" On the day of seeing the statistics, Serov once said this to Andropov. Even if the Soviet cadres were greedy, they could not be more greedy than the United States. The wealth occupied by the super-rich is even greater. If it is a country-to-country confrontation, the Soviet Union's endurance is definitely stronger than that of the United States.

   After welcoming Le Duan, Brezhnev did not show up for another two months. Until September attended the welcome meeting to greet Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. At this time, India needed the support of the Soviet Union very much, because the security in Pakistan was very bad, and there were many acts of rebellion against India. On the contrary, the Afghan Socialist Alliance was much quieter. The two countries that also sent troops suffered different fates. This is because Amin It started before the rebellion.