Chapter 308
"Not so good," Rokossovsky frowned, invited Yuri to sit down on the sofa near the window, and poured him a glass of water. He said, "The trouble is that dealing with those political issues is much more difficult than commanding a battle."
He placed a glass of water on the coffee table next to Yuri, and sat on another sofa next to him. He rubbed his temples with his fingers and smiled bitterly: "In Warsaw, you will have a feeling, just like..."
With an ambiguous gesture, he said, "Everyone is consciously dividing each other into camps. You stand on this side, he stands on that side, and no one can stand in the middle. Either you choose to support this side, or you choose to support that side. If you stand on this side, then you must oppose everything that is said on that side. Similarly, if you stand on that side, then you must oppose everything that is said on this side."
Then, Rokossovsky talked in detail about the current complicated situation in Poland.
In fact, shortly after the capture of Berlin, especially after the Polish National Liberation Committee completed its formation and the Polish Provisional National Unity Government was established, the Soviet army transferred all administrative power in the Soviet-occupied areas to this provisional government.
At this time, the parties that actually controlled the power of the Provisional Government were the Polish Workers' Party and the Left Wing of the Polish Socialist Party. Between these two parties, the Polish Workers' Party had an absolute advantage.
However, the Polish Workers' Party, which had just taken power, had not even sat firmly on its seat when obvious, even divisive, differences emerged within it, and the two sides were fighting fiercely.
In fact, the development of the Polish Workers' Party itself was somewhat deformed, and its organizational structure was very unstable. The reason for this was that those who were originally prestigious in the party, including Novotko, Findel and Movojec, all died in the process of resisting the Germans, so that Gomulka, who was only an ordinary party member until 1941, quickly rose to power.
As for Gomulka himself, although he had spent two years in the Soviet Union, he was just a grassroots party member during those two years and had no sense of existence. His growth was cultivated during the period of leading the independence struggle in Poland. Therefore, he lacked identification with the Soviet Union and Moscow.
In today's Polish Workers' Party, the real dominant position is a three-person leadership group, namely Gomulka, Beirut and Juswiak. Among these three people, whether it is Beirut or Juswiak, it can be said that they were helped by the Soviet Union and have a strong sense of identification with Moscow.
In this way, two forces that quickly competed with each other were formed within the Polish Workers' Party, namely the so-called "domestic faction" represented by Gomulka and the "Moscow faction" headed by Beirut.
Poland is currently carrying out land reforms across the country, and the differences between the two sides first revolve around this issue. The "Moscow faction" headed by Beirut firmly advocates the implementation of the Soviet model, which is to promote the collective farm system while implementing land reforms, while the "domestic faction" headed by Gomulka strongly opposes this policy.
The differences between the two sides were even so serious that they were difficult to reconcile. Just a while ago, Gomulka called Stalin directly to ask for his opinion on whether Poland should immediately implement the collective farm system.
To be honest, the Soviet Union has not yet shown the intention to control everything in its attitude towards Eastern European countries. The main reason is that the situation of East-West confrontation and US-Soviet hegemony has not yet emerged. What the Soviet Union really wants is to establish a pro-Soviet government in Poland. As for whether to adopt the Soviet construction model, Comrade Stalin and his staff do not care. Therefore, in answering Gomulka's question, Comrade Stalin's opinion is: Poland's situation is different from that of the Soviet Union. Even the Soviet Union gradually adopted the collective farm system after the success of the October Revolution. The implication is that Poland is not supported to directly implement the collective farm system in the process of land reform.
Only with Comrade Stalin's clear statement was the dispute settled within the Polish Workers' Party.
"But recently, the two sides have once again disagreed on the issue of establishing the Communist and Workers' Party Intelligence Bureau," Rokossovsky said helplessly in the study, holding a glass of water in his hand. "Comrade Gomulka clearly stated that he opposed the establishment of such an organization, believing that it would be detrimental to the independence of Poland's state and regime. Not only that, he also questioned the issue of territorial redivision and used it to criticize Beirut's political stance."
Yuri was also speechless. He didn't understand what those Poles were thinking. Didn't they know that there were hundreds of thousands of Soviet troops stationed in their country?
Why was Rokossovsky so upset? Because he was the commander-in-chief of the Soviet Army Group in Poland and was primarily responsible for the stability of the situation in Poland. In today's Poland, whether it was the work of "suppressing bandits" or the work of restoring order, he needed to take charge of the overall work. The so-called Polish People's Army was not yet able to take over all the national defense work.
"Have you reported these issues to Comrade Stalin?" Yuri asked.
This is very important. Now, Yuri has personally experienced the importance of "asking for instructions early and reporting late". This is how work should be done. Don't think that a certain problem is insignificant and act on your own blindly, and don't worry about annoying your superiors and ignore the work you report. It is important to understand that whether a problem is insignificant or not is not something that subordinates can evaluate. It is also not something that subordinates should try to figure out what problems their leaders want to know.
Even if subordinates do not report in time, how can the leaders know what you have done? You handle everything by yourself and never bother the leaders. The final result is that the leaders have the impression that the work you are responsible for is very stable and orderly, but it has nothing to do with you because you basically did nothing.
Only the crying child can get milk!
Rokossovsky nodded, paused for a moment, and said, "This time, I returned to Moscow with Comrade Ivan Stepanovich, and we also reported our work to Comrade Stalin together. According to him, the situation in Romania is also very bad, even worse than that in Poland."
Yuri nodded. In fact, he didn't care much about Romania or Poland. After all, it had nothing to do with his work. He was more concerned about the things at hand.
In addition, the most unstable situation in Eastern Europe is not the countries in the Soviet-controlled area, but Greece in the Balkan Peninsula. More than a year ago, the British were bullied by the Germans like dead dogs. They simply forgot the pain after the wound healed. The Americans' anti-communist stance has not yet been shown, but the Americans have started to show their teeth and claws. Almost at the same time as the Soviet army captured Berlin, the British, under the guise of fighting against Germany, led by Scobie, escorted the Greek government-in-exile back to Athens. Subsequently, they clashed with the Greek National People's Liberation Army, and the two sides fought in Athens and surrounding areas.
Although the British were very weak when dealing with the Germans, they were very powerful when dealing with the Greek Communist Party in Greece. In the end, they not only drove the Greek National People's Liberation Army out of Athens, but also forced the Greek Communist Party leader Marcos to ask Moscow for help.
However, Comrade Stalin still had hope for the West at this time. He hoped to maintain peaceful and friendly relations with Britain, the United States and other countries. Therefore, in accordance with the previously signed agreement, he rejected the Greek Communist Party's request for help.
In general, the order of the entire Eastern Europe is currently being restored and rebuilt. The Soviet Union and Britain and the United States have not yet torn their relations apart. Except for East Asia, the overall pattern of the world is still relatively stable. For all countries, this is the best time to restore their national strength.
Unlike Yuri, Rokossovsky was really concerned about the situation in Poland, not only because of his work, but also because he was a Pole. Unfortunately, no one in Poland considered him a Pole. In the Polish Workers' Party, whether it was the domestic faction of Gomulka or the Moscow faction of Beirut, whenever Rokossovsky was mentioned, they would emphasize that he was a "Soviet marshal" with outstanding achievements and a "friend" of the Polish people forever. Just this statement excluded him from the Polish national scope.
Of course, Rokossovsky didn't care about these things, but he always felt some distress to some extent.
As an old superior and old friend, Rokossovsky did not hide this fact in front of Yuri. He said frankly that he was very unhappy with his job in Warsaw and hoped that Moscow could arrange someone to replace him as soon as possible.
Yuri knew very well that Rokossovsky was not troubled by the Polish rejection of him, but that this job was really difficult for him. As a Pole, he was a marshal in the Soviet Red Army, had outstanding military achievements, and had a high reputation in the army. He commanded hundreds of thousands of troops stationed in Poland, but the result was that he could not do any work in depth and had to worry all day long.
Why? Because the Poles did not trust him, and Moscow did not trust him either. The ultimate consequence was that he looked powerful and successful, but in fact he had no power at all, and was truly a "marshal without any troops."
Coming out of Rokossovsky's residence, Yuri felt a little heavy-hearted. To be more precise, he felt very unhappy. He could sense that his old superior was unhappy. After all, the white hair on his temples was very eye-catching.
Recalling the situation during the war, Rokossovsky was so high-spirited at that time, and his confidence was overflowing from his body - perhaps, a true soldier can only live in wartime, and when the war ends, his life will end.
