Chapter 354
Yuri's premonition was indeed accurate. As the meeting progressed, more and more questions about aviation accidents were raised, to the point that people had a certain degree of illusion that the aviation industry sector, which seemed to have achieved outstanding results throughout the war, had actually covered up many problems.
These covered-up problems are very serious, just like the unrecorded sacrifices of pilots who did not die on the battlefield, but died in mistakes made in the rear. From this, a question arises: Who will be responsible for this problem, who will be responsible for those pilots who died in fighter accidents?
In Yuri's opinion , these guys who participated in the speech today are obviously brewing a storm, a storm aimed at attacking Malenkov and his partners. Such a storm cannot be initiated at the grassroots level, but can only be a top-down storm.
Today, this storm is still in its initial stage. The specific method is to use some people to raise specious questions and stir up this issue little by little through discussion. Before that, those hiding behind may have already mastered the actual evidence. They are sure that they can bring down their own goals through this issue . And this brewing process is actually to give the other party a chance to surrender, or to wait for the person who can decide the outcome of the game to express his position. In this game, the person who needs to surrender is obviously Malenkov, and the person who can make the referee is Comrade Stalin.
As the meeting was drawing to a close, Comrade Beria, as the head of the NKVD, spoke last. He proposed that those who died in the war due to non-combat factors should also be included in the list of martyrs. He did not distinguish between factors such as epidemics and accidents, but rather put them in the same category in a very general way. He then went on to talk about relevant data, theoretical basis, and necessity, completely avoiding the content of the accident rate of fighter planes.
Beria's speech made Yuri grasp a message, that is, the head of the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs obviously did not want to stir up this storm, and he was deliberately avoiding this issue.
This situation gave people the impression that leaders from some ministries and states were trying every means to stir up a dispute, while Comrade Beria, who had always been regarded as a devil, was trying every means to resolve the dispute. To put it more vividly, many people were sharpening their knives against Comrade Malenkov, while Beria, who had always been regarded as the dagger held by Comrade Stalin, turned into a shield to protect Comrade Malenkov from the wind and rain.
This unique situation is so interesting, to the point of being confusing.
Yuri thought that if Beria was not being hypocritical, then this struggle against Comrade Malenkov was probably not initiated by Comrade Stalin. Perhaps this was a real bottom-up political storm. The reason why these guys who provoked the topic launched the meeting today was to test Comrade Stalin's attitude. If Comrade Stalin lost his temper, they would naturally stop. On the contrary, if Stalin made a clear statement, their subsequent measures would be used.
If it was not Comrade Stalin who instructed this to happen, then who was behind the whole incident?
The answer is actually not difficult to find. Yuri only needs to think carefully to guess it.
With the end of the war, a more obvious political struggle has actually emerged within the core leadership of the Soviet Union. Needless to say, the Leningrad faction headed by Zhdanov has existed for a long time , and even Comrade Stalin turned a blind eye to it. Of course, no one knew what he really thought.
In addition to the Leningrad faction, there is also a small group with Molotov as the core. This small group includes Molotov, Andreyev and others. Dmitry Trofimovich Shepilov, who has been in the limelight recently, is also a member of this group.
Thinking of Shepilov, Yuri's mind not only emerged with the stereotyped middle-aged face, but also Yuri had contact with Shepilov in the past few years of war. This guy once served as the head of the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the General Political Department under Bulganin. He was a clear-headed, sharp-minded and eloquent guy. It was precisely because of his outstanding talents that Comrade Stalin put him in the position of head of the Central Propaganda and Agitation Department at the beginning of this year.
In addition to Molotov's small group, Khrushchev's small group was also being built. In recent times, this old man has been very close to Bulganin. Of course, the relationship between the two has always been very good, and it is that of comrades-in-arms.
In addition, the ambiguity between Malenkov and Beria became increasingly obvious, which I believe anyone with some political wisdom could easily feel.
It can be said that among the entire core leadership, only Comrade Kaganovich did not choose a camp. He was a die-hard fan of Comrade Stalin and never took anyone seriously.
Yuri felt that Comrade Stalin should have seen the formation of these small groups. This could be seen from a series of recent personnel appointments. Comrade Stalin, with his wolf-like gaze, was throwing sand in the sand against these small groups.
In the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party, propaganda work has always been led by Comrade Zhdanov, who also controls the work of cadre assessment to a certain extent. In recent times, Comrade Stalin first appointed Shepilov as the deputy minister of the Central Propaganda and Agitation Department, and then appointed Andreev's direct descendant, Semyon Denisovich Ignatiev, as the first deputy director of the Central Committee's Party Member and Cadre Assessment Bureau. This is equivalent to driving two nails into Comrade Zhdanov's territory at once.
That was not all. When the first two personnel appointments were being made, Comrade Stalin transferred Zhdanov's direct subordinate Alexei Alexandrovich Kuznetsov to Moscow and appointed him as a member of the Organization Bureau of the Central Committee, specifically responsible for personnel work in the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs and the Secretariat of the Central Committee. This was like driving him into the territory of Beria and Malenkov.
Of course, Comrade Stalin randomly hammered in a lot of nails. After all, this involved a series of personnel appointments. It was these complicated personnel appointments that shattered the power circles of various small groups, and it was estimated that no one had a good time.
To be honest, the person who was least affected in this new round of personnel appointments should be Khrushchev. But then again, his life was not easy either, because Khrushchev's previous speculation was wrong. Comrade Stalin did not remove Kaganovich from the post of First Secretary of Ukraine, but asked him to go to Ukraine to preside over the specific work of the Ukrainian People's Committee. To put it bluntly, he was asked to preside over Ukraine's government affairs, while Kaganovich was still in charge of party affairs.
Such an appointment obviously placed Khrushchev under the leadership of Kaganovich. Just imagine, how could the old man feel comfortable?
In short, Comrade Stalin held absolute advantage. He held military power in one hand and absolute power over personnel appointments in the other. Any so-called group or clique was child's play in his eyes. When he sensed a threat or was displeased with something, he only needed to flick his fingers to eliminate any so-called group.
Yuri's thoughts had wandered a bit, so he refocused his attention on this incident. He felt that if this incident was not caused by Comrade Stalin himself, then the most likely people to take action would be Zhdanov and his people, and their target would definitely be Malenkov.
The reason for this speculation is that there was an old grudge between Zhdanov and Malenkov. The two had already formed a feud during the Battle of Leningrad. At that time, Malenkov often spoke ill of Zhdanov in front of Stalin. The worst thing was that perhaps because Zhdanov did a good job in Leningrad, or for some other reason, Comrade Stalin told Zhdanov all the bad things Malenkov said behind his back. Speaking of which, Comrade Stalin seemed to like doing this kind of thing.
Last year, when Malenkov was in charge of the confiscation of German property in the Soviet-occupied zone, he clashed with Voznesensky, Zhdanov's top general. Both sides not only attacked each other in public, but also ordered their men to rob each other's supplies and even fought. At that time, Yuri was still in Japan. He only heard that the incident was a big deal. In the end, Comrade Stalin personally stepped in and suppressed the conflict by giving each side fifty lashes.
Last month, Comrade Malenkov kicked Yakov Dmitrievich Yerkhov, who was in charge of the daily work of the Heavy Industry Committee, to the Far East. This person was also an official of the Leningrad faction.
As a result, the hatred between the two sides became deeper and deeper, and those seemingly hidden contradictions would erupt sooner or later. In Yuri's view, Zhdanov was not someone to be trifled with, and it was normal for him to choose such an excuse to fight back.
Throughout the meeting, although several people hinted at problems with the Ministry of Aviation Industry, Comrade Stalin did not make any statement from beginning to end, which made it unclear what his attitude was.
But Yuri knew very well that Comrade Stalin's silence was a signal to Zhdanov and his people, a signal that they could take further action, there was no doubt about that.
