Chapter 366
What kind of people in this world get promoted quickly?
Someone who is capable? Someone with good eyesight? Someone who can work hard? Or someone who has maxed out his flattery skills?
The answer is: both are wrong. The person who really gets promoted the fastest is the one who is closest to the leader. This is a prerequisite. Without this condition, everything else is in vain.
In the Soviet political system, the position of Secretary of the Central Secretariat is very critical. The key point is not only that it is a position that handles party affairs, but also that if Yuri serves as secretary in his current capacity, his concurrent positions will also need to be adjusted.
Take his current concurrent positions for example. He is the Minister of the General Armament Department, but the General Armament Department is subordinate to the People's Commissariat of Defense, which is now a second-level department of the Ministry of Defense. He is also the head of the Disarmament Working Committee, but he is a deputy in this department, while the principal position belongs to Comrade Stalin. In this way, a high-level position in the party is matched with two low-level government positions, which is not conducive to carrying out work.
Why do I say that? Because the work of the Central Secretariat is to be responsible for specific party affairs under the guidance of the Central Committee Presidium. Each secretary and alternate secretary needs to be in charge of certain aspects of the work. It is obviously not appropriate for someone like Yuri to hold two deputy positions at the same time.
Another point is that the secretaries of the Central Secretariat basically have the hope of entering the Presidium of the Central Committee, that is, the core of the Soviet state power. Cadres like Yuri are actually being trained as future members of the Presidium. After all, he is too young. In order to achieve the purpose of this training, it is also necessary to be familiar with certain aspects of the work, especially the work that he may be mainly responsible for in the future. Therefore, from this point of view, job adjustments are also necessary.
It is precisely because of this unspoken rule that the Secretary of the Central Secretariat seems so important. Not everyone has the opportunity to get in and become a secretary.
Yuri was lucky in that he was very close to Comrade Stalin. This "closeness" was not only in terms of distance, but also in terms of emotion.
Comrade Stalin was not a person who liked to show his emotions. His stern and serious face might smile once in sixty years, and maybe at night. Moreover, even when he smiled, he was not necessarily happy.
Comrade Stalin never showed much closeness to Yuri, but it is undeniable that every promotion of Yuri was closely related to him, and most of them were orders issued by him personally. What does this mean? There is no doubt that this means that Yuri was promoted by Comrade Stalin himself.
Comrade Zhdanov made a mistake. He started the struggle with Malenkov and Beria too early and displayed too much energy. On the eve of the war, he moved Voznesensky into the Presidium as an alternate member. Now, while he was trying to remove the word "alternate" from Voznesensky's name, he was also trying to move Kuznetsov into the Central Secretariat as an alternate secretary.
He played so wildly that it was impossible not to touch Comrade Stalin's sensitive power nerves, but the latter was always deep and never expressed his thoughts. However, he had a score to settle in his heart, and those who were charged with it often did not have a good ending .
The reason why Yuri and Suslov were brought into the Central Secretariat and given the position of alternate secretary was probably to target Zhdanov. Malenkov was kicked out of the Secretariat, and Zhdanov's people couldn't get in. It was just such a simple logic.
But then again, the fact that Comrade Stalin thought of Yuri at this time can already explain certain issues to a certain extent.
Suddenly, being nominated by Comrade Stalin himself to join the Central Secretariat and become an alternate secretary was like a pie in the sky for Yuri, so much so that he was still a little confused until the end of the meeting.
Of course, in addition to being confused, he was also a little nervous.
Although Yuri didn't know much about the inner circle, he still knew some things, for example, Comrade Zhdanov had been working to get Kuznetsov into the Central Secretariat. Now, Comrade Stalin suddenly proposed to give him the position of alternate secretary. Would this cause Comrade Zhdanov's dissatisfaction?
But Yuri thought again, and encouraged himself in his heart. Why should he think so much for no reason? Could he refuse this appointment? Besides, Comrade Suslov's foundation was even weaker than his own. In comparison, he should be more nervous than himself.
The meeting did not last very long. After the meeting, Zhdanov, Khrushchev, Andreyev and others would accompany Comrade Stalin directly to the Kuntsevo Villa. Yuri left the Kremlin alone because he also had to prepare a birthday present for Comrade Stalin.
This birthday gift has been in the works for a long time, and I’ve finally been waiting for this opportunity.
From the Kremlin, we first drove to the Academy of Sciences. The model of the Palace of Soviets as a gift was still loose, but it had been packed onto four GAZ trucks. These things would be transported directly to the Kuntsevo Villa and then assembled there by fifty-four workers.
It's just such an assembly job. These workers have contacted each other dozens of times before. They must ensure that the model can be assembled as quickly as possible and without error. Well, this is a political job.
The car was driving on the road to the suburbs of Moscow. Inside the car, Yuri was still thinking about his new appointment, mainly about future work adjustments.
Considering the importance of the work of the Disarmament Working Committee, he felt that Comrade Stalin was unlikely to remove him from this position. However, the post of Minister of Equipment would most likely be removed. He could see that Comrade Stalin was consciously trying to completely separate him from the military system, which was also the reason why he had a relatively high prestige in the army.
So, after the post of the Minister of the General Armament Department is removed, what position will be assigned to him? This is what is really worth paying attention to.
After the reorganization of the Council of People's Commissars and the establishment of the Council of Ministers, the Soviet Union's state management mechanism is gradually maturing, and various functional departments have been established one after another, some of which are even just empty shells now. However, Yuri is not suitable to serve as the minister of the various departments under the Council of Ministers, because they are also second-level departments.
Yuri thought that if nothing unexpected happened, Comrade Stalin might give him the position of Chairman of the Supreme Soviet Council of Nationalities, which would be more symbolic.
As the highest legislative body of the Soviet Union, the Supreme Soviet is similar to the People's Congress, except that it is divided into two parts, namely, the Union Council and the National Council, which are similar to the Senate and the House of Representatives, or the Upper House and the Lower House in the West. However, no matter which house the representatives belong to, their power is the same, and their symbolic significance is greater.
The reason why Yuri made such a guess is that the current chairman of the Union Council is Zhdanov, who recently replaced Andreyev in this position. The original chairman of the Council of Nationalities was Shcherbatov, but because the elderly comrade Kalinin was seriously ill and could not continue to serve as the chairman of the Presidium, Shcherbatov has been determined to take over his job.
As a result, the position of Chairman of the Council of Nationalities became vacant. Before this, Zhdanov had proposed that Kuznetsov should take over the position, but Comrade Stalin did not express his opinion, which showed that he did not agree with this suggestion.
Although the actual powers and responsibilities of the Supreme Soviet are basically symbolic, it has a very special feature. That is, the people who hold important positions in this department have close ties with the members of the Central Committee and the leaders of the various republics, which is crucial for reaching the pinnacle of power in the future.
It was precisely because of this that Zhdanov, while serving as the Chairman of the Council of Nationalities, also wanted to arrange his staunch supporter to the position of Chairman of the Council of Nationalities. As for the Chairman of the Supreme Soviet Shcherbatov, he was just a decoration and no one would take him seriously.
What Yuri needs to consider now is how he should carry out his work once the title of Chairman of the Supreme Soviet House of Nationalities really falls on him. In addition, how he should make his own achievements in the position of alternate secretary of the Central Secretariat.
Since crossing over to this world, Yuri's main job has been military command. In the two years after the war, he has also done some management work, but in terms of party work, he has no experience and can be said to be a blank slate.
How to achieve results in practical work is relatively simple, just like the work of the Disarmament Committee, where roads are built, wasteland is reclaimed, and buildings are built. As long as the work is done and the tasks are completed, the results are real and obvious. But it is not the same for theoretical work. It is not easy to achieve results, especially to achieve results that are eye-catching.
The good news is that as long as Comrade Stalin is still alive, Yuri believes that his position will be consolidated step by step, because it is obvious that he has doubts about the members of the current Central Committee Presidium, first Kaganovich, then Malenkov, and Beria has also shown a tendency to step aside. So, who will be next? Zhdanov or Molotov?
Of course, Yuri didn't know that although Comrade Zhdanov looked very energetic, he was actually at the end of his rope . It wouldn't be long before he died, and Comrades Malenkov and Beria would make a comeback. As for Comrade Molotov, his political life was also coming to an end.
In every generation, there emerge talented people who lead the trend for decades. Perhaps this is what the current situation in the Soviet Union is like.
