Chapter 392
After hanging up the phone, Yuri looked at the transcript he had just made on the table in front of him, sighed softly, looked up at the two people staring at him, and said, "Okay, let's stop here today. Comrade Poskrebyshev called and asked to invite Comrade Molotov to the Kremlin."
Shkiriatov was stunned for a moment, then a relieved expression appeared on his face. He closed the notebook in his hand, stood up and prepared to go to the door. He and Yuri did not have a good relationship, and the two sides were not on the same side. Apart from official business, there was nothing else to talk about.
"What? Is that the end?" Molotov laughed. "Don't you want to hear about my position in the first, second and third Moscow trials? Don't you want to know what I did?"
Yuri knew something about the three Moscow trials mentioned by Molotov, after all, that was his position.
The so-called "First Moscow Trial" refers to the trial of 16 senior Bolshevik cadres including Zinoviev and Kamenev, initiated by Comrade Stalin after Kirov was murdered in 1934. At that time, the trial was held in the Workers' Culture Palace in Moscow. In the end, these people were named the "Trotsky-Zinoviev Anti-Soviet Center" and all 16 were executed.
The "Second Moscow Trial" was a trial of the so-called "Trotsky Anti-Soviet Parallel Center". Seventeen senior Bolshevik cadres, including Pyatakov, Sokolnikov and Radek, were tried, and thirteen were eventually executed.
The "Third Moscow Trial" was a trial against the so-called "Right-Wing Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Alliance". Twenty-one senior Bolshevik cadres, including Bukharin, Rykov and Krestinsky, were tried. Eighteen of them were executed directly - the most miserable was Bukharin. He requested to commit suicide by taking poison, but was refused. The then Attorney General, who was also the prosecutor of the three Moscow trials, Vyshinsky, arranged for him to watch the entire process of the execution of the sixteen people before finally executing them.
Yuri did not want to make any judgment on these past events, but it was through these three trials that Comrade Stalin eliminated all different voices within the Bolshevik Party. In a practical sense, he achieved consistency in views and positions within the party and established supreme authority.
In later times, some people attributed the Soviet Union's defeat in the early days of the Great Patriotic War to the self-mutilation caused by the Soviet purge, but as a person who really went through the Great Patriotic War, Yuri believes that there may be reasons for this. But if we consider it from another perspective, if the Soviet high-level officials did not form such a consensus after the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, and various small groups and various opposition factions still existed, then facing the German blitzkrieg, it is really a matter of chance that the Soviet Union could eventually turn the tide of the war.
Of course, Yuri also knew that in the Great Purge, whether it was Molotov or Kaganovich, all those who were currently in the core of power in Moscow played a certain leading role. If these people did not exist, Comrade Stalin might not have reached this point today.
In other words, the occurrence of any historical event is actually inevitable. Rather than saying that the three Moscow trials were initiated by Comrade Stalin, it is better to say that they were caused by the situation at the time. If there were no trials led by Comrade Stalin, there would inevitably be another person to lead these trials. It’s just that when that situation occurs, one of the three trials will belong to Stalin himself.
"Each of us is an object of surveillance. Of course, we are also monitoring others." Molotov did not have the opportunity to continue speaking. He stood up from the sofa, looked at Yuri meaningfully, and finally said, "If you cannot be the executor of the dictatorship, you will become the object of the dictatorship. Comrade Yuri Arkhipovich, wavering is very dangerous. When necessary, everyone must make their own choice."
"After all," he said as he reached the door, holding it with one hand and putting on his hat with the other, "those who don't want to accept a dinner invitation have to be on the dinner menu. That's the principle of politics."
After watching the guy leave his office, Yuri did not see him off, but returned to his desk with a serious expression.
Judging from Molotov's attitude, there is already a group of people in Moscow who are planning to overthrow Comrade Stalin's leadership. These people are likely to have made full preparations and are just waiting for the final opportunity to launch the action. In the process of waiting, they may need to attract more people to join in. After all, no matter from which perspective, Comrade Stalin is the leader of the country elected by the Central Committee. To remove him from office without the approval of all members of the Central Committee is a veritable coup. In this case, the number of people who support their actions will determine the legitimacy of their actions.
Yuri is the secretary of the Central Secretariat and also a member of the committee. He is also an alternate member of the Presidium. In his position, he is the Chairman of the Central Supervisory Committee. These identities and positions determine that he can do a lot of things, especially after the success of the coup.
It is conceivable that if some people were planning to overthrow Comrade Stalin's leadership, then even if the coup was successful, they would not be able to openly push Comrade Stalin out of office. They could only say that he was ill and unable to continue to preside over the work.
Afterwards, the members of the Presidium who participated in the coup will redistribute some work, and some will take over from Comrade Stalin to preside over the work. In this process, some people will certainly express doubts, and it is estimated that there are quite a few people who hold doubts. Then, facing these doubters, the new power core must take strong actions to win over those who can be won over, and for those who cannot be won over, what Molotov called "suppression" will be the best solution.
So who will be in charge of the suppression? The State Security Committee? The Ministry of Internal Affairs? They certainly cannot take action directly, because problems within the party cannot be solved directly by these two powerful departments. They can only be executive agencies, not decision-making agencies. The real decision-making agency for suppression is still the Central Supervisory Committee. Any arrest action can only be issued by it, and the State Security Committee or the Ministry of Internal Affairs is responsible for execution.
Of course, if these guys really have a sure win, they can also kill people like Yuri at the same time as the coup, but doing so will reduce their legitimacy to the lowest level and even cause complications. On the one hand, they said that Comrade Stalin was ill and unable to preside over the work, and on the other hand, they killed the head of the key department, the secretary of the Central Secretariat, and the member of the Central Committee appointed by Comrade Stalin himself. Most importantly, this person is also a marshal with outstanding achievements. If anyone considers such a thing, I am afraid they will be suspicious.
In addition, there is another obvious benefit of winning over someone like Yuri, which is that it will be easier to appease the military's emotions . This is not only because Yuri has enough prestige in the military, but also because he has been rebuilding his ties with military generals over this period of time.
Political struggle is never gentle and affectionate. To some extent, it is even more cruel and treacherous than military struggle. Yuri knows very well that reality has brought him to a crossroads where he must make a choice: continue to be loyal to Comrade Stalin or stand against him.
After seeing off Molotov, Yuri did not leave his office the whole afternoon. During this time, he called his wife Angela to ask about her and the children's recent situation. Around three o'clock, he called his health doctor and said that he felt sleepy recently and hoped that the health doctor could arrange a full body examination for him in the next two days.
At four o'clock, Yuri made another call from the office. This time the call was to the General Political Department. The person contacted was General Alexei Sergeyevich Zhertov. During the call, Yuri asked Zhertov to select smart and reliable people to provide support for Shelepin's subsequent investigation.
It was nearly half past five when Yuri left his office and went to the Kremlin to attend a previously scheduled meeting.
On the surface, there was nothing unusual in Yuri's behavior throughout the afternoon, but as his secretary, Kryuchkov felt something different - as the chairman of the committee, Yuri canceled all previously arranged work without giving any reason, and he did not even attend the committee's routine work meeting, which had never happened before.
The meeting in the Kremlin had been arranged in advance. The venue was chosen to be the Catherine Hall. Those who attended the meeting were mainly members of the Central Secretariat, mainly people from the Organization and Cadre Department. The topic of discussion was the appointment and removal of .
This meeting was supposed to be chaired by Comrade Stalin himself. He had never missed such a meeting in the past. However, everything was so strange today. Ten minutes before the meeting, Poskrebyshev hurried over and announced that Comrade Stalin would be absent from today's meeting.
According to Comrade Stalin's proposal, Yuri was in charge of presiding over the meeting. As Comrade Stalin's representative, Poskrebyshev attended the meeting as an observer and made a brief speech on behalf of Comrade Stalin during the speech recommendation session. In fact, although Comrade Stalin did not attend the meeting, his will was still mainly reflected in the list of cadre appointments and removals.
