Text Chapter 16 Re-establishing the Political Commissar

After the secret meeting ended, everyone dispersed with their own thoughts. Yanayev asked them to keep it secret for the time being until he went to a banquet alone to meet with the leaders of the three Baltic countries, and then spread the news through the mouthpieces of the Communist Party. I don’t know what the leaders of the countries who met Yanayev would do at that time. expressions and moods.

The day after the meeting, the leaders of the three Baltic countries finally received a response. The Soviet Union expressed that Yanayev was willing to conduct friendly consultations on the independence of the joining countries and jointly discuss the future direction of the joining countries. Moreover, he also suggested that the meeting be held in Tallinn, Estonia. This move fully showed that he came with peace and friendship. As for whether he meant peace or nuclear peace, only Yanayev himself knew .

However, the Western world breathed a sigh of relief when he did this. Maozi did not intend to go to war without declaring it, which showed that the upper-level leaders could no longer solve the problem through war. It also shows that the Soviet Union was breathless under the oppression of Gorbachev's previous policies. NATO hinted that the presidents of the three Baltic countries, the Soviet Union, were no longer capable of fighting another war. They would increase their verbal support for the three Baltic countries and stated that if a war really started, they would take the lead and lead the charge.

In both conventional and nuclear war, NATO may not be an opponent of the Soviet Union when combined, but when it comes to conspiracy, the straightforward polar bear may not be an opponent of that group of cunning Western European politicians.

Everyone knows that this is an unrealistic promise, and no one knows the chances of redeeming it. But the Estonian president who rushed back from Finland still believed it. With a sense of superiority, under the instigation of NATO, they shouted arrogant remarks such as "I would rather have independence than war" and "Russians get out of Estonia". They even encouraged the people to attack the local offices of the Soviet Communist Party and attack the Russian nation and other ethnic groups. Demonstrations have achieved the goal of obtaining more political benefits. For this reason, the top leader in Moscow just smiled gloomily with his hands behind his back.

Things are developing in the direction he expects, and what he has to do now is to wait and see what happens before the war brews.

The red polar bear's humiliated and calm appearance made NATO panic. They began to convene a think tank to guess what the Soviet Union was secretly preparing. However, the back-and-forth discussion concluded that the Soviet Union could not send troops to suppress them. They no longer have the ability to fight a war of attrition, not to mention that the joining country is not Afghanistan. Even if they defeat the government troops, they will still have to spend a lot of money to rebuild and prevent nationalist attacks, which is not worth the gain.

The reason why the red polar bears remain calm is because they have given in.

Before departure, Yanayev specially convened a special meeting with Secretary of the Party Committee of the Army Surkov, Army Commander-in-Chief Varennikov, Defense Minister Yazov, and Logistics Minister General Arkhipov. For this reason, Yanayev also specially chose the conference room where the army held an emergency meeting on the Battle of Stalingrad. The political significance contained in it was particularly obvious.

Everyone knows that the Soviet Union is now at a critical moment comparable to the Battle of Stalingrad. The motherland may collapse at any time due to internal problems.

The difference is that the Soviet Communist Party was united back then, but now Yanayev seems to be the only one trying to turn the tide. Others, either explicitly or covertly, were the driving forces behind the disintegration of the Soviet Communist Party.

Yanayev sat in the chief position, with only a portrait of Stalin hanging on the wall behind him. There was no Gorbachev, no Khrushchev, no Brezhnev, not even Lenin around him. This conference room with substandard furnishings contains a deeper meaning. He will become the next Stalin-like figure.

Except for Yanayev, everyone else was a figure who had worked hard in the army. However, these iron-blooded heroes have a trembling awe for this general secretary who is slightly younger than them. After all, he is a tough man who has defeated two top leaders in just one day.

"I know that everyone comes from the army, so there are not many other meaningless words." As soon as Yanayev opened his mouth, everyone sat upright and listened to him. "I think everyone here should know that during the Great Patriotic War Why was the position of political commissar established during the period? "

Varennikov, who is familiar with the political commissar system, immediately gave the answer, "Because during the arduous Soviet Civil War, the Soviet Red Army expanded rapidly from scratch, and workers and peasants actively joined the army and participated in the war. However, there was a serious shortage of military commanders, promotion and retention Many old military officers expressed their loyalty to the Soviet Union. Lenin established a political commissar system. Most of these people were recruited from major factories. Bolsheviks. Soviet political commissars at all levels took the lead in all wars and cultivated the brave and tenacious fighting style of each unit. Taking the lead in the charge was the basic quality of Communist Party members and political commissars at all levels, which ensured that the troops would not surrender or collapse, even during the Soviet-German War. It was also the surrender of troops that basically did not have an integrated system. But later on, commanders at all levels were basically party members, and the function of the political commissar was weakened. "

As soon as he finished speaking, Varennikov had an ominous premonition in his mind, "Could it be that General Secretary Yanayev wanted to restore the political commissar system? But in the end, our commanders were also members of the Communist Party. In my opinion, the establishment of political commissars The system is completely redundant.”

Yanayev folded his hands on the table. Hearing Varennikov's answer, he said calmly, "Oh, really? Since those people are military commanders loyal to the Soviet Union, then who can explain why there was Major Yevdokimov who betrayed communism in the Taman Division, and why there were scums who betrayed the Soviet Union such as Lieutenant General Grachev, Major General Konstantin Kobets and Major General Lebed in the Air Force Department? Isn't it because our party's political and ideological work was not done well enough during the Gorbachev period?"

Varennikov had no words to refute. Although he opposed the two-leader system of adding political commissars, every word Yanayev said was true. The Soviet army's political work was indeed very bad. Maybe their fighting style is as brave as before, but they are no longer loyal to communism, but lean towards ideological enemies.

Stalin and Zhukov had also had disputes over the one-leader system and the two-leader system before. Stalin established political commissars to divide the power of the army so that he could firmly control the Red Army. Zhukov believed that the army could only achieve maximum efficiency with one supreme leader. Of course, Stalin compromised in the end, and Zhukov was squeezed out because of this.

Now Yanayev is following Stalin's example, which is undoubtedly the first step to fully control the army.

Surkov was smarter than Varennikov. He said directly, "If we really need to set up political commissars, I will be responsible for setting them up. Excuse me, General Secretary Yanaev, it will take at least more than half a year to fully establish political commissars in our army."

"It doesn't matter how long it takes, I can wait." Surkov's answer made Yanaev quite satisfied. He made another request to Surkov, "But the Soviet armored forces and infantry divisions responsible for the western defense line must have priority over other forces to establish political commissars. Oh, yes, there is also the Baltic Fleet."

"Wait, are we going to have a war with the armies of the three Baltic countries? No, Mr. President, we are about to go to war. Our current mobilization capacity can only last for about a week at most. If we want to make long-term preparations, it may take more than a month of mobilization time." Logistics Minister Arkhipov said anxiously.

"Who said we want to go to war with the three Baltic armies? Can we still fight now? Aren't you afraid of becoming the next imperial graveyard meat grinder?" Yanaev scolded with amusement and anger. At the same time, he glanced at Yazov, and the two smiled in tacit understanding.

Yazov cleared his throat, and everyone's attention was attracted by his cough. "It's like this. Our military came up with a detailed offensive plan a few days ago. Of course, it has been reviewed by the General Secretary, and he has finally approved it."

Just when everyone was amazed at how many secrets the General Secretary had kept from them, Yanaev said innocently, "Everyone, the plan you see is the top secret of the Soviet Union. Of course, I hope you can keep it confidential, um, until the war starts."