Chapter 7.
January, ’53.
“The situation here has continued to deteriorate. As I told Evander at our last meeting onboard the Brighid, I’ve tried everything I can think of to defuse the situation. But Stalin insists that I explain my repeated absences. How can I possibly do that without compromising everything we’ve worked to achieve? The man is totally paranoid. He doesn’t trust anyone, even his closest advisors.
“Nikita came up to my flat last night with some terrible news. Apparently Joe called him on the carpet and accused him of collusion with Malenkov. How ridiculous can that be? Those two have been at each others throats since before Lenin died.
“It’s probably safe to say Stalin doesn’t have any idea Nikita and I have been working up plans to discredit Malenkov at the next council meeting. I think Georgy (Malenkov) suspects something, and he may have even dropped a few hints around Stalin’s staff. But I think he’s too much of a paranoid in his own right to press the issue directly. Too many skeletons in his own closet, so to speak. He wants Stalin’s job as much as Khrushchev does. And I’m certain he’d do anything to get it, short of assassination. (He’d probably do that too if he could get close enough to pull it off without being found out.)
“Nikita, on the other hand, is a prudent politician. I think that’s why I’ve been able to work with him so effectively. He’s willing to look at the big picture. Sure, he’s conducted a few ‘purges’ in his time. But he’s never made a move without Joe approving it in advance. Even his actions against the Germans in Leningrad didn’t happen until they were OK’d by Moscow. His plan of attrition came at a huge cost in man power, but it worked.
“Malenkov, unlike Nikita, wanted a full frontal assault against what was at the time a very strong German front. Had we succeeded in breaking through that front, we would still have had to protect our flanks. If we’d have had reserve forces, maybe it would have worked. But without the needed reserves, that would have been impossible. I think Nikita understood this and was able to persuade Joe to accept his plan.
“Now, so many years later, I still see the two of them sparring with one another. Malenkov still wants the top job. But I don’t think he would know what to do with it if he had it, short of killing off all his rivals. Then he wouldn’t be much different than what we have with Stalin.
“It wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, letting them kill each other off. It might help to clean things up a little sooner that way.But that sort of thing tended to get out of control unexpectedly. Better to exert some influence where I can to keep things headed in a generally positive direction.
“Khrushchev, on the other hand, sees how powerful the West has become since the end of the war. I’ve tried to make it clear to him that collectivism can only work with the approval and support of the general population. That’s why the United States was able to win a war on two fronts. The government had the support of the people. I think Khrushchev understands this and knows that the Soviet Union cannot stand unless its citizens are in support. None the less, he still has Stalin and his minions to contend with. How he’ll be able to protect himself from them will be interesting to see. It’s not unheard of for Stalin’s guests to die mysteriously on the way home from one of his late night meetings.
“Nikita’s secretary just called. They just rushed Stalin to the hospital. We’ve been instructed to go there immediately. It’s decision time.”
What? He knew Khrushchev? He knew Stalin? Of course he did. He remembered. But for him to have been there then, he would have to be at least 250 years old now! He didn’t look much older than 50 or so. There was still a blank spot there in his mind. Maybe several. His memory still had many holes.
He didn’t have time to be concerned about that just now. That would come in its own due time. For now . . . why hadn’t he continued the narrative? It must have been pretty hectic back then. It was uncharacteristic of him to leave a story incomplete. Something must have happened.
“Well, enough of that.” Aaron said to the screen. “Let’s get back into it! Let’s see what it was like back in the beginning.” He auto-scrolled back to the top. The four-column format was still in play. But the titles were numeric now. He highlighted the “1” and clicked: