The Eighth National Congress of the Russian Communist Party (CPR), held on March 1 (March 18 in history), may only mean for Li Xiaofeng that he has entered the core of power of the Bolsheviks for the first time. However, for the Russian Communist Party, this congress was of extraordinary significance, and it was, in the usual words of history, a congress of turning significance.

What is the significance of a turning point in history? Two days before the Eighth Congress, Sverdlov died suddenly of the Spanish flu, and on the day of the congress, Lenin said with great sorrow at an emergency meeting of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee in memory of Sverdlov:

"Comrade Sverdlov is an eternal symbol of a revolutionary's devotion to his cause, a model of calm and skillful handling of practical work, close ties with the masses, and good leadership of the masses! It is the guarantee that more and more proletarian masses will follow this example, keep advancing, and achieve the complete victory of the world communist revolution! ”

After the commemorative meeting, Lenin personally led the funeral procession to Red Square and again delivered a short speech at Sverdlov's tomb. Again, Sverdlov is a proletarian leader who has done a lot to organize and contribute to the working class.

"Comrade Sverdlov is immortal, and we solemnly swear at his grave that we will fight more firmly for the overthrow of capital and the liberation of the working people!"

The main reason why Lenin gave Sverdlov such a high evaluation at that time was that he died too suddenly and at an inopportune time, and March 1919 was quite difficult, not only because of the erosion of the war situation. A few months ago, the mentor was assassinated and shot. Immediately after that, Xiao Si hung up again. With the outbreak of the German Revolution and the growing influence of Trotsky, it can be said that the mentor of the time was very difficult.

In that difficult moment, he was not so much remembering Sverdlov as he was encouraging and motivating himself. At the Eighth Congress, Trotsky's influence grew rapidly, and that was when Lao To's strength was closest to that of his mentor. Lenin was quite uncomfortable in all respects until a year later. The Hungarian and German revolutions were largely suspended, Trotsky suffered a tragic Waterloo, and the great teachers regained their vitality.

The turning point was not only due to Sverdlov, but more importantly to the fact that the line of struggle based on Trotsky's theory of permanent revolution was basically defined at this congress. That is to strive to export the revolution and set off the world revolution.

Even Lenin had to say: "As the international significance of the revolution increases, the imperialists of the whole world are more and more closely colluded...... As our cause continues to develop and succeed, the resistance and hatred of the imperialists in various countries have intensified...... The Soviet Socialist Republic is the real source of the socialist revolution in the world, so the greater the achievements of the revolution in our country, the greater the number of enemies...... My country is in a very serious situation. All comrades must have a clear understanding of the reality and the dangers they face. Continue. Remember that we are fighting the final decisive battle not for the Russian revolution, but for the international socialist revolution! ”

This statement is quite interesting and rather difficult to interpret, Lenin ostensibly encouraged the comrades of the whole party for the sake of the world revolution, but in reality the focus was on Russia. Because the success of the Russian revolution leads to the envy of the enemy, and because the enemy is jealous and hateful, it is necessary to continue to work hard and strive for the complete victory of the Russian revolution, that is, to win the final decisive battle of the international socialist revolution.

Do you see the difference between this statement and Trotsky? For Trotsky, the focus of the revolution was not in Russia, but in Germany, and only the victory of the German revolution was the final victory of the international socialist revolution.

And with Lenin, Russia was already a decisive battle. To put it bluntly, the Mentor was still at odds with Trotsky, but because he was forced to do so, he could not help but say it more obscurely.

On the whole, of course, the congress followed Trotsky's line and determined the necessity of revolutionary export, but Lenin pinched the brakes on the form and intensity of export.

This is a turning point externally, but also internally, that is, how to deal with the kulaks. Before the implementation of the policy of wartime communism, relations between the Bolsheviks and the kulaks were good, and the two sides coexisted peacefully. However, with the full spread of the surplus grain collection system, it was the rich peasants who suffered the most from this policy.

The poor peasants and hired peasants did not have any "surplus grain" at all, they were broken and broken, and they had no feeling for the surplus grain collection system, while the middle peasants and rich peasants were different, and they were considered to have a little surplus. As a result, the little ration that had been easily accumulated was moved by the Bolshevik conscription team along with the warehouse.

In a sense, the system of collecting surplus grain was a robbery of the middle and kulaks, in the jargon of the Bolsheviks, exploitation. Although under Li Xiaofeng's strong advice, the party gave a blank slate to the middle peasants and rich peasants who had been robbed of grain. But the white strip can't be eaten or drunk, and it can't be used as money.

What's even more infuriating is that the white slip only says that the borrowed grain will be borrowed, and it doesn't say when it will be returned. Who can stand this kind of borrowing? Not to mention the Maozi farmer who is as fierce as a polar bear when he is addicted to alcohol, and he has to explode if he is a magistrate.

Let's put it this way, from the winter of 1918, with the spread of the surplus grain collection system, more and more middle peasants and rich peasants began to break out, whether it was a rebellion or an uprising.

In the face of the uncooperative attitude of the kulaks, neither the Mentor nor Trotsky thought of appeasement, because there was no way to appease, and if the surplus grain collection system was not promoted, there would be no food supply to the front, and the front line would not have enough to eat, so how could the bandits be suppressed?

Comparing the White Bandit Army with the peasant with sticks, spears, and dung forks, the Mentor and the Masters agreed that the White Bandit Army was more terrifying, and that this main contradiction was solved. The system of collecting surplus grain must be upheld, and as for the rebellious peasants, let them be exterminated together with the lackeys of the bourgeoisie!

Thus a resolution was made at the Eighth Congress, in particular, on the question of the kulaks, that the Bolsheviks and the proletariat should rely on the poor peasants and maintain a solid alliance with the middle peasants. Suppress the counter-revolutionary "atrocities" of the kulaks with all their might!

It can be said that the eight are open. The fate of the Russian kulaks was determined. Either endure "exploitation" and become like the poor peasants, or end up in rebellion, there is only one of the two paths, and once chosen, there is basically no chance of regret.

Apart from the turning point on the question of the world revolution and the question of the kulaks, there was not much to mention at the Eighth Congress. The new Central Committee is composed of 20 full-fledged members and 10 alternate members, and as mentioned earlier, a certain immortal was lucky enough to be hoisted into the tail of the car, at the end of the list of alternate Central Committee members. It's Andrey. Petrovich. It is worth noting that in front of a certain immortal is his little friend Ruzutak.

The self-taught workers' leader entered the Central Committee a year earlier than in history, and the Mentor paid the price for Krestinsky to retain his seat in the Central Committee. It has to be said that Krestinsky made a wrong step and almost went up in flames, not only did the Politburo have no hope, but he was almost expelled from the Central Committee.

In the list of members of the Central Committee, it is also necessary to note two people, one is Kalinin, the good old man, and the other is Kamenev, who has just been released from the clutches of Kolchak. Comrade Shi, who had been quite marginalized before, miraculously returned to the central core, which surprised countless people.

Let's start with Kalinin. Comrade Good Old Man had previously been robbed of the post of secretary of the Petrograd Party Committee by Krestinsky, for which Trotsky had to agree to support him as a member of the Central Committee. According to the meaning of Lao To. There is no harm in a good old man becoming a member of the Central Committee, anyway, it is a humanoid stamp or a humanoid voting machine, which is not worth mentioning. Maybe this product is a one-year tour of the Central Committee, and when it comes to the Ninth National Congress of the Communist Party of China next year, this product may be out of the way for the elderly.

However, old Tovan never imagined that Kalinin was a good man, but a good man does not mean that he was an old fool. Kalinin was not stupid at all, or much more sober than the average old revolutionary. His positioning is quite accurate, and it is definitely impossible to fight for the core leadership of Shenma, which is self-immeasurable and dead.

Kalinin positions himself as a follower of trends. He was quite optimistic about Lenin and saw through that the Trotskyists were definitely no opponent of the Leninists. So on the surface, he is impartial, but in fact he is towards the Guru. As soon as Trotsky asked him for a deal, he reported it to his mentor.

At that time, Lenin's reply to him was: "Mikhail. Comrade Ivanovich, you have accumulated enough local work experience, why don't you come to the Central Committee to play a greater role? ”

Not to mention the smart man Kalinin, even a fool can understand what Lenin meant. So he agreed to Trotsky's conditions and happily prepared to become a member of the Central Committee at the Eighth Congress. But Kalinin never imagined that Lenin would give him more than just a central committee member, and at the newly elected Politburo of the Eighth National Congress, in addition to the five great elders who could not be shaken, Kalinin became one of the three second elders, that is, the alternate board member.

This Nima is simply a triple jump, you must know that at the Seventh National Congress, Kalinin is not even an alternate Central Committee, and he has become a second elder, which is simply a rocket-like rise. When the results came out, the good old man himself was stunned and didn't believe it was true at all.

And the other one who was stunned was Trotsky, who, as he had said before, thought that Kalinin was a year tour of the Central Committee, and that the seat under the ass of the good old man was only a temporary deposit, and after a year he could take it back. Who would have thought that Lenin would suddenly push and turn the good man into a bureau member, even if he is just an alternate, but he is also the core of the supreme leadership.

In such a position, unless he made some unforgivable mistake of principle, Kalinin could at least sit firmly on the throne of the Central Committee, or even sit firmly on the throne of the alternate committee of the committee. What is this Nima called!

Trotsky's entire arrangement was disrupted, and even Kamenev's return to the Central Committee with his support could not overshadow Kalinin's limelight. Why does Lao Tuo support Kamenev's return to the CCP?

The reason is very simple, after several encounters in the previous paragraph, Lao Tuo felt that he was weak and often passive in the struggle against Lenin, and the best way to change this situation was to find a partner with whom he could cooperate.

However, in 1919, there were not many friends who could cooperate with Trotsky, and Sverdlov and Stalin did not have to think about it, there was no play. The rest are Bukharin, Kamenev, Zinoviev and the like.

There is no problem with the cooperation with Bukharin, the two sides would have been very close in point of view, if it were not for the Brest contract. The Tobub Union has long been formed. This time Bukharin returned to the center. Not only did it take the position of the Central Committee. He also won the seat of a second elder, and he can be regarded as the number two person in the Trotskyists.

So the only people who could cooperate were Zinoviev and Kamenev, not to mention Zinoviev, a month ago Krestinsky was still scolding the big pie face in the newspaper, which was offended to death. And with the support of Lenin, the big pie face also won the position of a second elder, and now he is "desperate" to work hard for his mentor, how can he be an old man.

Count it out. There is only one comrade like a chicken rib stone left, Lao Tuo thought again and again, the next struggle will be quite fierce, and one point of strength is one point of strength. So Kamenev can be regarded as a salted fish turned over and looked like a person again.

When the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China closed in mid-March, the new Central Committee was basically formed, the Politburo had not changed much, and no one could shake the position of the five great elders for the time being, and Lenin still had an absolute advantage. The shape of the Central Committee was more complicated, and although Lenin still had the upper hand, Trotsky's revolutionary line was largely accepted. It invisibly weakened the master's control.

Several major departments of the Central Committee have also undergone some adjustments, and the personnel of the most important Central Organization Bureau have changed. In other words, it became the front line of direct confrontation between the Mentor and Trotsky, and the five members of the Organizing Bureau, Beloborodov, Krestinsky, Sherebulyakov, Stalin and Stasova, were half against half. The Mentor had only a slight advantage in name, and that was the position of Stasova as the responsible secretary of the Central Committee (that is, the first secretary and general secretary later).

Stasova had already served as a responsible secretary once, and from April 1917 she was the "general secretary" until 1918, when she was succeeded by Sverdlov. This time Xiao Si continued to be the chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets, and relinquished the "general secretary" to Stasova.

Of course, the "general secretary" of these years and months is of little significance, and everyone knows that there is only one party boss, and that is Lenin. As Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, he was the supreme leader of the Party, and Trotsky, although his upward trend was violent, was not yet possible to replace his mentor.

In addition to this, under Trotsky's strong "construction", Lunacharsky was stuffed into the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and became the deputy secretary of the Commission for Discipline Inspection. It's not that Lao Tuo is not at ease with the iron-masked man, but that the big killer of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection is too powerful, and if there is no one inside, it is really difficult to mix.

It was not only the Party organizations that underwent a comprehensive reshuffle, but also the People's Commissariat after the conclusion of the Eighth National Congress of the People's Commissariat which power was redistributed. Some institutions have been adjusted, such as the Cheka.

Originally, as an ad hoc agency, the Cheka's powers were so great that it could almost be said to be unregulated. For more than a year, there are a lot of problems. In order to better carry out the anti-rebellion work, the Cheka has also been adjusted. It was transferred from a separate department to the NKVD and continued to exist as a department of the NKVD.

At the same time, Dzerzhinsky stepped down from the post of NKVD and was replaced by Rykov. The people in the iron mask were able to lead the work of the Discipline Inspection Commission in a unified manner and give full play to the functions of the Discipline Inspection Commission.

In this regard, Li Xiaofeng is naturally not very happy, who is willing to be demoted by one level, who is willing to have two more mothers-in-law on his head. And Rykov had a good relationship with Bukharin, who was Trotsky's best friend, what do you call that?

However, what made Li Xiaofeng even more puzzled was that he did not even keep the position of Cheka, and after a series of dazzling adjustments, Ulitsky took over his position as chairman of Petrograd Cheka.

"Don't be impatient, don't worry!" Xiao Si smiled and comforted him, "Comrade Lenin has an arrangement!" ”

Li Xiaofeng really wanted to know what the arrangements were, but Xiao Si mysteriously refused to tell him, and it was estimated that the mentor would not let him suffer too much.

Sure enough, after the Cheka was absorbed by Trotsky, at the end of March, the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, Comrade Lenin, suddenly openly declared: "In order to maintain the security of the Soviet Socialist Republic, and to comprehensively combat counter-revolutionaries, banditry and espionage at home and abroad, it is very necessary to create a strong security apparatus directly under the Council of People's Commissars!" ”

Soon, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Soviets, at the strong request of Chairman Sverdlov, seriously discussed Lenin's demands and made a decision - the creation of the State Political Security Bureau (GPU), which was directly responsible to the Council of People's Commissars!

Trotsky was dumbfounded, and it took a lot of effort for him to put Rykov in the NKVD and to bring the Cheka under control. Who would have thought that in the blink of an eye, Lenin would have concocted a Shenma State Political Security Bureau. Moreover, this body is not subject to the NKVD and is directly accountable to the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars.

Trotsky could not help but roar angrily: "you, Lenin, you are playing with me!" ”

If the tutor heard Lao Tuo's roar, I am afraid that he would only smile contemptuously: "Play with me, you are still too tender!" ”

Because the State Political Security Bureau is at the same level as the NKVD, it is a ministerial position, and it is called a bureau in order to hide people's eyes. This is also specially arranged by the tutor in order to allow Li Xiaofeng to take over this part.

As a result, Li Xiaofeng, who had just lost his Cheka position and lost his position in the newly established Central Security Bureau (upgraded version of the Central Special Branch), happily went to the State Political Security Bureau with a few henchmen to take office. (To be continued......)

PS: Bow and thank Comrade Xicheng, Comrade Juventus, Comrade Sweet Potato in the melon field, Comrade Hold Pole!