Chapter 182 Death Penalty
Volgograd, formerly known as Tsaritsyn, Stalingrad. Located on the banks of the Volga River, the city is nourished by the abundant Volga River, which is the southern granary of Tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union. The Battle of Stalingrad, which took place here in July 1942, became a turning point in the Second World War. After the war, the people here built a brand new city on top of the ruins. The Soviet Union tried its best to help the city revive. The largest hydropower station in Europe was built here, which provided sufficient electricity for the entire city. Without any suspense, it became the center of the metallurgical industry of the Soviet Union, especially the production base of electrolytic aluminum and special alloy steel (electric furnace steelmaking).
It was the first time for Seryozha to come to this city. He also came with Yakov, the head of the Moscow Trading Company. They came here to discuss the export of electrolytic aluminum. As a small company that has just been established, the Moscow Trading Company is unlikely to get involved in this field in the short term. Although Secretary Gorbachev is a matchmaker, the small Moscow Trading Company is not considered to be in the face of these old state-owned enterprises. What, and after all, Secretary Gorbachev is in charge of agriculture. If there are no good conditions, Serezha will not want to take the share he wants from here.
Seryozha has nothing to do with these aluminum producers. The Moscow Trading Company's partner, the Swiss Romanov Trading Company, can provide sufficient wheat. Food in the Soviet Union is now much more important than industrial raw materials. Seryozha believed that his offer was irresistible to Fan.
Yakov will be responsible for the specific matters of the negotiations, and Sergei does not plan to participate. He is now waiting for the result of the negotiation in the restaurant of the hotel, and at the same time he is still thinking about a question, when will it be time-consuming to negotiate with state-owned enterprises like this, not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also inefficient. Now the Moscow trading company is on the dominant side. Is there any way to make these companies come to them on their own initiative?
Under the system of the planned economy, the advantage of Sergei's Moscow trading company in holding grain could not be brought into play at all. This is the most important reason why Seryozha's trade has always been inseparable from the help of those bureaucrats. We must know that every product of every enterprise will not worry about selling under the planned economy system. The state arranges production plans for enterprises. After the transaction is completed, the income from product sales will be automatically transferred to the enterprise account of the National Bank, and the cash will only be used when paying wages to workers. But when the workers walked into the store with their wages, they found that there was nothing to buy. The stuff in the store is either old and outdated, or it's pay-and-delivery. So everyone can only take the money and go to the black market to buy high-priced food. Although the official prices have not changed, ordinary people are really feeling the high cost of living.
If Seryozha's Moscow trading company used this method to cooperate with the other party, it would definitely be a dead end, and the other party would have to arrange a production plan for Seryozha's order. When the Romanov Trading Company got the products, they didn't know that it was the year of the monkey. This model was a disaster for spot traders who were very sensitive to prices.
While Seryozha was in distress, the waiter informed him that there was a call from him at the counter. Seryozha couldn't wait to go to the phone, picked up the receiver and asked, "How is it? Did the other party agree?"
"They agreed, but they couldn't guarantee a stable supply to us, and they still had great concerns! They also talked about their own difficulties. They couldn't assign too many production tasks to the workers because they couldn't increase wages. The workers will not agree. So they can only hand over the remaining inventory to us during the low season of demand!" Yakov said with emotion.
"Is there anything you can do?" Seryozha asked Yakov on the phone.
"I plan to send someone to the electrolytic aluminum factory in Siberia to ask if we can solve the problem of supply! The government's control over industrial raw materials is too rigid, so we can't do it at all!" Yakov said helplessly. complained.
"Everything is difficult at the beginning, let's take a step and watch the first one!" Seryozha also said helplessly, this is a problem with the system. It cannot be resolved by individual strength.
"Director of the Industrial Technology Export Bureau, Smilyakov, was sentenced to death. General Secretary Andropov sent an investigation team to Uzbekistan to investigate the chaos of cotton subsidy funds..." Seryozha was on the phone, and a guest at the next table subconsciously read the headline in the newspaper. Seryozha was taken aback!
"Comrade waiter! Please give me a copy of today's newspaper!" Seryozha hurriedly hung up the phone and stopped the waiter. He wanted to see what was going on?
"Comrade, the newspaper you want!" The waiter put a local Volga daily on Seryozha's desk, and then left. The front page of the newspaper read "Smiliako, Director of the Industrial Technology Export Bureau Smilyakov was sentenced to death and taken to the execution ground to execute the shooting this morning. The pictures accompanying the news are the photos of Smilyakov when he was the chief of the bureau and when he was a prisoner. Looking at the two photos, Seryozha couldn't believe that they were actually the same person.
When he was a prisoner, Smilyakov lost weight, his hair was gray, and he seemed to have aged twenty years overnight. This scene was so shocking that even Seryozha felt a little scared in his heart. Since Khrushchev's time, the Soviet Union has never shot down any incumbent official. That was all in Stalin's time. Who would have thought that this would happen now. And it is reported that Smilyakov is not the only one who has been sentenced to death. He is followed by Sokolov, the manager of the gourmet department of Moscow No. 1 Food Market. His execution is scheduled for tomorrow.
Seryozha looked at the long list of persons involved in the newspaper attached to it, and looked at the positions they had held. He couldn't believe this had actually happened. Seryozha felt an uncontrollable fear in his heart, and he even began to doubt his own mode of operation, suspecting that one day he would be like Smilyakov.
What Seryozha didn't know, now almost the entire Soviet bureaucracy is shrouded in fear. Andropov’s method reminds people of the Stalin era. How many officials in so many regions of the country dared to pat their own chests to ensure their innocence. After so many years, everyone has become accustomed to President Bo’s tolerance. Now Andropov Bove tells everyone that your good times are over. (To be continued..)