The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the executive leadership of the party. Delegates are tasked with determining the best way to maximize economic productivity within the communist system, addressing Stalin’s purges and the role of the NKVD, and identifying how to proceed with the Korean War. Additionally, the Central Committee as a whole needs to devise ways to maintain Soviet control over Eastern Europe.

Theo was tasked with representing Nikita Khrushchev, a Soviet statesman who led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War as the first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He wrote position papers on two topics: economic productivity and maintaining power in Eastern Europe.

Economic Productivity

The success of the Soviet Union is predicated on its economy more than its military might. I do not believe that our most recent Five Year Plan reflects this reality. Instead, we are building up for a war that nuclear bombs have rendered obsolete. We are being out produced by the Americans, whose exports are bought across the world. In contrast, we barely export to Poland. If we do not address this, we are going to be trapped as a nation with a large army and a withered economy. That being said, I do not want to imply that Stalin’ policies are failing. I simply believe the invasion by the Germans has given us a poor understanding of what threatens us, the world is changing and we should adjust. 

The first and most important step to prevent an economic victory by the Americans is to ensure that our agricultural output always meets our demand. We can ill afford a famine, morally or economically, but as we currently stand it is a distinct possibility. We have suffered two famines in twenty years, and unlike our official stance, collectivization in its current state has done little to stop their occurrences., Each famine drains our manpower, and strains our industry. Even if we were to import grain, we would be losing massive amounts of money, where Soviet agriculture could be generating value instead. 

I offer a solution in two parts to this situation. First and foremost, we must expand Soviet plowland. Our nation possesses nearly the entire Eurasian Steppe, a vast and fertile sea of grass; at least 14 million hectares of this could be turned into farmland. This mostly unsettled land can serve as a receptacle for Volga Germans, Tartars and political naysayers whom we cannot trust. Villages by the hundreds could work together to transform Russia into the breadbasket of the world. Given that they will be linked together by new Soviet railways and plowed by Soviet tractors, this does not have to come at the expense of our industry either. 

Of course, if we expand the countryside without addressing the flaws of the current system, we will get nowhere. In rural villages, there is often no electricity, schools or even basic healthcare. The agro-town system I have proposed once before could serve as our solution. Each agro-town would be a railway hub that facilitates the movement of grain one way, and industrial goods the other, ensuring industrial regions receive what they need and have demand for their output. Each agro-town would have a power plant, vocational schools and a hospital, to make rural communities healthier and capable of repairing agricultural equipment. All the while offices could manage our collectivised farms and ensure that quotas are met.

I am willing to stake my entire career at the Politburo on this plan. I want to see a Soviet Union that above all else guarantees prosperity for the common man, and I believe a bread basket  must be the first step for an economically strong nation.

Maintaining Power over Eastern Europe

The great patriotic war needs no introduction. Hitler invaded and 27 million Soviet men, women and children died. The territory we now hold has been paid for by this sacrifice. As such we will not relinquish Eastern Europe, which serves as a defense in depth against a similar invasion. But holding onto such a vast tracts of land, populated by many different peoples will be a difficult and costly endeavor, unless dealt with correctly; and I believe that my plan can deal with this correctly. 

We must act in three directions at once: suppress sedition, foster economic codependency and maintain a large military presence. Without military occupation we cannot defend our gains. Without proper internal repression, any of our satellite states could break ranks in a similar fashion to Yugoslavia.  Without economic co-dependence we will find ourselves isolated from the benefits of holding land in the first place. 

To this end we must formalize Soviet leadership through the creation of a permanent Treaty Pact. Economic cooperation can be enforced by a new Soviet controlled common currency and the mandatory flow of goods. Permanent Soviet military bases could easily make the uprising a fantasy, but most importantly we must be granted explicit permission to expand the NKVD to police the inner workings of each of our satellite nations. Without this, we have no guaranteed method for dealing with disloyal heads of state in a timely manner.

Even though this may be a tall order for these nations to accept, I doubt there will be any real resistance. After all we’ve handpicked their leaders. But if trouble does arise, I believe it is within our power to quickly dispose of any of these figureheads while the ink has not yet dried on their tenure. And once these terms are set, I doubt that any of our satellite states could ever leave. Once we make Polish steel go into Soviet factories and Soviet steel go into Polish goods, how can they form an independent industry? Or how can the Hungarian Premier resist one of our proposals when our NKVD officers can quickly persuade him otherwise?

Of course any sort of extreme actions are quite unlikely to ever occur, and make no mistake this is a situation that will surely benefit both sides. A common currency and open trade will bloom into prosperity. And once the people from East Germany to Bulgaria are united together like never before, a new golden age of collaboration will surely follow. Which other nation could bear such a responsibility as this undertaking? Which other nation would even try? The answer is not one, because only the Soviet has the power and moral fortitude to unite the workers of the world into one community. It is our duty to try, and I am certain we will succeed.

Works Cited and Consulted

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Prokić, Milica, et al. “The Tito-Stalin Split and the Years of Cominform – Part I.” Mašina English, 5 July 2018, www.masina.rs/eng/tito-stalin-split-years-cominform-part/.

“The End of WWII and the Division of Europe.” CES at UNC, europe.unc.edu/the-end-of-wwii-and-the-division-of-europe/.

Kiger, Patrick J. “How Joseph Stalin Starved Millions in the Ukrainian Famine.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 16 Apr. 2019, www.history.com/news/ukrainian-famine-stalin.

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Tikhonov, Aleksei, and Paul R Gregory. Stalin’s Last Plan. Hoover Institution, www.hoover.org/sites/default/files/uploads/documents/0817928124_159.pdf.

Mazat, Numa. An Analysis of the Soviet Economic Growth from the 1950’s to the Collapse of USSR. Centro Di Ricerche e Documentazione, www.centrosraffa.org/public/bb6ba675-6bef-4182-bb89-339ae1f7e792.pdf.

“Virgin Lands Campaign.” Seventeen Moments in Soviet History, 1 Sept. 2015, soviethistory.msu.edu/1954-2/virgin-lands-campaign/.