Fact1: Pianist Maria Yudina hides note in recording for Joseph Stalin, Fact2: Moscow Party Head Nikita Khrushchev arrives with rest of Committee except for Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, Fact3: NKVD take over city security duties from Red Army, Fact4: Committee members rush to Moscow as Stalin 's dacha, Fact5: Stalin 's body is laid in state in Hall of Columns
Output: Pianist Maria Yudina hides a note in a recording for Joseph Stalin, saying he has ruined the country. As Stalin reads it in his dacha, he is paralysed by a cerebral haemorrhage. The members of the Central Committee are alerted. The first to arrive are NKVD head Lavrentiy Beria, who discovers Marias note, and Deputy General Secretary Georgy Malenkov. As Malenkov panics, Beria guides him to take leadership, hoping to use him as a puppet. Moscow Party Head Nikita Khrushchev arrives with the rest of the Committee, except for Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, whom Stalin added to one of his lists of enemies the night previously. Beria closes off Moscow, has the NKVD take over city security duties from the Red Army, and replaces Stalins enemy lists with his own, reprieving Molotov. Khrushchev and Beria struggle for symbolic victories such as control over Stalins unstable son Vasily and daughter Svetlana. When Stalin dies, the Committee members rush back to Moscow as the NKVD loot Stalins dacha and execute witnesses. Khrushchev goes to Molotovs home and attempts to enlist his support, but Molotov, a true believer in Stalinism, opposes any factionalism within the Party. Beria buys his loyalty by releasing his wife Polina Molotova from confinement. Malenkov is named as nominal Premier while being largely controlled by Beria. At the first Committee meeting following Stalins death, Beria sidelines Khrushchev by putting him in charge of Stalins funeral and suggesting many of the liberal reforms which Khrushchev had planned. Stalins body is laid in state in the Hall of Columns, while many political prisoners are released and restrictions on the Russian Orthodox Church are loosened, earning Beria more popular support. Field Marshal Georgy Zhukov arrives and demands to know why the Red Army troops have been confined to barracks within Moscow. Beria learns that Khrushchev has a passing acquaintance with Maria, who was hired to play at the funeral, and threatens them both with the note. Khrushchev approaches Zhukov, who agrees to provide the Armys support in a coup to overthrow Beria, but only if the Committee agrees. To undermine Berias popularity, Khrushchev orders the trains into Moscow to resume, allowing thousands of mourners into the city. As he planned, the NKVD guards around the Hall fire on the crowd, killing 1,500 people. The Committee suggests scapegoating lowlevel NKVD officers; as Beria believes blame attached to security services will tarnish him, he angrily threatens the Committee with incriminating documents he has collected on them. Molotov secretly tells Khrushchev and Kaganovich he will support the coup if they can enlist the support of the others, including Malenkov. On the day of Stalins funeral, Khrushchev lies to the Committee and Zhukov that he has Malenkovs support. The Red Army overwhelms the NKVD and takes up positions outside the conference room. Zhukov and his men arrest Beria, and Khrushchev coerces Malenkov into signing the papers for Berias trial. Khrushchev and his allies find Beria guilty of treason and of sexual assault in a kangaroo court and execute him. As Berias body is burnt, Khrushchev gives Svetlana a ticket to Vienna and assures her that her brother will be cared for. Several years later, Khrushchev, now Supreme Leader of the Soviet Union after removing his coconspirators, attends a concert given by Maria, while future leader Leonid Brezhnev watches him.