Krasnoyarsk Soviet Republic Paths

Mikhail Kalinin’s tenure as head of the Soviet Union was short-lived. Installed after the Fall of Moscow and death of Joseph Stalin, Kalinin died not long after in 1946. Through political wrangling, Lavrentiy Beria was able to oust his replacement and take over the remnants of the Soviet Union.

What followed were massive purges that fractured the Union; some of the opposition fled east and formed a Soviet Republic at Novosibirsk, while Beria and the rest of the Soviet remnants were left at Perm. Led by Andrei Zhdanov, the Novosibirsk government’s pro-Stalinist alienated many, causing Marshal Georgy Zhukov and others to flee further east to the city of Krasnoyarsk in 1950.

There, another Soviet Republic was proclaimed, ruled through the socialist United Popular Patriotic Front. Taking on the role of Premier in the government, Zhukov is assisted by Party Secretary Alexei Kosygin. 1952 opens with Zhukov setting the ground work to not only reunite with Novosibirsk but with Perm and Russia as well.

## Internal Stabilization

Before any attempt at unification, Zhukov must first settle internal issues first. The Tuvans have been waging an insurgency against Krasnoyarsk and Zhukov enlists the help of the NKVD secret police and its head, Ivan Serov. The question is though how much power/resources should the NKVD get?:

* A bare minimum
* A token increase
* A vast expansion

Giving the NKVD a bare minimum will not go too well (see Collapse section below). Rather, a token increase or vast expansion will see the Tuvans defeated and brought in for peace negotiations. But, a vastly expanded NKVD will have an unforeseen consequence far, far down the line.

With the Tuvan problem solved, Zhukov will next move to the political issue to solve, factionalism. There are two main camps in Krasnoyarsk and can be seen in the Political Faction UI, accessible through the Emblem of the Soviet Union button on the cabinet level of the country tab. They are:

1. The Sniper Clique, led by Vasily Zaytsev, followers of Traditional Socialism, supporters of less reactionary policies.
2. The Plurinational Committee, led by Andrey Vyshinsky, who fight for the rights of minorities. To that end, new Generals will become available including Mao Anying (Mao Zedong’s son) and Eric Honecker.

When one is favored (by taking its Plan focus) and the necessary preparations taken, Zhukov will lead the Great Unification War and march on Novosibirsk. Favoring a faction will decrease Zhukov’s control, which starts off as Total over the country.

In the wake of Novosibirsk’s loss, its top General, Konstantin Rokossovsky, will go on the run. There is a 65/35 chance he will be captured/escape. If he is captured, Zhukov will have him executed, and will score some control. If he escaped, Zhukov’s control will slip a bit, and Kosygin will offer Rokossovsky and other Novosibirsk Generals amnesty.

### **Regional Unification and Power Struggle**

With Siberia united under one government, the Krasnoyarsk Soviet Republic will be proclaimed the Siberian Soviet Republic. It also starts off a power struggle between the military and civilian leadership, ie. Zhukov and Kosygin. With Kosygin’s opening speech, he will chip at Zhukov’s Control slightly. Caring over Zhukov’s control from his choice of Faction and from Rokossovsky, Zhukov will start with Total or High Control while Kosygin will start at Low Influence. The Influence/Control levels will be in the Political Factions UI.

Influence and Control are increased/decreased through three focus tree branches:

* Handling of the State: Choosing down with revisionism will see Zhukov’s Control significantly increase, while going with Kosygin’s idea will see his Influence increase, while later significantly decreasing Zhukov’s Control.
* Handing of the Industrial Base: Choosing Antonov has the right idea will see Zhukov’s Control significantly increase, while choosing Kosygin’s new ways will see his Influence increase. For both paths, Kosygin’s will increase with the shared end branch focus.
* Handing the Disparate Factions: Enforcing Zhukov’s ideas will see Zhukov’s Control significantly increase. Choosing pluralism is key will see Kosygin’s Influence increase.

Before one of the men ‘win’ the struggle, there is one more focus that will slightly decrease Zhukov’s Control. Once the Perm Government has been defeated, Krasnoyarsk will take up its mantle and become known as the Perm Soviet Government and convene a new Politburo:

* If Zhukov has more Control than Kosygin’s Influence, he will replace Kosygin as Secretary of the Party with someone from the favored faction, Aleksandr Aleksandrov from the Sniper Clique, or Sabit Orudzhev from the Plurinational Committee. This will lead the Zhukov tree, see Zhukov in Control section below.
* If Kosygin has more Influence than Zhukov’s Control, he will stay on as Party Secretary and be the power behind the throne, eclipsing Zhukov in all but name. This will load the Kosygin tree, see Kosygin in Control section below.

Unique to Krasnoyarsk, the portraits of Zhukov will change based on who is in power.

#### **Zhukov Wins**

If Zhukov came out of the power struggle with Kosygin unscathed, the tree will be the same for either the Sniper Clique or the Plurinational Committee. What will be different though is the foci branches available to each. Like with Kosygin, the new government will debate three pressing issues:

1. In Matters of State, if the Sniper Clique is in power, it will go down the Traditionalist branch, while the Committee will go down the Theory branch. A shared focus in the middle will allow the KNVD to conduct an investigation into the disappearance of Joseph Stalin when Moscow fell. The investigation finds Stalin was cut off after escaping the city and, fearful of being captured, committed suicide.
2. In Matters of Economics, the Sniper Clique will look to the past (agrarian) and the Committee the future (industrialization).
3. In Matters of the Military, the Sniper Clique will prioritize *better* men (A Russian Army) over the Committee who will prioritize *more* men (An Army of Soviet Peoples).

Once the issues are settled, Zhukov will make the final preparations to move east on whichever government owns the Far East (The Republic, the SRCO or RFP).

Once war was declared in Operation: February and Zhukov finally managed to take the Far East, the Soviet Union will be whole again (albeit without any of the German colony lands or RKs). Nonetheless Zhukov will declare a reformed Soviet Union, with the new flag dependent on which faction is in power. Once the dust has settled in the east, Zhukov can turn now his attention to the west, and prepare for the final war with Germany. This includes reactivating partisan commands for the Front and building fallout shelters to help to mitigate anticipated nuclear attacks by Germany. The ‘Their Land, Their People, Their Blood’ focus (a nice little Call of Duty: World at War reference) will allow the Soviet Union to declare war on Germany.

##### **Victory over Germany**

When Germania (renamed Marxstadt) is in Soviet hands and the Nazi war machine defeated, Zhukov will take a tour of the defeated Germany and, at the insistence of KNVD chief Serov, give a speech to Red Army soldiers along the way. An assassination attempt will be made on Zhukov's life, but how the attempt plays out will have been decided early on back in 1952.

* If Zhukov granted the NKVD a token amount of resources, Zhukov will survive the shooting but the shooter will get away.
* If Zhukov granted the NKVD a vastly expanded budget, he will be shot and killed and the shooter himself killed while being apprehended.

Either way blame will be laid on Nazi holdouts, the *Werwolf* terrorists. If Zhukov survived, he can go on to either build the Palace of the Soviets in Moscow, or use the destroyed Volkeshalle base and build one in Marxstadt instead. He will make sure Germany is never again an independent nation and will make sure Hitler’s Thousand-Year Reich will become a Thousand-Year (Soviet) Occupation.

If Zhukov was killed, a State Committee of Emergency will temporarily take over while an investigation is set underway. A report out of Germany confirms the worst – it wasn’t a *Werwolf* (that was just a cover) but the KNVD who planned and executed the assassination. The Presidium will meet to decide a course of action: leak it to the public and publicly implicate Serov, or hide this revelation and continue implicating *Werwolf* terrorists. The former will see Serov stripped of his positions and honors and hunted down (before committing suicide rather than be captured) while the latter will see 137 executed for participation (directly or indirectly) and Serov will declare the investigation over.

Afterwards, depending on which course of action was taken, if Serov was alive, the pro-Serov Viktor Abakumov will be elected Zhukov’s successor, while is Serov was dead, the anti-Serov Ivan Muzychenko will be elected instead.

### **Kosygin Wins**

If Kosygin came out of the power struggle with Zhukov on top, for all intents and purposes, he will turn Zhukov into his puppet. As time goes on, he will further diminish Zhukov’s power and replace his allies until he is able to start passing his liberal (revisionist) policies.

An extremely important part of Kosygin’s liberalization policies is his economic plan, nicknamed ‘Kosyginomics.’ Three of the most important parts are the securing of western investment/capital (something unheard of since the days of the early Soviet union), the decentralization of the economy (including reforming GOSPLAN - the agency responsible for central economic planning), and technological advancements. Kosygin will also turn his eyes on the Party itself, retiring older members, lifting up youngers ones, and either reforming the KNVD into the depowered MVD (Ministry of Internal Affairs) still headed by Ivan Serov, or failing in the attempt.

* As part of the liberalization of the Party, the KNVD can conduct an investigation into the disappearance of Joseph Stalin when Moscow fell. The investigation finds Stalin was cut off after escaping the city and, fearful of being captured, committed suicide.

When the war with Russia has ended, the Soviet Union will be whole again and will be proclaimed by Zhukov as such. With Soviet power secure, Kosygin can implement his ‘Soviet Spring’ experiment. It is a nation-wide social experiment, curbing censorship of political/societal speech and print. (Like the old Chinese poem says, “Let a hundred flowers bloom; let a hundred schools of thought contend.”) The economy can be adapted to western style approach, and invest in consumer products, such as computers, radios or new cars, continue with the Soviet method of heavy industry, cheap mass housing and planned cities (the first being named after Marshal Zhukov) or balance a mixture of both.

On the world stage, Kosygin’s Soviet Union could seek a warming of relations with the Germans. Wishing to restore diplomatic relations, if the Germans accept both countries’ opinion of each other will increase, while a denial will sour relations further. Or, the two powers could lock themselves into a Cold War and bide their times. In the meanwhile, Kosygin can warm up to either the Chinese or TA, and if he grants the plea of the deposed Afghan King, start an invasion of Afghanistan. If so, the Soviets will have ~~10 years~~ 200 days to fully defeat the country or risk a bitter defeat.

### **Collapse of Krasnoyarsk**

Back at the start of the game, if Zhukov offered the KNVD a bare minimum of resources, the Tuvan insurgency will spiral out of control with the guerillas reaching the capital. Zhukov will be captured, tortured and executed and the state will fracture into four areas of control:

1. To the west, an Emergency Government headed by Vladimir Dolgikn.
2. In the center, the remnants of the government, now head by Zhukov ally Rodion Malinovsky, and new Party Secretary Vasily Zaytsev.
3. To the east, the PDR (Party of the Democratization of Russia)-Command Siberia headed by Mikhail Leontovich and Marshal, Pyotr Pokryshev.
4. To the south, the rebel Tuvan People’s Republic, headed by Salchak Toka.

Days into the collapse and four-way war, events will trigger to allow a tag to switch to (first) the Emergency Gov. and if not, the PDR. The Tuvan People’s Republic is not a playable nation and has no content. Each has one tee for all the campaigns (v. Perm, V. Russia, etc…), and notable country and world events are highlighted. Both Malinovsky’s Krasnoyarsk government and Dolgkin’s Emergency government can join the UN, the latter being automatic. There does not seem to be a way for the PDR though.