19th Party Congress of the Communist Party of the USSR

The **19th Party Congress of the Communist party of the USSR**, is an important event that will occur in 1952 in the Perm Soviet Goverment. Leadership change can come during the Party Congress. Aside from three coups, the faction who holds the most influence can get their leader elected General-Secretary.

## In-Game

Lavrentiy Beria’s main goal is the revitalization of the Soviet economy, and pined this on the Revised Economic Plan (REP) that he launched in 1948. Rolling back the collectivization of the Stalin era, it introduced a number of capitalist reforms into the economy, including private enterprises, the reintroduction a market system for most produced goods, and nationalization of some public sectors, staffing them with specialists. It is far from over, in 1952 the second phase is about to begin. Civilian, military, and the new emerging middle class (*strata*, known as REPmen) are next on the chopping block for reform.

The power struggle will play out, firstly, by how the government will respond to the three issues of the second phase of REP.

* **Civilian Sector:**
	+ Recollectivize: Boost to Orthodoxists
	+ Distribute surplus to the poor: Boost to Kalininists
	+ (Further) Privatization: Boost to Revisionists
	+ Hiring more talents for state enterprises: Boost to NKVD
* **REPmen:**
	+ Arrest the dangerous ones: Boost to Orthodoxists
	+ Tax them: Boosts to Kalininists and the NKVD
	+ Leave them: Boost to Revisionists
* **Military-Business Ties:**
	+ Crackdown on it: Boosts to Orthodoxists and Kalininists
	+ Tolerate it: Boosts to Revisionists and the NKVD

Once the issues are settled, Beria will open the 19th Party Congress, the first held since the defeat to the Germans. He hopes the Congress will give approval to his policies since taking over as General-Secretary. In preparation for the Congress, the government must decide on whether to: use more NKVD troops (with a boost to NKVD influence) or use Red Army units to boost security.

In Mikhail Suslov’s anti-revisionist speech, if there is no response from the Congress, his Orthodoxist faction will lose influence. But if the room erupted into cheers, the Revisionist and NKVD factions will lose influence while the Orthodoxist gains it.

At this point in the Congress, the Red Army with some members of the Politburo will attempt a coup against Beria and the government. If the NKVD was bolstered at the start of the Congress, the government can get wind of the attempt and stop it before it starts. Even with advance knowledge, the warnings could fall on deaf ears and the coup go ahead anyway.

* If the coup goes ahead, Beria will be arrested (the NKVD will lose influence) and an Emergency Committee will temporarily take over. Members of the Politburo will hold a secret trial for Beria, and within five minutes will find him guilty of, and execute him for, treason and rape. Kruglov will take over the NKVD faction and Ministry.
	+ At this point, rouge NKVD elements will rebel against the Committee.
		- If NKVD influence is at 70 or above, the NKVD can successfully countercoup the Committee and allow Sergei Kruglov to take over the government.
		- If NKVD influence is below 70, the countercoup will fail and the NKVD will lose all its influence. The Congress will resume and hold an election on who to become the new General-Secretary; Turkenich, Bulganin, or Suslov.
* If the coup was averted, Beria will speak on the averted coup, lowering influence of the other three factions. With days to go before the end of the Congress, Beria can choose to press members to 'remind' them to vote for him as General-Secretary, or allow a free vote. Pressing members will secure Beria a win, while a free vote could see Suslov, or Beria elected.
* If either election is deadlocked, the Red Army will descend on Perm, arrest top party officials and declare Vasily Chuikov head of a military junta.