特雷古波娃走出门时，她听到了咔嗒声。门砰地一声关上并锁上了。特雷古波娃尖叫道：“亚历克斯！请放我出去！”
没有回应。
特雷古波娃环顾了一下房间。没有门。这些墙是用石头砌的。没有办法逃脱。
她尖叫道：“救命！”墙上回荡着她的尖叫声。
然后，沉默。
随着时间的流逝，石墙变得越来越老。它们裂开了。它们崩溃了。水渗入并沿着墙壁雕刻了深沟。天花板生锈并倒塌。
***
罗曼诺夫站在床边盯着床上做噩梦的特雷古波娃。她喊道，“亚历克斯，请放我出去！”
“我没有力气了。”罗曼诺夫说。“我再也没有眼泪了。”
她能听到哭泣的声音。她看见了那个男孩。“亚历克斯，请告诉我该怎么办！”
“我给你看看。”罗曼诺夫走到她跟前，伸手去抓她。她掐住自己的喉咙。“亚历克斯，求你了，不要！”
他的手松开了。特雷古波娃吸了一口气。她的身体抽搐着。她尖叫着醒来。她环顾四周。卧室很暗。她尖叫着，“亚历克斯，进来！”
“我一直在努力。”罗曼诺夫叹了口气。“冷静点，看着我。”
特雷古波娃坐起来，凝视着罗曼诺夫的眼睛。她的尖叫声在喉咙里消失了。“冷静点。”罗曼诺夫说。“这只是一个梦。”
“这不是梦。”特雷古波娃说。
“是的。你必须相信一些东西。否则，活着有什么意义？”
“但那不是……”特雷古波娃的声音嘶哑了。“不要抛弃我！求你了！我撑不住！”
“我不是。”罗曼诺夫站了起来。“我要带你离开这里，但我需要你先为我做点什么。”特雷古波娃看着他。
“什么？”
“我需要你把你所知道的关于这所房子的一切都写下来。这以后会很重要的。”
“不……”
“你别无选择。”
“不要离开我…”
“我会回来的，我保证。”
特雷古波娃看着她的手。它们又瘦又白。她没有食物，没有水，也没有希望。
“好的。”她说。“我该写什么？”
* * *
“你不会离开我的，”特雷古波娃说。“你答应过的。”罗曼诺夫没有回应。他把目光移开。
“开始记录。”
特雷古波娃拿起笔盯着传真发来的情报资料，这些都是克格勃与她的特工汇总发来的监听报告，她需要将这些报告分类。
“你要去哪里？”
“我会回来的。如果我不回来，就报警。告诉他们发生了什么事。告诉他们有关文件的情况。”
“什么文件？”
“一切。文件、报告、照片。一切。”
“你不能离开我！”特雷古波娃哭了。
“我会回来的。”罗曼诺夫转身走出了门。
特雷古波娃盯着门。她看了看资料。一切都在那里。她没有什么可失去的。
她拿起电话拨了俄文号码。
***
莫斯科卢比扬卡广场11号
在这座灯火通明的大型联邦大楼内，墙上挂满了深色、光滑的照片，其中许多是旧照片，另一些是新照片。
你注意到的第一件事是每个人看起来都年轻多了。
照片覆盖的墙比墙的任何其他部分都长，而墙的其他部分没有被照片覆盖。
你注意到的第二件事是覆盖在长而平的墙上的玻璃砖。
玻璃砖里面有一种黑色的液体。
窗外广场的光线没有穿透玻璃砖。
罗曼诺夫点点头，现在负责管理克里姆林宫卫队的弗拉基米尔•梅德韦杰夫少将陪着他前往一间牢房。
他打开门，示意罗曼诺夫进去。
那两个人走了进去。
牢房又小又黑。没有窗户。进出的唯一途径就是门。
罗曼诺夫走了进来，前阿塞拜疆第一书记阿利耶夫从床垫上起身盯着他。“罗曼诺夫，你把我转移到这间临时牢房就是为了见一面？”
“是的。”
“这是胡说八道。”
“不，这是新俄罗斯，同志。”
“胡说。我是一个经验丰富的政治家。我知道这个游戏是如何运作的。”
“我知道你很聪明，所以你才在这里。”罗曼诺夫坐在他对面的床垫说：“我们今晚的谈话不会被记录。”
“啊，很好。”
阿利耶夫盯着罗曼诺夫。“那么，告诉我他妈的发生了什么事。”
“一群爱国者想要建立一个更完美的联盟。这是一个很长的故事。”
“我想不起来允许你发言了。”
“阿利耶夫，你真的要像个野蛮人一样嘲讽还是好好交谈？”
“我不想和一个试图接管政府的法西斯分子关在一起。”
“这么说可不太好。”
“不，但这是一个该死的事实。”阿利耶夫坐回床垫上。“还有什么新鲜事？”
“这是新的。”
“你想要什么，罗曼诺夫？我还以为我们站在同一边呢。”
“什么时候？”罗曼诺夫盯着他的白头发笑了说：“我要扩大苏维埃的权力，而你这样的阿塞拜疆地方实力派可能不到这里吗？”
“你什么时候需要我？”
“我现在需要你。我需要你胜过我需要一个只会做殉道者的混蛋。”
“我不是你的同志。”
“我知道。”罗曼诺夫看着他的手。“我知道我不是你的同志。我需要你提供的是信息。告诉我你知道什么。”
“我知道的不多。有一位名叫卡洛夫的老克格勃特工在阿富汗被捕。他加入了中央情报局的阿富汗圣战组织，他也是阿塞拜疆人。中情局负责阿塞拜疆民族分离主义组织的人就是他。我只知道这些。”
“他姓什么？”
“卡洛夫。”
“谢谢，另外还有一件事情，我打算把纳卡地区由苏联中央政府直辖。”
“没有。”
“是的。”罗曼诺夫点点头。
阿利耶夫睁大了眼睛。
“我不会让你毁掉我们为之奋斗的一切。”
罗曼诺夫的声音很冷淡，他的目光也很坚定。他坐起来，向阿利耶夫靠去。“你是想死在这里，还是想生活在一个更美好的世界？”
“你不能这样做！把这片领土变成亚美尼亚人的领土！”
“是的，我可以。你想生活在一个没有你称之为家的国家的世界里吗？在那里每个人都是陌生人？不，你不想这样。那么，告诉我，你到底想不想生活在一个新的世界？”
阿利耶夫眯起了眼睛。“你会失败的，罗曼诺夫。”
“我知道的，这已经注定了。当列宁1924年逝世后，他葬在彼得格勒母亲身旁的遗愿并未实现，遗体被安放在红场，由此开创了社会主义国家保存重要领导人遗体的先河时，斯大林恢复了个人崇拜与圣髑传统成为了新沙皇时…”
阿利耶夫额头上的静脉隆起，他从床垫上站了起来。“不过，我要告诉你。我们不会让某个苏联傀儡左右这个国家的未来。”
“我们已经过去了，同志。苏联已经结束，一个新的世界秩序将要建立。这将由谁拥有最大的权力来决定，而不是由某个政党来决定。”
“有什么区别？”
“我不是那些无能需要向人民让步的懦夫，更不是需要从死人来获得威望的官僚。”罗曼诺夫站起身说：“还有什么话？”
“我不是你的同志。”
“我知道你不是。这就是为什么我们要谈这个。现在，我离开你。”罗曼诺夫走出牢房，继续赶路。
苏联共产党的命运已经注定了，当斯大林授予官僚特权与对官僚举起屠刀时，当先锋队共产主义式政党庸俗化成宗教时，也终将像宗教一样分裂与消亡。
当老布尔什维克党失去战斗意志时，同样的命运等待着它。1991年苏联解体时，这个曾经伟大的政党的残余势力分裂成了一百万块。
这个下场是合理的，当它背弃人民时也终将被人民背弃，可惜的是1991年人民没有把苏联官僚集团一并杀死，更糟糕的是，叶利钦上台了。结果，俄罗斯人民选出了一位公开吹嘘个人腐败日益严重的人作为总统，而他只是凭借一个正在解体的超级大国的恩典才得以执政。
俄罗斯的未来是什么？
苏联的解体留下了一个尚未填补的权力真空。该国爆发了暴力事件，经济陷入困境。
这个问题的根本在于人类的社会制度是否能够无视历史传统与文化习惯而发展？
无产阶级和资产阶级是按经济分的，统治阶级和被统治阶级是按政治分的，二者没有什么必然联系。一个统治集团里也可以同时有出身无产阶级和出身资产阶级的人。
工人阶级必然会受到资产阶级思想的影响和限制。先锋队来保卫工人阶级思想，那谁来保卫先锋队呢？
当时苏联在宣传将社会的一切问题归咎于苏联人民懒惰、旷工、酗酒等行为，用来掩盖体制问题。掩盖国家已经落在了修正主义者手中的事实。前苏联的斯拉夫族知识分子们传播大俄罗斯主义的思想传播到了整个俄罗斯，这时候的前苏联已经变成了红色俄罗斯帝国，而不再是全世界无产阶级的祖国，对于一个民族意识高涨与由十五个加盟国组成的国家来说，民族主义的后果很明显。
斯大林主义的地基就是列宁主义，当然可以指责斯大林主义建筑下死去的人。但否认斯大林就会否认列宁，进而指责列宁建立契卡，镇压富农等等，戈尔巴乔夫公开化以“要列宁不要斯大林”起，到末期民主派揭露列宁“邪恶”真相时苏联就不可能保持稳定了。
当然，转向自由市场经济，公民可以自由选择死或不死，就像东欧剧变后东欧各国女性们可以自由选择去西欧当妓女或在本国当妓女，男人们可以选择死亡或者加入黑帮。
即使是共产主义理想最狂热的捍卫者也会承认，该体系已不再能够提供商品。
关键在于任何国家都无法通过内循环的封闭经济来做到彻底与国际市场隔离。这就是苏联集团崩溃的主要原因：他们的指令经济效率太低。从而导致了经济停滞与落后世界技术。即使不转向市场化改革，也需要一个与国际市场进行经济交换的港湾。
当然，叶利钦领导下的新政府在本质上对工人阶级并不友好，而且它所实施的许多改革都绝对有利于它。
对于苏联解体这件事情，人们还在通过各种立场看待它，对于苏联解体后包括俄罗斯的十五个民族国家来说，苏联当然是罪恶的殖民者，但总有人将苏联视为俄罗斯。最显著的是，1932年苏联大饥荒被乌克兰民族主义者视为苏联针对乌克兰或者哈萨克的种族灭绝…然而，1932年苏联大饥荒的范围是乌克兰、南俄罗斯与哈萨克。
而且在此之前，列宁执行了新经济政策时就导致了出现俄罗斯人退出全联盟共产党的浪潮与乌克兰化，至于斯大林他只是一个是国家主义者。总有一种将斯大林这个格鲁吉亚人也称为俄罗斯民族主义者的错误看法，斯大林作为格鲁吉亚人与共产主义者只是利用与压制俄罗斯民族主义来维持统治，否则米哈伊尔·伊万诺维奇·罗季昂诺夫（1905-1050）就不会被以民族主义的理由被枪毙了。
工业化的原始资本积累无非两种。一，剥削殖民地。二，剥削本国农民。前者更多打着民族主义，扩大生存空间。后者容易打着阶级斗争。
苏联的一五计划工业化成果还是很成功的，1930年，开始建造约1,500个工业联合体，其中50个吸收了几乎全部投资的一半。许多巨大的交通和工业结构被创造出来：突厥-西伯利亚铁路，第聂伯河水电站，马格尼托哥尔斯克，利佩茨克和车里雅宾斯克、新库兹涅茨克、诺里尔斯克的冶金厂以及乌拉尔重型机器制造厂，以及斯大林格勒、车里雅宾斯克、哈尔科夫的拖拉机厂、乌拉尔机车车辆厂，戈尔科夫斯基汽车厂，利哈切夫工厂。可惜，工业发展过快与农业上攫取太多，引发了大饥荒。
至于，为什么把错误的工业化政策结果、虚报指标与强制征粮的乌克兰官僚集团归因于苏联针对乌克兰的种族灭绝叙事，而在一样遭受饥荒的南俄罗斯与哈萨克则几乎没有这种从民族角度来看待的叙事？
这并不是要否认有确凿证据的暴行，但就乌克兰而言，这是对经济问题的政治解释，而不是从马克思主义角度可以很容易地解释的原则性拒绝。
当然，有人会完全否认饥荒的存在，声称数字被夸大了，大饥荒期间的损失是与波兰军队发生军事冲突的结果，而不是人为饥荒的结果。
人们应该时刻警惕这种过于简单化的理由，或者人们所认为的理由。
人们应当追求历史本身，而不是用各种各样的立场与角度来得到自身所希望的结论，那只会造成德克萨斯枪手效应。
在旧苏联的废墟上，又出现了第二次更加活跃的共产主义运动。这很大程度上是，1991苏联解体（一些美国人将其称为革命，并且相信在那里没有人伤亡…）是不成功的，比1917年十月革命相比，当时苏联的官僚集团与军队就像1917年的临时政府与它的政党一样没有实际行动，而叶利钦与支持叶利钦的自由主义者与民族主义者、社会主义者（有趣的是，当时很多人并不认为支持叶利钦相当于反对社会主义）都积极参与或者迅速行动。最终结果当然是叶利钦的胜利。
只不过，叶利钦不是为了什么民主化或者让人们过上更好的生活。因此，他虽然进行去共产主义化与废除社会主义制度，但却与前苏联的精英阶层合作肢解了苏联、然后又与脱下社会主义外衣后穿上资本主义西装的寡头们合作并建立总统制。当然，回报是丰厚的，即使他退休了也住在莫斯科郊外的国有豪华别墅，身旁厨师、警卫、医生俱全，出入有警车开路，还可乘坐政府专机。退休后，他每年出国远游8至10次，费用全由国家支付。他的后代依然是俄罗斯联邦的精英阶级。
但苏联解体的经济后果是可怕的。它不仅导致了广泛的贫困和失业，还导致了银行体系几近崩溃。俄罗斯财经报刊上充斥着关于“新经济危机”的文章，尽管铁幕已经落下30年多了。
苏联解体这件事情，如果你是资本主义阵营的平民，尤其是美国人，当然是一件好事。
对前苏联人民来说，苏联解体是一场灾难，事实上是他们漫长的国家支持的压迫、剥削和种族灭绝历史上最糟糕的事情之一。
对他们中的大多数人来说，这意味着计划经济的必然性的终结，在计划经济中，一切都是为每个人提供的，也意味着一种更加原子化的生活的开始，在这种生活中，个人负责满足自己的需要，这通常意味着与社区其他人一起与残酷的暴力斗争，不公正、不宽容的市场。
***
特雷古波娃打了哈欠，把手里的汇总分析报告放下。
“太干燥了。我需要一些新鲜空气。我们去公园散散步吧，”她说，没有抬头看。
“先让我看看信息情报报告。”罗曼诺夫拿过来报告查看说：“希望我做的都是对的。”
“我对此毫无疑问，”特雷古波娃说。
“那为什么我觉得自己被棍子打了？”
“没必要夸大，”特雷古波娃说。
“我没有夸张。我研究了所有记录，知道如何评估信息。但我们必须能够相互信任。”罗曼诺夫叹了口气说：“我所得到的信息太多了以至于我无法判断什么是真实的？什么是谎言？”
“不要为此自责。有时我们不得不猜测。我们正在努力建设一个更美好的世界，你猜怎么着？在这个世界上，猜猜大多数人想要什么？更多的谎言。\"
“我想是吧。既然我们不能相信消息来源，那我们怎么能相信一份简要的情报报告呢？”
“我们不能。这是可悲的现实。”
这就是矛盾所在，苏联高层恰恰是情报过多而不是情报过少，早在安德罗波夫时期就已经出过这些问题了，而他的秘密研究工作也预测出苏联之后可能的三十多种未来走向，苏联解体正是其中之一。
而在情报机构上，苏共中央委员会国际部、克格勃、军事情报机构以及外交部等四个机构都能向总书记、政治局委员以及中央委员发放自己的情报文件。而中央委员会也有它的情报机构来判断，与没有情报与信息的普通人相比，中央委员会反而是信息多到无法判断正确了。
“我们无法正确判断出可能发生的事情，即使作为统治者也无法控制历史发展进程。”罗曼诺夫面无表情地说。
“历史总是最后一个字，”特雷古波娃笑着说。
“历史将审判我们。”
“如果你这么说的话，那么我们该怎么办呢？”
“成立一个信息情报部门，来分析社会信息与国际情报与预测未来发展并给出解决方案。”
“好主意。我们找谁来管理它？”
“你来管理它，”罗曼诺夫说。
特雷古波娃困惑地眨着眼睛。“我？”
“是的，我们需要一个不怕做出艰难决定的人，一个不介意冒险的人，一个不怕争议的人。我们需要一个像你这样的人，特雷古波娃同志。”
特雷古波娃扬起眉毛。她向后靠在椅子上。“为什么是我？”
“我相信你不会误导我，更重要的是，你只需要收集一切信息来分析与预测任何有相当可能的结果。”罗曼诺夫盯着报告说，报告的内容与安德罗波夫看到的没什么大变化，依然是预测苏联在二十一世纪初期会经历严重的危机并可能解体。
特雷古波娃研究了一下罗曼诺夫的表情，说：“你是一个非常奇怪的人，罗曼诺夫同志。你怎么能对我如此确信？”
“也许是爱？”
特雷古波娃笑了。“也许吧。爱是你决定的一个因素吗？”
“当然。”
“嗯，我真的爱你。你爱我吗？”
“是的，”罗曼诺夫说。“别说了，去公园散步，然后去看看电影？”
“听起来不错。我希望你会喜欢这部电影。”
“我们拭目以待。”
特雷古波娃从座位上站起来。她伸了伸懒腰说，“来吧。”
他们离开房间，前往公园。那是一个无风的日子，天空晴朗蔚蓝。公园又大又整洁，是苏联人喜欢建造的那种地方。他们沿着小路散步，欣赏着一排排原始的树木。
“在保卫国家的过程中，红军杀害了多少人？”特雷古波娃问道。
“很多，黑军、白卫军与绿军都抵抗过,最好让那些名字留在档案管理总局。”罗曼诺夫问道。“你要看的电影叫什么名字？”
“欲望之翅（柏林苍穹下）。”
“我从来没听过这个故事，是什么？”
特雷古波娃笑了。“这是一部艺术片。你会喜欢的。不过有点奇怪。告诉我，你相信上帝吗？”
“当然不是。”
“鬼呢？”
“我不确定。”
“你认为有天堂吗？”
“没有。”
特雷古波娃笑了。“好，我也不喜欢。”
“没有幻想的天堂，美好的世界只能让我们自己创造。经济计划发展委员会在考虑到了进入二十一世纪执行七小时工作制，或许到了2020年，苏联能通过四天工作制度或者六小时工作制。”
“我认为你高估了工人阶级。”
“也许吧。我认为低估他们是不明智的。至少，我们应该让人们生活更美好，我们无法供应商品也只是生产力产能问题，而不是生产关系的计划经济制度。不应该为了防止成本上升与利润下降，而拒绝让工作时间缩短与劳动生产率上升。当工作的人有动力的时候，当他们有闲暇的时候，他们能够做很多事情。”
“你怎么能这么肯定？”
“如果你一天工作12小时甚至像十九世纪没有工会与民主社会主义者的资本主义剥削下工作16小时，你会有时间与精力来学习与创造艺术来满足自我实现的价值需求吗？”
“可能不会。”
“人类生存的价值和潜力永远不会仅仅通过工作更多的时间而得到充分实现。”
“你到底想说什么？”
“关键是，在一个完全工业化的社会中，我们的闲暇时间充满了资本主义创造的产品。闲暇时间是为了个人的利益，而不是为了一大群人的利益。当我们工作时，我们为自己的产品创造材料，即使只是在短时间内。这就是工作的作用。当我们不工作时，我们为他人创造。当别人不创造时，我们就没有创造。这是创造的循环。\"
“那么，你是否建议我们实施一个系统，让我们为他人创造更多？”
“是也不是，我们应该创造一个集体利他主义的生活方式，想一想，一个没有货币与所有生活商品按需分配的社会形态。”罗曼诺夫握着她的手微笑，这是一种真心相信的微笑，而不是伪善。“有了这一点，我们都可以实现一个真正自由的国家，一个没有匮乏和需要的世界。”
“听起来像个乌托邦。”
“一个可以实现的乌托邦，现在，我们无法做到是生产力的关系而不是无法实现，如果人们不去实现当然不会有这个乌托邦。只是利己主义会阻碍我们，让人们陷入追求个体最佳选择的囚徒困境。”罗曼诺夫停顿了一下说：“但只要生产力不断发展，总有实现的一天。就像如果有一天商品的生产与维护完全无人自动化，那时生产关系与社会分配必然到了按需分配的时候，否则就陷入失业与经济囚境。这不会以人的意志所改变。”
“那么，自动化和机器人技术将帮助我们走向乌托邦？”
“有可能，或者是其他的社会形态。但肯定就像资本主义淘汰封建主义一样，新的社会形态也会淘汰资本主义。到了那时的人类新一代或许会讨论新的话题，而社会主义与资本主义会像曾经的基督教与伊斯兰教的对立一样被淘汰。”
“因此，你相信需要一个为人民服务的社会组织体系。”
“是的，但它不是由人们随心所欲创造出来的。它是在有约束的情况下创造出来的，它将由想要与众不同的人创造出来。它将被创造来满足人类的需求和欲望，而不仅仅是满足它们。\"
“这是一项艰巨的任务，同志。”
“是的。我们坐在河边的长凳上吧。在下次会议之前我还有几分钟。我们可以检查一下今天的计划。如果你有任何创造性的想法，我相信你会分享它们，这样我们都能从中受益。”
特雷古波娃沿着堤岸走着，双手插在口袋里，凝视着水面。罗曼诺夫坐下来，伸开双腿，向后一靠，闭上眼睛片刻。
“我们生活的世界就像一台巨大的机器，”罗曼诺夫说。“和任何机器一样，它必须有制衡机制。我们是人类，我们是工程师。我们有一定的责任，我们需要履行这些责任，否则机器将无法工作。问题是，人们不一定喜欢让工程师来做决定。他们宁愿认为自己是决策者，即使事实并非如此。我想工人阶级就是这样的。他们已经失去了决定人生道路的能力。他们成了臣民而不是公民。他们已经放弃了选择的权力，现在他们对此感到愤怒。我们不能放弃他们。问题是我们如何激励人们选择更好的选择？\"
“如果我们告诉他们后果，你认为他们会选择更好的选择吗？”
“是的，我知道。”
特雷古波娃仔细想了想说：“你为什么要说苏联计划经济的停滞是被隔离于资本主义阵营经济区域集团的贸易之外？这是美国与我们苏联共同造成的铁幕隔离结果。”
“是的，但宣传上我们把原因全归因于斯大林认为资本主义市场会爆发经济危机而让苏联经济内循环的，全归因于资本主义阵营对我们的贸易封锁能争取支持与排外心理。这些是为了宣传，就像其他国家的共产党利用赫鲁晓夫的秘密报告与死亡的斯大林来摆脱苏联控制一样。虽然在此之前，它们参加了去斯大林化。”
苏联对外贸易
出口货物$11.07亿(石油及其副产品、天然气、金属、木材、农产品、和其他不同种类的产品。)
出口合作伙伴——东欧集团50%、欧洲共同体13%、古巴、中国、美国
进口货物$114,70亿（谷物及其他农产品、机械和设备、电子产品、消费品)
进口合作伙伴——东欧集团46%、欧洲共同体16%、古巴6%、美国、阿富汗
“我认为你太愤世嫉俗了。斯大林是个暴君，他利用了政治制度……”
“他不重要，死人比活人有用。就像列宁一样，重要的是宣传与人民支持，就像自由主义者反对列宁与斯大林，不是反对他们而是反对共产主义。毕竟，大屠杀与军事镇压每个政府都做过。有人会用爱尔兰大饥荒、美国华盛顿惨案、奥斯曼帝国种族屠杀亚美尼亚人来指责反对吗？”
“好吧，没有人利用亚美尼亚种族灭绝……”
“对，所以重点在于我们控制了宣传，宣传才能控制公众记忆。只有历史学家才需要真正的历史，人们只能从真正的历史看到血泪。”罗曼诺夫沉默了一会说：“我们不会掩盖历史，只是让档案五十年后再解密更好。”
“但这难道不让人们更容易证明……”
“你希望让人们知道你在瑞士银行有多少存款吗？”罗曼诺夫面无表情地盯着她说：“多少钱？”
“嗯……”她低下头。
“多少钱？”他又问。
“好吧，如果你想逃避遗产或信托，你应该避免官僚主义……”
罗曼诺夫俯身凝视着她。
“好吧，三千万美元。”
她点点头。
“我会把钱转到一个离岸账户。”
“哦，我不想……”她开始说，但后来停了下来。
“你当然不，”罗曼诺夫说，“你想让钱在那里？让我的钱在你的银行账户上？”
“嗯……”
“你的账户里有没有？”
“嗯，是的，但是……”
“离岸银行账户详情，”罗曼诺夫说，“或者你可以在西伯利亚做苦工，度过余生。”
“好吧……”她软化了，“钱在瑞士的账户里。”
罗曼诺夫说，“你总是喜欢在这种小事情上挣扎，走吧，我们回别墅看电影。”
她挽着他的手臂，走回堤岸。
罗曼诺夫望着天空，思考着。然后他站起来，伸了伸懒腰，沿着堤岸走着，思考着。
“回家后，把钱转到我的离岸账户上，你的钱也会在里面。”
“是的，”她说，转身走回家。
她又挽着他的胳膊，他们沿着堤岸走去。他们默默地走了很长时间。
当他们到达回城的路上时，她说，“我们被监视着。”
“是谁干的？”
“我不知道。”
“好吧，让我们看看，”罗曼诺夫说。
在罗曼诺夫的卫队车辆之外，有几辆民用车辆紧跟其后。该小组沿着公路行驶，随后两辆车从机场驶出。
“你认为他们在跟踪我们吗？”她问。
“是的，”罗曼诺夫说，“克格勃？还是内务部？”
“很难说，”他说，“情报部有一个习惯，就是让他们自己的人互相监视。”
“那我们不应该加快速度吗？”她问。
“不，那就代表我们发现了他们。”罗曼诺夫闭上眼睛说：“保持清醒，按正常情况继续行驶。”
“好的，”她说着，把外套拉得更紧。
这些车在后面拖了一会儿，然后都在附近落了下来。当警车开始停在他们旁边时，突然出现了闪烁的蓝色和红色灯光。
“警察来了，”她说。
带队的警察拔出手枪说：“保持冷静，靠边停车，这只是例行检查。”
司机是个二十多岁的年轻人，他把车停了下来。
“下车，双手放在车上。”
他这样做了，尽管他把手放在口袋里。他的手在发抖，他不停地朝警车的方向瞥了一眼。
“搜索车辆。”
***
“也许，克格勃权力太大了。”罗曼诺夫试探她说。
“我不是在争辩，但你认为他们是如何找到我们的？”
“我认为他们不称职。”他笑了。“这就是我们要接管一切的原因。”
“你是什么意思？”
“我的意思是，我要带头。你要毫无疑问地按我说的去做。”
“好吧……”她吃惊地说。
罗曼诺夫微笑地说：“我下周得去东欧，斩断美国煽动者的黑手。”
“我和你一起去。”
“我很乐意，”他说。
她静静地坐了一会儿，然后说：“好的。”
“很好。”他点点头说：“希望我能解决那些叛徒，还有让民众安分点。”
“希望如此，”她说。
“好吧，”他说，“我们回家吧。”
这两个人走回他的豪华轿车。
他回到车里，坐上司机的座位，她坐到另一边，坐在他旁边。汽车开走了。他们朝他的庄园走去。
“你觉得怎么样？”他问道，转向她。
“但你还是要和我一起去。”
“我做这件事真是疯了，”她说。
“很好，”他笑着说。“你能帮我吗？”
“是的，”她说。
“那我们开始吧。”
他一天剩下的时间都在计划，接下来的几天也是如此。计划不会结束，只需要等待东欧的叛徒掉进陷阱。
[newpage]
As Tregubova walked out the door, she heard a clicking sound. The door slammed shut and locked. Tregubova screamed, \"Alex! Please, let me out!\"
No response.
Tregubova looked around the room. There was no door. The walls were made of stone. There was no way to escape.
She screamed, \"Help!\" The walls reverberated with her screams.
Then, silence.
As time passed, the stone walls grew old. They cracked. They crumbled. Water leaked in and carved deep grooves along the walls. The ceiling rusted and collapsed.
***
Romanov stood by the bed staring at Tregubova who was having nightmares in bed. She cried, \"Alex, please, let me out!\"
\"I have no more strength.\" Romanov said. \"I have no more tears.\"
She could hear the sounds of crying. She saw the boy. \"Alex, please, tell me what to do!\"
\"I\u0027ll show you.\" Romanov walked up to She and reached for her. She grabbed her own throat. \"Alex, please, no!\"
his released his grip. Tregubova sucked in her breath. Her body convulsed. She awoke screaming. She looked around. The bedroom was dark. She screamed, \"Alex, get in here!\"
\"I\u0027ve been trying.\" Romanov sighed. \"Calm down and look at me.\" Tregubova sat up and stared into Romanov\u0027s eyes. Her screams died in her throat. \"Calm down.\" Romanov said. \"It\u0027s just a dream.\"
\"It wasn\u0027t a dream.\" Tregubova said.
\"Yes it was. You have to believe in something. Otherwise, what\u0027s the point of living?\"
\"But that wasn\u0027t...\" Tregubova\u0027s voice cracked. \"Don\u0027t abandon me! Please! I can\u0027t hold out!\"
\"I\u0027m not.\" Romanov stood up. \"I\u0027m going to get you out of here, but I need you to do something for me first.\" Tregubova looked at him.
\"What?\"
\"I need you to write down everything you know about this house. It\u0027s going to be important later.\"
\"No...\"
\"You have no choice.\"
\"Don\u0027t leave me...\"
\"I\u0027ll be back. I promise.\"
Tregubova looked at her hands. They were thin and white. She had no food, no water, and no hope.
\"Fine.\" She said. \"What should I write?\"
* * *
\"You\u0027re not going to leave me,\" Tregubova said. \"You promised.\" Romanov didn\u0027t respond. He looked away.
\"Start recording.\"
Tregubova picked up a pen and stared at the faxed intelligence information, the wiretap reports sent by the KGB and her agents in aggregate, which she needed to sort through.
\"Where are you going?\"
\"I\u0027ll be back. If I don\u0027t come back, go to the police. Tell them what happened. Tell them about the documents.\"
\"What documents?\"
\"Everything. The documents, the reports, the photos. Everything.\"
\"You can\u0027t leave me!\" Tregubova cried.
\"I\u0027ll be back.\" Romanov turned and walked out the door.
Tregubova stared at the door. She looked at the information. It was all there. She had nothing to lose.
She picked up the phone and dialed the Russian number.
***
11 Lubyanka Square, Moscow
Inside the large, brightly lit, federal building, the walls were covered with dark, glossy photographs, many of them old, others new.
The first thing that you noticed was how much younger everyone looked.
The photographs covered a wall that was far longer than any other part of the wall, the part that was not covered with photographs.
The second thing you noticed were the glass bricks that covered the long, flat wall.
The glass bricks had a dark liquid inside them.
The light from the square beyond the window did not penetrate the glass bricks.
Romanov nodded, and Major General Vladimir Medvedev, who now runs the Kremlin guard, accompanied him to a cell.
He opened the door and gestured for Romanov to enter.
The two men walked inside.
The cell was small and dark. There were no windows. The only way in or out was the door.
Romanov walked in, and Aliyev, the former First Secretary of Azerbaijan, got up from the mattress to stare at him. \"Romanov, you transferred me to this makeshift cell just to meet?\"
\"Yes.\"
\"This is bullshit.\"
\"No, this is the new Russia, comrade.\"
\"Bullshit. I\u0027m an experienced politician. I know how this game works.\"
\"I know you\u0027re smart, that\u0027s why you\u0027re here.\" Romanov sat across from him on the mattress and said, \"Our conversation tonight will not be recorded.\"
\"Ah, good.\"
Aliyev stared at Romanov. \"So, tell me what the fuck is going on.\"
\"A group of patriots want to create a more perfect union. It\u0027s a long story.\"
\"I don\u0027t recall granting you permission to speak.\"
\"Aliyev, are you really going to taunt like a barbarian or have a good conversation?\"
\"I\u0027d rather not be in a cell with a fascist who is trying to take over the government.\"
\"That\u0027s not a very nice thing to say.\"
\"No, but it\u0027s a damn fact.\" Aliyev sat back down on the mattress. \"What else is new?\"
\"That\u0027s new.\"
\"What do you want, Romanov? I thought we were on the same side.\"
\"When?\" Romanov stared at his white hair and smiled, \"I want to expand the power of the Soviet, and a local Azerbaijani powerhouse like you might not be here?\"
\"When did you need me?\"
\"I need you now. I need you more than I need some asshole who is only good at being a martyr.\"
\"I\u0027m not your comrade.\"
\"I know.\" Romanov looked at his hands. \"I know I\u0027m not your comrade. What I need from you is information. Tell me what you know.\"
\"I don\u0027t know much. There was an old KGB agent named Karloff who was arrested in Afghanistan. He joined the Afghan Mujahideen with the CIA, and he was also an Azerbaijani. He was the CIA man in charge of the Azerbaijani national separatist organization. That\u0027s all I know.\"
\"What\u0027s his last name?\"
\"Karloff.\"
\"Thank you, and one other thing, I intend to put the Naka region under the central government of the Soviet Union.\"
\"No.\"
\"Yes.\" Romanov nodded.
Aliyev\u0027s eyes widened.
\"I\u0027m not going to let you ruin everything that we\u0027ve worked for.\"
Romanov\u0027s voice was cold, and his stare was hard. He sat up and leaned toward Aliyev. \"Do you want to die here, or do you want to live in a better world?\"
\"You can\u0027t do that! Turn this territory into Armenian territory!\"
\"Yes, I can. Do you want to live in a world with no nation that you call home? Where everyone is a stranger? No, you don\u0027t want that. So, tell me, do you want to live in a new world or not?\"
Aliyev\u0027s eyes narrowed. \"You will fail, Romanov.\"
\"I know it, it\u0027s already doomed. When Lenin died in 1924, his last wish to be buried next to his mother in Petrograd was not fulfilled, and his body was laid to rest in Red Square, thus pioneering the preservation of the remains of important leaders in socialist countries, when Stalin resumed his personal cult and the tradition of St. Calvary as the new tsar...\"
The veins bulged in Aliyev\u0027s forehead, and he got up from the mattress. \"I\u0027ll tell you this though. We\u0027re not going to let some Soviet puppet dictate what\u0027s going to happen to the country.\"
\"We\u0027re past that, comrade. The Soviet Union is over, and a new world order will take place. It\u0027s going to be decided by who has the most power, not by some political party.\"
\"What\u0027s the difference?\"
\"I am not one of those cowards who are incompetent and need to concede to the people, much less a bureaucrat who needs to gain prestige from dead people.\" Romanov stood up and said, \"What else do you have to say?\"
\"I\u0027m not your comrade.\"
\"I know you\u0027re not. That\u0027s why we\u0027re having this conversation. Now, I\u0027ll leave you be.\" Romanov stepped away from the cell and continued on his way.
The fate of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was already sealed when Stalin granted privileges to the bureaucrats and raised the butcher\u0027s knife against them, and when the vanguard communist-style party vulgarized itself into a religion, it would eventually split and perish like a religion.
The same fate awaited the old Bolshevik party when it lost its will to fight. As the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991, the remnants of the once great party disintegrated into a million pieces.
It is reasonable that when it turns its back on the people it will eventually be turned by the people, but unfortunately the people did not kill the Soviet bureaucracy along with it in 1991, and worse still, Yeltsin came to power.
As a result, the people of Russia elected as president a man who openly boasted of increasing personal corruption and was only kept in office by the grace of a disintegrating superpower.
What does the future hold for Russia?
The collapse of the Soviet Union left behind a power vacuum that has yet to be filled. The country has witnessed an outbreak of violence, and the economy is in tatters.
The root of this question is whether human social systems can develop in spite of historical traditions and cultural habits?
The proletariat and the bourgeoisie are divided by economy, the ruling class and the ruled class are divided by politics, and there is no necessary connection between them. A ruling group can have people of both proletarian and bourgeois origins.
The working class is necessarily influenced and limited by bourgeois ideology. The vanguard came to defend the working class ideology, so who would defend the vanguard?
At that time the Soviet Union was using propaganda that blamed all the problems of society on the laziness, absenteeism, and alcoholism of the Soviet people to cover up the problems of the system. To cover up the fact that the country had fallen into the hands of the revisionists. The Slavic intellectuals of the former Soviet Union spread the ideas of Great Russianism throughout Russia, which by this time had become the Red Russian Empire and no longer the motherland of the proletariat of the world, and the consequences of nationalism were obvious for a country with a high national consciousness with a group of fifteen constituent states.
The foundation of Stalinism is Leninism, and one can certainly blame those who died under the Stalinist building. But to deny Stalin would be to deny Lenin, and then accuse Lenin of establishing the Cheka, suppressing the rich peasants, etc. Gorbachev openly to \"Lenin not Stalin\" from the end of the democratic faction to reveal the truth of Lenin\u0027s \"evil\" the Soviet Union will not be able to maintain stability.
Of course, with the shift to a free market economy, citizens were free to choose to die or not to die, just as women in Eastern Europe were free to choose to become prostitutes in Western Europe or in their own countries after the Eastern European upheaval, and men were free to choose to die or join the mob.
Even the most ardent defenders of a Communist ideal will admit that the system is no longer capable of delivering the goods.
The point is that no country can be completely isolated from the international market through a closed economy with internal circulation. That\u0027s the main reason why the Soviet bloc collapsed in the first place: their command economy was simply too inefficient. This has led to economic stagnation and lagging world technology. Even without turning to market-oriented reforms, a harbor for economic exchange with international markets is needed.
Of course, the new government under Yeltsin was not exactly amicable in nature to the working class, and many of the reforms it enacted were decidedly in its favor.
The dissolution of the Soviet Union is still being viewed through a variety of positions. For the fifteen nation-states that included Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union was certainly the criminal colonizer, but there were always those who saw the Soviet Union as Russia. Most notably, the 1932 Soviet Holodomor was viewed by Ukrainian nationalists as a Soviet genocide against Ukraine or Kazakhstan...However, the 1932 Soviet Holodomor covered Ukraine, South Russia, and Kazakhstan.
And before that, Lenin\u0027s implementation of the New Economic Policy led to a wave of Russian withdrawal from the All-Union Communist Party and Ukrainianization, while Stalin was only a statist. There is always a misconception that Stalin, a Georgian, was also a Russian nationalist. Stalin, as a Georgian and a communist, only used and suppressed Russian nationalism to maintain his rule, otherwise Mikhail Ivanovich Rodionov (1905-1050) would not have been shot on nationalistic grounds.
There are only two kinds of primitive capital accumulation for industrialization. One, the exploitation of colonies. Two, the exploitation of national peasants. The former is more likely to fight nationalism and expand the space for survival. The latter is easier to fight class struggle.
The results of the Soviet Union\u0027s First Five-Year Plan for industrialization were still very successful. In 1930, the construction of some 1,500 industrial complexes began, 50 of which absorbed almost half of the total investment. Many huge transport and industrial structures were created: the Turkic-Siberian railroad, the Dnepr River hydroelectric power station, Magnitogorsk, metallurgical plants in Lipetsk and Chelyabinsk, Novokuznetsk, Norilsk, and the Ural heavy machine building plant, as well as tractor plants in Stalingrad, Chelyabinsk, Kharkov, the Ural rolling stock plant, the Gorkovsky automobile plant, the Likhachev plant. Unfortunately, too much industrial development and too much agricultural seizure led to the Holodomor.
As to why the results of the wrong industrialization policy, the misrepresentation of the targets and the forced grain collection by the Ukrainian bureaucracy are attributed to the Soviet genocide narrative against Ukraine, while in South Russia and Kazakhstan, which also suffered from famine, there is almost no such narrative from the national point of view?
It is not to deny the atrocities that are firmly documented, but in the case of Ukraine, it is a political interpretation of an economic problem, not a principled rejection that can be easily explained from a Marxist perspective.
There are of course those who will deny the existence of the famine altogether, claiming that the figures are exaggerated and that the losses during the Holodomor are a result of military conflict with the Polish army, not the result of a man-made famine.
One should always be wary of such simplistic justifications, or what is perceived to be such.
One should pursue history itself, rather than using a variety of positions and perspectives to reach one\u0027s desired conclusion, which would only create the Texas shooter effect.
From the ashes of the old Soviet Union, a second, far more vibrant communist movement arose.
Much of this is that the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union (which some Americans call a revolution and believe where no one was killed or injured...) was unsuccessful, compared to the October Revolution of 1917, when the Soviet bureaucracy and military were as inactive as the Provisional Government of 1917 was with its political parties, and Yeltsin and the pro-Yeltsin liberals and nationalists, and socialists (interestingly, many at the time did not consider support for Yeltsin as equivalent to opposition to socialism) were actively involved or acted quickly. The end result was, of course, a victory for Yeltsin.
Only, Yeltsin was not about any democratization or making a better life for people. Thus, while he carried out the de-communization and abolition of the socialist system, he worked with the elites of the former Soviet Union to dismember the Soviet Union and then with the oligarchs who put on the capitalist suits after taking off the socialist veneer and established the presidential system. Of course, the rewards were great, and even after his retirement he lived in a state-owned luxury villa outside Moscow, with a full complement of cooks, guards, doctors, a police car to get in and out, and access to a government plane. After his retirement, he traveled abroad 8 to 10 times a year, all paid for by the state. His descendants are still among the elite class of the Russian Federation.
But the economic consequences of the dissolution of the Soviet Union were dire. Not only did it result in widespread poverty and unemployment, it also led to the near-collapse of the banking system. The Russian financial press is rife with articles about the \"New Economic Crisis,\" even though it has been more than 30 years since the fall of the Iron Curtain.
The matter of the collapse of the Soviet Union is certainly a good thing if you are a civilian in the capitalist camp, especially if you are an American.
For the people of the former Soviet Union, the dissolution of the Soviet Union was a catastrophe, and indeed one of the worst things to happen in their long history of state-sponsored oppression, exploitation, and genocide.
For most of them, it meant the end of the certainties of a planned economy in which everything was provided for everyone, and the beginning of a more atomized existence in which the individual was responsible for providing for his or her own needs, which usually meant struggling alongside the rest of the community against the odds of a brutal, unjust, and unforgiving market.
***
Tregubova yawned and put down the summary analysis report in her hand.
\"Too dry. I need some fresh air. Let\u0027s go for a walk in the park,\" she said, not looking up.
\"First let me see the information intelligence report.\" Romanov took the report over to view it and said, \"I hope I did everything right.\"
\"I have no doubt about that,\" Tregubova said.
\"Then why do I feel like I\u0027ve been beaten with a club?\"
\"No need to exaggerate,\" Tregubova said.
\"I\u0027m not exaggerating. I\u0027ve studied all the records and I know how to assess information. But we have to be able to trust each other.\" Romanov sighed and said, \"I have been given so much information that I can\u0027t tell what is true? What is a lie?\"
\"Don\u0027t beat yourself up over it. Sometimes we have to guess. We\u0027re trying to build a better world, and guess what? In this world, guess what most people want? More lies.\"
\"I suppose. So how can we trust a summary intelligence report when we can\u0027t trust the source?\"
\"We can\u0027t. That\u0027s the sad reality.\"
This is the paradox, that the Soviet hierarchy was precisely over-intelligent rather than under-intelligent, and that these problems had already arisen under Andropov, whose secret research work had predicted more than thirty possible future directions for the Soviet Union afterwards, the collapse of the Soviet Union being one of them.
As for the intelligence agencies, four agencies, the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the KGB, the Military Intelligence Agency, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were able to issue their own intelligence documents to the General Secretary, Politburo members, and members of the Central Committee. And the Central Committee also had its intelligence agencies to judge, as opposed to the ordinary people who had no intelligence and information, but instead the Central Committee had so much information that it could not judge correctly.
\"We cannot judge correctly what may happen, and even as rulers we cannot control the course of history.\" Romanov said with an expressionless face.
\"History always gets the last word,\" Tregubova said, amused.
\"History will judge us.\"
\"If you say so. So what are we going to do about this situation?\"
\"To establish an information intelligence unit to analyze social information and international intelligence and predict future developments and give solutions.\"
\"Good idea. Who will we get to run it?\"
\"You will run it,\" Romanov said.
Tregubova blinked in confusion. \"Me?\"
\"Yes. We need someone who isn\u0027t afraid to make hard decisions, someone who doesn\u0027t mind taking risks, and someone who is not afraid of controversy. We need a man like you, Comrade Tregubova.\"
Tregubova raised her eyebrows. She leaned back in her chair. \"Why me?\"
\"I trust that you will not mislead me, and more importantly, that you will simply gather all the information to analyze and predict any outcome that is fairly likely.\" Romanov said as he stared at the report, the content of which had not changed much from what Andropov had seen, still predicting that the Soviet Union would experience a serious crisis and possible disintegration in the early twenty-first century.
Tregubova studied Romanov\u0027s expression and said, \"You are a very strange man, Comrade Romanov. How can you be so sure of me?\"
\"Maybe it\u0027s love?\"
Tregubova smiled. \"Maybe. Is love a factor in your decision?\"
\"Of course.\"
\"Well, I do love you. Do you love me?\"
\"Yes,\" Romanov said. \"Stop it, go for a walk in the park and then go see a movie?\"
\"Sounds good to me. I hope you will like the movie.\"
\"We\u0027ll see.\"
Tregubova got up from her seat. She stretched, and said, \"Come on.\"
They left the room, heading to the park. It was a breezeless day, the sky being clear and blue. The park was large and uncluttered, the sort of place that the Soviets were fond of creating. They walked along the pathways, admiring the pristine rows of pristine trees.
\"How many people were killed by the Red Army during the defense of the nation?\" Tregubova asked.
\"Many, the Black Army, the White Guard and the Green Army have resisted, and it would be better to keep those names in the General Administration of Archives.\" Romanov asked. \"What is the name of the movie you want to see?\"
\"Wings of Desire.\"
\"I have never heard this story. What is it?\"
Tregubova smiled. \"It\u0027s an art film. You will like it. It\u0027s a little strange, though. Tell me, do you believe in God?\"
\"Of course not.\"
\"How about ghosts?\"
\"I\u0027m not sure.\"
\"Do you think there\u0027s a heaven?\"
\"No.\"
Tregubova smiled. \"Good. Neither do I.\"
\"There is no paradise of illusions, a better world can only be created by ourselves. The Committee on Economic Planning and Development is thinking about the implementation of a seven-hour workday into the twenty-first century, and perhaps by 2020 the Soviet Union will be able to adopt a four-day workday or a six-hour workday.\"
\"I think you overestimate the working class.\"
\"Maybe. I don\u0027t think it\u0027s wise to underestimate them. At the very least, we should make people\u0027s lives better, and our inability to supply goods is only a matter of productivity capacity, not a planned economic system of production relations. We should not refuse to let working hours shorten and labor productivity rise in order to prevent costs from rising and profits from falling. Working people are capable of a great deal when they are motivated, and when they have the leisure to do so.\"
\"How can you be so sure of this?\"
\"If you worked 12 hours a day or even 16 hours like you did in the nineteenth century under capitalist exploitation without unions and democratic socialists, would you have the time and energy to learn and create art to satisfy the value of self-actualization?\"
\"Probably not.\"
\"The value and potential for human existence is never going to be fully realized by simply working more hours.\"
\"What exactly are you getting at?\"
\"The point is, in a fully industrialized society, what leisure time we have is filled with the products that capitalism creates. Leisure time is for the benefit of the individual, not one big mass of people. When we work, we create, if only for a short period of time, the materials for our own products. That is the role of work. When we don\u0027t work, we create for others. When others don\u0027t create, we go without. This is the cycle of creation.\"
\"So, are you suggesting that we implement a system where we create more for others?\"
\"Yes and no, we should create a collective altruistic way of life, think of a form of society where there is no currency with all the goods of life distributed on demand.\" Romanov shook her hand and smiled, a smile of genuine belief, not hypocrisy. \"With that, we can all achieve a state of true freedom, a world without want and need.\"
\"Sounds like an utopia.\"
\"An achievable utopia, now, that we can\u0027t achieve is a relationship of productivity rather than an inability to achieve, and it certainly wouldn\u0027t be there if people didn\u0027t go for it. It\u0027s just that egoism can get in our way and put people in a prisoner\u0027s dilemma of pursuing the best option for the individual.\" Romanov paused and said, \"But as long as the productivity keeps developing, there will be a day when it will be realized. Just as if one day the production and maintenance of goods is completely unmanned and automated, then the time will come when production relations and social distribution will inevitably be based on need, or else we will be in unemployment and economic captivity. This will not be changed by the will of man.\"
\"So, automation and robotics would help us toward a utopia?\"
\"It\u0027s possible, or some other social formation. But surely just as capitalism eliminated feudalism, so the new social form will eliminate capitalism. The new generation of humanity at that time might discuss new topics, and socialism and capitalism would be eliminated just as Christianity was once opposed to Islam.\"
\"So, you believe in the need for a system of social organization that works for people.\"
\"Yes, but it\u0027s not going to be created by people doing what they want. It will be created with constraints and it will be created by people who want something different. It will be created to fulfill human needs and desires, not merely to satisfy them.\"
\"That\u0027s a tall order, comrade.\"
\"Yes, it is. Let\u0027s sit on a bench by the river. I have a few minutes before my next meeting. We can go over our plans for the day. If you have any creative ideas, I\u0027m sure you\u0027ll share them so we can all benefit from them.\"
Tregubova walked along the embankment, her hands in her pocket, staring out into the water. Romanov sat down and stretched out his legs, leaning back and closing his eyes for a moment.
\"The world we live in is like an immense machine,\" Romanov said. \"And like any machine, it has to have checks and balances. We are the humans, and we are the engineers. We have certain responsibilities and we need to fulfill them or the machine won\u0027t work. The problem is, people don\u0027t necessarily like having the engineers make the decisions. They prefer to think they\u0027re the ones making the decisions, even if that isn\u0027t the case. I think that\u0027s what\u0027s happened with the working class. They\u0027ve lost their ability to decide the course of their lives. They\u0027ve become subjects instead of citizens. They\u0027ve given up the power to choose, and now they\u0027re angry about it. We can\u0027t give up on them. The question is how do we motivate people to want to choose the better options?\"
\"Do you think they\u0027ll choose the better options if we tell them the consequences?\"
\"Yes, I do.\"
Tregubova thought carefully and said, \"Why do you say that the stagnation of the Soviet planned economy was isolated from the trade of the economic regional blocs of the capitalist camp? It was the result of the Iron Curtain isolation caused by the United States together with us in the Soviet Union.\"
\"Yes, but propaganda has us attributing the cause all to Stalin\u0027s belief that an economic crisis would erupt in the capitalist market and the Soviet economy was allowed to circulate internally, all because the capitalist camp\u0027s trade blockade of us could garner support and xenophobia. These were for propaganda purposes, just as the communist parties in other countries used Khrushchev\u0027s secret reports with a dead Stalin to get out of Soviet control. Although before that they participated in de-Stalinization.\"
\"I think you are being overly cynical. Stalin was a tyrant, and he used the political system...\"
\"He doesn\u0027t matter, the dead are more useful than the living. Just like Lenin, what matters is propaganda and popular support, just as liberals opposed Lenin and Stalin, not against them but against communism. After all, massacres and military repression have been done by every government. Would anyone use the Irish famine, the Washington tragedy in the US, or the Ottoman genocide of Armenians to accuse against?\"
\"Well, no one\u0027s using the Armenian genocide...\"
\"Right, so the point is that we control propaganda, and propaganda is what controls public memory. Only historians need real history, people can only see blood and tears from real history.\" Romanov said after a moment of silence, \"We won\u0027t cover up history, it\u0027s just better to let the archives be declassified fifty years later.\"
\"But doesn\u0027t that make it easier for people to justify...\"
\"Do you want people to know how much you have in a Swiss bank?\" Romanov stared at her expressionlessly and said, \"How much?\"
\"Um...\" She looked down.
\"How much?\" he asked again.
\"Well, let\u0027s just say that if there was an inheritance or trust that you wanted to escape, you\u0027d want to avoid the bureaucracy...\"
Romanov leaned forward and stared at her.
\"Okay, $30 million.\"
She nodded.
\"I\u0027ll get the money transferred to an offshore account.\"
\"Oh, I didn\u0027t want to...\" She started to say, but then stopped.
\"Of course you didn\u0027t,\" Romanov said, \"You want the money there? Have my money in your bank account?\"
\"Well...\"
\"You have it in your account or not?\"
\"Well yeah, but...\"
\"Offshore bank account details,\" Romanov said, \"Or you can spend the rest of your life doing hard labor in Siberia.\"
\"Fine...\" She relented, \"The money\u0027s in a Swiss account.\"
Romanov said, \"You always like to struggle with such small things, come on, let\u0027s go back to the villa and watch a movie.\"
She took his arm and walked back out onto the embankment.
Romanov looked to the sky, thinking. Then he got up, stretched, and walked along the embankment, thinking.
\"When you get home, transfer the money to my offshore account and your money will be in it.\"
\"Yes,\" she said, turning around to walk back home.
She took his arm again and they walked along the embankment. They walked for a long time in silence.
When they reached the road back to the city, she said, \"We\u0027re being watched.\"
\"By whom?\"
\"I don\u0027t know.\"
\"Well, let\u0027s find out,\" Romanov said.
Beyond Romanov\u0027s guard vehicles, several civilian vehicles followed close behind. The group drove down the road, followed by two vehicles from the airport.
\"Do you think they\u0027re following us?\" she asked.
\"Yes,\" Romanov said, \"KGB? Or the Interior Ministry?\"
\"Hard to say,\" he said, \"The Ministry of Intelligence has a habit of putting their own people in to spy on each other.\"
\"Then shouldn\u0027t we increase our speed?\" she asked.
\"No, that means we found them.\" Romanov closed his eyes and said, \"Stay awake and keep moving as normal.\"
\"Okay,\" she said, pulling her coat tighter.
The cars trailed behind for a little longer, then all fell in close proximity. There was a sudden burst of flashing blue and red lights as the police cars began to pull up alongside them.
\"There\u0027s the police,\" she said.
police who was leading the group, drew his pistol and said, \"Stay calm. Pull over, it\u0027s only a routine check.\"
The driver, a young man in his twenties, stopped the car.
\"Step out of the vehicle, hands on the vehicle.\"
He did so, though he kept his hands in his pockets. His hands were shaking, and he kept glancing in the direction of the police cars.
\"Search the vehicle.\"
***
\"Perhaps, the KGB has too much power.\" Romanov tried her out.
\"I\u0027m not arguing that, but how do you think they found us?\"
\"I think they\u0027re incompetent.\" He smiled. \"That\u0027s why we\u0027re going to take things over.\"
\"What do you mean?\"
\"What I mean is, I\u0027m going to take the lead. You do what I say without questions.\"
\"Okay...\" She said, taken aback.
Romanov smiled and said, \"I have to go to Eastern Europe next week to cut off the black hand of the American agitators.\"
\"I\u0027m coming with you.\"
\"I\u0027d like that,\" he said.
She sat quietly for a moment, then said, \"Okay.\"
\"Good.\" He nodded and said, \"Hopefully I can take care of the traitors, as well as keep the people in peace.\"
\"Hopefully,\" she said.
\"Okay,\" he said, \"Let\u0027s go home.\"
The two men walked back to his limousine.
He got back into the car and took the driver\u0027s seat, she got in the other side and sat next to him. The car drove off. They headed back toward his estate.
\"What do you think?\" he asked, turning to her.
\"But you\u0027re coming with me anyway.\"
\"That I\u0027m out of my mind to be doing this,\" she said.
\"Good,\" he said, smiling. \"Will you help me?\"
\"Yes,\" she said.
\"Then let\u0027s get down to it.\"
He spent the rest of the day planning, and the next several days as well. The plan will not end, just wait for the traitors in Eastern Europe to fall into the trap.
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