The assassination of Yanaev caused a great deal of turmoil in the already turbulent Soviet political situation. The Soviet authorities could not accept the tragic news of losing two top leaders within two days. Fortunately, the bullet just flew past Yanaev's shoulder, so he only suffered some superficial injuries. Even the doctor who bandaged the wound was amazed that this shot was a blessing in disguise.
Of course, no one knew that the attacker was the GRU's best sniper, who had rehearsed this seemingly impromptu assassination more than a dozen times.
The injury of the top leader of the Soviet Communist Party gave the martial law soldiers a legitimate reason to expel the demonstrators. The people, who were already disorganized and had little fighting power, had already lost their fighting spirit after Yanayev's strongman-like speech. When the police with riot shields cleared the scene, they immediately scattered. After the crowds at the White House gate had dispersed, Yeltsin's body was carried out by the GRU assassins and secretly transported to the hospital morgue.
Then that afternoon, the news that Russian President Yeltsin committed suicide out of fear of crime was repeatedly played on the TV screen, declaring that the Soviet Union would not let Yeltsin and his accomplices who were trying to destroy the country go. Some political allies who had secret deals with Yeltsin saw this news, desperately took out pistols and stuffed them into their mouths.
For them, they would rather commit suicide than be arrested by the KGB.
However, there are still many intellectuals who advocate Western democracy and freedom who look down on this news, which is hailed as the victory of the people, and say "pooh" with disdain. However, these flies who are still dreaming of democracy and freedom do not know that the great disaster of winter is coming. When the time comes, they will find that being locked up in the special mental hospital of the Fifth Bureau of the KGB is completely a summer holiday enjoyment compared to the torture they have suffered.
Yanayev sat on the hospital bed happily watching the news on TV. The martial law had only lasted for half a day, and the center of Moscow had basically stabilized. Except for some small-scale conflicts in some places, everything else had returned to its former order. The scenarios of major riots that were originally planned to happen became unknown secrets with Yeltsin's death.
KGB agents were stationed outside Yanaev's ward. The attacker had not been caught yet, so they dared not relax for a moment. If Yanaev really had an accident, the last leader who saved the Soviet Union would have disappeared completely.
Prime Minister Pavlov came from the Kremlin to express his condolences to the top Soviet leader. He was sitting next to Yanaev. As the organizer of the State of Emergency Committee, Pavlov was particularly concerned about Yanaev's health. When he walked into the ward and saw Yanaev's ruddy face and friendly greetings, Pavlov finally felt relieved.
Yanayev raised the white gauze wrapped around his shoulder and said with a smile, "I wonder if that gunman's marksmanship is really that bad, or has he reached the level of perfection?"
Pavlov also smiled, but then he put on a serious face and said, "It's time for us to discuss the future of the Soviet Union, General Secretary Yanaev."
Pavlov had changed Yanaev's address from Vice President to General Secretary, and Yanaev cleverly captured his expression.
"Gorbachev's terrible reforms have brought the Soviet economy into the abyss. We must abolish all of Gorbachev's political and economic reform plans and work out new plans to stop all this. Of course, reforms cannot be accomplished overnight by just slapping your thighs. I analyzed Gorbachev's failed case." Prime Minister Pavlov sounded like he wanted to teach Yanaev a lesson, so Yanaev pretended to listen attentively.
"Gorbachev's multi-party system and parliamentary politics were the deep-seated reasons for the decline of the Soviet socialist system. Because our socialist country can only be a country of proletarian dictatorship in essence. What is the dictatorship of the proletariat? It is the transition from the last exploiting class society - capitalist society to the proletarian society, that is, communist society. Gorbachev even gave up the most basic and core principle of the socialist path. Moreover, he promoted privatization in the economy. He tried to privatize on the condition of begging for economic assistance from capitalist countries led by the United States, in order to fundamentally change the economic foundation of socialism. My God, this stupid approach has simply shaken our economic foundation."
Pavlov basically summarized the problems that arose in Gorbachev's reforms. Since the Soviet Union's problems were economic, Yanaev didn't mind repeating what he had learned from textbooks.
"Since we've mentioned the economy, I'd like to say a little more." Yanayev organized his words and said slowly, "Since 1900, the Soviet economy has been in serious trouble. This economic crisis can be said to be the most difficult period since the war. The economic growth rate has dropped significantly. The growth rate of national income and industrial output value has dropped by almost half compared to the same period before, such as the national income dropped from 4.7% to 2.4%. And since the beginning of this year, our economic situation has become even worse, with the total social output value falling by 2%, the national income falling by 4%, and the labor productivity falling by 3%. Although we all realize that the rigid system will bring serious consequences, Khrushchev, Brezhnev and Gorbachev are just trying to make repairs, without fundamentally touching the root of the economic problems."
"So?" Pavlov's eyes lit up. It seemed that Yanaev had already figured out the reform strategy in his mind.
Yanayev waved his hand, indicating that Pavlov wanted to hear him out. "There is a serious shortage of consumer goods, and the market supply is extremely tight. Some reports indicate that only 5% of products are in sufficient supply, and the remaining 95% are actually in short supply. The supply of food, which is closely related to residents' lives, is even tighter. Among the 211 kinds of food, 188 are supplied with coupons. Isn't this the fault of our country's leaders? Of course, I'm not particularly good at economics, so I can only point out some problems. The specific methods have to be handed over to those professional economists."
"But since the beginning of last year, we have implemented a series of economic adjustment policy measures. For example, the growth rate of industrial products urgently needed by the people will be 12.4 times that of heavy industrial products needed by the country. Investment in material production will be reduced by 12 billion rubles compared with 1989, and investment in the agro-industrial complex, light industry, and daily life services will be increased. Investment in the agro-industrial complex alone will increase by 8 billion rubles. In order to strengthen agricultural construction, in addition to widely promoting the leasing and contracting system in the future, we must carry out structural adjustments to agricultural investment, focusing on increasing the modernization of agricultural product processing departments and storage equipment." Pavlov recited the government's document measures word for word.
"But many of these reform measures are emergency measures. The Soviet Union's economic situation is unlikely to change significantly. Adjustment and austerity policies will generally not produce significant results until 1995. Because many adjustment measures are difficult to work in the short term, such as the adjustment of economic structure, which takes time. And the government must cut spending and reduce the proportion of military spending in total spending." At this point, Yanayev scratched his head. Gorbachev had left him with a mess full of holes. The army had already complained about Gorbachev's cuts in military spending. If he continued, there was no guarantee that someone would follow suit and stage a coup. But if he didn't cut military spending, it would be a headache to continue paying a huge amount of maintenance costs for the Soviet steel torrent.
"You mean we need to continue disarmament if possible?" Pavlov frowned. "Right now the Soviet Union is unstable everywhere. We need an army to maintain stability."
When Pavlov said this, Yanayev suddenly realized that what Gorbachev had left behind was not only a mess, but also a colorful venomous snake that would occasionally emerge from the dense holes and spit its scarlet tongue at him. Now everything was urgent and impatient, but the only thing he could do was to take it slow.
Yanaev suddenly had an idea, which was not a good idea, but a short-term solution that could temporarily solve the military spending problem.
"Perhaps, we can learn from neighboring countries and let the army do business to raise part of the military expenses?" Yanayev said thoughtfully, holding his chin. According to national conditions, the Soviet army's business can only exist in the form of foreign trade, and the shady gray income involved is another thorny problem that needs to be solved.
"The military is doing business?" Pavlov was a little confused about Yanayev's idea. "Is this making our country's violence machine align with Western capitalism?"
"No, the military doing business is a very complicated matter. There is no rush for this matter. We still need to discuss it with Defense Minister Yazov and General Varennikov of the Army Ministry. But now I have thought of the best person to preside over economic reforms." Yanaev said.