This was the first time that Alexander Solzhenitsyn picked up his pen to write a story about a dictator. Before that, whether it was "The Gulag Archipelago" or "Matriona's House", Solzhenitsyn only targeted the dictatorship and tyranny of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In his eyes, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was evil, a political organization formed by countless power-hungry people to oppress human rights.
Sometimes Solzhenitsyn would think that if there hadn't been that damn Great Purge, he might have been promoted from an artillery captain to a major, and then become a hero in the Great Patriotic War, respected and loved by the people. Instead of working in obscurity in a labor reform camp in Kazakhstan. Originally, those medals and honors belonged to him, but fate made him an enemy of the Soviet Union.
Thinking of this, Solzhenitsyn picked up his pen and wrote the first sentence on the paper, "On a quiet night of August 26, 1937, a baby cried in the quiet village of Perevoz in Gorky Oblast. The parents of the newborn were celebrating that they finally had a child. The man named Yanaev named the newborn Gennady Ivanovich Yanaev. But they didn't know that this child would play an important role in the future Soviet state. A veritable tyrant, a man who runs counter to freedom and democracy."
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Yanayev walked down the narrow corridor. His last opponent was Soviet Foreign Minister Shevardnadze, Gorbachev's right-hand man in destroying the communist world. With his support, Eastern European countries were allowed to follow their own paths and no longer be bound by Soviet control. He also refused to intervene when the Eastern European Communist Party called on the Soviet Union to intervene militarily to resolve the democratization movement that began to sweep across Eastern Europe.
Shevardnadze's folly paved the way for the peaceful democratization of most of Eastern Europe. He is said to have repeatedly told hardliners: "We must now realize that socialism, friendship, neighborliness and mutual respect cannot be achieved with bayonets, tanks and blood."
Communists and Russian nationalists considered his actions treasonous, and some of his longtime Moscow figures were seen as villains. And with the fall of Gorbachev and Yeltsin, Shevardnadze had little warm soil left to push for democratic reforms.
However, Yanayev was still troubled by how to bring down Shevardnadze, because he had built a reputation for strictness and seriousness. For example, Shevardnadze used public transportation on his way to work instead of using the cars that Politburo members could use. For example, Shevardnadze was incorruptible and had never embezzled any state property, which was a rare sight in the corrupt bureaucracy. But it was extremely difficult to find a way to break through Shevardnadze and throw him into prison.
If Shevardnadze had not been so determined to unite the republics and break away from the control of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Yanaev would really like to sit down with this guy to chat and reminisce about the past, and ask him if he wants to join his staff group.
"Comrade Yanaev, walking into my office so openly without saying hello is definitely not a very polite way of greeting." Seeing Yanaev pushing the door open, Shevardnadze faced the iron-blooded dictator calmly. After all, apart from the inconsistent political stance, it would be difficult for Yanaev to find any fault with the old fox.
"Haven't you come here specially to visit my old friend, Comrade Shevardnadze?" Yanaev smiled and sat opposite him, testing the other party little by little.
"Ahem, shouldn't Comrade Yanaev be launching a great anti-counterrevolutionary movement within the entire Soviet Union? It is said that after the anti-counterrevolutionary movement began, many worried officials committed suicide out of fear of punishment." Shevardnadze stared at Yanaev meaningfully, "I heard that my old friend Yakovlev also became one of the victims of suicide, and he was the highest leader of the Soviet Communist Party to commit suicide, right?"
"Of course you will be fine, Comrade Shevardnadze." Yanaev spread his arms and said, "Look, what a great communist fighter he is. He works hard and is honest. Compared with those parasites, he is simply a role model for socialist builders. It's a pity..." Yanaev deliberately took a deep breath, "It's a pity that he made a more serious mistake, that is, changing his ideological line, which is more hateful than collecting money."
"Oh?" Shevardnadze raised his eyebrows. "You are making a false accusation, Comrade Yanaev. When did I become a traitor to the free world? Ideology cannot be used as evidence of a conviction today."
Yanayev looked at Shevardnadze as if he were an old rival worthy of respect. Of course, if he had not found a way to defeat Shevardnadze, Yanayev would not be standing here so openly.
"It's a pity that you forgot one thing about you. That is your daughter, and your wife. Do you really think I don't know about the dirty things they did in private?" Yanayev looked at Shevardnadze like a clown performance. "You keep saying that you are an honest person, but you indulge your relatives to make a lot of money. Do you really think we are all fools?"
In the original timeline, Shevardnadze became the second president of Georgia after the collapse of the Soviet Union, but he indulged his wife and daughter in corruption, which turned Georgia into one of the most corrupt countries in the world. A corrupt country with an honest president sounds like a black humor joke. The smile on Shevardnadze's face slowly disappeared with Yanayev's words.
"What do you want?" Shevardnadze was nervous inside, but pretended to be calm on the surface. He had seen Yanaev's methods, so he didn't want his family to become the next Yakovlev. Yanaev didn't directly bypass Shevardnadze for trial, and he knew that his ultimate goal was still him.
"Resign." Yanayev's words were concise and clear. "If you resign from the position of Soviet Foreign Minister, I will still help you. I will not cause any trouble for the small dark room your family has been in. If you still insist on not changing your ways, don't blame me for being ruthless."
Shevardnadze lowered his eyes and said helplessly, "I promise you, Yanaev."
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"The 'dictator' finally tore off all his hypocritical masks at this moment, revealing his sinister, scheming face. He used the most vicious means to attack those dissidents and played them around. People began to fear him, his friends were wary of him, and it seemed that everyone had become an enemy at this moment. But the 'dictator' was not alone, and he didn't mind, because his goal was to become the greatest ruler, the Tsar."
Having written this, Solzhenitsyn put down his pen, read through his manuscript with satisfaction, and then hesitated when he was about to write the ending, and finally changed it to another sentence.