Revolution

by Edwin K. Sloat

then, actually, you're a traitor to Russia."

  Paul laughed. "Look who's talking. A leader of the underground."

  Ana wasn't amused. "But there is a difference in motivation. I fight toimprove my country. You fight for the United States and the West."

  "I can't see much difference. We're both trying to overthrow a viciousbureaucracy." He laughed again. "You hate them as much as I do."

  "I don't know." She frowned, trying to find words, dropped English andspoke in Russian. "The Communists made mistakes, horrible mistakesand--especially under Stalin--were vicious beyond belief to achieve whatthey wanted. But they did achieve it. They built our country into theworld's strongest."

  "If you're so happy with them, why are you trying to eliminate theCommies? You don't make much sense."

  She shook her head, as though it was he who made no sense. "They arethrough now, no longer needed. A hindrance to progress." She hesitated,then, "When I was a student I remember being so impressed by somethingwritten by Nehru that I memorized it. He wrote it while in a Britishjail in 1935. Listen." She closed her eyes and quoted:

  "_Economic interests shape the political views of groups and classes.Neither reason nor moral considerations override these interests.Individuals may be converted, they may surrender their specialprivileges, although this is rare enough, but classes and groups do notdo so. The attempt to convert a governing and privileged class intoforsaking power and giving up its unjust privileges has therefore alwaysso far failed, and there seems to be no reason whatever to hold that itwill succeed in the future._"

  Paul was frowning at her. "What's your point?"

  "My point is that the Communists are in the position Nehru speaks of.They're in power and won't let go. The longer they remain in power aftertheir usefulness is over, the more vicious they must become to maintainthemselves. Since this is a police state the only way to get them out isthrough violence. That's why I find myself in the underground. But I ama patriotic Russian!" She turned to him. "Why do _you_ hate the Sovietsso, Mr. Smith?"

  The American agent shrugged. "My grandfather was a member of the minoraristocracy. When the Bolsheviks came to power he joined Wrangel's WhiteArmy. When the Crimea fell he was in the rear guard. They shot him."

  "That was your grandfather?" Shvernik said.

  "Right. However, my own father was a student at the Petrograd Universityat that time. Left wing inclined, in fact. I think he belonged toKerensky's Social Democrats. At any rate, in spite of his upper classbackground he made out all right for a time. In fact he became aninstructor and our early life wasn't particularly bad." Paul cleared histhroat. "Until the purges in the 1930s. It was decided that my fatherwas a Bukharinist Right Deviationist, whatever that was. They came andgot him one night in 1938 and my family never saw him again."

  Paul disliked the subject. "To cut it short, when the war came along, mymother was killed in the Nazi bombardment of Leningrad. My brother wentinto the army and became a lieutenant. He was captured by the Germanswhen they took Kharkov, along with a hundred thousand or so others ofthe Red Army. When the Soviets, a couple of years later, pushed backinto Poland he was recaptured."

  Ana said, "You mean liberated from the Germans?"

  "Recaptured, is the better word. The Soviets shot him. It seems thatofficers of the Red Army aren't allowed to surrender."

  Ana said painfully, "How did you escape all this?"

  "My father must have seen the handwriting on the wall. I was only fiveyears old when he sent me to London to a cousin. A year later we movedto the States. Actually, I have practically no memories of Leningrad,very few of my family. However, I am not very fond of the Soviets."

  "No," Ana said softly.

  Shvernik said, "And what was your father's name?"

  "Theodore Koslov."

  Shvernik said, "I studied French literature under him."

  Ana stiffened in her chair, and her eyes went wide. "Koslov," she said."You must be Paul Koslov."

  Paul poured himself another small vodka. "In my field it is a handicapto have a reputation. I didn't know it had extended to the man in thestreet on this side of the Iron Curtain."

  * * * * *

  It was by no means the last trip that Paul Koslov was to make to hisunderground contacts, nor the last visit to the dacha at Petrodvorets.

  In fact, the dacha became the meeting center of the Russian undergroundwith their liaison agent from the West. Through it funneled the problemsinvolved in the logistics of the thing. Spotted through the rest of thevast stretches of the country, Paul had his local agents, American,British, French, West German. But this was the center.

  The Mikoyan Camera made a great success in the States. And littlewonder. Unknown to the Soviets, the advertising campaign that sold itcost several times the income from the sales. All they saw were thecontinued orders, the repeated visits of Mr. John Smith to Leningrad onbuying trips. Leonid Shvernik was even given a promotion on the strengthof his so ably cracking the American market. Ana Furtseva wasautomatically assigned to Paul as interpreter-guide whenever he appearedin the Soviet Union's second capital.

  In fact, when he made his "tourist" jaunts to the Black Sea region, tothe Urals, to Turkestan, to Siberia, he was able to have her assigned tothe whole trip with him. It gave a tremendous advantage in his work withthe other branches of the underground.

  Questions, unthought of originally when Paul Koslov had been sent intothe U.S.S.R., arose as the movement progressed.

  On his third visit to the dacha he said to Shvernik and three others ofthe organization's leaders who had gathered for the conference, "Look,my immediate superior wants me to find out who is to be your top man,the chief of state of the new regime when Number One and the presenthierarchy have been overthrown."

  Leonid Shvernik looked at him blankly. By this stage, he, as well asAna, had become more to Paul than just pawns in the game being played.For some reason, having studied under the older Koslov seemed to give apersonal touch that had grown.

  Nikolai Kirichenko, a higher-up in the Moscow branch of the underground,looked strangely at Paul then at Shvernik. "What have you told him aboutthe nature of our movement?" he demanded.

  Paul said, "What's the matter? All I wanted to know was who wasscheduled to be top man."

  Shvernik said, "Actually, I suppose we have had little time to discusthe nature of the new society we plan. We've been busy working on theoverthrow of the Communists. However, I thought ..."

  Paul was uneasy now. Leonid was right. Actually in his association withboth Ana and Leonid Shvernik they had seldom mentioned what was tofollow the collapse of the Soviets. It suddenly occurred to him howoverwhelmingly important this was.

  Nikolai Kirichenko, who spoke no English, said in Russian, "See here, weare not an organization attempting to seize power for ourselves."

  This was a delicate point, Paul sensed. Revolutions are seldom put overin the name of reaction or even conservatism. Whatever the finalproduct, they are invariably presented as being motivated by liberalidealism and progress.

  He said, "I am familiar with the dedication of your organization. I haveno desire to underestimate your ideals. However, my question ispresented with good intentions and remains unanswered. You aren'tanarchists, I know. You expect a responsible government to be in controlafter the removal of the police state. So I repeat, who is to be yourhead man?"

  "How would we know?" Kirichenko blurted in irritation. "We're workingtoward a democracy. It's up to the Russian people to elect any officialsthey may find necessary to govern the country."

  Shvernik said, "However, the very idea of a _head man_, as you call him,is opposed to what we have in mind. We aren't looking for asuper-leader. We've had enough of leaders. Our experience is that it istoo easy for them to become misleaders. If the history of this centuryhas proven anything with its Mussolinis, Hitlers, Stalins, Chiangs, andMaos, it is that the search for a leader to take over the problems of apeople is a vain one. The job has to be done
by the people themselves."

  Paul hadn't wanted to get involved in the internals of their politicalideology. It was dangerous ground. For all he knew, there might be widedifferences within the ranks of the revolutionary movement. There almostalways were. He couldn't take sides. His only interest in all this wasthe overthrow of the Soviets.

  He covered. "Your point is well taken, of course. I understandcompletely. Oh, and here's one other matter for discussion. These radiotransmitters for your underground broadcasts."

  It was a subject in which they were particularly interested. TheRussians leaned forward.

  "Here's the problem," Kirichenko said. "As you know, the Soviet Unionconsists of fifteen republics. In addition there are seventeenAutonomous Soviet Socialist Republics that coexist within these basicfifteen republics. There are also ten of what we call AutonomousRegions. Largely, each of these political divisions speak differentlanguages and have their own cultural differences."

  Paul said, "Then it will be necessary to have transmitters for each ofthese areas?"

  "Even more. Because some are so large that we will find it necessary tohave more than one underground station."

  Leonid Shvernik said worriedly, "And here is another thing. The KGB hasthe latest in equipment for spotting the location of an illegal station.Can you do anything about this?"

  Paul said, "We'll put our best electronics men to work. The problem as Iunderstand it, is to devise a method of broadcasting that the secretpolice can't trace."

  They looked relieved. "Yes, that is the problem," Kirichenko said.

  * * * * *

  He brought up the subject some time later when he was alone with Ana.They were strolling along the left bank of the Neva River, parallelingthe Admiralty Building, supposedly on a sightseeing tour.

  He said, "I was discussing the future government with Leonid and some ofthe others the other day. I don't think I got a very clear picture ofit." He gave her a general rundown of the conversation.

  She twisted her mouth characteristically at him. "What did you expect, areturn to Czarism? Let me see, who is pretender to the throne thesedays? Some Grand Duke in Paris, isn't it?"

  He laughed with her. "I'm not up on such questions," Paul admitted. "Ithink I rather pictured a democratic parliamentary government, somewherebetween the United States and England."

  "Those are governmental forms based on a capitalist society, Paul."

  Her hair gleamed in the brightness of the sun and he had to bring hismind back to the conversation.

  "Well, yes. But you're overthrowing the Communists. That's the point,isn't it?"

  "Not the way you put it. Let's set if I can explain. To begin with,there have only been three bases of government evolved by man ... I'mgoing to have to simplify this."

  "It isn't my field, but go on," Paul said. She wore less lipstick thanyou'd expect on an American girl but it went with her freshness.

  "The first type of governmental system was based on the family. YourAmerican Indians were a good example. The family, the clan, the tribe.In some cases, like the Iroquois Confederation, a nation of tribes. Youwere represented in the government according to the family or clan inwhich you were born."

  "Still with you so far," Paul said. She had a very slight dimple in herleft cheek. Dimples went best with blondes, Paul decided.

  "The next governmental system was based on property. Chattel slavery,feudalism, capitalism. In ancient Athens, for example, those Athenianswho owned the property of the City-State, and the slaves with which towork it, also governed the nation. Under feudalism, the nobility ownedthe country and governed it. The more land a noble owned, the larger hisvoice in government. I'm speaking broadly, of course."

  "Of course," Paul said. He decided that she had more an American typefigure than was usual here. He brought his concentration back to thesubject. "However, that doesn't apply under capitalism. We havedemocracy. Everyone votes, not just the owner of property."

  Ana was very serious about it. "You mustn't use the words capitalism anddemocracy interchangeably. You can have capitalism, which is a socialsystem, without having democracy which is a political system. Forinstance, when Hitler was in power in Germany the government was adictatorship but the social system was still capitalism."

  Then she grinned at him mischievously. "Even in the United States Ithink you'll find that the people who own a capitalist country run thecountry. Those who control great wealth have a large say in the runningof the political parties, both locally and nationally. Your smallerproperty owners have a smaller voice in local politics. But how large alobby does your itinerant harvest worker in Texas have in Washington?"

  Paul said, slightly irritated now, "This is a big subject and I don'tagree with you. However, I'm not interested now in the government of theUnited States. I want to know what you people have in store for Russia,if and when you take over."

  She shook her head in despair at him. "That's the point the others weretrying to make to you. We have no intention of taking over. We don'twant to and probably couldn't even if we did want to. What we'readvocating is a new type of government based on a new type ofrepresentation."

  He noticed the faint touch of freckles about her nose, her shoulders--tothe extent her dress revealed them--and on her arms. Her skin was fairas only the northern races produce.

  Paul said, "All right. Now we get to this third base of government. Thefirst was the family, the second was property. What else is there?"

  "In an ultramodern, industrialized society, there is your method ofmaking your livelihood. In the future you will be represented from whereyou work. From your industry or profession. The parliament, or congress,of the nation would consist of elected members from each branch ofproduction, distribution, communication, education, medicine--"

  "Syndicalism," Paul said, "with some touches of Technocracy."

  She shrugged. "Your American Technocracy of the 1930s I am not toofamiliar with, although I understand power came from top to bottom,rather than from bottom to top, democratically. The early syndicalistsdeveloped some of the ideas which later thinkers have elaborated upon, Isuppose. So many of these terms have become all but meaningless throughsloppy use. What in the world does Socialism mean, for instance?According to some, your Roosevelt was a Socialist. Hitler called himselfa National Socialist. Mussolini once edited a Socialist paper. Stalincalled himself a Socialist and the British currently have a Socialistgovernment--mind you, with a Queen on the throne."

  "The advantage of voting from where you work rather than from where youlive doesn't come home to me," Paul said.

  "Among other things, a person knows the qualifications of the peoplewith whom he works," Ana said, "whether he is a scientist in alaboratory or a technician in an automated factory. But how many peopleactually know anything about the political candidates for whom theyvote?"

  "I suppose we could discuss this all day," Paul said. "But what I wasgetting to is what happens when your outfit takes over here inLeningrad? Does Leonid become local commissar, or head of police, or ...well, whatever new title you've dreamed up?"

  Ana laughed at him, as though he was impossible. "Mr. Koslov, you have amind hard to penetrate. I keep telling you, we, the revolutionaryunderground, have no desire to take over and don't think that we couldeven if we wished. When the Soviets are overthrown by our organisation,the new government will assume power. We disappear as an organization.Our job is done. Leonid? I don't know, perhaps his fellow employees atthe Mikoyan Camera works will vote him into some office in the plant, ifthey think him capable enough."

  "Well," Paul sighed, "it's your country. I'll stick to the Americansystem." He couldn't take his eyes from the way her lips tucked in atthe sides.

  Ana said, "How long have you been in love with me, Paul?"

  "What?"

  She laughed. "Don't be so blank. It would be rather odd, wouldn't it, iftwo people were in love, and neither of them realized what hadhappened?"

  "_Two_ p
eople in love," he said blankly, unbelievingly.

  * * * * *

  Leonid Shvernik and Paul Koslov were bent over a map of the U.S.S.R. Theformer pointed out the approximate location of the radio transmitters."We're not going to use them until the last moment," he said. "Not untilthe fat is in the fire. Then they will all begin at once. The KGB andMVD won't have time to knock them out."

  Paul said, "Things are moving fast. Faster than I had expected. We'reputting it over, Leonid."

  Shvernik said, "Only because the situation is ripe. It's the wayrevolutions work."

  "How do you mean?" Paul said absently, studying the map.

  "Individuals don't put over revolutions. The times do, the conditionsapply. Did you know that six months before the Bolshevik revolution tookplace Lenin wrote that he never expected to live to see the Communisttake over in Russia? The thing was that the conditions were there. TheBolsheviks, as few as they were, were practically thrown into power."

  "However," Paul said dryly, "it was mighty helpful to have such men asLenin and Trotsky handy."

  Shvernik shrugged. "The