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 handicap
to have a reputation. I didn't know it had extended to the man in the
street on this side of the Iron Curtain."
* * * * *
It was by no means the last trip that Paul Koslov was to make to his
underground contacts, nor the last visit to the dacha at Petrodvorets.
In fact, the dacha became the meeting center of the Russian underground
with their liaison agent from the West. Through it funneled the problems
involved in the logistics of the thing. Spotted through the rest of the
vast stretches of the country, Paul had his local agents, American,
British, French, West German. But this was the center.
[Illustration]
The Mikoyan Camera made a great success in the States. And little
wonder. Unknown to the Soviets, the advertising campaign that sold it
cost several times the income from the sales. All they saw were the
continued orders, the repeated visits of Mr. John Smith to Leningrad on
buying trips. Leonid Shvernik was even given a promotion on the strength
of his so ably cracking the American market. Ana Furtseva was
automatically assigned to Paul as interpreter-guide whenever he appeared
in the Soviet Union's second capital.
In fact, when he made his "tourist" jaunts to the Black Sea region, to
the Urals, to Turkestan, to Siberia, he was able to have her assigned to
the whole trip with him. It gave a tremendous advantage in his work with
the other branches of the underground.
Questions, unthought of originally when Paul Koslov had been sent into
the U.S.S.R., arose as the movement progressed.
On his third visit to the dacha he said to Shvernik and three others of
the 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 present
hierarchy have been overthrown."
Leonid Shvernik looked at him blankly. By this stage, he, as well as
Ana, 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 a
personal 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 about
the nature of our movement?" he demanded.
Paul said, "What's the matter? All I wanted to know was who was
scheduled to be top man."
Shvernik said, "Actually, I suppose we have had little time to discus
the nature of the new society we plan. We've been busy working on the
overthrow of the Communists. However, I thought ..."
Paul was uneasy now. Leonid was right. Actually in his association with
both Ana and Leonid Shvernik they had seldom mentioned what was to
follow the collapse of the Soviets. It suddenly occurred to him how
overwhelmingly important this was.
Nikolai Kirichenko, who spoke no English, said in Russian, "See here, we
are not an organization attempting to seize power for ourselves."
This was a delicate point, Paul sensed. Revolutions are seldom put over
in the name of reaction or even conservatism. Whatever the final
product, they are invariably presented as being motivated by liberal
idealism and progress.
He said, "I am familiar with the dedication of your organization. I have
no desire to underestimate your ideals. However, my question is
presented with good intentions and remains unanswered. You aren't
anarchists, I know. You expect a responsible government to be in control
after the removal of the police state. So I repeat, who is to be your
head man?"
"How would we know?" Kirichenko blurted in irritation. "We're working
toward a democracy. It's up to the Russian people to elect any officials
they 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 a
super-leader. We've had enough of leaders. Our experience is that it is
too easy for them to become misleaders. If the history of this century
has proven anything with its Mussolinis, Hitlers, Stalins, Chiangs, and
Maos, it is that the search for a leader to take over the problems of a
people 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 political
ideology. It was dangerous ground. For all he knew, there might be wide
differences within the ranks of the revolutionary movement. There almost
always were. He couldn't take sides. His only interest in all this was
the overthrow of the Soviets.
He covered. "Your point is well taken, of course. I understand
completely. Oh, and here's one other matter for discussion. These radio
transmitters for your underground broadcasts."
It was a subject in which they were particularly interested. The
Russians leaned forward.
"Here's the problem," Kirichenko said. "As you know, the Soviet Union
consists of fifteen republics. In addition there are seventeen
Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics that coexist within these basic
fifteen republics. There are also ten of what we call Autonomous
Regions. Largely, each of these political divisions speak different
languages and have their own cultural differences."
Paul said, "Then it will be necessary to have transmitters for each of
these areas?"
"Even more. Because some are so large that we will find it necessary to
have more than one underground station."
Leonid Shvernik said worriedly, "And here is another thing. The KGB has
the 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 I
understand it, is to devise a method of broadcasting that the secret
police 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, paralleling
the Admiralty Building, supposedly on a sightseeing tour.
He said, "I was discussing the future government with Leonid and some of
the others the other day. I don't think I got a very clear picture of
it." He gave her a general rundown of the conversation.
She twisted her mouth characteristically at him. "What did you expect, a
return to Czarism? Let me see, who is pretender to the throne these
days? Some Grand Duke in Paris, isn't it?"
He laughed with her. "I'm not up on such questions," Paul admitted. "I
think I rather pictured a democratic parliamentary government, somewhere
between 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 his
mind 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'm
going to have to simplify this."
"It isn't my field, but go on," Paul said. She wore less lipstick than
you'd expect on an American girl but it went with her freshness.
"The first type of governmental system was based on the family. Your
American Indians were a good example. The family, the clan, the tribe.
In some cases, like the Iroquois Confederation, a nation of tribes. You
were represented in the government according to the family or clan in
which you were born."
"Still with you so far," Paul said. She had a very slight dimple in her
left 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 Athenians
who owned the property of the City-State, and the slaves with which to
work it, also governed the nation. Under feudalism, the nobility owned
the country and governed it. The more land a noble owned, the larger his
voice in government. I'm speaking broadly, of course."
"Of course," Paul said. He decided that she had more an American type
figure than was usual here. He brought his concentration back to the
subject. "However, that doesn't apply under capitalism. We have
democracy. Everyone votes, not just the owner of property."
Ana was very serious about it. "You mustn't use the words capitalism and
democracy interchangeably. You can have capitalism, which is a social
system, without having democracy which is a political system. For
instance, when Hitler was in power in Germany the government was a
dictatorship but the social system was still capitalism."
Then she grinned at him mischievously. "Even in the United States I
think you'll find that the people who own a capitalist country run the
country. Those who control great wealth have a large say in the running
of the political parties, both locally and nationally. Your smaller
property owners have a smaller voice in local politics. But how large a
lobby does your itinerant harvest worker in Texas have in Washington?"
Paul said, slightly irritated now, "This is a big subject and I don't
agree with you. However, I'm not interested now in the government of the
United 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 were
trying to make to you. We have no intention of taking over. We don't
want to and probably couldn't even if we did want to. What we're
advocating is a new type of government based on a new type of
representation."
He noticed the faint touch of freckles about her nose, her shoulders--to
the extent her dress revealed them--and on her arms. Her skin was fair
as only the northern races produce.
Paul said, "All right. Now we get to this third base of government. The
first was the family, the second was property. What else is there?"
"In an ultramodern, industrialized society, there is your method of
making your livelihood. In the future you will be represented from where
you work. From your industry or profession. The parliament, or congress,
of the nation would consist of elected members from each branch of
production, distribution, communication, education, medicine--"
"Syndicalism," Paul said, "with some touches of Technocracy."
She shrugged. "Your American Technocracy of the 1930s I am not too
familiar with, although I understand power came from top to bottom,
rather than from bottom to top, democratically. The early syndicalists
developed some of the ideas which later thinkers have elaborated upon, I
suppose. So many of these terms have become all but meaningless through
sloppy use. What in the world does Socialism mean, for instance?
According to some, your Roosevelt was a Socialist. Hitler called himself
a National Socialist. Mussolini once edited a Socialist paper. Stalin
called himself a Socialist and the British currently have a Socialist
government--mind you, with a Queen on the throne."
"The advantage of voting from where you work rather than from where you
live doesn't come home to me," Paul said.
"Among other things, a person knows the qualifications of the people
with whom he works," Ana said, "whether he is a scientist in a
laboratory or a technician in an automated factory. But how many people
actually know anything about the political candidates for whom they
vote?"
"I suppose we could discuss this all day," Paul said. "But what I was
getting to is what happens when your outfit takes over here in
Leningrad? 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 a
mind hard to penetrate. I keep telling you, we, the revolutionary
underground, have no desire to take over and don't think that we could
even 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 at
the Mikoyan Camera works will vote him into some office in the plant, if
they think him capable enough."
"Well," Paul sighed, "it's your country. I'll stick to the American
system." He couldn't take his eyes from the way her lips tucked in at
the sides.