A Quick Summary of Political Events in the Quest from 1950-1957
- Location
- The United States
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics
The Industrial Sprint and the 1950-1957Malenkov-Mikoyan Era 5th 5yp (1950-1955)
- The fifties started on some of the highest hopes for Soviet politics with broad scale political and economic modernization promised and somewhat achieved.
- The economic plan selected was one that heavily focused on heavy industrial development which was something of a mistake in terms of net economic growth, but one that enabled breaking the sector away from Stalinism and avoiding broad collapses that came from profitability reforms.
- In 1950 Mikoyan technically consolidated the government, compromising with socially liberal factions to quasi take the trifecta, making himself have the power of Chairman of the Supreme Soviet(Klim was still in the post but he could basically do nothing), General Secretary, and Chairman of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers.
- The above were some of the reasons for the reforms and the right wing drive in the aftermath of Stalin came somewhat from the masses of lower cadres/the formal start of the late 2nd/3rd generation of party leadership(born 1910+) coming up from below and compromising with Mikoyan for power.
- Largest cause for this was a wider acceptability of removing Stalinism in several forms especially on the lower cadres with destalinization wielded as a weapon for radically reforming the Soviet state more than a social or moralistic cause.
- The Republic of the Levant somewhat stabilized here if only for strong US aid and the US government seeing it as an externalizing measure that avoided stepping on anyone's toes and was relatively far seeing in Soviet containment across the middle east.
- It was judged as a compromise option to prevent easy soviet compromises of the monarchies, finding a local organization that was willing to go for a one state solution and backing it somewhat.
- The Gorky nat 100 was what broke you through to somewhat competitive machinery on an immediate basis and somewhat supported your entire modern industrial production base
- The focus on infrastructure started tilting very heavily towards rail with you sprinting down every rail program you can see
- Power cost reforms were basically pushed through due to your people freaking out over a non existent mirage of small businesses
- This fear was mostly magnified by larger enterprise owners and had zero basis in reality but was a functional ish compromise
- CMEA had some of the largest changes in timeline with Mikoyan preferring governments in his image, authoritarian but compromises and not attempting to rapidly shift the economy
- Internally this was justified as a part of European economic integration, focusing on making CMEA what Europe was for the 1920 USA in some of the same terms with mixed results
- Moderate ish governments relative to OTL enabled far greater growth and a relative lack of bright ideas that were caused through more sane leadership not as obsessed with implementing perfect Stalinism in the immediate moment
- Later in 1950 the full speed sprint for rail continued with massive construction across the Union, arguably bringing the network to a state that it would not exist at OTL, and with far more routes than were ever historically proposed
- The US bomber shootdown only became notable in that it was the first one you managed to shoot down rather then the first attempted
- The housing situation was in general far worse than described with the scramble for new homes justified by demographics but in actuality responding to the utter gulf in housing from the Stalin era.
- The enterprise reforms in 1951 practically formed a radically different environment in the economy, overhauling vast sectors of economic activity. The incentive funds and everything around them were such a massive concessions to enterprises that the private sector was allowed to exist
- In nearly any other combination of actions outside of presenting it as a combined effort, you would not have much of a private sector as they would have been crushed by enterprise managers
- This will come back many many many times as the managers consistently prove themselves harsher on private enterprise then anyone on the far left
- A continued prioritization of rail happened over any reasonable investment in a housing sector not funded by Stalin and devastated by the war, but more railways were built
- As the plan continued there was a fairly consistent drive to stifle the automotive industry for some reason, cutting out economic growth for reasons unknown to anyone
- Arguably, this somewhat contributed to Malenkov's downfall and the massive anti-corruption investigations into infrastructure and caused a somewhat common belief that he was being paid off
- The Grant Program started by Malenkov was hijacked in short order by Voznesensky and the LCI minister, using it as a way to legally greatly increase their influence.
- Shifting to the so to say national level of lawmaking while maintaining local enforcement didn't help much for businesses until you opened the court system, but somewhat achieved the same effect with less party pressure, if significantly later.
- Cheap and easy hydroelectric sorta formed the basis for a lot of power in the Western USSR this plan as massive, programs were undertaken to compensate for deficiencies in everything else
- Mikoyan took the opportunity and the crisis/chaos in the party to force through a politburo vote for a central control commission that was in effect loyal to him with the expectation that it would be his sword to prune the party and state bodies against what he saw as relics of an old inept system
- This radically changed the balance of power around the state and to an extent gave mikoyan his own proverbial Yezhov, if with a softer touch and no exciting vacations to the Lubyanka basement
- Also, now comes the passenger rail network, otherwise known as the project you should have canceled or refused to do. You did not have to follow orders and could have theoretically tanked the political cost
- Now come the big reforms that you are currently dealing with, the guest worker program was to a large extent passed on the backs of the enterprises, the enterprises, and the allies of the enterprises. Every aspect of the law has been built to effectively exploit guest workers and enable the practice, Malenkov to a large extent just did not know better.
- Dudorov's major reform to the prison system has also happened here, where the prison took on more of a reformist character than ever before. It was still effectively a forced labor system, if one that enabled prisoners to set up with savings and a career after that arguably had more similarities to conscription.
- Mikoyan blackmailed, investigated and blatantly leaned on the judges involved in later cases, using the legal system as a part of a tool to quell discontent with central authority in the republics and utterly gut the ability of local or republic level ministries to have any economic control with the strong backing of the new party cadres and enterprises
- If there is absolutely any moment that the tide decisively and entirely turned for the center it was in early 1953 when you gave Mikoyan the tools to finalize what he saw as an improved and regulated form of the Soviet state.
- Mikoyans first purges in 1953 to 1955 were nearly a second wave of terror, if a far gentler one then Stalin ever attempted and cemented both the new system and practically entirely broke from Stalin era appointments. Those that were loyal advanced alongside state bodies going into the spotlight while enemies were continuously found guilty of corruption and suppressed in effect
- The first elections placed a nearly unprepared party that was somewhat terrified of being replaced in the face of an aggressive Mikoyan without much protection for the ballot into a vote, doing something approaching a sham election but giving the man justification to enact further reforms and continue exercising what he saw as Stalinist corruption
- And thus ends the plan with the bonus system scrapped due to pressure by several in the supreme Soviet and a general distaste for administering it from managers, ending Malenkov's first tenure with near absolute power seized by Mikoyan in the state
Malenkov-Mikoyan Era 6th 5yp (1955-1957)
- Going into the new plan the political environment was radically different to any that came before as the massive centralizations occurring under Mikoyan radically transformed the Soviet Government
- The selection of an infrastructure-services plan was not in itself a mistake, however you massively over promised and in effect left no surge capacity to do anything
- This would massively come back to bite you as critical projects piled up and you were unable to respond in a capable manner
- Focusing on railways was to an extent a forced selection only because of your minister heavily pushing, arguing to Malenkov that there was severe under-investment in the sector
- Education investments at the time though were massive and comprehensive, something that you are just now starting to reap the rewards of as a new generation with a capable education is graduating in massive numbers
- Malenkov tilting against the private sector was to a large extent a product of him getting all of his information from enterprises and that being his entire social circle
- As can be guessed, every pork project was in effect large scale corruption with political allies provided favorable contracts alongside expanding work for enterprises
- This is also where anti-corruption really picked up and was about as quickly as possible sabotaged through your massive over use of it, with Malenkov unable and somewhat unwilling to properly target it for political gains
- Even worse, you kept using it consistently and rapidly, leading to most non political corrupt targets finding it far cheaper to pay off the organization instead of actually dealing with it
- To a large extent this provided all the excuses Voznesensky needed as anti corruption itself was politicized and rendered a rubber stamp for close allies of those with control
- This of course led to a perception of the agency as the direct action of Malenkov rather than anything politically neutral or even arguably capable of neutrality in any sense, this would come to bite you in the ass later
- The pension and insurance system developed for a large extent was a major part of early reforms, codifying most of the welfare that was made available with a lot of the changes to public utilities justified as a form of assistance to the elderly
- The tax brackets established through the ministry of finance as a means of increasing revenue was broadly socially irrelevant, the high bracket got set so high that it was basically meaningless outside a few very rich people in the private sector
- To a large extent this was deliberate as at the time the richest people were in the enterprises and in charge of them rather than anywhere near the private sector
- For reasons unknown to me, you then decided to wield this power intensely and directly on the enterprises and to a broader sense several politicians
- Some immediately tilted and decided that this was a case of racism over central asia but most elements of the party and state thought this was Malenkov cleaning house in the same way as Mikoyan
- Once the tide started breaking and the enterprises turned on you to a large extent, the downfall was fairly rapid with you to a large extent used as a tool to get at Mikoyan for doing the same thing infinitely more competently
- The excuses you used to tilt against what were perceived to be internal enemies for good and bad were paralleled to Mikoyan with the question of Stalinism brought up in the context of Mikoyans power grabs
- Then came the decisive moment where Malenkov realized he over reached significantly and the entire situation was coming down around him
- Voznesensky took this as the chance to move and strongly as he sought to salvage the ministry as much as possible instead of dealing with or supporting what he saw as an incompetent and inept minister
- The political turmoil in the immediate aftermath was something of a crisis as Mikoyan to an extent was a second Stalin in power and while he did built a system that could succeed him, he wasn't expecting it to be relevant and doing so until the mid sixties
- At this point also the plan was not in any sense salvageable or usable as the massive promises placed alongside lagging economic indicators were a major drag on performance
- Over optimization on rail and education instead of highly productive industries reduced the capabilities on offer and only served to weaken the ministry as Mal arbitrarily wielded an already corrupt anti corruption arm
- There was to an extent no hope of actually succeeding on the plan at this point and this comprised the reason for why it was entirely tossed as no one expected it to be possible
- Economic downturn was somewhat guaranteed with Voznesensky inheriting the ministry in something of its weakest hour on the time with the economic situation on fire
- The later adopted seven year plan was given the excuse of developing the consumer industry but in a large part it was extended and built around making up for the mistakes of the Malenkov era
- Excessive investment into heavy industry and useless infrastructure was a major drag on the economy with you entering the late fifties with a competent industrial sector but little else as so much of the focus fell to building the base for future productivity
- When I in casual conversation mention Brezhnev-ing yourselves this is what I mean, as you doubled and tripled down on infrastructure and heavy industry in a race, committing to many promises that you could not fundamentally fulfill
- Some of these investments would pay off later as Voznesensky shifted to wield them for consumer production but that would take time and not show effects until the mid sixties
- The private sector and enterprise incentive funds were to a large extent the only reason this era will be remembered positively as you proved mostly unable and unwilling to raise primary consumer indicators focusing as hard as possible on establishing the basis for future production
- Every single modern right wing and centrist politician you have in quest uses this as justification with the ministries role somewhat clarified through the era as key for raising productive forces but somewhat inept for meeting population needs(you spent less on LCI during the Malenkov era then you did under fucking Stalin)
- This is also why no one wants to go back to fully planning, because they have seen what you invest in when fully planning and to an extent this is also where the strong drive for cybernetics comes from as logically with an external and effective control mechanism the same mistakes would not be repeated.
As a quick midpoint comparison of Housing and Rail (Credit @Hianny):
Total Dice Under Mal:
housing 36
rail 83 (15 dice being external)
road 18
Total Dice Under Voz:
housing 109
rail 18
roads 20 (300 progress integrated in Moscow)
Author's Note: Generally written with a far more OOC rather than IC perspective on what has happened, to ease catching up.
