Police units involved in the actual crisis temporarily took the lead of army units trickling in, advocating for positioning and containing the protest to the other bank of the river, away from important government functions.
This was probably the decisive moment. The poor capabilities of armies in dealing with crowd control is why police forces were invented, but so often in confusion around a major unexpected protest army officers don't defer to mere civilians.
The Luna program has taken advantage of the higher energy RLA third stage and achieved what was never achieved before. Using a bulky four ton landing stage with an automated ranging system to the moon along with a radar altimeter a massive system has been put onto the surface of the moon with a communications line groundside and a set of television cameras on the probe, both for broadcasting purposes and for the analysis of soils. Important compositional information about the regolith has been broadcast to earth along with the first images of another world. It may be an eerie gray landscape with very little on it and a view of the earth as a fuzzy blue marble, but the broadcast has been watched by tens of millions of Soviet workers and even more across the globe. Subsequent landings are expected to provide more information on sampling, with a plan that is beyond current funding constraints of building a communications network for operations around the moon.
Earthrise moment unlocked!
And in general all of the probe programs are repaying our confidence in them. Which is really awesome. The space program needed the prestige. And by gum, the sophistication of the Luna and Mars probes is impressive. Well beyond what any space probes were doing in the 60s in OTL.
The results of the bread program have been generally poor, while offering free bread in cities was considered to improve productivity and food security, it has not been effective for either. Excessive licensing requirements and proof of address along with administration of who eats the bread has ended up costing more than the program has distributed. Costs have been made worse by the small kiosks that were set up requiring a further commitment of funding making the program generally inefficient compared to other more worker centric aid. Over the next year it is expected that worker canteen funding will be increased to compensate and offer a more varied diet then just grain based foods while simultaneously a further food program is to be evaluated in order to better address the issue without a massive buildup of new infrastructure.
Hah. I see. The free bread program was done in the most ass backwards way imaginable... Rather than distributing the bread at existing outlets, Voz was making a whole new distribution network and had people filling out a telephone book worth of paperwork to collect their loaves.
Subsidized food will be SO much more efficient than this.
I guess a higher roll here would have led to Voz making a more sensible food distribution program?
That's not bad for 60ths era Russia?
I mean, it sounds like there was some more violence between there lines, but all in all this could have gone full Tiananmen Square and it didn't and there was even some political reaction, so I guess it counts as a good outcome.
Heck, there have been protests that were handled worse in Britain in recent years.
Obviously the Voz was going to have the best rough guess at the extent of the corruption out of every one in the political system - my point is that there is a good chance Voz himself didn't grasp the true extent of corruption in the ranks below him due to his underlings also creating their corruption rings, which also applies to their subordinates. You essentially have every lower rank of the MKNH also organizing their own corruption rings over their little fiefdoms, with corruption growing beyond the control or knowledge of any one individual inside the system.
I suspect that Voz likely new in a general sense, though I doubt he knew the specifics. Underlings who created strong rings of corruption and who scratched his back when he scratched theirs is how the patronage system is supposed to work. An underling who had less back-scratching power would therefor be less desirable to Voz, so long as they weren't too ambitious that they might be ungrateful.
________
With regards to the voting options...
[]Maximally Exploit the Openings: The mass of openings in the most important sector has opened a nearly unheard of political opportunity as long as strong investment can be continued. Advancing new personnel that are untainted by either corruption or excesses can serve to improve productivity, reduce labor violations, and consolidate control over the ministry. Taking every opportunity to push personnel will come at a constant political cost and there will be compromises on who is moved in, but the ministry needs to be able to eventually stand on its own.
[]Revive Old Cadre Programs: Voznesensky made many mistakes, but the underutilized massive graduation programs that have been partially subsidized by the Ministry along with the hiring of new personnel has proven invaluable for producing those unclaimed by any other center of power. Taking these same people under the wing of the ministry will involve far more students in politics than is sensible but they can be sent to do the harshest work under moderate supervision, and a capable new crop of politicians can be made. A greater focus will be placed on fighting for lower level posts instead of those above, helping in the next decade but offering no immediate help.
[]Propose Neutral Promotions: The political fire around the heavy industrial ministry is too much to get involved with. Choosing to ignore it and proposing comparatively apolitical promotions will ensure that major amounts of influence are not consumed on useless arguments. A program focused on the consolidation of other sectors will be prioritized, leaving the politicians to fight over heavy industry. The limited political capital the ministry does have can instead be spent on secondary sectors considered to be less important, going far further but having far less monetary access.
Maximally exploiting the opportunity would not only cost political capital, it is also the most Vozzy move possible, at a time when Voz is the scapegoat of all that's wrong with the system (as we saw during the wage reforms). A trap option.
I favor reviving the old cadres - the youngsters Klimenko brings in may well be his undoing as the students ultimately weakened Voz. However, providing opportunities to the youf is what is best for the long-run goal of unborking the system and keeping it unborked. Also, since this option aims at getting people into the lower ranks, the political cost should be low. Let others argue about who should be highly ranked managers.
But staying neutral with the troika as it is probably fine as well.
[]Go With Abramov's Man: Ilya Pavlovich Shulyakov: An industrial engineer that has taken charge over the consumer industry across South Moscow and is both boring and unexceptional. Shulyakov has delivered acceptable and consistent performance along with having a nonexistent history of labor abuses. He is practically Abramov's seat on the regional development committee and has served to improve local production and accelerate the development of the technical industries around Moscow. Shulyakov is also experienced in management on the same level and would represent the most experienced deputy choice, providing a solid basis for later consolidation. (Gets A Favor)
[]Compromise with Kosygin: Alexander Evgenievich Mikhailov: A conventional chemical engineer that has served to develop the petrochemical industry around Tyumen and served to improve local production. He is both unrelated to the old Malenkov era corruption ring and the more modern Voznesesnky one. Far more of Koysgin's political ally than anyone else he has served to boost local delegates to the Supreme Soviet and improved regional development in excess of expectations heading local plastics production and associated commercial industry. His ascension would drive a large-scale focus towards improving the plastics and general petrochemical industry, adapting oil into higher value goods. (Gets A Favor)
[]Promote the Smolensk Minister: Lidia Pavlovna Lykova: Bringing an experienced party career along with a graduate degree in Social Sciences Lykova can help to minimize the previous excesses. Consumer production involves a comprehension of consumers and the need to liaise with a massive number of mixed sector interests, favoring social skills over technical skills. While this makes her under qualified as a primary minister, she is more than adequate as a deputy and can serve to assist the sector in not repeating any of the previous mistakes. She is also a dependable ally from the Smolensk regional committee and while taking charge of managing development has served more than adequately.
So, Shulyakov's experience with technical industries would make him a good pick for pushing forward our high tech industries. Also, if he were promoted quickly, it sounds like he is the candidate best qualified to run the department in the near future.
Mikhailov sounds like the man to push forward our consumer products industries and to turn our cheap oil into less cheap plastic products. Not a bad pick considering that we will be drowning in oil as we extract gas to keep up with electricity demand...
But ultimately, both of these fellows come with a serious downside - they are all about solving the problems of the ordinary worker with more
stuff. But that's what the system as a whole excels at. They aren't game changers and the system is in urgent need of its weaknesses being addressed, not its strengths further strengthened. But balancing that out, both men get us a political favour which is a useful thing for a minister with a tenuous political position.
However, Lykova IS a game changer. Looking at light industry with an eye to what
workers actually want?! Madness! And madness which we urgently need. The needs of the workers are not simply a matter of material goods in, happy workers out. I think we should consider her very strongly, even though she does not bring us any favours from more powerful players in the SupSov. If Shulyakov is the man who may give us more transistors and Mikhailov is the man who may give us more plastic toys, Lykova is the woman who might give us the transistors that industry actually needs and the plastic toys that children actually want to play with.
She also would be an ally, but I consider that of low importance. What Klimenko needs most of all is people who can help him do a difficult job.
[X]Revive Old Cadre Programs
[X]Promote the Smolensk Minister
Regards,
fasquardon
