Koppel (A Crisis in the Kremlin playthrough)

The Rise of Vladmir Chevitch

Vladmir’s childhood and adult life

Vladmir Chevitch was born somewhere in the 1930s to a poor peasant family in a small village in Ukraine. This is the only known thing about the Soviet’s leader childhood. As an a adult, Vladmir joined the Communist party and studied at the University of Moscow during the 1940s-1960s, it was here that it was determined, that Vladmir got his first tastes of politics. He took part in debate within the party and this is where his reputation as an “egghead” became known, and this is also where he met Tarasov, the leader of the underground Neo-Communist party of the Soviet Union, where Vladmir’s debates and participation affected his earlier and later political views. During Prague Spring, Vladmir who have heard of the leader of Czechslovakia moving away from socialism, wrote a letter to the then-Chairman of the Council minister; Krushchev to advise on him on the matter. Vladmir effectively advised Krushchev to make a show of force towards Czechslovakia and threaten Czechs to limit their reforms as to not turn away from Marxism. Krushchev, intrigued by this letter, invited young Vladmir to the Kremlin, where they spoke about a variety of topic. Krushchev was impressed by Chevitch so much that Krushchev promised to give a position to Vladmir in the politburo after he had finished his studies. The Fate of Czechslovakia as we all know was that the USSR forced Dubcek to curtail political freedom, but allowed a certain level of decentralization for the economy, which gave the economy of Czechslovakia a boost, and allowed Czechslovakia to still be In the “Iron Curtain”, This promise was kept, and Vladmir gained a position in the Politburo. During the decision of whether or not to implement OGAS in the 1970s, Vladmir campaigned intensively and succeeded in getting the Communist Party to pursue automization with the experienced interest of putting a “human behind every machine” as to make sure people wouldn’t lose their jobs. Then during the 1980s, is when Vladmir’s rise to Power happened.

Vladmir’s rise to power:

There was a scramble for power after the collective leadership of Brezhnev was disbanded. Vladmir acted quickly, and bribed KGB staff to give blackmail material to Vladmir to threaten Romanov, the leader of the Stalinists with. Gorbachev tried to up-beat Vladmir in a debate, but was instead outspoken by Vladmir, and Gorbachev had to resign in disgrace. Grishin had, luckily for Vladmir, died having snapped his neck falling down on a sheet of ice, and Gromyko, the only other one able to challenge Vladmir stepped down, and Vladmir was left unopposed……..
 
Vladmir Chevitch’s first policies:

Vladmir first consolidated his power base, by “rehabilitating” the Neo-Communist party of the Soviet Union, and taking Tarasov as his second in command. He then made political attacks on the conservative figures within the Communist party, the ones who wanted to keep the status quo and keep the Soviet Union on the path it was currently on. He also made attacks on the moderates. Accusing both of them of being “counter-revolutionists”, “stopping the path of the revolution” and so on. He was able to effectively purge the moderates from the Communist party, but was unable to purge all of the conservatives, and thus he was forced to keep them in the party for now at least.

Economic:

Next was what to do with the economy? The economy of the Soviet Union at the time was stagnating, with lowering production, and living standards. Vladmir made the first move by cancelling all imports and using the currency freed up by cancelling them by investing into infrastructure, goods and services, and light industry. Light industry to manufacture the goods, services to give the goods to the Soviet people, and infrastructure to transport the goods where they were. Vladmir also invested a fair amount of money on computers and civil technology for the Soviet Union which helped it out tremendously. The General Sectary also instituted some general policies, the first of which was a card system distributed to people and the armies by which they can refund at a local store to get goods and so on. This system was riddled with many flaws, but it helped get the goods and services to places where people needed it. The second policy he instituted was moving populations according to their respective job. If you worked at a factory, you would live near that factory by government stated law. He then instituted a policy of what is now called “Import substitution” where he banned almost all imports from “capitalistic” countries, and only accepted goods from countries within the Soviet Sphere of Influence. All of these policies astonishingly didn’t collapse unto itself due to Vladmir doing a mix of using Andropov’s methods of increasing work discipline, and the economic investments he already made.

Foreign Policy:

Next was Foreign policy. Vladmir dedicated that the Comecon would unify their economy similar to that of the EU. There would be a shared currency, representatives would meet to discuss economic planning together and import and export to each other. Of course, the Soviet Union was the one with the biggest power in this, and used it to throw its weight around to get raw materials and tech at reduced prices. However, the next thing Vladmir did was promise free aid for pro-soviet forces around the world and more proactivity in supporting what he deemed “revolutionary forces” around the world. He had also implemented Krushnev’s foreign policy of terrifying the west, and acting aggressively to expand the USSR’s sphere of influence. He also allowed free migration between socialistic countries, although he still kept a lid on any immigration and emigration to any “capitalist” country.

Internal policy:

Lastly, was internal policy. Vladmir once again consolidated power within his post, and tightened control over the media and arts. He also centralized the Soviet Union even more, with regions only able to pass minor laws, while the centralized government would pass all the major ones. This aggravated the non-Russian soviet republics, as they saw what little power they had be swept away from their grasps. This would send some trouble along the line for Vladmir later on. Sadly, not much can be said other than this, as the Soviet Union’s internal policy is still a mystery to many at this time.

Final Results:

All in all, Vladimir’s reform of the Soviet Union went specular better than what was predicted, however it fell short of Vladimir’s actual goals. Production increased, Living standards increased, and the Soviet Union was still stable and not falling apart. The Soviet Union was once again at the hands of a centralized power structure, with Vladmir at the top. Vladmir’s policies resulted in the strengthening of the Soviet’s capabilities, but not in it’s willingness to go far and beyond. That was what Vladmir was hoping to fix, next round. But for now Vladmir drew his attentions to the world, as events were taking place at the time and Vladmir would play an important role in years to come.
 
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