[Fourm Game] Crisis in the Kremlin II

[Watercress]

In Memory of Fry​

V.1 thread​

Welcome to Crisis in the Kremlin! The year is 1985, and General Secretary Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko is not long for this world. Already an elderly, sickly man by the time he succeeded the similarly elderly and sickly Yuri Andropov the previous year, Chernenko has spent much of his time as leader of the world's second superpower confined to a wheelchair, to sickbeds, and to the health-spas at Kislovodsk. It is readily apparent that yet again, the Politburo shall have to elect a new General Secretary very soon.

This is were YOU come in. You are a member of the Politburo, the most senior body of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and the effective ruling cabinet for the country. It shall be your responsibility to the lead the increasingly decrepit Soviet Empire in its twilight years - will your efforts manage to save the world's first socialist state, or will they destroy it?

Alternatively, some of you might be other figures in the Soviet establishment: you may serve as a senior military figure, or as a minister who has not yet achieved a place in the Politburo. You may also be a rather radically different person, an intellectual or dissenter determined to demolish Socialism and secure the triumph of your ideology, nation or cause.

Gameplay

This game shall generally adhere to the regular rules and norms of player-political games, adapted to this rather unique scenario.

Given that the Soviet Union is a one-party state, you might find elections to be rather limited and infrequent. The only democratic mechanism at game start is within the Politburo, which decides upon major policies, and in practice decides upon its own membership, by collective voting. This, of course, is subject to significant change as the game progresses.

Nevertheless, there will be much room for the politicking, intrigue and backstabbing one expects of such a game: and initially at least, no pesky elections to get in the way! Of course, that doesn't mean there aren't significant threats to your power and position. You'll be challenged by the growing discontent of the people, by powerful vested interests within the Soviet establishment, and most of all, by your fellow players.

This game shall proceed chronologically, with the progression of time controlled by the Mods and indicated by dates attached to posted updates and events. Gameplay advances through events and the occasional broader update which players shall be required to respond to and resolve.

Orders are not a major part of gameplay except for intellectuals and dissenters, who are able to initiate events and influence proceedings by sending me (through PM) special orders. There is no cap to these orders, but do not expect more than one or two a week to actually become successful. Establishment players may also attempt to influence events by covert actions which may be PMed to me to preserve their identity, although by no means are such actions guaranteed to succeed or even to preserve the character's anonymity.

Soviet Primer

Below is a primer to the politics of the Soviet Union, helpfully written up by Stormbringer.

Government

The main legislative body is the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. It elects the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, which acts on behalf of the Supreme Soviet when it is not in session, the Council of Ministers, the Supreme Court, and the Procurator General.

The Presidium of the Supreme Soviet is the de-facto legislature. It is made up of two chambers, and it approves all laws, makes constitutional changes, approves government appointments, receives reports from the Council of Ministers, etc. The Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet is the head of state of the USSR. Since 1977 there has also existed the office of First Vice Chairman of the Presidium.

The Judiciary is headed by the Supreme Court. The office of the Procurator General oversees the work of the legal system and is responsible for representing the state in legal matters.

The executive is the Council of Ministers of the USSR. It is appointed by the Supreme Soviet and reports to the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. It is headed by the Chairman of the Council of Ministers, who is the head of government of the USSR. There are also numerous First Deputy Chairmen, and Deputy Chairmen. The government has many ministries with specific areas of responsibility, each headed by a Minister. Besides the ministries there are State Committees, the most important of which are the People's Control Committee, the State Planning Committee, and the Committee for State Security. Additionally there is an office of Chief Administrator of the Council of Ministers, responsible for personnel and day-to-day operations of the government.

Each of the fifteen Soviet Republics has its own Council of Ministers as well, plus a legislature, judiciary, etc. The Chairmen of these Councils of Ministers of the Soviet Republics are themselves members of the Council of Ministers of the USSR. The Council of Ministers typically elects a Presidium of the Council of Ministers, a reduced body that includes its key members and can handle the most important affairs of government.

CPSU

The Communist Party of the Soviet Union is made up of local and regional committees which send representatives to the Congress of the CPSU. The Congress elects the Central Committee of the CPSU, which is responsible for all party operations between meetings of the Congress. The Central Committee appoints or elects a number of bodies to help it with its role, and chooses a General Secretary of the Central Committee, who is the de-facto leader of the USSR.

The Politburo (sometimes called the Presidium of the Central Committee) is the highest decision-making body of the Central Committee. Its members are elected and oversee the policies of the party and the state. The Secretariat is responsible for the administration of the party and is informally headed by the Second Secretary. The Central Control Commission is the top disciplinary body of the CPSU. Additionally, the Central Committee has numerous Departments that oversee either elements of party work or government policy.

Each Soviet Republic, with the exception of the RSFSR, has its own party organization. These mirror the All-Union organization and are headed by a First Secretary.

The Politburo has Full and Candidate Members. Full members are allowed to vote, while candidate members may only participate in the discussion. All members of the Politburo simultaneously hold key positions either within the party or government structure. Although there is no set rule for the composition of the Politburo, the following party and government posts typically correspond to a Politburo membership:

Full members:

General Secretary of the Central Committee
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (possibly concurrently with the above)
Second Secretary of the Central Committee
Two to three other top Secretaries of the Central Committee (at least one overseeing propaganda)
Chairman of the Central Control Commission
Head of the General Department of the Central Committee
Head of the Planning Department of the Central Committee (or the head of another key economic department)
First Secretary of the Moscow Party Committee
First Secretary of the Leningrad Party Committee
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Ukraine
First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan (possibly the First Secretary of the CP of another Soviet Republic)
Chairman of the Council of Ministers
First Deputy Chairmen of the Council of Ministers (the highest ranking one)
Minister of Foreign Affairs (possibly a different key minister, but unlikely, and never military-related)
Chairman of the Committee for State Security
Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR (the RSFSR does not have its own CP and thus no First Secretary)

Candidate Members:

Head of the International Department of the Central Committee
Head of the Machine Building Industry Department of the Central Committee (possibly Chairman of the State Planning Committee instead)
Three to five First Secretaries of the CPs of Soviet Republics (Belarus, Uzbekistan, Georgia, etc. depending on importance)
First Deputy Chairmen of the Council of Ministers (possibly two or three)
Two to three key Ministers (Defense, Internal Affairs, Communications, Culture, but at most one military-related)
First Deputy Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet

Individuals appointed to positions that correspond to full membership in the Politburo are sometimes elected candidate members for the first few years of their appointment and are then elevated to full membership by the Central Committee.
​

Signup

Name: (self-explanatory)
Date of Birth: (also self-explanatory. Please include their age as of game-start)
Place of Birth: (city/province, SSR)
Character: (Politburo/Military/Minister/Intellectual/Dissenter)
Position: (for Politburo, see list above. All positions are available beyond General Secretary. Other characters, consult Wikipedia and other sources for reasonable positions and such, or ask a Mod for help)
Biography:

Your character may either be historical or fictional, although if the former, I would prefer more obscure people (no Gorby or Yelstin)

IRC

A specific channel for this game shall be created soon. For now, you'll find me and probably most players on #Wir_Main.

 

[Watercress]

RESERVED

 

[Ranger900]

Place holder spot

Because I want to join but not at a comp where i can reasonably fill out a sign up for like 12 hours

 

[Nax24]

Name: Sergey Fyodorovich Akhromeyev

Date of Birth: May 5, 1923

Place of Birth: Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

Character: Military

Position: Chief of General Staff of the Soviet Army, Marshall of the Soviet Union

Bio: Sergey Akhromeyev was born in Mordovia in the RSFSR. During World War II, Sergey served as a naval officer and achieved the status of hero at the Siege of Leningrad. He rose through the ranks, and by the 80s, he became Marshall of the Soviet Union. He would oversee military operations in Afghanistan against Afghani and Mujaheddin forces during the Soviet-Afghan war. In 1984, Sergey was made Chief of General Staff of the Soviet Army, and will be leading the continued war in Afghanistan to help the communist government in the country.

 

[Maxwell500]

​

Name: Vitaly Mikhailovich Bakatin
Born: February 2nd, 1919 (66)
Birthplace: Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR
Character: Politburo
Position: Chairman of the Council of Ministers
Biography:

To be added...

 

[Noco19]

​

Name: Alikhan Aslanovich Akhmetov
Born: August 3rd, 1930 (55)
Birthplace: Alma-Alta, Kazakh SFSR, USSR
Character: Politburo - Candidate Member
Position: First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan
Biography:

Born in Alma-Alta to a Kazakh clerk and into a middle-income family, Alikhan grew up in a period of great growth, industries moved from the war-front, and then later the Virgin Lands, serving to turn his hometown into a new beast altogether. During his childhood and early youth, Alikhan proved studious and was fortunate to receive a government scholarship, allowing him to attend the Kazakh State University, enrolling in 1948 and graduating in 1953, having studied law.

During this period, Alikhan was heavily involved in political activism, first in the Little Octobrists as a child, then in the Pioneers, and finally in the Komsomol earning him a good degree of connections. An ardent supporter of the Revolution and Soviet Union, Alikhan saw it as his duty to serve in some capacity the interests of his State, and so from university, he served in the Border Troops within the extensive network of political officers from 1953 to 1959.

After 1959, Alikhan was transferred out of the Border Troops and into its parent organization - the KGB, specifically the Kazakh regional branch. Serving within the Ninth Chief Directorate, the organization responsible for providing bodyguard services to Party officials, Alikhan wisely used his position to gain a foot into politics, an ambition of his since youth, allowing him unique access to those that could prove useful in advancing his position.

By 1964, Alikhan had become a full-time worker for the Party and by 1967 had risen to Second Secretary of the Alma-Alta Regional Party Committee, firstly attaching himself to First Secretary Kunayev of Kazakhstan as sycophant, but then distancing himself in the late 70's, aligning himself with the likes of future Prime Minister Nazarbayev thereafter. This would prove incredibly fortunate for Alikhan, as Kunayev was sacked in early 1984, a target of the anti-corruption campaign, in the process burning all those attached to him.

By this point, Alikhan had risen in prominence, First Secretary of the Alma-Alta Regional Party Committee and a principal figure in Kazakhstan politics. But it was still a surprise when Alikhan was named the successor to Kunayev, ascending to the position of First Secretary of the Kazakhstan Communist Party. Seen as more servile than the likes of Nazarbayev, and more tolerable than an outsider to the Kazakh people, Alikhan had been the most trusted candidate, especially given his past service as a particularly devout supporter of Moscow as a political officer.

From humble origins, Alikhan is now a candidate member of the Politburo, the second ethnic Kazakh to hold the position of First Secretary, out of his element and thrust into a brighter spotlight than he envisioned. An outsider, it has yet to be seen what Alikhan can hope to accomplish in Moscow.

 

[Dadarian]

​

Name: Volodymyr Vasylyovych Shcherbytsky
Born: February 17th, 1918 (67)
Birthplace: Kyiv, Ukraine SFSR, USSR
Character: Politburo
Position: First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Ukraine
Biography:
Born to a poor Ukrainian family of peasants in 1918, little is known of Volodymyr's childhood. He first appears in Soviet records during World War II, when he participated in the invasion of Iran by the Soviet forces.

An influential figure in the Soviet Union through his membership in the Soviet politburo since 1971, he was a close ally to the former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. His rule of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic is characterized by the expanded policies of re-centralisation and suppression of dissent. While supporting Russification policies, he still allows the Ukrainian language to keep circulating side-by-side with Russian in this traditionally bilingual republic. Scherbytsky's power base is arguably one of the most corrupt and conservative among the Soviet republics.

 

[Sithlent]

​

Name: Dmitriy Bogdanov
Date of Birth: November 26th, 1921 (64)
Place of Birth: Tikhvin, Russian SFSR, USSR
Character: Intellectual
Position: Professor of Philosophy at Leningrad State University
Biography: WIP

 

[oxfordroyale]

​

Name: Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov
Date of Birth: 7 February 1923
Place of Birth: Nikhnovo, Novgorod Oblast
Character: Politburo
Position: Secretary of the Central Committee for Industry and the Military-Industrial Complex
Biography: Born in Novgorod Oblast into a Russian peasant family, Grigory Vasilyevich Romanov served with distinction as a soldier in the Red Army during the Great Patriotic War before joinng the Communist Party upon the conflict’s conclusion. After fulfilling several important roles and functions several within the Leningrad city and regional party committees he was elected as the First Secretary of the Communist Party Committee of the Leningrad Region in September 1970, after which he quickly gained a reputation for his diligence, loyalty, organizational skills and economic competency. In recognition of these talents he was elected a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union at the XXIVth congress of the CPSU in 1971, going on to become first a candidate member and then a full member of the Central Committee’s Politburo in the following years.


Attracting the attention of General Secretary Yuri Andropov in 1983 due to his youth and promise, Romanov was brought to Moscow in the summer and drastically promoted to the position of a Secretary of the Central Committee of the Politburo responsible for industry and the military-industrial complex, becoming one of Andropov’s closest allies and supporters of his innumerable reforms. His ideology closely aligned with Andropov’s, with the renewal and further development of socialism in the Soviet Union and beyond being a main tenet. He has maintained his current position to the present day under Konstantin Chernenko, and is one of the youngest members of the Politburo.

 

[Stormbringer]

Signup

Name: Vecheslav Sergeyevich Smirnov
Date of Birth: 21 November 1902 (83 years old)
Place of Birth: Shakhovskoye, Russian Empire
Character: Politburo
Position: Second Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU
Biography: Smirnov became a member of the All-Union Communist Party in 1921. Studied economics for much of the 20s. Left his job as a teacher in 1931 to go into public service. Participated in the mass repressions of the Stalinist regime. Was made First Secretary of Stavropol Krai party committee. During the war headed the local Stavropol guerrilla movement. Became a member of the Organisational Bureau of the Central Committee in 1946 and, four years later, was elected to the Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party.

Lost influence in the reshuffle following Stalin's death. During the Khruschev era opposed the revisionist course of the leadership. After the ousting of Khrushchev supported the establishment of a collective leadership and inner-party democracy. During the Brezhnev era rose to the position of Second Secretary of the Central Committee, overseeing the ideological direction of the CPSU.

 

[LatinKaiser]

Name: Viktor Alexandrovich Glazkov
Date of Birth: 4 August, 1920 (65 years old)
Place of Birth: Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod), Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
Character: Politburo (Candidate Member)
Position: Minister of Defence
Biography: WIP

 

[Korona]

​

Name: Andrei Vladimirovich Peshkov
Date of Birth: January 31st, 1918 (67)
Place of Birth: Tver, Russian SFSR, USSR
Character: Politburo
Position: Chairman of the Committee for State Security
Biography:

Andrei Peshkov is the definition of a typical ambitious political. Born to a mid-ranking apparatchik in the Tver Regional Committee of the Communist Party, Andrei found himself eager to outpace his lackluster father, and in a move the surprised him most of all, the KGB reached out to Andrei, recruiting him into their shadowy organization. Showing an innate ability to weed out enemies of the Soviet Union, Andrei was a captain in the KGB by age 35, and by the time he was 50, he was a colonel. Becoming a close ally of Yuri Andropov, Andrei saw the future General Secretary as a man of great power, and made sure that the KGB Chairman held him in high regard. After Andropov became the new General Secretary, Andrei fully expected to be appointed as the Chairman of the Committee for State Security, however Vitaly Fedorchuk was Andropov's successor, an insult that Andrei never forgot. While maintaining the exterior of a loyal servant of the regime, Andrei plotted and schemed, eventually securing Fedorchuk's promotion to Minister of Interior Affairs, leaving an absence in the KGB that Andrei was more than happy to fill. He has served as the Chairman of the Committee for State Security since 1982, and is loyal to only himself.

 

[Luftwafer]

Reserved

In as a Damn Commie

 

[CaesarCzech]

Name: Ivan Gorkanovic Abraham
Date of Birth: January 17. 1950 aged 35
Place of Birth: Leningrad
Character: Military
Position: General of Special Forces
Biography: Ivan Gorkanovic is one of the most experienced soldiers in this country regarding SPEC OPS he served with special units whetever it was under command of KGB,GRU or Military unit he became one of the youngest soldiers to became captain then major and then coloner and he keept clinging. While he is one of the youngest generals he is nonetheless very capable and competent and he is even good in politics which for General of special forces which engage in many important operations
is very important

(if you want me to change my char to be a KGB just tell my if you think it would be better)

 

[Stormbringer]

Here is an initial draft of the 1985 USSR budget, mostly translated from the statistical appendix for the OTL budget. Let me know any questions or if you see any issues.