1932: Playing with the Japanese Communist Party with a doll

"It's just a puppet kingdom controlled by the Japanese. What's there to explore? Even if I were to go there, shouldn't I go to the Kwantung Army?"

"—We thought so at first, but recently, some news from Shanghai and Northeast China forced us to take it seriously."

“What news?”

"A Japanese general was killed in a bombing in Shanghai, and there was constant unrest within the Japanese Kwantung Army, but Manchukuo seems to have maintained a considerable degree of stability. We need to understand the reasons for this, and..."

"I understand. Please let me think about it."

Soon after, Sorge gave his answer: I choose two, and then three.

282 Stalin Wants Li Desheng

Sorge's experience has always played a very important role in the history of intelligence in China and later times.

But in today's Soviet intelligence agencies, he is just an insignificant little figure.

Even though his reports were delivered to the Kremlin and he and his "Ramza Group" were interrogated repeatedly under Stalin's personal arrangement, he was still not worth mentioning in routine matters.

The fact that it was known to such a big shot was because Sorge's report risked mentioning the sentence "The failure of intelligence work in Shanghai was most likely caused by leaks from high-level officials."

Therefore, after subjectively confirming this and making a preliminary list in his mind, Stalin no longer paid attention to this insignificant intelligence officer.

Compared with the "shock" of a major mistake in the Far East intelligence system, the complete loss of contact with the Soviet Union's little brother party was what gave Stalin a bigger headache.

Initially, Stalin did not connect the two events together, thinking that it was just the same as before, except that the Central Bureau of the Communist Party of China was wiped out by the Kuomintang.

Similar things had happened too many times, and the Soviet Union had long been numb, so Stalin didn't take it seriously at first. He just asked the Far Eastern Bureau to send personnel to investigate and then stopped caring about it.

Compared to the fact that his younger brother had suffered another heavy blow, what gave Stalin a greater headache was the famine in Ukraine and other Soviet domestic and international affairs.

It was not until he received more detailed reports that he realized that the CCP's downfall might not have been the "achievement" of the Kuomintang, but rather the intervention of a more powerful force!

Now, Stalin became alert instantly.

He always regarded China as the Soviet Union's "private territory" and used it as a "buffer" to resist the expansion of Japanese forces in the Far East, and would never allow anything to happen that was not under his control or knowledge.

But now, a force has emerged that can silently destroy the CPC Central Committee and silently control Moscow's intelligence output in the Far East!

Just as Sorge suspected, Stalin also suspected that a huge "anti-party and treasonous group" had emerged within the party and had been colluding with external forces.

The intelligence department reported that he became more convinced of this after Li De, who was later sent to Shanghai, also lost contact. That was why Sorge and others were repeatedly interrogated by major Soviet intelligence departments.

As a result, all the hard work paid off.

The Chinese side seemed to have become a huge black box, swallowing up everything the Soviet Union sent without spitting out anything valuable.

After much deliberation, Stalin issued an order: "...Please call Comrade Mif, who is in charge of Far Eastern affairs."

Soon after, Pavel Alexandrovich Mif, Deputy Minister of the Eastern Department of the Communist International, arrived at the Kremlin with messy hair.

According to the public telegrams sent by the Kuomintang, he already knew that all the members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China had died and that the Soviet Far East intelligence system had been completely destroyed;

The new CPC Central Committee, which strictly followed his arrangements, made such a huge work mistake. As the actual person in charge, he must bear the main responsibility.

Incidentally, compared to the traditional "Soviet Union," the Far Eastern Bureau of the Communist International, officially established in 1926, was actually the administrative body primarily responsible for guiding Chinese communist affairs.

(Note: There were actually two Far Eastern Bureaus: one established in 1926 and disbanded in 1927, and one established in 1929. These two are discussed together here.)

However, because the work progress was not satisfactory to Moscow, and because of Borodin's increasing influence and the betrayal of Gu Shunzhang and others, the Far Eastern Bureau had actually stopped working after April 1931.

Since Mif manipulated the Fourth Plenary Session of the Sixth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China in January 1931 and replaced most of the main leaders with his people or people who listened to him, it is no exaggeration to say that Mif is in charge of the current affairs of the Communist Party of China.

He was a little confused when Stalin summoned him.

Because according to the list released by the Kuomintang, the people he chose had basically betrayed the CCP.

"Comrade Stalin..." "Comrade Mif, please take a seat."

Stalin was mild-mannered and straightforward:

"I believe you already know what happened to the Chinese comrades."

"Yes, my comrades who stayed in Moscow and I are all very sad."

"It's too late to grieve now, Comrade Mif. We now need to identify a new leadership for our Chinese comrades to continue guiding the Chinese revolution."

"You're right."

The tones of both of them were very natural, and they did not feel that there was anything wrong with the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee, far away in Moscow, designating a person in charge or even a leadership group for the Chinese Communist Party, which was thousands of miles away.

This is also a point that the Russians themselves do not realize, but in fact, revolutionaries with a little ambition in other countries will feel very uncomfortable:

I have the final say in everything, and everything must obey my "patriarchal" approach, just like the order that "the proletariat of the world must arm themselves to defend the Soviet Union."

The Soviets generally did not take the weak Chinese Communist Party seriously, and naturally did not care whether they were happy or not.

“So, Comrade Mifu, do you have any suitable candidates?”

"Um...Comrade Stalin, before that, I need to make a self-criticism to you."

Thinking that it was impossible to conceal the truth, Mi Fu decided to "retreat in order to advance":

"What happened this time in the Provisional Politburo of the CPC Central Committee truly makes me feel extremely ashamed. I never thought these people would be so unsteady. I..."

In fact, leaving aside the others, Mif had always refused to believe that Vorovsky (Huang Ping's Russian name) had betrayed the country, but how could he say that now?

In short, admit your mistake first. With Comrade Stalin's temper, he will definitely forgive you.

Sure enough, Stalin waved his hand and did not blame Mif:

"Well, Comrade Mif, there is no definite evidence yet to prove that they have betrayed communism. It is possible that they are instigated by the enemy. Don't say such things."

"You're more familiar with Chinese affairs, so please tell me what kind of people should...or could the new Central Committee of the Communist Party of China consist of?"

"this..."

To be honest, Mif had been thinking about this issue since he learned about what happened in Shanghai, but he was soon shocked to find that he couldn't pick out many people!

He had to haggle with everyone up and down to finally get the members of the previous CCP Politburo. How could he find new and suitable members in such a short time?

It’s not that there is nothing to pick out.

Apart from anything else, among the “Twenty-eight and a Half Bolsheviks”, quite a few were still alive or had not openly betrayed the Party!

However, the people who could be selected were either too young, too inexperienced, or not his people, so he could not choose them.

So, when Stalin asked this question, Mif was also stuck for a moment, and then quickly named a few people:

Wang Ming, Wang Jiaxiang, Sheng Zhongliang, Shen Zemin, Chen Changhao, Xia Xi, He Kequan (Kai Feng, who mocked teachers at the Zunyi Conference for "not understanding military affairs and Marxism-Leninism")...

(The Russian names of these people are too long and I am too lazy to look them up, so I will just use their Chinese names. Same below.)

Stalin frowned after listening for a while: "How come I haven't heard of most of these people?"

With the exception of Wang Ming (Klaubev), he had no recollection of any of them. "Uh... Comrade Stalin, these people are former students of Moscow. They strongly identify with the Soviet Union and our Party's policies. If they are elected, they will surely firmly implement our Party's directives."

Mif was very selfish and wanted to use Stalin's "golden words" to officially push his "favorite disciple" Wang Ming to the position of the first leader of the Communist Party of China.

(At this time, Wang Ming was mainly in Moscow, commanding remotely, and could not be considered a serious, procedurally approved leader of the Communist Party of China.)

"All very young?"

"Yes, generally under 30 years old."

"No, students are not good enough. They lack work experience and are too idealistic."

Stalin shook his head:

"When we consider issues, we cannot just consider whether they are obedient or not. We must also consider the ultimate victory of the Chinese revolution and the communist revolution."

After hearing this gentle blow, Mifu broke out in a sweat and immediately gave in.

"Comrade Stalin, I am not very knowledgeable, so I would like to ask for your guidance. I can provide you with information about them so that you can make a decision."

As expected, Comrade Stalin already had a target candidate in mind:

"What do you think of Li Desheng, the Chinese Central Soviet Area Political Bureau Secretary we appointed earlier?"

"Why?"

283 There are villains around, the leader is like a jerk

“Li Desheng?”

When Mif heard this name, he felt a pang of pain in his heart.

Mif had always looked down on Li Desheng, a "peasant" who had never studied abroad. He looked down on him even more because of Wang Ming's relationship with him.

But he never expected that Stalin still remembered this man and even intended to nominate him as the supreme leader of the Chinese Communist Party!

damn it!

What's so good about this person!

That country bumpkin, what does he know about Marxism-Leninism? He even wrote his own obituary!

(There is no clear evidence that this was written by Stalin himself, it is just a fictional statement)

In fact, Mif had never met Li Desheng, and his knowledge of this person was mainly based on second-hand, third-hand, or even fourth-hand information from Wang Ming and others.

But this did not prevent Mif from hating Li Desheng. Apart from anything else, the natural opposing political interests alone were enough to make Mif determined to suppress the other party.

"Comrade Mif, what do you think of this person as the new Secretary of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee?"

"...Please allow me to think about this, Comrade Stalin."

Mif pretended to recall Li Desheng's life and achievements, but in fact he was frantically thinking of ways to fool Stalin and how to ruin this matter.

Because he was the one who suppressed the Communist International's appointment of Li Desheng as the Secretary of the Political Bureau of the Central Soviet Area of ​​the Communist Party of China!

As we all know, the Central Soviet Area is the largest, most powerful, and most comprehensive Soviet area in China. The status of its leaders can be imagined.

Most importantly, the Central Soviet Area was also where Li Desheng had the deepest roots, the most direct followers, and the highest prestige.

Li Desheng, who was already the Chairman of the Soviet Central Government, would have almost no power and status left to challenge once he gained the position of Secretary of the Political Bureau of the Central Soviet Area.

At least that’s the case within the CCP.

Mif, who was trying to push Wang Ming to power, would never allow this situation to happen, so he came up with the tactic of distorting and concealing information between Moscow and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

This kind of thing is not uncommon these days.

Due to the lack of a complete intelligence exchange system, telegraph information would always be distorted or even lost during transmission;

In fact, let alone telegraph messages, Moscow has also had several cases where people sent to certain places on official business only to have both the people and the orders lost!

This happened within the Soviet Union. If you expand it to a foreign country, losing some information or things is a perfectly normal thing, and no one would easily doubt it.

So, what if you deceive your superiors and your subordinates?

Anyway, Moscow couldn't possibly know, and even if it did, it would have plenty of ways to shirk responsibility.

For example, wasn't the CCP Central Committee's intelligence system completely wiped out by the KMT government?

Among so many people, it's normal for one or two telegraph operators to betray the CCP and engage in various sabotage activities, don't you think?

After playing this way until now, trouble has come.

Unexpectedly, Stalin actually remembered this seemingly insignificant order and personally appointed the general.

Once the new order was passed down, it would be difficult to conceal the fact that Li Desheng had not received the previous appointment;

If you are determined to investigate, you will always find something. Unless, once again, Stalin is stopped!

Mi Fu finally figured out a solution and said tactfully:

"Comrade Stalin, as far as I know, Comrade Li Desheng is now the Secretary of the Political Bureau of the Central Soviet Area, Chairman of the Chinese Soviet Government, Chairman of the Central Executive Committee, and Vice Chairman of the Central Revolutionary Military Commission..."

After listing a bunch of random positions to Li Desheng like a dish, he emphasized:

"Comrade Li Desheng already has many responsibilities. If he is given another top leadership position in the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, I am worried that it will put too much of a burden on him."

Mif's idea was to dissuade Stalin from this idea by saying that "Li Desheng has too many responsibilities and too heavy a task", but Stalin shook his head and said:

"No, I don't think this is a problem a revolutionary should worry about. Besides, from what I know about Comrade Li Desheng, he should be able to handle it."

As someone who had read several of Li Desheng's articles, Stalin was quite supportive of some of Li Desheng's ideas, otherwise he would not have mentioned him.

Of course, Mif's first paragraph is just the beginning; his focus is actually the second paragraph:

"You may have your own opinions, but this will lead to Comrade Li Desheng's power being too concentrated within the CCP, which will be detrimental to your and the Comintern's guidance of the CCP..."

What he meant was that Li Desheng had too much power and was difficult to control.