The other growled, “I understsnd that the corruption applies even to ranking members of the local party.”
Sverdlov cleared his throat. “Yes,” he said. “Even petty graft. No one seems free of it.”
The minister sighed his disgust. “How can one sponsor revolution with such elements? But enough of Indonesia.” He refilled the glasses.
The colonel looked at him to go on, attentively.
His superior finished his drink first and said, “What do you know of El Hassan?”
Sverdlov said, “Very little. It would seem he makes considerable effort to remain a mystery man. From what came through in Djakarta, he attempts to unite the whole of North Africa. To maintain his air of mystery, he has adopted the artificial language Esperanto, which supposedly all of his followers and all delegations from foreign countries must speak in his presence.”
“Do you have Esperanto?”
“No. Arabic, yes. As you will recall, I was stationed in Algeria during the most recent revolution.”
Blagonravov nodded. “You can begin your studies of Esperanto immediately. I understand that it is possibly the easiest language in the world to acquire.”
Serge Sverdlov inwardly winced. He was no student.
The minister went on. “We have already lost two top agents in this matter and have had a third, not so important, defect to El Hassan.”
The KGB operative stared at him. “Already? But he has been on the scene but a few weeks.”
“Comrade Abraham Baker, the black comrade who did so much work in America, was one of his original team of the Sahara Division of the African Development project of the Reunited Nations. When matters came to a head—we do not know the details—evidently El Hassan, whose real name is Homer Crawford, an American professor of sociology, seemingly liquidated him. Shortly after, we sent in Anton…”
“Anton!”
“Yes. To infiltrate the El Hassan movement and attempt to rise high in its ranks, with the far future in mind. What happened to this outstanding comrade is confused. It would seem that he resigned, or pretended to, from the Party on the same night, just recently, that El Hassan’s tribesmen destroyed the Arab Union forces in Tamanrasset who were attempting to annex the Sahara. Anton died in the fighting.”
“And who was the third agent who was eliminated?”
“Not exactly eliminated. This former comrade, Isobel Cunningham, had been recruited by Abe Baker while they were still both students in New York. When the crisis came, she evidently defected to El Hassan and now is one of his intimate clique.”
The minister poured still a third vodka.
“And what is my assignment?” Colonel Sverdlov said.
His superior looked at him, all but apologetically. “Frankly, I would rather have sent Ilya Simonov, but he is busy on an assignment in Prague, Czechoslavakia, seeking out the sources of the dry rot which seem to surface so often in the Soviet Complex these days, the elements who are dissatisfied with our society in spite of the fact that we have now attained to the affluence we have so long promised.”
He knocked back the stiff vodka. “Your task is to promote the program of El Hassan.”
Serge Sverdlov gaped at him. “Promote it! You say that he is attempting to take over all North Africa. This would include Algeria, Libya, Mauretania, Tunisia—not to speak of some of the smaller nations to the south. All are Marxist, or, at least, to some degree socialist.”
Kliment Blagonravov sighed a fat sigh. “Serge, Serge,” he said. “It is astounding how few, even among those who deal in the field of political economy and dialectics, have studied the basics. It is the same in the West, as it is in the Soviet Complex. Half a century ago, an American president, a wealthy capitalist and aristocrat himself, Franklin D. Roosevelt, realized that if he was to promote the continuation of the American social system that a good many reforms were necessary. Otherwise, there would have been a revolution during their great depression. He inaugurated them. Immediately his fellow capitalists began to scream that he was a socialist, a communist, a Marxist, or even an anarchist. Obviously, they hadn’t the vaguest idea of what any of these movements actually were.”
Serge Sverdlov was frowning. He hadn’t any idea of what the other was getting to.
The Minister wagged a lardy finger at him.
“Serge, when Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels originally called for the proletarian revolution, they envisioned it as first taking place in the most advanced nations in the capitalist world. England, Germany, the United States and so forth. Socialism, or communism—they used the terms interchangably and meant the same thing by them—was the next step beyond capitalism, and could not be attained until there was a highly developed economy. Backward, primitive societies, could not realize true socialism, or communism, since they did not as yet have the foundations for it. Capitalism was a necessary step in the evolution of society. Without it, following feudalism and chattle slavery, in their turn, socialism was impossible.”
The colonel stirred in his chair. Of course, all this had been taught in his classes in Marxism while he was still in secondary school. However, no one interrupted the minister when he was on one of his lengthy harangues.
Blagonravov went on, pontifically, “It was bad enough, in Russia and later in China, when, as a result of the confusion following World Wars One and Two, that the Party was able to come to power.”
The colonel blinked at a statement such as that from a ranking Party bureaucrat, but held his peace.
The other went on. “The communists were in power, but did not have the base upon which to build true communism. Under Stalin in our country and Mao in China, the most ruthless measures were taken in order to lift them by their bootstraps, as the Yankees put it. Nothing counted but quick industrialization. Five year plans in Russia, Great Leaps Forward in China. Anything, anything, to industrialize. Until, at long last, industrialization was achieved and now the Soviet Complex is as powerful as any of the imperialist powers, even the United States of the Americas. For instance, as far back as 1974 we passed them in the production of steel, the most important basic of an industrialized society.”
A question came to the colonel’s mind, which he wouldn’t have dreamed of asking. If the Soviet Complex had at long last achieved full industrialization, then why was not the dictatorship ended and true communism, or socialism, established? Why did not the State wither away, as once called for by Marx?
The minister poured another drink and pushed Sverdlov’s over to him. Hadn’t they both been Russians, both would have been smashed by this time. Even as it was, the colonel could feel the alcohol. Happily, he had known what was coming and had eaten a huge breakfast. He wondered if his superior went through this routine with everyone whom he interviewed during the process of a long day.
Blagonravov continued with his explanation. “Of recent years, a good many movements throughout the world have sprung up proclaiming themselves socialist. Usually, not always, they are actually military dictatorships. They use the term socialism because it is often popular with the people, few of whom actually know what it truly means. They usually nationalize a few basic industries such as the railroads, communications, the airlines, if any, and expropriate foreign holdings such as mines and oil fields, and anything else of value, and proclaim this to be socialism, or Marxism. Allende was a good example, down in Chile, some decades ago. Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Mauretania are other good examples. In actuality, capitalism in such countries has not been done away with. The State has simply taken the place of individual capitalists; workers continue to work for wages, farmers continue to sell their products on the market, banks continue to operate the old monetary system and foreign trade is pushed in order to make profits—for the State. The term for such a socioeconomic system should be State-Capitalism, rather than socialism or Marxism.”