In Kiev, at 4:00 AM in March, the sky was still dark. Pavel Korchagin, Secretary of the Kiev Agricultural Bureau, was already woken by his alarm clock. He pressed the stop button, sat up, and pulled the cord to turn on the electric light. The hands of the clock pointed exactly to four. His wife, Tonya, groggily pulled the quilt up to shield her eyes from the light and continued to sleep.

Korchagin dressed, turned off the light, and left the house. After waiting at the door for five minutes, a *Golf* automobile drove up from the street side. The driver stopped next to Korchagin and hurriedly got out to open the rear door for him.

Korchagin said coldly, "Comrade, you are five minutes late."

The driver felt aggrieved. Having to go out this early in the morning, he had set two alarm clocks just to ensure he could report for duty on time. But the current leaders were all from military backgrounds; the driver didn't dare explain, only apologized.

Korchagin didn't say much more. It was March, and spring plowing had already begun. As the Secretary of the Kiev Agricultural Bureau, his daily work was extremely busy. Tonya was pregnant with their second child, so Korchagin only went home once every two days. Otherwise, he would have chosen to spend the night in the office.

Arriving at the office at 5:00 AM, Korchagin immediately threw himself into work. Spring plowing was proceeding systematically. Seeds, farm tools, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides—all had to be in place. At this stage, the morning meeting for the Kiev Agricultural Bureau cadres started at 6:00 AM. Only in this way could the Bureau begin work immediately when the comrades from various departments arrived at 8:00 AM.

This morning meeting made Korchagin feel good. The comrade responsible for imported materials informed him that the pesticides, herbicides, and rodenticides imported from China had all arrived. A significant number of Siberian Forest Cats, needed by the farmers, had also arrived. These gentle and cute cats were very useful tools in peasant households. Although raising cats was troublesome, and their actual enthusiasm for catching mice was open to doubt, having cats at this stage was better than having none.

Korchagin conducted the Agricultural Bureau's meeting like a military briefing. All personnel were clear about what their work was and what standard had to be achieved. The meeting was now drawing to a close.

Korchagin did not announce the dismissal of the meeting. instead, he pulled out a document and read aloud, "The distribution of official automobiles for the Kiev Agricultural Bureau has begun. The first batch of cars is ready for collection."

The faces of the cadre comrades immediately blossomed with smiles. The Soviet Union had introduced technology to build its own automobile factories. These factories began to mass-produce copies of foreign vehicles; *Gorky*, *Molotov*, *ZIM*, and other cars were put into production one after another. After the higher-level leaders had been allocated cars, it was finally the turn of the mid-to-low-level cadres.

"Comrades, the Party Committee met yesterday to discuss the results. The first batch of cars will be issued to comrades who need to travel frequently," Korchagin stated the result of the Committee's discussion.

This distribution method was reasonable; comrades who traveled indeed needed their own car. Those present were the backbone of the Agricultural Bureau, and no one raised any objections. Seeing the happy looks of the comrades, Korchagin was not particularly excited.

After these few years of work, Korchagin felt he basically understood the Central Committee's seemingly elusive agricultural policy. The reason it seemed elusive was simply that within the Central Committee, commitment to the current policy was not particularly firm. Since 1918, mid-level cadres had been executing the Central Committee's line, believing that the peasant class was too backward and often stood in opposition to the Soviet. Coupled with the low education level of mid-level and grassroots cadres, their methods in agricultural work were quite simple and crude.

So, after the comrades had their moment of joy, Korchagin knocked on the table and emphasized again, "Comrades, when working in the countryside, try not to curse at people. Cursing has little effect now. We must first ascertain whether the farmers have received the supplies they were supposed to get. If they have, are these supplies in their hands? If not, why are they not? The standard for judging whether farmers are 'bad' is whether they can reasonably make good use of their means of production!"

This was the work experience Korchagin had summarized after studying and internalizing the Central Committee's agricultural policy. Although the comrades might not accept it, or might not do it well even if they did, as the Secretary, Korchagin had to emphasize it.

Seeing that the comrades all indicated they understood, Korchagin ended the meeting. Only then did he go with the comrades to the cafeteria to get breakfast. He saw the comrades eligible for cars chatting happily with others, their faces full of joy. Korchagin, however, was wondering if the Central Committee's policy would change.

Theoretically, the CPSU's rural policy was still grain requisitioning, but in execution, it had become an exchange of light industrial goods and agricultural machinery needed by farmers for their production enthusiasm. In recent years, this method had achieved very good results. But the backlash was also intense. Those farmers who performed very well were already driving cars, and their willingness to join cooperatives had lowered significantly. More farmers were willing to work alone and chose to withdraw from agricultural cooperatives.

Korchagin instinctively felt that such results would likely trigger an adjustment of the current agricultural policy by the Central Committee. Making all farmers members of cooperatives would undoubtedly promote rural progress. When farmers were no longer smallholders producing only for their own interests, rural revolution would enter a new stage.

Over the next two days, the things Korchagin thought might happen did not occur. The Central Committee had no thoughts of adjusting agricultural policy; they only issued routine documents emphasizing the need to do a good job in material distribution and production organization to ensure a bumper harvest this year.

When the day to go home arrived, Korchagin went straight home after work. As soon as he entered, he saw Tonya, heavy with child, had already prepared dinner. Their daughter had gone to her grandfather's house today, so only the couple remained. Wheat bread, stewed meat, and borscht—all foods Korchagin liked very much. Just as he took a few bites, there was a knock on the door. The visitor was a cadre from the Agricultural Bureau.

Facing Korchagin's invitation to eat together, the comrade immediately expressed his thanks, "Thank you so much, Secretary Korchagin. This is fried meatballs made by my wife, please taste them."

The lunchbox contained piping hot meatballs. Korchagin tasted one; the skin was crispy, the minced meat inside was rich and fragrant—very delicious. Having had military experience, Korchagin had little interest in luxury; he quickly finished his share of the meal. The cadre opposite him hadn't eaten much; seeing this, he immediately put down his utensils and began to speak of the purpose of his visit. "Secretary Korchagin, did you know? My younger brother has retired from the army and is preparing to get married."

"Congratulations," Korchagin replied with a calm expression, having already formed some guesses in his mind.

"Secretary Korchagin, I know you can get car tickets. I wonder if you could help me out," the subordinate requested.

Korchagin considered for a moment. As the Secretary of the Agricultural Bureau, he did indeed have some tickets now. These tickets were not issued regularly but came with every supply delivery, and the quantity varied each time. To Korchagin's knowledge, this was because for high-value large items, the yield rate varied each time, and the product quality also varied.

For example, Korchagin's car was a First-Class product, which had fewer breakdowns. Second-Class products were of slightly lower quality, like the three car tickets Korchagin had received. There were also Third-Class products, which were of even lower quality. In places with better management, these cars would only be given to urban residents. In places with poor management, these cars were used as rewards for outstanding agricultural production households. Naturally, the outstanding agricultural households would be very unhappy about this.

Because many places did this, agricultural bureaus in many regions received a large number of complaint letters. It got to the point where the Soviet of the Ukrainian Republic had to issue a document forbidding this practice. But things were not that simple, because having a car was still better than having no car. The farmers cursed, but they would still take the car.

The cadre opposite knew that Korchagin was a very principled comrade who never accepted bribes, let alone embezzled. Even though he often seemed unenthusiastic, while hundreds or even thousands of cadres in Ukraine alone were taken away by the KGB or the Discipline Inspection Commission every year for corruption and bribery, Korchagin always sat steadily in the position of Agricultural Bureau Secretary.

Promising benefits was useless with Korchagin. So the cadre said, "Secretary, my future sister-in-law is the daughter of Comrade Alyosha. Comrade Alyosha used to work in the First Cavalry Army."

Hearing "First Cavalry Army," Korchagin was finally moved. After chatting for a few sentences, Korchagin did indeed recall that Alyosha; at least he knew there was such a person. The Agricultural Bureau cadre struck while the iron was hot, "When my brother gets married, we would also like to invite the Secretary to attend."

Korchagin understood this comrade's meaning. That Alyosha was now a Senior Colonel and might be promoted to General. This guy's intention was to use the wedding to create an opportunity for Korchagin to meet his old comrade-in-arms Alyosha again.

Thinking in silence, Korchagin did not consider the power behind this comrade. Korchagin originally detested these kinds of connections. Moreover, after being called to the Kremlin by General Secretary Stalin last year and severely criticized to his face, and then seeing Secretary Kirov and General Secretary Stalin discussing work together, Korchagin had been deeply moved by the leaders' foresight and had lost interest in these trivial matters. Korchagin was now considering this cadre's work ability and performance.

Beside them, Tonya had remained silent. Born into an intellectual family, she was very satisfied with the status her husband had achieved, which was equivalent to a department director in the Tsarist era. And the fact that her husband maintained his integrity and restraint after grasping power made Tonya respect him very much. Of course, the feeling of people coming to their door to beg for favors was something Tonya enjoyed.

After considering for a while, Korchagin felt that this cadre's ability and usual performance could indeed merit a car ticket. Only then did he agree. After the cadre left with a thousand thanks, Korchagin sighed. Another reason he finally agreed was that this cadre had not expressed any intention to bribe him. A few days ago, after attending a meeting with the Kiev Municipal Party Secretary, Korchagin had been interviewed by the KGB. The KGB asked Secretary Korchagin to "pay attention" to a few cadres in the Agricultural Bureau. Korchagin immediately understood.

Based on the performance of those few cadres, it was likely that their crimes were about to be exposed. The reason they hadn't been moved against yet might be that the evidence was uncertain, or perhaps because so many people had been arrested that they didn't want the arrest of these guys to affect the work of the Agricultural Bureau. Without some ability, naturally, one wouldn't have the opportunity to sit in a position where one could engage in corruption.

Sighing, Korchagin said almost to himself, "Is this... how cadres are tested now?"

Tonya had also finished her meal by this time. As she cleared the table, she said, "My dear, can you get tickets for imported cars?"

Korchagin was speechless for a moment. Tonya had mentioned this matter before; the Deputy Secretary of the Kiev Education Bureau didn't really want a Soviet domestic car—he wanted to get a Chinese-made automobile.

Korchagin sighed in his heart: *Is this how cadres are tested now?*