Ch.290Old Enemy

# Siberian Prison Camp

A man visited the red revolutionary who spent his days in meditation, confined to a solitary cell.

“Trotsky, it’s been a long time. We’ve been in the same prison camp, but I haven’t had a proper look at you.”

It was Stalin who had come to visit Trotsky.

“You look quite healthy. I heard the remaining revolutionaries were used for various experiments and died in inhuman conditions.”

They died being forced into large-scale road construction projects, or used in biological experiments testing radiation or whatever dangerous substances, or mobilized for tasks that consumed human lives. That’s how they perished.

They said it was a sacrifice for human progress, but from a revolutionary’s perspective, it was a terrible revenge.

Yet Stalin himself simply stared into empty space with a face of complete detachment.

“The living must live on, mustn’t they? When I became impotent and my wife turned away from me to fool around with another man in the camp, I found myself wanting to live somehow.”

Even if that was what the Tsarina intended. Stalin truly wanted to live.

He simply wanted to see how far this Russia, a Russia not controlled by the Bolsheviks, would progress.

“Huh, a communist eunuch becoming a priest. How contradictory. I don’t even know where to begin mocking this.”

Trotsky couldn’t help but sneer at Stalin’s priestly appearance.

Religion is the opium of the people.

Yet now Stalin, once a key figure among the Bolsheviks, had been reduced to this.

A priest! How laughable!

“Don’t mock me too much. Look at Russia today. Look at Europe. And those we labeled as reactionaries have united under Russia’s leadership, and Russia’s worker welfare policies are being implemented.”

“Hmm.”

Europe had become unified, and Russia’s various beneficial worker welfare policies were adopted across European countries, preventing second and third revolutions.

It had become a society where revolution was unnecessary.

Worker welfare had improved accordingly.

“The Tsarina has won, and we have lost. That’s the conclusion. Perhaps they’ve kept us alive all this time just to show us that.”

“Are you saying you’re satisfied with your current life?”

Trotsky, reluctant to admit it, looked at Stalin, whose expression had become gentle as if he had reached enlightenment, and asked.

Stalin had once wanted to keep fighting, but this wasn’t it.

“Well, I did feel like acting out more, but after becoming like this and seeing Russia achieve victory after victory, I’ve gradually become a sage. Of course, having once been a revolutionary, I don’t like to admit it outwardly.”

Yes. Of course, Stalin still didn’t want to admit it.

But reality, no matter how you looked at it, was saying that the Tsarina had been right. That she had won.

“Comrade Lenin died a miserable death.”

“Weren’t we the ones who first tried to seize power by dissolving the Duma and overthrowing it? And we killed the Tsar’s family without a proper trial.”

The driving force behind the Bolsheviks’ ability to take control of Russia was partly the Civil War.

But in this history, that too was impossible, and Lenin’s ability to take power wasn’t due to the Bolsheviks but rather his “I’ll do whatever I want” attitude.

“That’s—”

“Don’t just say it was for the workers. How many workers and citizens died at the hands of the Bolsheviks during the civil war? We simply failed in our pursuit of power.”

Stalin stared into the distance and shook his head.

Seeing the world changed by the Tsarina, Stalin had now reached such enlightenment that he questioned whether the revolution had any meaning at all.

“Koba, that’s denying our revolution!”

“That’s the reality. The vengeful Tsarina finally ascended to the throne, and the captured Bolsheviks died being treated as less than human. Under the Tsarina, a world has opened where communists are treated not as humans but as vermin. Yet Russians praise Anastasia. Frankly speaking, even if we had won the civil war then, would we have properly controlled Russia?”

They would have implemented a reign of terror to control all of Russia.

Yes, just like that Germany.

They would have killed all citizens who opposed the Bolsheviks and once cooperated with the White Army.

Just as the White Army took merciless revenge on the communists.

And that Germany has now collapsed, and the Empire has been restored.

“Why did you come to find me and tell me all this?”

“I wanted to chat with an old friend, but there’s also a rumor that the Tsarina will soon visit the camp. She’s probably coming to see you.”

Stalin had heard the camp soldiers talking before coming here.

And the subject of their conversation was the Russian Tsar.

Stalin has already been working as a priest in the camp, humanely helping many criminals besides the Bolsheviks.

By now, Anastasia wouldn’t come to kill him, but Trotsky would be different.

“Koba, are you telling me to submit to the Tsarina? To beg her to spare my life?”

“Of course, I don’t want to lose my only remaining friend. But that’s not what I’m saying.”

“!!”

Stalin knew Trotsky well.

Trotsky was a man who lived and died for the revolution.

Begging the Tsarina to spare his life would mean abandoning the revolution. And that would essentially mean Trotsky’s death.

Even if he lived, it wouldn’t be a life worth living.

“That would be killing you in a different sense. You are now essentially the last remaining revolutionary. I don’t know if this will be our last meeting, but you should face the Tsarina according to your convictions and beliefs.”

Stalin had already lost all his driving force.

He was never a perfect revolutionary like Trotsky to begin with.

But Trotsky lived as a revolutionary until the end, until he was captured by the Okhrana.

Though his personality was difficult, he was still a red star.

After meeting with Stalin, Trotsky was soon dragged somewhere by the camp soldiers.

And then.

“This is the first time I’m seeing you in person.”

He finally came face to face with Anastasia, who had now become the Tsar.

* * *

Trotsky had suffered quite a bit, and now looked quite old.

Given his age, that was natural.

In fact, unlike in the original history, he wasn’t assassinated, so shouldn’t he be grateful to me?

“This is the first time I’m seeing you in person.”

“Ha. Seeing you still looking young, I suppose the rumors of you being a saint are true. So, have you finally called me here to kill me?”

“Hmm. Well…”

Honestly, I have no intention of killing him.

If I wanted to kill him, I would have done so already. In fact, he’s been so low on my priority list that I almost forgot about him.

Personally, I don’t particularly want to kill him.

Strictly speaking, I’m just possessing Anastasia—I’m not the real Anastasia whose parents were killed.

“Do you want me to grab the hem of your skirt and beg for my life?”

“While that might be interesting to see, I don’t really care either way.”

That wouldn’t be bad, but I don’t particularly wish for it.

“Then, witch, why have you called me? Do you plan to kill me horribly right here? Will you shoot me like your father received the people’s judgment? Or will you execute me by firing squad like Comrade Lenin?”

Calling me a witch is quite rude.

Where in the world is there a witch as pretty as me?

This is purely an attempt to insult me. I feel wronged.

“Surprisingly, no. While you certainly killed my siblings and parents, strangely enough, I don’t feel vengeful now. Thanks to you killing our family, I was able to set Russia right. On the other hand, thanks to your KFC revolution in America, America’s growth stagnated for a while.”

“So you’re saying it was all in the palm of your hand? Are you mocking me?”

“Mocking? I’m sincerely thanking you.”

“If you’re not going to kill me, why not just throw me back in my cell? Why did you specifically call for me?”

Suddenly, I had a thought.

I wondered what future the Bolsheviks would have created.

“Aren’t you curious about what the future would have been like if I had just died back then?”

“Ha, since you can’t burst my eardrums, I don’t have a choice but to listen, do I?”

Don’t grumble like that as a grown adult and just listen. It’ll be interesting.

“It’s simple. The policies I implemented during the Civil War would have been done by the Bolsheviks first, and the divided White Army, despite initial advantages with European support, would have gradually been pushed back. The Red Army would have won, and the Bolshevik regime would have successfully established the Soviet Union.”

From the beginning, the possibility of the Bolsheviks taking power even after the revolution wasn’t very high.

What Russians wanted was to overthrow the Tsarist regime, not necessarily to embrace communism unconditionally.

“That sounds nice.”

Though he’s being sarcastic, he’s still listening.

Unless he’s a fool, he must know that my prophecies so far have come true.

It might be hard to believe, but he must want to hear it at least once.

“Later, Lenin would be assassinated, and after a power vacuum, Stalin would seize power. You would flee and settle in Mexico, establishing a new International, but that’s it. You’d die when an assassin sent by Stalin smashes your skull with an ice pick.”

“So you’re saying I’ve lived longer thanks to you?”

Did he really never think he might die at Stalin’s hands?

“Stalin’s Soviet Union wasn’t exactly stable either. Stalin purged countless political opponents, and his various mistakes led to a famine in Ukraine, which was incorporated into the Soviet Union, to the point where parents ate their children’s flesh. Not only that, but due to the Great Purge, millions died when Germany started another war. However, after winning the second great war, the Soviet Union would rise to the rank of a superpower alongside the United States.”

What’s strange is that despite being a superpower, it was still backward.

Of course, the Russia I’m in is different.

“Oh, that sounds good.”

“But it would eventually collapse. In the end, it only looked impressive on the outside, as the Soviet Union never fixed its fundamental problems. The Soviet Union would dissolve, and by the 2000s, only the Russian Federation would remain, invading in all directions under a strange dictator. Of course, the Chinese Communist Party and North Korea would remain as communist regimes, but they would be dictatorships with miserable countries.”

“So you’re saying communism is inherently contradictory?”

No. I don’t necessarily deny that.

Even if I’m seen as a fervent anti-communist, I believe communism is necessary depending on the era.

Of course, the level I desire is only to use communism as a warning to the current era.

I don’t actually want to see the world ruined by communism.

But now, no matter where communism arises, it can never defeat the social system of the Rome Treaty Organization.

Didn’t even Goebbels of Communist Germany admit it? That they would start a war anyway.

If even Communist Germany is like that, how easily could communism emerge in the future?

As soon as it erupts, the Rome Treaty forces will crush it. Even if not, looking at the Rome Treaty, communism is bound to collapse.

Didn’t Communist Germany choose war as a gamble because they knew they would lose?

“In the end, stagnation and decay affect communism too. No, it’s actually a system more prone to corruption than other ideologies—even the monarchy you despise. And it’s not like you, Trotsky, could live as long as I have without aging to establish a stable communist system.”

Whatever you do, the Soviet system will eventually corrupt.

Hearing these words, Trotsky clenched his fist and his eyes trembled.

He’s frustrated but can’t say anything. Every country has its golden age in its founding and early period.

European countries were like that, Korea had Goryeo, and even Joseon was decent in its early days.

Communism is just the same.

It’s a necessary evil only in the beginning, but after some time passes, it becomes meaningless. There’s no perfect ideology anywhere.

It all depends on what’s needed at the time.

Some eras need monarchy, some need communism, and some need liberalism.

Among them, communism is an ideology that warns the world. That position alone is sufficient.

“Fine. What does it matter now? What does the illustrious imperialist leader want to say to a defeated man like me?”

Actually, I’m not Anastasia!

I’m not without the desire to declare this and provoke him, but…

“I hear your chicken-frying skills are excellent. I’ll give you two choices. Would you like to change your identity and make a name for yourself as a chicken entrepreneur?”

The KFC headquarters has already thoroughly examined Trotsky’s chicken techniques documented in his writings, so there’s no issue.

But if Trotsky wants, we can arrange for him to fry chicken.

Unfortunately, Trotsky isn’t the type of person who would want such a thing.

“That damn chicken! I’m a revolutionary, not someone who fries chicken! Yes! Somehow you’ve turned me into a man obsessed with chicken! I don’t know about anything else, but I’m a revolutionary! Not a man who makes chicken revolutions!”

Trotsky waved his hands and ranted furiously.

It was so intense that soldiers waiting outside rushed in. Unlike earlier when he was calmly listening to me, he was now angry.

Is that really something to get so upset about?

If you had been labeled as a hardcore communist, you would have been properly killed. Tsk, tsk, tsk.

“You may not know it, but your chicken saved many Black people, and you gained fame as a human rights activist. Above all, chicken is quite popular in Russia too.”

“Huh.”

“In a different sense, you truly did make a proper revolution.”

Trotsky is trembling.

He has a lot to say but somehow can’t express it.

“Or should I deport you? I’ll give you enough money to live in another country.”

“You really won’t kill me?”

Why is he so surprised?

I could play the “revenge for my family” card, but at this point, such revenge seems a bit much, and anyway, it was the Ural Soviet something-or-other who killed them. This man didn’t personally come and kill the Tsar’s family.

Killing him now for revenge would be… well, even if justified, it wouldn’t be satisfying.