On October 5, 1949, the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was officially held in the small hall of the Palace of Soviets. (This small hall is not too small, at least 6,000 seats)

Unlike in the past, the current meeting of representatives of the CPSU not only set a record number of attendees, but also for the first time invited representatives of the Communist Party of Israel, the Communist Party of Vietnam, and the Communist Party of China to attend the meeting as representatives of foreign ruling parties and enjoy the right to speak.

The presence of representatives of these countries was just the right thing to show the party delegates in the Soviet Union the achievements of the Soviet Union's export of revolution to the outside world, and at the same time, it was also possible for the delegates abroad to have a deeper understanding and reference for the operation of the Soviet party and government system through this solemn meeting.

The visit of the international delegates has certainly become one of the focal points, and the relevant greeting agencies, hotels, airports and other locations have hung up slogans welcoming foreign friends to visit, and the media such as Pravda and Iskra are also full of news reports about the international representatives, which shows that the Soviet government attaches great importance to these "foreign friends".

However, for the representatives of the Soviet Union attending the meeting, the arrival of these foreign friends did not deserve their attention, after all, they were most concerned about their own vital interests, and the affairs of foreign friends should be left to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the top leadership of the country.

What could affect the vital interests of these representatives of the Soviet Union? Generally speaking, in addition to the Central Committee of the CPSU, as well as the Politburo and the Secretariat behind it, the speeches of the state leaders and the political trends reflected by them are also the focus of attention of most delegates.

Stalin, of course, was the most talked-about leader of the country, and when he stepped up to the podium and was about to speak, everyone in the room pricked up their ears and listened attentively to the words of the supreme leader.

The content of Stalin's speech was very different from the last time, in front of more than 1,000 delegates at the party congress, he criticized Voznesensky's political views without naming names, believing that the so-called "system of accounting for the laws of values" he advocated deviated from the party line, and his reform program was also an attempt to restore capitalism in the Soviet Union.

Some of the people present here who are more sensitive to politics and have some understanding of the high-level struggle have heard some unspoken meanings from this speech, and they have probably guessed who Stalin is referring to and what will happen to the fate of these people.

While Stalin criticized Voznesensky and other revisionists, Stalin also praised some cadres who "closely followed the party's line," "enthusiastically served the people," and "made contributions to the country's development and construction," and demanded that all party members should follow these people's examples, resolutely obey the party's leadership, unswervingly follow the Marxist-Leninist road, and at the same time put the people first and refrain from bureaucratic and opportunist tendencies.

In the Soviet Union at that time, the number of party members and cadres who met these characteristics as Stalin said was actually not small, at least at that time, most of the party members (mainly grassroots party members and cadres) were unswervingly following the road of Marxism-Leninism, putting the people first, enthusiastically serving the people, and at the same time doing their best to contribute to the development of the country.

There are even more party members who meet the condition of "obeying the leadership of the party Central Committee," and almost all party members and cadres meet this condition. At least at that time, there were not many people who ate the party's food, but did not obey the leadership of the party and the Soviets.

However, some well-intentioned people seem to have misinterpreted Stalin's meaning, believing that what Stalin is referring to here is Manturov and the Siberian faction behind him, because the Siberian faction not only conforms to these characteristics that Stalin said, but also gives full play to these characteristics.

In particular, in the Soviet Union at that time, almost no one could compare with Manturov in terms of political achievements and national contributions, except for Stalin. Without Manturov, the Soviet Union would not have become so powerful, let alone able to bring all of Germany, northern Italy, and Norway into its sphere of influence.

In recognition of Manturov's contribution to the development of the country, the Supreme Soviet awarded him a total of 2 medals of Hero of Socialist Labor, and Stalin also made him enter the core organs of the Party Central Committee, and even became the second secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, becoming the second in command of the party.

As expected, in the subsequent elections, Manturov was also unsurprisingly re-elected as the second secretary of the CPSU Central Committee, and his political allies - Ponomarenko and Pegov also passed the election of the secretary of the Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee and were able to continue to be re-elected, and Andreyev was able to return to the Secretariat of the Central Committee and return to his old job.

It is also not surprising that Voznesensky, who was criticized by Stalin without naming him, not only lost his position as a member of the Politburo (replaced by Schvernik, chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet), but also demoted his rank in the Supreme Council of Ministers from first deputy chairman to ordinary deputy chairman (the position of first deputy chairman was reinstated by Molotov), and only retained the status of chairman of the State Committee on Planned Economy, deputy chairman of the Supreme Council of Ministers, and full member of the Central Committee of the CPSU.

And Voznesensky's political ally, Alexei Kuznetsov, could not be re-elected as secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and his place was filled by Andrei Andreyevich Andreyev, who returned to the Secretariat, and only the post of secretary of the Leningrad Oblast Committee and a full member of the Central Committee of the CPSU remained.

In addition, some members of the Leningrad faction and some cadres who had supported Voznesensky's revisionist remarks were "punished" to varying degrees, and those in the Central Committee were placed in some less important positions, and those who were in the Central Committee were either demoted or directly arrested, and those who were originally on the list of the Central Committee, except for Voznesensky, Kuznetsov, and Patolicev, were not re-elected as members of the Central Committee, which can be regarded as a major warning to the revisionists by the Party Central Committee.

After this congress, the power of the Leningrad faction began to decline, and its weak political forces were completely unable to compete with the Siberian faction. As the "political enemy" of the Leningrad faction, many people thought that the Siberian faction would take the opportunity to wipe out the Leningrad faction, leaving Voznesensky, Kuznetsov and others with no place to turn over.

Surprisingly, however, Manturov was slow to take action against the Leningradists, because he now had another more important target to prune: Beria, who had the police and the anti-rebel forces in his hands.