Khrushchev famously said: "If a hen wants to lay eggs, she needs to lie quietly for a while." If I want to plan something, it takes time to come up with a plan. ”
When he said this, he was telling American journalists about his official residence, a luxurious villa next to the Black Sea.
It is a treasure trove of feng shui where he can recuperate and strategize, surrounded by trees, facing the sea, boardwalks, gravel beaches, and heavily guarded.
The villa is magnificent, with a swimming pool, badminton court, and a large glass wall that offers unobstructed views of the sea.
The ** in the study room can instantly connect to dignitaries from all over the country 24 hours a day.
In October 1964, he was on vacation here. On the evening of the 12th, the ** that changed the fate of his life suddenly sounded here.
Khrushchev's dacha.
At the time, he was walking along the boardwalk with his henchman Mikoyan, followed by a bodyguard.
One of his security guards ran from the dacha and told him that Brezhnev had called him from Moscow.
Brezhnev, the number two in the Kremlin promoted by Khrushchev, was in charge of the daily work when he was on leave. At this time, when you call on vacation, there must be something important.
Khrushchev rushed to the side.
It turned out that Burgh wanted him to return to Moscow immediately the next day to attend a special meeting of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on agriculture.
The reform of agricultural institutions was a major move by Khrushchev after he came to power, especially the policy of planting corn on a large scale throughout the country, which was touted to the core, but in fact some land was not suitable, and the bad thing is that now the food shortage has spread throughout the country.
He had no intention of stopping, though. The party was helpless against his whimsical idea of setting up nine centralized authorities.
They joked privately with each other that if he could set up a department in charge of grain, a department in charge of meat, and a department in charge of sugar, perhaps one day the unlucky department would become the department in charge of sheep or the department in charge of turkeys.
Behind Khrushchev, there is also dissatisfaction with the army brought about by the drastic reduction of the military's regular **.
To tell the truth, he was a little haggard at this time, and he had been in power for 10 years, and he also thought about retiring, but he never had the opportunity.
Now, on vacation, he doesn't want to be disturbed by these tedious messes, and insists that he doesn't want to attend the meeting of the presidium.
Brezhnev awarded Khrushchev the Medal.
You can make a decision in my absence. * He said to Brezhnev.
We can't make a decision in your absence!Brezhnev said firmly, and the members of the presidium were all present, "We ask you to come back and preside over the meeting." ”
What are the emergencies?There will be a plenary meeting next month, so why not talk about it then?Now I have to interrupt my vacation ......
The two bargained again, and Khrushchev agreed with great reluctance.
Putting down the **, he and Mikoyan returned to the beach path, remembering the words of his son Sergei last month, he calmly said to Mikoyan:
You know, Anastas (Mikoyan's name), they don't have any urgent agricultural problems, and I think this ** has something to do with what Sergei told me. ”
Khrushchev, who had been up and down for decades, was already sensitively aware of what was happening in Moscow at this time, but after careful consideration, he was not frightened and shocked, but calmly said to Mikoyan:
If this involves me, I will not fight. ”
Yes, at this time, he already knows that someone is plotting to force him to hand over power**.
Pictured: Leonid Brezhnev (third from left) in 1978
There is no such thing as an impermeable wall, especially when there are so many people like usurping power. History tells us that we should never think that such a small action can be unknown to anyone.
Generally speaking, there are people who tell such things, and the hunters will plan and attract people to join the shares, and the traitors will be wiped out and successfully counterattacked;Or take advantage of the trend, pretend not to know, and finally retreat with all your body and hand over peacefully.
It is clear that Khrushchev belonged to the latter category.
The plan planned by Brezhnev and others was proposed as early as one year ago, and he found all kinds of political leaders who hated Khrushchev to probe, talk, form alliances, and conspire.
In fact, before receiving this **, Khrushchev had already received suspicious information from 3 channels in advance.
One is his son Sergei.
Sergei was an engineer in the Soviet missile design department, and in September, a high-ranking bodyguard in the party, after learning of the conspiracy to overthrow Khrushchev, secretly met with Sergei and told him about the conspiracy.
This **, named Ignadev, is one of the key figures in this conspiracy. It seems that he was disloyal to Khrushchev, and his bodyguards were equally disloyal to him.
Sergei told his father the terrible news, and his father told him to keep his mouth shut. At this time, he already knew in his heart.
Sergey in 1959.
Earlier, in the summer of that year, Khrushchev's daughter Rada suddenly received a ** from a woman, saying that she had important information to provide to Khrushchev and asked to meet with Rada.
The Rada refused to meet with strangers, and the woman said she knew someone was planning a plot to overthrow Khrushchev.
Rada was even more suspicious, saying that in that case, you should go and tell the KGB (Soviet intelligence agency). The woman immediately retorted, saying: "If the head of the KGB is a participant in the conspiracy, how can I tell him?"That's why you have to meet face-to-face. ”
Out of an abundance of caution, she still hasn't met the mysterious woman.
Soon after, Radha received a secret message from a good friend, the former Minister of Commerce, who was feeling bad, but the calm situation made it difficult for him to believe it, so he consulted a trusted friend.
The friend advised him not to think too much, saying that the whistleblower had a ** personality and was not credible.
Khrushchev and family.
The third warning, from Rada's husband, Ajubeyi, the editor-in-chief of Izvestia.
The brother of one of his assistants, a good friend named Devi and a high-ranking **, got suspicious clues from the secretary of the Georgian party committee, Vasily, and hurriedly informed Ajubey.
Khrushchev had a family rule that children were not allowed to inquire about political issues, so the conspiracy to overthrow him did not attract enough attention and discussion within the family, but it is clear that Khrushchev was aware of it.
According to Sergei's memoirs, after he told his father about this, his father did something even more incredible to him, that is, he went so far as to blame the plotters on it without care.
Of course, the other party flatly denied it.
Sergei was outraged by this, finding his father "strange, irrational, and incomprehensible." I used to think that my father was often naïve, but it was never as outrageous as this time.
Perhaps Khrushchev wanted to knock on the mountain and warn the plotters, I already know about this, and it is better for you to stop as soon as possible.
It is said that when the mastermind Brezhnev learned that the boss knew about this, he was almost frightened, and hurriedly called the KGB leader Semichastny, trembling and saying that Khrushchev already knew everything, "The matter is revealed, and he will shoot us all ......."”
The coup d'état should have been stopped.
However, Khrushchev's performance made the mastermind conclude that Khrushchev no longer believed that this would happen, and it was better to implement it early than to expose it and leave more doubts and hidden dangers.
So, the ** that interrupted the vacation sounded urgently.
Khrushchev was already suspicious, but he flew to Moscow anyway.
On the afternoon of October 13, at the Fornukovo-2 airfield in the southern suburbs of Moscow, Khrushchev's jet plane landed smoothly, and was personally greeted by KGB leader Semichastny, and "escorted" all the way to the Kremlin.
From this moment on, Khrushchev lost his freedom.
In fact, the general who went to pick him up at the villa and "escorted" him to the airport was already a villain. He wanted to ensure that Khrushchev was safely on the plane to Moscow. And Semichastny, who was in charge of sending him to the Kremlin's conference room.
At the same time, the guards responsible for the security of Khrushchev in the Kremlin have been replaced. Khrushchev's security guards at his official residence and country house in Moscow were also replaced.
Khrushchev. The participants were all high-ranking ** who were picked up by Khrushchev, but everyone no longer slapped at him.
The first to speak was Leonid Brezhnev, who had run far and wide in front of everyone to pick up Khrushchev's hat that had been blown off by the wind, and then carefully flicked the ash on it, carefully putting it on his benefactor.
A few months ago, at Khrushchev's 70th birthday banquet, he was still crying with joy, hugging Khrushchev and hoping that he would live at least so long.
Now, with a cold expression, he made a merciless accusation against Khrushchev that he had violated Lenin's teachings and had led to the disorder of industrial agriculture;
He said that he was rude to his colleagues, could not listen to other people's opinions, "acted arbitrarily and defied the presidium", and developed the bad habit of making decisions at lunch;
Saying that calling him back for a meeting is not an agricultural problem, not an industrial problem, or a problem of Khrushchev himself, "You should listen to our opinion and carry out a change of power!."”
Khrushchev was furious, but he had no power to resist except for one mouth, and he asked a few stern questions, and was immediately overwhelmed by everyone's opposition.
Khrushchev and Brezhnev.
Each of them spoke one by one, ruthlessly exposing him, and every out-of-the-ordinary detail of his previous work was used as a criticism, basically pointing to the evil consequences that his 10 years in power brought to the Soviet Union, as well as his character, "rude, irascible, capricious, and fond of conspiracies".
The meeting lasted from the afternoon until late at night, and all outreach was interrupted, and it was adjourned under the control of the villains.
In the evening, he told Mikoyan, who was attending the meeting, that he had decided not to fight anymore and that "let them deal with the situation on their own."
At 10 o'clock the next day, the meeting resumed. At this time, Mikoyan also began to objectively judge Khrushchev, pointing out mistakes and at the same time pointing out his contributions.
To this, someone immediately **. Everyone unanimously attacked Khrushchev for "always engaging in intrigues - knocking one person down and raising another doll." ”
At the end of the meeting, a vote was held, and all members unanimously agreed to remove Khrushchev from the posts of first secretary and chairman of the Council of Ministers, as well as to disqualify him from the first committee.
The participants at that time later recalled that Khrushchev at this time, with tears rolling in his eyes, gave the last conference speech in his life.
Once again, he said that he would not fight, "and he will not slander you", "I have been thinking for a long time that it is time for me to leave, but it is difficult to give up, and I myself promise that I will not shirk my responsibility......The pain of staying in a leadership position is also a ...... that I can no longer endure”
At the end of the meeting, a unanimous decision was made, declaring: "Because of his advanced age and deteriorating health, Khrushchev himself took the initiative to request retirement, which was approved by the Presidium." ”
After that, Khrushchev lived in his country house and in the city residence, where he was "guarded" by a special person, a pension of 500 rubles per month, and a special car. However, all this is "special care" in the nature of house arrest.