A story of two letters

Maybe during one of the sessions, PM Imran and Putin might have spoken about how the Kremlin handles political crises

Prime Minister Imran Khan had recently been to Moscow. I presume most of the discussions must have been on the international situation, on war, on how to increase trade between the two countries, and on military and development assistance.

I hope that the Prime Minister also found some time to discuss Pakistan’s internal situation — the political difficulties he is facing, on how to deal with baying calls for his resignation; an increasingly well-organised opposition; an impeding no-confidence motion; and growing rumours that significant numbers of PTI supports may switch their loyalties to the opposition as they see the writing on the wall.

Maybe during one of the informal sessions, PM Imran and his Russian counterpart might have spoken about how political crises are handled at the Kremlin. He may even have been told the apocryphal story about Stalin and Khrushchev — a story that well illustrates what in modern management jargon is referred to a ‘results-based management’. The story goes as follows:

In 1953, When Stalin was on his death bed, he called in Nikita Khrushchev — at the time head of the Party’s Moscow branch, and one of his likely successors — for a tête-à-tête. Stalin first explained how difficult it had been to be at the top; how difficult it was to balance the interests of different power groups; how difficult it was to move ahead on longer-term gaols while handling day-to-day issues; how difficult it was to stay on-course when all his opponents did was criticise, criticise and criticise; and how lonely and misunderstood he had often felt.

Stalin then gave Khrushchev two sealed letters: “Nikita, my friend, my successor, my political heir; here are two very important letters. When you face your first major crisis, open the letter marked ‘ONE’; and when you face your second major crisis, open the letter market ‘TWO’. Stalin died and Khrushchev took over.

In 1956, beleaguered by a series of domestic and foreign problems, Khrushchev found it difficult to cope. He decided he needed help and advice, and opened the first of Stalin’s letter. It contained these words: “Blame everything on me.”

That’s what Khrushchev did. At the 20^th Party Conference he made a speech denouncing Stalin — for his reign of terror, for mismanaging the Second World War, for his foreign policies, for his purges and for creating a “cult of personality”.

For the next years things went well for Khrushchev with victories at home and abroad; but then in the 1960s things again started going wrong. Hostilities along the Chinese border and the humiliating Cuban missile crisis led to increasing calls for his resignation. As the net closed around him, he recalled Stalin’s second letter and opened it hoping it would once again contain a formula for success. The letter contained only these words: “Prepare two letters.”

And herein is a lesson for our Prime Minister — you can get away for a while, maybe even a long while, by blaming others. You can talk at length of stolen money being used to buy flats in London; you can make a song and dance about how past rulers kept high quality milk buffaloes and fleets of luxury cars at the Prime Minister House; and you can roar and bellow about how you will bring thieves and scoundrels to justice. But inevitably, there comes a time when people say — yes, the previous rulers were bad and the people suffered. But what have you done? Has life been better under your rule?

And if you cannot provide a satisfactory answer it may be time to “Prepare two letters”.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2022.

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