The Years of Steel, the Years of Ashes

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"An entirely unproductive day. These had been a rarity in President Pasternak's long and eventful life. Now, the toll of illness and age were making such days a much more common occurrence. Boris Pasternak had thus spent the day reminiscing as he rest in his bedroom.

He had emerged as one of the early leaders of the old Central Siberian Republic. Things had never been easy, or evident. Some wanted a continuation of Bukharin's Soviet Union. Others in the army preferred a much more authoritarian type of government, a permanent military emergency until the nation could be re-united. But Pasternak and his allies had appealed to the intellectuals of Tomsk, those who dreamed of a freer future. They had also appealed to the common man, promising to the worker prosperity in return for their help. Now the president found himself leader of a much reduced Republic, its democracy temporarily suspended by a provisional government, its economy in shambles. Time had made a mockery of these early plans.

Pasternak had been surprised to see the public back his continuation as emergency provisional president. Had he not embodied everything that had gone wrong with the CSR? Yet, the people in Tomsk had somehow kept their faith in him. Even the workers dutifully continued their shifts in the great industrial works, after having backed the provisional government in a referendum. The food situation was not excellent, but it was at least stable. Perhaps none of the poor or the elite wished to chance another leader in these most dangerous of times. General Shaposhnikov had ensured the loyalty of the rump army to civilian institutions.

The President felt a bit humbled by the trust shown to him. He also knew his people expected much in return. This did not worry him unduly; his final projects would soon be presented to Tomsk's leadership. Just as Pasternak had put his affairs in order before his passing, so too would the Republic's affairs be arranged."

A reading of his political last wills was in order.