Evening star., 1952-01-20
Molenkoy Seems to Be Emerging os New Stain
And Heads of Redsin High Office Moy Roll
Many of Enemies of
PoIitburo' S Boss
Already Have Gone
By Wiliom {. Ryon
BY ihe Associated Press

By WiIliom {. Ryon
1 BY HE Associated Press
| NEW YORK, Jan. ia new
Stain appears to be emerging to-
day. in many respects an image Of
the old one.
I When the scowling, heir-appar-
lent feels sure enough of himself
the time does not seem far Off
things may pop in the Kremlin
and heads may roll.
| The new Stain, as matters
stand today, Is Georgi Maxmiliano.
witch Malenkov. At present he ap.
pears to be the boss Of the Polit-
1buro, with the blessing of the fad
ing dictator himself. While lead
lership in Moscow is often far from
permanent and sometimes highly
dangerous, the pugnacious tough
guy who clawed his way to the
top gives every evidence of being
determined to stay there.
Many of Malenkov's enemies al
ready have been erased from the
scene, but there are some around
still who are not sbove suspicion
in a regime where being suspect
lis a crime.
When Malenkov reached is 50th
birthday January 8, the Western
world-and very likely a goodly
portion of the Communist world
was startled by what happened.
Press Turned Handsprings. ,
The Soviet press pulled out all
stops. crying the praises of NAL
|enkov in a manner reminiscent of
the handsprings turned for Sta
Inns own decade birthdays. No
other member of the Politburo
ever got such a birthday sendoff,
excepting Stain himself.
To the West, itcould mean only
one thing: the bright boy who
grew up politically under Stalin's
wing either had succeeded to the
crown or was being prepared for
succession.
Some must have read the out
bursts with nervousness. Those
Soviet leaders who were nursed
along to power by the late Andrei
zhdanov, for instance, could not
have been happy about the ascen-
sion of Zhdanov's bitterest. rival
Nor could old Bolshevik ". M.
Molotov have been very happy.
He got no such birthday greeting
when he turned 60. His star has
been falling steadily. $50 Z
One man who may be quite
nervous is A. N. Kosygin, the, new
est and youngest member CD of
the Politburo. Kosygin was a pro-
tege of Zhdanov.
Bad Day for Many.
1t was bad day for many high
Communists when Andrei Alex
Zhdanov died in Sep
tember, 1948, at the untimely age
of 48. There had been sharp ri
valry between him and the rising
Malenkov, and many a Communist
guessed wrong. r
Not long after Zhdanov died,
things went bad for al lot of
his followers. They were thrown
out Of the party secretariat and
weeded out of important Offices.
The chief sufferer was Nikolai
Alexeivitch Voznessensky. He was
removed from his job as head of
the state planning commission and
from the Politburo.. He disap-
peared. Nothing-not a word
has been heard of him since. He
is as completely erased as if 5he
had never been born. I
Voznessensky was Zhdanoy's
chief protege, and abrilliant man
in his state planning field. But
Zhdanov and Malenkov did not
see eye to eye on many things.
At the height of the great purge
in the late thirties, young tough
Guy Malenkov, already q power,
was all out for more purging.
Zhdanov spoke out for an end to
the excesses of the purge.
The rivalry went on through
the meeting which founded the
Cominform. Both Malenkov and
Zhdanov were at that meeting,
and they are reported to have
clashed a number of times. It
was that meeting which outlawed
Tito's Yugoslayia.
I With the death of Zhdanov,
Malenkov became the undisputed
boss not only of the party ma
chinery inside the Soviet Union,
but of world communism, as the
head of the Cominform's central
committee.
Was Mystery Man.
In many ways. he was a mystery
to Russians and Westerners alike.
Not much had been published
about him. He was rarely seen
in public. Now he deserved a long
look. It showed him to be q little
Stain. even to the mode Of dress
and to mannerisms. He affected
the simple military tunie and cap
that his boss made famous before
deciding to become a generals
|simo. On the ,Politburo's, public