Evening star., 1953-07-11
Let's Not Cheer Too Soon


the most portentous event inside Russia since
the death of Josef Stain. What it signifies, as
Secretary Dulles has said, is that a new con-
vulsion is under way in the dark motherland
of Red totalitarianism. And it is o convulsion
whose shocks and tremors are bound to be felt
for good or ill-throughout the globe, partic-
ularly in places like Communist China and all
the captive lands now seething with rebellious-
ness behind the Iron Curtain In Europe.
Quite obviously, in the teeth OF such a de-
velopment, there can be little doubt that the
world is about to See and be affected by a fate
full internal struggle kind OF internecine
war-to determine who is to rule post Stain
Russia. There is no political legitimacy over
there, no hereditary succession, no democratic
ascent to leadership with the consent of the
governed. The law of the jungle prevails in
stead, the law of survival of the fittest among
cutthroats, the law of cannibals devouring their
kind, the law of an AL Capone or a Dutch
Schultz shooting down his rivals for mastery of
the gang. So the battle is on-sooner than
expected but still in keeping with predictions
and faithful to the pattern that marked Stains
rise to power.
It is possible, of course, that Premier Ma
lenkov is already firmly in the saddle but the
probability is that he is not. The probability is
that he will have to try liquidating numerous
other high-ranking comrades" and that the
Soviet Union will therefore be ehurned up for
some time to come. Certainly, as boss Of the
secret police and related internal security
forces, Beria-who has been at the topmost
rung Of Russian leadership have had
many close associates at the time of his fall
and it seems more than likely that these indi-
viduals have been marked for purging along
with him. And in the process OF such purging,
assuming that it takes place, the U. S. S. r.
and the whole Communist world may be turned
upside down unless the Red army and bigwigs
like Foreign Minister Molotov are under Ma
lenkov's tight control.
But that possibility-the possibility that
Malenkov's bid for power may end in failure
that could disintegrate Red totalitarianism-
adds up to an optimistic estimate of the Situa-
tion at time when simple prudence suggests
that the free nations ought to be wary of op-
timism and reckon with the fact that the
Soviet upheaval may actually be full of ominous
potentialities. After all, why has Beria been
accused of treason? Why has he been reviled
as an "imperialist" agent who has plotted to
capitulate to the West and restore capitalism
to Russia? Is this peaceful line of propa-
ganda? Or is it, on the contrary, line designed
to prepare the way for an end to the Kremlin's
recent conciliatory talk and return to war
breeding virulence?
How to answer these and similar questions
is anybodys guess. And 1t Is anybodyss guess
whether or not what is happening to Beria
today will happen to Molotov tomorrow-or
even to Malenkov himself the day after tomor-
row. Russia being the vast mystery it is, no one
can be sure of such things or of where they will
end. The only certainty is this: That in stu
alton of this sort, when desperation may govern
ali the acts of the mutually suspicious men
of the Kremlin, the free world had better be
on guard instead Of blithely assuming that
events are breaking beautifully in its favor.
Maybe they are not.