Evening star., 1953-04-05
Authorities Here See
Red Doctors Release
AS Sign Of Struggle
By John N. Hiehtower
ASsecioted Press Stoff Writer

Fresh evidence of a developing
power struggle in the Kremlin
was seen by United States off,
cials yesterday in the sensational
'depu"ging" Of a group of top
fight Russian doctors who, prior
to Joseph Stalin'S death, had
been accused Of fantastic crimes
Of murder and treason. f,
Whether this struggle in
wolves. at this stage. Premier
Georgi Malenkov and Internal
Affairs Minister Lavrenti p.
Beria no one here knows. But
the relationship between those
two men is regarded as the key
one in the present Soviet regime
and speculation about the con-
test for control tends to focus
upon it.
State Department experts were
puzzled by the release Of the
doctors. They said the one thing
which seems to make sense about
1t is that somehow it is a public
Outcropping of a secret contest
for power among the men who
took over and reorganized the
Police Integrity Involved.
There was little tendency
among authorities to regard the
release of the doctors as designed
to win good will in the United
States and other Communist
countries. The matter is so
clearly an internal one and seems
to involve the integrity Of certain
elements of the police system to
such a degree that it could hardly
be handled primarily for foreign
propaganda purposes.
From the point Of view Of
American official experts on Rus
sia the affair has been a puzzler
from the beginning to end. The
original announcement last jan
uary of the arrest OF nine doc
tors said they were accused Of
numbering Soviet leaders who
had died. respectively, four and
seven years earlier.
Experts here i'm m e d diately
began looking for motives beyond
those stated for the arrest. They
did not think then about the
arrest-anymore than they think
now about the release-that the
Soviet authorities we're mott
waited by a passionate devotion
to justice. Originally they be-
lleved that the punishment of
the doctors. with attending crit
icism of the police for not having
caught them sooner. would lead
to wider purges perhaps reach
ing into the upper levels of the
Kremlin. They wondered
whether Malenkov, then Stalin's
apparent favorite, was out to.
weaken or to eliminate Beria.
The latter was not head Of the
criticized ministry at that time
but he was considered to have
responsibility for it in the inner
circle Of Communist power.
Fresh Questions Arise.
However, the high level purge
did not develop in a matter of
weeks Stalin's death created so
many fresh uncertainties. that
no one knew what would happen
to the doctors if they still sur
vived. But no one thought they
would be released.
The belief that a power Strug-
gle is developing among the prin-
cipal men of the Kremlin is based
In part on indications that the
Soviet Government has not yet
shaken down to the point where
the loyalties of party leaders and
smaller cogs in the machinery
of rule are firmly fixed to one
person. Military men are believed
to have some increased influence.
The position of Molotov is
thought probably to be power
full in relation to foreign affairs
but weak in international polit-
ical matters. e..
From the point Of view of the
United States the totally unex-
pected release of the doctors
offered one object lesson in Rus
sian relations. At any time, and
without a moments notice, the
man or men in control of Soviet
policies can change radically or
even reverse their direction. In
foreign affairs this constant
threat of a turnabout in Russian
policy is the major considera-
ton.