Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-02-28

pletely alone in Europe, where there
was no longer any real revolutionary
situation for the Communists to ex-
plot. Moscow seemed to want to sit
back there and wait for the U. S.
depression the Muscovites so conf
IDENTIFY predicted.
Stain died, according to official
announcement, sometime during the
night OF March S. On March 6, the
whole government was reorganiZed.
Malenkov was Premier, Beria his
No. 2 man as first deputy and v. NJ.
Molotov No. 3. The press pleaded
for unity against internal and ex-
ternal enemies who would like to
see panic and confusion in the ranks
Of the Soviet people" Beria later.
at the ratifying Supreme Soviet
meeting. placed Malenkov's name in
nomination and called him the
talented pupil and true comrade-in-
arms Of Lenin."
The new government, apparently
none too sure of itself, proclaimed
an amnesty for many prisoners in
the slave labor camps of the Soviet
Union and announced broad range
Of cuts in prices of consumer goods.
Meanwhile. the new government
streamlined itself, cutting down the
former 81 ministries to q mere rs.
The Doctors Plot
Then came . great shock, the
switch OF villains In the doctors
plot" Most Western observers con-
tend that everything political which
has happened since January Is,
1858, in the Soviet Union in one way
or another goes back to that bizarre
affair.
The story first burst upon a
stunned world when Pravda an
nounced nine doctors had been ar
rested and accused of plotting
against the lives of Soviet leaders.
Several Of the doctors were Jewish
and Pravda linked Zionism with the
alleged plot. A shiver of apprehen-
sion went through the worlds Jewry.
The doctors all confessed" in the
manner which has become custom
airy in Communist countries.
Then Stain died. The plot disap-
peared from the press. Suddenly, on
April 4, it reappeared, completely
reversed. The Ministry of Interior
Beria'S ministry-announced all the
doctors had been exonerated, that
their confessions had been extorted
by illegal means. It was clear then
that the struggle for power was on
in the Kremlin.
Moscow got another rude shock
on June II. There was open revolt
in East Germany and it took the
services of Soviet tanks and troops
to save the Communist rulers there.
It seems clear this revolt hastened
the showdown for power in the
Kremlin. Less than 10 days later
Beria was under arrest as a traitor.
Malenkov personally denounced him
as one who had spied for the United
States all IS years of his Communist
career. Beria was accused of put
ting his ministry above the party
and government. That part of the
charge probably was true. Beria'S
personal purgeS had evicted unre-
liable interior ministers in the re-
publics and put in his own. He also
was accused of deliberately interfer-
ing with agriculture to damage food
supply. There was a germ of truth
in this. His MVD operated in the
villages in such way as to make
the allotment of machinery on
farms a weapon Of reward or pun
ishment.
Beria was accused of plotting to
seize the government. restore CAPT.
talism and undermine the friend
ships Of peoples of the q. s. 8. r."
Actually, Beria-a Georgian like
Stalin-was responsible for an at
tack on Great Russianism in the re-
publics. probably In an attempt to
solidify himself. There was some
letdown in Russianization during the
battle for power. With Beria once
out Of the way, Russianisation was