Evening star., 1955-06-07
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servers here are concerned, ii
has even raised serious doubts
about Khrushchev's future as the
top man in the Kremlin.
From the moment he stepped
out confidently onto the ramp
at Zemun Airport, the flop
started building towards its
awesome climax. At that point,
there was no question about who
led the Russian delegation.
While Bulganin and Mikoyan
stood aside, Khrushchev strobe
to the microphones to make the
Soviet keynote address for the
conference.
What he had to say came
perilously close to breaking up
the conference altogether. Party
man Khrushchev's idea that the
meeting was essentially party
matter amounted to an outright
doublecross on the terms of the
conference agreed to by Marshal
Tito of Yugoslavia. The lat
ter had insisted that ques-
tions of theology be omitted.
When Khrushchev stopped
talking, no one clapped. Next
day. an angry editorial appeared
In the Yugoslav papers remind
ing the Russians and the rest of
the world that Yugoslavia was
not prepared to discuss its
peculiar brand of communism
with anyone-least of all with
Khrushchev.
Comic Opera
From this inauspicious begin
ming, the Khrushchev act de-
generated steadily to a point of
pure buffoonery. Whenever he
talked to anybody. it seemed
inevitable that he should come
off a sorry second best. Whether
he chose to debate with Amer
ican Ambassador James w. Rid
dleberger about Senator Nc
Carthy, or with workers at the
Rijeka shipyards about the rela-
tive merits of riveting and weld
Ing, Khrushchev gave the i'm
preston of a man determined to
make a fool of himself.
There was something almost
pathetic about it, despite the
bluff self confidence with which
he blundered from place to
place.
AS the days passed. it seemed
as though the Russians them
selves were becoming sensitive to
the impression their leader was
making. At public functions,
Premier Bulganin started taking
the center of the stage. Mi
koyan, silent, swarthy and sour.
seemed to withdraw more and
more into the background, as if
disappearing of the whole show.
Significantly, when the time
came for signing the final agree
ment between Yugoslavia and
Russia, it was Bulganin who did
1t, while Khrushchev sat a little
glumly to one side.
All this, however, hardly pre-
pared the audience for the final
act Friday night at the Soviet
reception. The spectacle of
Stalin's successor, filled to the
gills with rare old Russian vodka,
babbling incoherent nonsense
with reporters and planting
moist kisses on the ears of
astonished Ukranian folkdancers,
will not be forgotten quickly.
Khrushchev's final exit that
night, clutched firmly on either
side by a pair of desperate aides,
was just one step more dignified
than an old-fashioned bum S
rush.
Speech Cancelled
The important speech which
Khrushchev was scheduled to de-
liver next morning at the airport
was Cancelled at the last mo-
ment. 1t was with a perceptible
sense of relief that his colleagues
watched their leaders chunky
form disappear into the recesses
of a plane that waited to whisk
him back to Moscow.
Among the experts here there
is little disagreement about the
quality of Khrushchev's per-
formance in the course of his
first public appearance. 1t is
only the business of drawing
conclusions about it that causes
trouble.
What happened was under
standable enough, given the
peculiar nature of the new
Kremlin boss. Those who have
observed Khrushchev on his
home ground have long been
aware of his capacity for eccen-
trio public behavior. They agree
also that he is egocentrically
ignorant enough to believe him
self capable Of mastering any
situation, including the prob
lem of Russia's relations with
Yugoslavia.
What is a good deal less un-
derstandable is that Khrush-
chev was allowed to do it.
Most despotic tyrants can be
protected against getting them
selves involved in humiliating
situations. Among Khrush-
chev's advisors are plenty of
men who could have warned
him of what he was getting into
who must have foreseen what
the outcome would be, and what
kind of a figure he would cut in
the eyes of the world.