Evening star., 1955-02-09
Ominous Strow?

OWHOuS SIQW.
Nobody outside the inner circle Of the
Kremlin can be sure of the precise meaning
of Georgi Malenkov's fall from the Soviet
premiership The only thing that can be
taken for granted is that his self-abaSing
resignation" constitutes an event of ex-
traordinary significance. Beyond that, how
ever, the free world can do little more than
make guesses as to what the news may
portend in terms of increasing or decreasing
the danger of war.
OF all the guesses, perhaps the soundeSt
and most plausible is the one that inter-
prets this spectacular Moscow shakeup as
an ominous straw in the turbulent interna-
tional wind At any rate, there are per-
suasi1e arguments in favor Of the following
theory: Q) That Marshal Nikolai Bulganin
the able and personable political gen.
eral" who has succeeded Malenkov as
Premier-is merely figurehead or front
man; (2) that Nikita Khrushchev-the
amiable but tough First Secretary Of the
Soviet Communist Party, the post in which
Stain rose to absolute power-has emerged
as the top boss of the Kremlin; 90 that
he appears to be decidedly Stalinist and
anti-American in his attitude; and (4)
that Russia, under his rule, Is likely to
intensity it's harsh and belligerent policy
toward the free world.
~ There are certain facts that tend to
lend considerable support to this view. One
of them Is the IL per cent increase IN the
Kremlins military budget for 1855. Another
is the Soviet decision-in which Khrushchev
seems to have been the prime mover-to
abandon Malenkov's 1858 promise Of more
consumer goods and revert to Stalin's
largely militaristic policy OF concentrating
on the expansion Of heavy industry. Finally,
and probably most important OF all, there
is the fact of Foreign Minister Molotov's
latest speech-a speech bitterly assailing
our country as an "aggressor" intent upon
unleashing new war; fully supporting Red
China on the Formosa issue, sharply warn
ing free Europe against arming West Ger
many, and making the sensational claim
that Russia has developed hydrogen bombs
with "such success that the United States
could appear backward"
Yet, even though all this must be reck-
oned with as an indication that Malenkov's
fall foreshadows more toughness than ever
before from the Kremlin, there is another
theory worth considering that the
startling change In Moscow Is primarily
domestic rather than international in its
significance. That Is to say, 1t may mean
that Russia's post-Stalin experiment in
collective leadership" has collapsed and
that an internal struggle for oneman power,
far from being nonexistent, has reached a
new point of intensity, with Premier Bull
ganin possibly representing the Red Army
as an important moderating influence in
an otherwise explosive home-front situation.
This is at least conceivable, and for that
reason alone, If for no other, 1t may be quite
premature to say that Khrushchev is firmly
in the Soviet saddle. Actually. his head may
be the next to roll.
But guesswork of this sort adds up to
a more or less futile pastime in view Of the
Kremlin's devious and completely n1ystify-
ing ways All that we can be certain of is
that the Soviet systenl-as demonstrated by
Stalins ruthless climb to total personal die
tatorShip-seemS to demand within itself
that the Khrushchevs and the Malenkovs
kill each other off until a single tyrant
finally succeeds in becoming the undisputed
ruler of everything, beyond the challenge of
any rival. If this is the real significance
of the news from Moscow, then Russia may
well be entering upon period of great in
ternal convulsions that could make it a
place more to be pitied than feared.