Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-24
REVIEW OF THE WEEK
Red Chain Reaction


which had obtained it repeatedly
from Yugoslav sources. The reign
of Stain was too long, his adula-
ton too unrestralned, to permit
even a disciplined comrade to ac-
cept quietly his portrayal as a
criminal. a coward and a brutal
egotistical butfoon.
But even the most knowing OBJ
servers have been impressed by the
extent and vehemence of the reac-
ton. In the past week, these things
occurred (numbers keyed to those
on map:
Italy's Communist leader took
l. issue with some of the things
the Kremlin had said about Stain
and asked more self-determination
for his followers.
= French Communists criticized
- the Moscow leadership, called
for more national autonomy.
= British Reds joined the clamor
~ with demand for study
of degeneration in Communist
democracy"
n East Germany freed 10000
fs from prison and attacked its
chief justice officials.
Poland fired its top secret
OO police officer.
4 Czech students demanded less
VI Red control of their studies.
ltoIy Leeds OFT
The chain reaction started in
Italy. where it was revealed last
Sunday that Palmiro Togliatti, head
of the largest Communist Party
outside of Russia. had prepared a
34-page article for the magazine
Nuovi Argument in which he de-
Tended the Kremlin's stand in dep
recating the Stain "cult of indi-
vidualiSm" but went on to explain
how and why Stain made many of
his errors and praised him for many
OF his accomplishments. But most
important-and to the West--most
surprising, Mr.. Togliatti called for
a greater degree of autonomy for
the Italian Communists. This. in
days gone by, was heresy of a sim
gularly fatal type.
Reaction in the capitals of the
free world was one of immediatel
and intense interest. Togliatti is
known to be one of communism
most adept and intelligent theore-
ticians, throughly trained in Mos
COW in the techniques of his revo-
lutionary profession and. in the
past, a strict follower of the party
line. More than that, he had long
been most enthusiastic in his I'M
stinted praise of the glory that was
Stain. In 1913 he was one of the
most outspoken of Communists in
the then violent denunciation of the
"betrayer" Marshal Tito.
Observers studying the signifi-
canoe of Togliatti's pronounce
ment recalled that he had Jour-
neyed to Belgrade just before
Marshal Tito began his triumphal
trip to the Soviet Union. They re-
called also that Italy's Communist
Party had suffered sizeable re-
verses in the recent general cleo
tiOns. while the cooperating but
independent of-Moscow Left So
cialists under Pietro Nenni had,
alone of the left parties, scored
gains in the voting. These facts,
plus the Tito trip to Russia, where
the erstwhile traitor" was feted
as conquering hero by his recent
arch-foes, added up to inviting
questions: Had the Communist
high command finally come to see
that the monolithic and rigid Mos
COW control of international COM
munism was failure? Was the
Soviet Yugoslav rapprochement a
recognition Of Tito's correctness in
insisting on a national brand of
communism, free to cultivate the
national possibilities of the home
land without subservience to the
arch-hierarchy in the Kremlin?
France Follows
And even as the startled West
pondered the meaning of the
Togliatti revelations, the French
Communist Party. long silent on
the Stain issue, let go with blast
at the present leaders of the Krem-
lin for failing to inform party
leaders in advance of the plan to
expose the weaknesses and abuses
of Stain. Complaining plaintively
that the bourgeois press" was
able to publish facts of which the
Communist Party of France was
not aware, the French Reds went on
to denounce Stain as a man who
has done great damage to the
Soviet Union and to the interna-
tional Communist movement"
Both the Italian and the French
actions challenged the present
leadership in Moscow on the mat
ter of their own personal roles in
the alleged crimes Of Stain.
Togliatti CONTEMPORARY dismissed
the explanation that the Stain
control Of the police and the mill
tary had made criticism or effec-
tive counter-action impossible. And
the French comrades echoed his
words in a manner reminiscent Of
the bold defiance of Tito when he
broke out Of the Iron Curtain in
l948.
And Then England
London's Daily Worker, headlin-
ing the Togliatti article in its Mon
day editions. at first took the
cautious view that such criticisms
as that in Italy unlocked the vast
treasure-house Of ideas in the work.
ing class movement. :" The
British Reds saw in the ending OF
the cult Of Stain" . spur TO more