Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-06-10
The FOREIGN SCENE
The KremIin' S
Two Moods

The western world got a reveal
ing view of the versatility Of Rus
sia's collective leadership"-and
particularly of the leadership"
leader. Nikita S. Khrushchev-last
week.
On the one hand there was the
warm, respectful friendliness that
greeted Yugoslavia's Marshal Tito,
once denounced as traitor to COM
munism. on his arrival in Moscow
for a visit punctuated by hearty
toasts to everlasting Soviet-Yugo-
Slav friendship and solidarity.
On the other hand there was
the release here of spine-chilling
partial text of the famous February
speech in which Mr.. Khrushchev,
head of the Soviet Communist Par
ty. denounced Josef Stain, erst-
while architect of the Communist
state, as a suspicious and brutal
tyrant. vengeful and weak in war
leadership and a betrayer of Marx
and Lenin in his obsessive self
adulation.
These events not only demon
strated that the Kremlin's emo
tional arsenal is well stocked with
both warmth and steel, but it also
showed a confident readiness on
the part of the leadership to strike
out on new theological trails in
forwarding Russia's New Look" APP
proach to the world.
Advance information on the
Khrushchev attack had been pub
lished months ago, some of it IN
Russian periodicals with obvious
official sanction. But the almost
unbridled violence of the language
in the released text by the State
Department amazed observers and
spanked a welter of speculation
on its meaning to the future course
Of the Soviet state.
Missing Sections?
There was evidence that large
portions of the original speech were
missing from the State Depart
ment's text, repeatedly obtained
from Belgrade sources. Observers
believe the missing material dealt
with Stains conduct of Soviet
foreign policy.
But there is enough in the avail
able material to astound the world
with its portrayal of the Soviet die
tator as despotic, savage egoma-
MAC, living in continuing night
mare of plots and intrigue and
preparing. just before his death, to
'liquidate" the older men of the
Kremlin hierarchy. including For
eign Minister Molotov and Anastas
Mikoyan.
This was, of course, the same
Stain glorified throughout the
Communist world in history books,
novels, encyclopedias, party litera-
ture; by statues. street, city and
factory names; in endless propa-
ganda broadcasts, speeches and
documents over many years. The
new regime-the collective leader
ship"-seems faced by the need TO
set up huge Ministry of Truth
such as described in George Or
wells prophetic 1884" where the
old truths can be efficiently re-
moved from the records Of the past
and replaced with new truths tai
lored to the needs of the time.
/ The sordid story Khrushchev told
was relieved by the grim humor of
his appraisal of the job now con-
fronting the Communist Party
destroying the cult of the indi-
vldual'' in the Soviet state.
The demonology developed under
Stain. Mr.. Khrushchev solemnly
told the assembled comrades, had
SO corrupted the original and ortho-
dox tenets of Leninism that towns,
factories, co-operatives and coll
lective farms had been referred to
by us with a title--if may express
1t so-of private property of the
names of these or those govern
ment or party leaders who were still
active and in good health. Many
of us participated in the action of
assigning our names we must
correct this. (Applause). But this
should be done calmly and slowly
=. to prevent errors and excuses.
I can remember how the Kiev radio
used to start its programs thus:
This is Radio Kossior.' When one
day the programs began without
naming Kossior, everyone was quite
certain that something had hap
pened to KosSior. :. Thus if today
we begin to remove the signs every
where and to change names. people
will think that these comrades
also met some bad fate and that
they have also been arrested (ani-
nation in the halD."
Yesterday, as If to emphasize the
continuing changes in Soviet lead
ership, Lazar Kaganovich, the last
Old Bolshevik to hold a top job in
the Kremlin, followed Vyacheslav
M. Molotov into retirement. Like
Molotov, Kaganovich continues to
hold his post as Deputy Premier.
But he is being replaced as chair
man of the key Labor and Wages
Committee by Alexander Petrovich
Volkov, chairman of the Soviet of
the Union. a division of the Russian
Parliament.