Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-07-03

ClChL W NV blC va NNAOAN'
he has supreme faith In
Marxisn. Communism. he be-
lieves, is a higher form OF hui
man organization and eventu-
ally capitalism must cede to 1T
Second, he is certain that the
Soviet economy will make long
strides in catching up with us
especially in heavy industry
during the current Seven-year
plan. Third, he is deeply
ignorant of the facts Of Ameri-
can life and its potentialities.
Stains LabOrS
Stain, he acknowledged, had
laid the foundations for the
rapid progress now being made
in the Soviet Union. How
ever, not until his death vas 1t
possible to take the initiative
and release the energies essen
tial to that progress.
I'm Stains latter days" Mr..
Khrushchev told me. he be-
came overbearing and distrust-
full OF his colleagues. He would
not let us do the work he was
no longer capable Of. He did
not always use his great au-
thority for proper purposes.
1t was very difficult for us"
I suggested that we had had
similar difficulties with Stain
in foreign affairs and Mr..
Khrushchev readily agreed. In
fact, in international affairs,
Mr.. Khrushchev said repeat
edly, Stain was not blam-
less" I went on to point out
that Mr.. Khrushchev had re-
Gently stated publicly that I
had made a number of anti
Soviet speeches and I sug-
gested that he had made even
more anti-American ones. To
this he also agreed.
Stains Last Days
I asked who Stain had
chosen to succeed him. Mr..
Khrushchev replied a little
sourly: He never selected any
one. He thought he would live
forever" Then he revealed,
for what I understand is the
first time, his story of Stains
last days.
"One Saturday in March of
1853" he said, I'VE all went as
usual to Stains dacha for
dinner. He was in fine spirits
and we had a good time. Then
we went home. Next day we
waited for the telephone call
Stain usually put through to
us on Sundays but it never
came. On Monday evening the
head of his bodyguard called
us to say Stain was unwell.
IBERIA. Bulganin, Malenkov
and myself hurried out to his
dacha and found him uncon-
scious. A blood clot had para
lyzed an arm, a leg and his
tongue. We stayed with him
for three days. but he re-
manned unconscious. Then for
a moment he came out of his
coma and tried to joke with
us. Pointing to a painting
over his bed of a baby lamb
being fed with a spoon by a
little girl, he indicated by ges-
ture that now he was as help
less as the lamb.
"A few minutes later he died.
I wept. After all, we were all
his pupils and deeply indebted
to him. Like Peter the Great,
he fought barbarism with bar
barism, but he was a great
man."
Is Driving Power
Mr.. Khrushchev left no doubt
in my mind that he is the driv-
ing power behind both the in
dustrial and agricultural expan-
sion which is taking place
wherever I have been in the So
Wet Union. At the end of the
war Stain had told me of his
plans for industrial expansion
including so million tons of
steel a year. Then Soviet pro-
duction had been reduced to IL
million tons and I thought this
goal could not be reached for
many decades.
But already, only IA years
later, it is SIS million tons and
in Karaganda alone I had seen
another 3.2-million-ton plant
coming into operation. In
Northern KazakhStan I had
watched Soviet engineers I'M
covering iron mines with a total
annual capacity of 80 million
tons. But Mr.. Khrushchev told
me. the Soviet Union is pres
emily exploiting only half its
potential.
I asked whether he had the
manpower to carry out his
ambitious program. eve have
plenty Of labor" he replied,
adding, however, that much of
1t is at present tied down by
unproductive practices in agri-
culture. Some of our collec-
tive FARMS" he admitted, ARE
using two and even three times
LOST