PALACE REVOLUTION IN THE KREMLIN
Laevsky, Boris I.
Palace Revolution in the Kremlin By Boris I.laevsky Boris Nicolaev*ky has been a profound ttud -nl of Rus»:an affairs for more lhan three decades. He it the co author of Forced Labor in...
...Theoretically, one is mil justified in affirming that he i...
...Russia has only one opponent: the explosive power oi democratic ideas and the inborn urge of human race in the direction of freedom...
...It is merely a consequence of another, far more important event which newspaper commentators overlooked entirely...
...THESE ARE ONLY Malenkov's first steps on his return to the direction of party cadres, but they show his methods of work: he is shaking up the government "cadres...
...Judging by its actions, one concludes that it is more homogeneous than ever...
...and it is inevitable mat the Russian leaders should do their utmost swell out until they h.ive reached this border...
...The natural borders of Russia run from Danzig or, even, Stettin, devrn to Tr'esie...
...Anatoly Kostuzov, newly appointed minister of machine building industries, was also a member of the cadres...
...The August plenum of tin Central Committee decided in favor ol Zhdanov, who accused Malenkov of having permitted a growing laxness in literature and weakening the party...
...1->HE RELEASE of Molotov and Mikoyan bum tin-i...
...After {completion of this purge, the 18th IRussian Party Congress revised the rty statutes and reorganized the fthod of keeping records of all party Ires by creating a central controlling iy...
...Some are directed against the Padishah himself, others against his councillors for an opportunity to influence the Padishah...
...Zhdanov was...
...He was virtually ousted from the secretariat of the Central Committee, deprived of influence in the direction of the party cadres, from which all his closest followers were expelled (Shatalin, Eng...
...Let us not forget that they, together with the late Andrei Zhdanov, constituted a special commission of the Politburo for dealing with problems of foreign policy, which had full responsibility for the- foreign policy of the Soviet Union since the plenum of the Central Committer in February, 194(1...
...The liquidation of the "Zhdanov period" in the history of the All-Russian Communist Party was the result of this inner struggle...
...The exclusive dogma of this cool calculator is the preservation of his power ami, if possible, its extension...
...Although the fundamental lines of foreign policy are decided by Stalin himself, he decides them primarily on the basis of the reports of the corresponding ministers...
...But he had and still has influential friends...
...At first they bore the signatures of Molotov, in his capacity of Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, and Stalin, as the Secretary-General of the party...
...Schooled in Stalin's personal secretariat, where he had worked since 1(125, Malenkov was placed in the early thirties in charge of the section to, the pintmcnt nf~ responsible workers was he who carried out the purge 1936-3!!, when the cadres of these [kers were carefully "combed...
...admit him to high independent posts, although he was elected a member of the Central Committee's Commission for drafting a new program for the All Russian Communist Party...
...favoring the Morgan-Mendel theories...
...It would be possible to cite nsand similar quotations...
...Vishinsky is not important per se...
...Nikolai Voznesensky, who was released Monday as Chairman of the Stale Planning Commission, was one of Zhdanov's most important proteges...
...The latter lias never roloasod the reins from his hands, and has m intention of doing so...
...The newspapers reported that Malenkov was appointed Stalin's deputy in the Council of Ministers, and Veeheniui/tt Moskva published reports of his work in the Ministry of Agriculture...
...To a certain degree this was due to the war...
...1853...
...will easily recognize his "handwriting...
...The men who today form the closed corporation of the Moscow Government may be accurately designated as Stalinists until there appears among them division of opinion, some evidence of individual difference...
...The significance of this fact is tremendous—and it is only against this background that the removal of Molotov and Mikoyan becomes understandable • * MALENKOV is not new to the apparatus of the Central Committee...
...Malenkov was named head of s body...
...THE MOST SIGNIFICANT fact in the Kremlin palace revolution is not the "release" of Molotov and Mikoyan from their ministry posts...
...There are various types or palace revolutions...
...Accordingly, these manifestoes are signed only by those who reaUy direct the country's policies...
...The obvious parallel so often drawn between Stalin and Hitler brings to view differences which run much deeper than the similarities...
...Hilling these war years Malenkov began to have serious conflicts with some of the most influential members of the Orgburo and the Politburo...
...But efforts at extension are never to be undertaken at the risk of its loss or curtailment...
...By Borismine Paris...
...The personal roles ol both Molotov and Mikoyan were thus very considerable...
...And this manifesto, which is today the chief topic of conversation in the Soviet Union, bears two signatures: Joseph Stalin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers, and Georgi Malenkov...
...and Kosygin...
...Amt-iiran and European m wspapi'ts almost unanimously ti y to piove that the removals are of small signdii ariee...
...This picture of Stalin still serves its purpose effectively, as is proved by the accounts of the western diplomats meeting a ferocious Molotov but a gentle and amenable Stalin...
...After Stalin became head of the government, no manifestoes appeared for a long time...
...ministry posts and tin othei shifts winch have tal.' ii pke i on the Kremlin Olympus n the past months are events of utmost importance...
...I'lii v an- mistaken, how ever...
...That moment inaugurated 1 "Malenkov period" in the history the All-Russian Communist Party, roughout the war years, Malenkov was the sole boss of the entire party apparatus...
...ill never commit an indiscretion...
...lie was the youngest member of the Politburo, and was recommended for the post by Zhdanov...
...kalHii policy by allowing increases in the size of individual truck gardens...
...Today Zhdanov is dead, and his two colleagues are deprived of the opportunity to exert an influence on the eonduct of the country's foreign policy...
...And indeed, in the latest Moscow photographs Malenkov takes his place- at Stalin's side...
...The practice was resumed in 1946— and at that time the second signature under the manifestos was that of Zhdanov, who had taken over the reins of the party apparatus and directed its work...
...Unless statesmen of the democratic nations recognize this situation and act with the determination and consistency required in order to conduct an effective counterattack, they will be forever on the defensive and forever at a disadvantage...
...Those who remember Malenkov's report at the IHth Com munist ('(ingress in March, l!)41...
...put forward by the latter to the post of Mikoyan's deputy in the cadres...
...his past up to now did not...
...Success never goes to his head, as is proved by his circumspection at all the points in Europe and Asia where he might have to face a military ichuff by the Americans...
...The current palace revolution in the 'Kremlin belongs to the second type...
...The Politburo members dismissed from their ministries will be given lull opportunity to observe the work of "Malenkov's men...
...Such solemn manifestoes appear very seldom—not more than two or three times a year...
...Actually, he has the following of all the members of the Politburo who joined the party after it came into power- and this group includes such people as Beria, Bulganin...
...of their opponents...
...conditions would prevent it...
...On March 1, five days before the MolotovMikoyan announcement, the Moscow papers blazoned forth on their front pages a huge manifesto proclaiming the great boon bestowed.on the people by their Kremlin rulers i/s the 10-20'n price reductions ill government stores...
...Nothing of the sort has yet come to view...
...Kh the intermediation of Joseph 'S and similar innocents, he was to establish himself with Rooseas a reasonable and judicious statesman surrounded by demons...
...Hut Vishinsky is Malenkov's man, and it was under Mah nkov's direction that he worked in preparing the trials of the "Old Bolsheviks " Menshikov, who was appointed in Mik'oyan's place, is also a Malenkov man...
...This simple bit of history shows to what a low level the democracies have fallen in their diplomacy, and how far they will have to retrace their steps in order to undo the damage done by Stalin and Roosevelt in their diplomatic conferences...
...For Stalin is fond of selling up two rivals, who thus watch one another vigilantly, and are the more zealous in keeping Stalin informed concerning all the mistake...
...Karl Marx -n '/'Ac Sew I ttrk Tribune...
...And indeed, the period between the summer of 1946 and the summer of 1948 was the "Zhdanov period" in the history of the Communist Party of the USSR...
...His ends justify the ust of all possible means so long as In...
...THE BEHIND-THE-SCENES struggle between Zhdanov and Malenkov con tinned throughout the sununei of l!)-|fi...
...He v. as a capable and powerful organizer...
...own political existence is never endangered...
...A' that time Malenkov won out over Zhdanov and pushed him aside...
...se startling revelations have only weakness: they are invented out hole cloth...
...But spec illation on such an abstract problem sets lowhere...
...Stalin will not remove Molotov and Mikoyan from tlit Politburo...
...Stalin has none of the pathological romanticism of Hitler, no sign of his historicalracial drives, of his psychological lack of control...
...m all these measures...
...During the war...
...Hut at the February, 19-lti...
...He it the co author of Forced Labor in Rus sia" and Karl Msrx: Man and Fighter," as well as the author of "AieH, the Spy...
...The limits within which lie makes his own decisions are quite considerable...
...Stalin: Prisoner What Politburo...
...This means that Malenkov has been recognized as a personage who, while naturally unequal to Stalin, nevertheless has the right to appear next to Stalin...
...Andreyev, etc...
...Among lators in this area, Stalin quickly ies a patriarchal and restraining Ucc among his impetuous dis. This picture is becoming a comlace among the western democ. President Truman remarks with ince: "Joe is prisoner of the Polit' Sumner Welles wrote in the (I Tribune: "The split between the ns of Molotov and Zhdanov is ling...
...Such things cannot be attributed to mere chance...
...Malenkov's signature under the telegram of sympathy sent by the Central Committee of the All-Russian Communist Party to Japanese Communists (in connection with the attempted assassination of their leader), demonstrated the serious extent to which Zhdanov's position was shaken...
...ONE WEAKNESS of the democratic statesmen in the face of the USSR results from inabilr ity to size up the nature of the Politburo and the entire apparatus of Russian control and Russian power...
...plenum of the Central Committee, Zhdanov won the day, uniting, a majority of the I'olilburo under the slogan ol the need to preserve the "continuity of party leadership...
...and transferred to government work...
...The hitter's death-if it was a natural one merely made easier the ending of the "Zhdanov period...
...He is not sincerely devoted to any of the ideologies of which he jnakes use -whether of class (proletarian), race (Slavic), doctrines or principles (socialist, nationalist, pacifist humanitarian...
...He made the party toe his line...
...Up to the present point he has limited his attacks to tMe weak and the small, and these he has taken on only under favorable circumstances...
...i Will the giant Russian state ever halt in its march toward world power...
...elected sec rotary of the Central Committee together with Malenkov...
...e * * • THE FIRST symptoms of Zhdanov's eclipse appeared in July-August, 1948, when his son, Yuri, a young geneticist, was caught red-handed (terrible to relate...
...Stalin himself is the iator of them...
...For the time being, the victor in it is Georgi Malenkov...
...No one outside its members knows what happens in the Politburo...
...Malenkov's signature next to Stalin's on the manifesto of March 1st shows that Malenkov has fully recovered his position in the party appartus that he is again its complete boss...
...In a single day, two ministers who are members of the Politburo were dismissed...
...They worked in adjacent areas of foreign policy: Molotov in the diplomatic field, and Mikoyan in the field of economic relations...
...It is like attempting to se when a brick will fall on your tally useless is the favorite sport wculating on the possibility of wion within the Politburo...
...Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik...
...Difficult days followed for Malenkov...
...April 12...
...He is not an aimed ideologist, but an empiricist armed with ideologies...
...And the practical application of the decisions is up to the ministers responsible for currying them out...
...They were first introduced in the early thirties -after the retirement of Rykov as Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, and serve to demonstrate the unity of the Communist Party and the Soviet Government...
...The personal role of a minister in the USSR is hardly as insignificant as it is sometimes represented, especially when the minister is a member of the Politburo...
...Especially sharp were the frictions between Malenkov and Zhdanov...
...Now for the first time a solemn manifesto is signed by Malenkov...
...Hut practical leader ship in foreign policy (and apparently m many other fields) passes into Unhands of the younger generation of Politburo members...
...It seemed that Malenkov's career was over...
...All this is done with Stalin's pel mission...
...This fact sheds light not only on the recent shift, but on all the events of Soviet life in recent months...
...It acts as a unit and in constant reference to all of the advantages and limitations of its world-wide forces...
...Even it she wished to do so...
...It might be said that he has grown up in it--grown up together with the ba.su cadres of "Stalin's" generation ol parly - Clickist aristocracy...
Vol. 32 • March 1949 • No. 12
