Moscow's Toastmaster
BRUMBERG, ABRAHAM
Perspectives MOSCOW'S TOASTMASTER BY ABRAHAM BRUMBERG Readers may recall that three years ago I published a critique of an autobiographical work entitled Leonid 1. Brezhnev-pages from His Life in...
...I suspect it is precisely this ability to overcome scruples, to remain so boundlessly confident malgre tout that has earned him some of the epithets cited above, but at the same time has sustained him during his long and distinguished career...
...more skillfully than any of his colleagues, always imparts a note of solemnity to any important social, cultural or political event in the life of his country...
...Lesser men, when confronted with a record so replete with mishaps, setbacks and openly admitted failures as that of the Soviet Union might be expected to waver, criticize or even revise some of their views...
...Thank goodness, then, that we have finally been presented with an authoritative book on Suslov-one, moreover, I am in duty bound to report, that succeeds in refuting the squalid rumors about him...
...Now 80 years old, a Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party's Central Committee since 1947, and a Politburo member since 1955, Suslov is on all showings a powerful man, yet his persona has always been shrouded in mystery...
...Here is Suslov bringing the audience to its feet on the 60th anniversary of the October Revolution:" In all its political and organizing activities the CPSU is guided by the most progressive theory-Marxism-Leninism...
...I find no references, for example, to the period 1939-44, when Suslov supervised the forced deportation of an entire people-the Karachai-to Central Asia, for its ostensible collaboration with the Germans...
...The career, I must note, is not fully reflected in the Selected Speeches and Writings...
...The book has a useful index, yet oddly enough it lists neither Stalin nor Khrushchev...
...The word "circuses" is not meant invidiously...
...But many Western commentators wondered whether it was indeed merely fortuitous that it fell to Suslov to be the first to carry the message to Warsaw...
...For Brezhnev's a Jolly Good Fellow," NL, May 22,1978...
...As one reads the26 articles and speeches collected in this volume, one cannot help being struck by their author's unfailing optimism, by what I would almost call his profoundly religious faith...
...In point of fact, whatever his professional preoccupations, Suslov-as his speeches and articles demonstrate-can probably best be described as the Party's supreme Toastmaster, the man who, perhaps Abraham Brumberg, former editor o/Problems of Communism and a frequent contributor to these pages, is currently preparing a book about Poland...
...It is an event of no mean importance, for in truth, what do we know about this venerable figure...
...Perspectives MOSCOW'S TOASTMASTER BY ABRAHAM BRUMBERG Readers may recall that three years ago I published a critique of an autobiographical work entitled Leonid 1. Brezhnev-pages from His Life in the pages of this journal...
...It has diligently and prodigiously contributed to what Pravda would no doubt term "the priceless ideological legacy" and "the inexhaustible treasure-house of Marxist-Leninist ideas" as expressed by some of their foremost contemporary guardians, now including the gifted Mikhail Andreevich Suslov...
...the guardian of Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy...
...Ponomarev's Selected Speeches and Writings and A.A...
...Doctrinaire" Suslov may be, but he is also clearly a warm-hearted human being, touchingly loyal to his friends, deeply devoted to his cause, eloquent and generous...
...Not M. A. Suslov...
...If the Order of Lenin is to be presented to the Institute of Marxism-Leninism, Suslov is the man for the job: "The works of Marx, Engels and Lenin are a veritable encyclopedia of scientific knowledge, containing a wealth of fundamental discoveries and brilliant conclusions in a variety of social and natural sciences...
...I am happy to report that the same chaps who gave us that book, as well as B.N...
...In 1958, when Micunovic came to see Suslov about the new draft program of the Yugoslav Communist League (the country's ruling party), he was greeted with a stream of abuse...
...He knew just what to say, too, at the 150th anniversary of Karl Marx's birth: "Karl Marx evolved a scientific theory formulating the general laws of the development of nature, society, human thought, and the revolutionary transformation of society...
...Few of the speculations about Suslov are based on direct experience, however...
...To wit, their conviction that Brezhnev is not simply a "remarkable organizer," and "authoritative leader," a " far-sighted politician," and "an outstanding peace fighter," but also-above everything else-an ordinary, modest man...
...What nation has ever lived by bread alone...
...But there are literally hundreds of other ceremonial occasions, and it is then that the talents of Mikhail Andreevich Suslov emerge in bold relief...
...Although numerous Westerners tend to regard the USSR as a drab and dreary place, nothing could be further from the truth...
...hidebound...
...The queues in front of Soviet bread stores may be long, but as any firsthand observer will tell you, it's the circuses that really bring out the crowds...
...puritanical"-to mention but a few labels that have appeared over the years in the Western press...
...Late in April of this year, Suslov, accompanied by several other high Party dignitaries, descended upon Poland, no doubt to press the case for maintaining (in the words of the official communique) "the unity of the entire community of Socialist states...
...On the two most resplendent holidays-may Day and November 7 (the anniversary of the Bolshevik coup d'etat)-the honor of addressing the jubilant crowds is usually reserved either for a top Party leader or a heavily bemedalled military figure...
...This task, as we know, has subsequently been pursued even more vigorously by all of his comrades-in-arms...
...in philosophy, political economy, history and sociology, ethics and esthetics, the theory of state and law...
...After all, few states can lay claim to so many distinctly national as well as international traditions...
...Which is why, of course, consummate orators are much more in demand in the Soviet Union than in, say, Luxembourg or the United States...
...I find no mention, either, of Suslov's role in re-imposing Soviet rule in Lithuania, where thousands of local inhabitants, unsympathetic to the teachings of Marx and Lenin, were either shot or transported in cattle cars to Siberia...
...The only personal account of him that I am aware of is to be found in the memoirs published last year by a former Yugoslav ambassador to the USSR, Veljko Micunovic {Moscow Years: 1956-1958, translated by David Floyd, Doubleday...
...In no other country, for instance, is the defeat of an invader (in this case, Nazi Germany) celebrated not only as a national victory, but as the triumph of millions of toilers throughout the world...
...Still, we will remain forever in the debt of the Pergamon Press...
...Because his activities have centered largely on what Soviet publications are wont to refer to as "the unity of the international workers' movement"-that is, on Moscow's relations with Communist parties and governments throughout the world-and because he has frequently been associated with bitter intra-Party feuds, ideological anathemas and even occasional military exercises, sundry rumors, all of them rather unflattering, have grown around him: "The Party's sinister eminence grise...
...doctrinaire...
...One of the speeches I find sorely missing is Suslov's four-hour denunciation of Nikita Khrushchev on October 14,1964-a speech, as is well-known, that was especially fascinating in view of the Party ideologist's many past tributes and years of devoted service to Brezhnev's predecessor...
...Surely no one could have done better than Suslov in expressing the feelings of the "entire Soviet people" and "of all honest people on our planet" on the occasion of Leonid Brezhnev's 70th birthday...
...Gromyko's volume Only for Peace, have come out with a handsome edition of Mikhail Andreevich Suslov's Selected Speeches and Writings (Pergamon Press, 374 pp., $46.00...
...And if the incidence of festive occasions in the USSR is higher than in any other country, why be astonished...
...And again innuendos and speculations proliferated...
...rigid...
...The Soviet leader," the ambassador wrote, "could not control himself," and acted as if the Yugoslav official had "personally offended Suslov and his family," all because the Belgrade Communists obstinately refused "to march in step" with Moscow and its "fraternal allies...
...I do hope that the publishers will favor us with another collection of Suslov's words, so that the few remaining mysteries of his biography can finally be put to rest...
...Nor does he falter when giving the Order of the October Revolution to Portuguese Communist Party leader Alvaro Cun-hal: "We know and highly value your untiring activity directed at spreading the ideas of the great Lenin...
...Suslov is equally adept when it comes to an Order of Lenin for the USSR Academy of the Arts: "Marxist-Leninist teaching, creatively developed by our Party, provides the key to the understanding of contemporary social processes and the path of development both of society and of its culture...
Vol. 64 • November 1981 • No. 20
