The Making of a Kremlin Transition

...At the moment, only two Secretariat members have full rank in the Politburo—Gorbachev himself, and the person who has to be considered his rival, Grigory V. Romanov...

...I now put it to a vote...

...A spoiler's role could be played by Politburo member Viktor V. Grishin, 70, boss of the key Moscow City Party organization...

...Not until Gorbachev has a new personal patronage machine in place are we likely to see broad and overt moves to unburden the country's top leadership of the superannuated Stalinists who still dominate it...

...Exactly what his role was and how he was kept on the sidelines when Andropov died and again when Chernenko left the scene are simply unknown...

...Normally the Secretariat includes four or five members of the Politburo, a couple of individuals holding candidate rank in that body, plus three or four others of lesser status...

...In this procedure the vital people are the provincial Party secretaries, who arrange the choice of delegates and who, by what has become an automatic tradition, themselves qualify for placement on the next Central Committee slate...

...He will be the first Soviet leader who commenced his political career after the shadow of Stalin had passed...

...Ligachev could additionally strengthen Gorbachev's hold...

...I had the opportunity of watching the proceedings in the Supreme Soviet on Moscow television...

...The emphysema was taking its toll on him...

...The most crucial step will be the promotions or transfers to give at least two new people full membership in both the Politburo and the Secretariat, and thereby neutralize Romanov...

...This last time around, however, those Robert V. Daniels, currently a Fellow at the Kennan Institute in Washington, is a professor of history at the University of Vermont...

...The immediate question facing Gorbachev, therefore, is how he will deal with the apparatus and leading organs of the Party in trying to consolidate his own leadership vis-a-vis the residue of the Old Guard and younger people who may not be happy with him...

...To thunderous applause Chernenko staggered to his feet to give his acceptance speech...

...Lately (his trend has been strengthened by incapacity and turnover in the topmost job...

...Opposed...

...He opens up the prospect of an epochal change in generational styles of rule...

...The natural target in any of these maneuvers is control of the preparations for the 27th Party Congress, due to be held in February 1986...

...He was smooth, firm, a compelling speaker, clearly acting like the man in charge...

...Should Gorbachev, through control of the Central Secretariat, be able to continue this work of bureaucratic renovation, he could put together a Central Committee largely of his own choosing or at the minimum inclined toward him...

...His is the new generation of university-trained executives, enjoying a very different formative experience from the Brezhnev-Chernenko generation of workers and peasants suddenly promoted in the late 1930s to fill the shoes of Stalin's purge victims, and then allowed to grow old—very old—in office...

...Gorbachev has the opportunity to flesh out the Politburo and the Secretariat to their regular complement, and will dominate them if he can control the appointments...

...His new book is Russia: The Roots of Confrontation...

...It is not merely a matter of the new leader's relative youthfulness and probable tenure...

...Then, for better or for worse, we could expect the Soviet Union to put on a distinctly new face...

...The arrangement would allow one more member of the older generation to enjoy the limelight, while the head of the new wave prepared the real transition...

...There was reason to surmise, as I did at the time("The Chernenko Comeback," NL, February 20,1984), that the titular leadership of the Party was given to Chernenko as part of a deal between the Old Guard and the Young Turks who had rallied around Andropov and Gorbachev...

...I have a subscription ticket...

...Conspicuously leaving Leonid I. Brezhnev unmentioned, he identified himself with the recent economic reform movement by calling for " a decisive turn in transferring the national economy to the tracks of intensive development" and "enhancing the independence of enterprises, raising their interest in the end product of their work...

...Silence...

...As though the puppet master pulled one string, all right hands in the hall went up in unison...

...When the presiding officer called for nominations to fill the vacancy left by Andropov, Gorbachev stepped forward by prearrangement with a 15-minute nominating speech on Chernenko's behalf...

...Gorbachev's personal predilections will not alone determine Soviet policy, however, either foreign or domestic...

...If Grishin and Dolgikh, say, were to team up with Romanov to protect the old Brezhnev crew and keep Gorbachev's power in check, we could see an extended period of unstable or compromise leadership that would disappoint the hopes of Soviets and foreigners alike for a really new look in the Kremlin...

...At the police checkpoint he was asked for hispass...

...Conferring Politburo status on the recently appointed Secretariat members Nikolai 1. RvzhkovorYegorK...

...Transitions at the top in the Kremlin have seemingly become a routine event, but the lastest passage of power, from Konstantin U. Chernenko to Mikhail S. Gorbachev, has the potential for being something very different...

...In April of last year, Chernenko was extended the additional honor of the presidency of the USSR ("Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet...

...Two years ago, under Andropov, Romanov looked like the man most likely to succeed...

...he mumbled his words in groups of three or four, then gasped for breath...

...Ever since Stalin's demise, the movement in Soviet politics has been away from the commanding individual and toward the bureaucratic collective...

...Each is a bit short-handed now, due to the death rate among the old Stalinists...

...I therefore proclaim Comrade Chernenko elected Chairman of the Presidium...

...He professed total agreement with the foreign policy of his predecessors—negotiations on the one hand, and on the other maintenance of the power to deal "a crushing retaliatory strike...

...All in favor of Konstantin Ustino-vich Chernenko...

...Very quickly after the already ailing Chernenko was picked to replace Andropov barely a year ago, Gorbachev was de facto accorded the number two position as Second Secretary and chief ideological guru of the Party...

...who determine the identity of the Soviet chief appear to have had enough of the improvisations of geriatric leadership, and have demonstrated their readiness to go with the vigor of youth and the renovation of the whole political structure...

...In any case, Romanov's institutional position now makes him the first challenge Gorbachev must reckon with...

...The Congress will install a new Central Committee, which in turn must ratify the composition of the top Party organs and the tenure of the General Secretary...

...Precisely how Gorbachev will approach the Soviet Union's great issues of economic growth and military security can only become known as his decisions unfold over the coming months...

...He appeared prominently during Chernenko's last weeks as well as at the funeral, and could readily assume the function of a secretary...

...Abstentions...

...Pass...

...Soviet citizens of every political view, whose hopes had been raised by the tempo of Andropov's first few months of action, noted with chagrin that the Kremlin seemed to be turning into a nursing home for the next leader's tenure of office...

...One anguished scholar at a Soviet institute was seen banging his head against the wall when he heard the news of Chernenko's selection...

...Here the important figures are Vladimir I. Dolgikh, a Secretary who already holds candidate rank in the Politburo, and Vitalv I. Vo-rotnikov, a Politburo member who heads the government in the Russian Federation and is known to be an An-dropovite reformer...

...Not only is Gorbachev at 54 almost 20 years younger than Chernenko, and in fact the youngest member of the Politburo...

...After Gorbachev spoke, according to protocol, the Chair called for other nominations...

...Gorbachev's expeditious selection to succeed Chernenko in the office of General Secretary of the Communist Party of course came as no surprise...

...Such a development at the Politburo level would smooth the way for reforms in economics and in other policy areas that finally would accord with the taste of the rising technocratic generation...

...Under Andropov a major shakeup of the Party apparatus was set in motion, and some 20 per cent of the provincial secretaries were replaced (thus rendering them, in effect, ineligible for the new Central Committee...

...No one moved...

...Idon'tneedapass...

...No surprises...

...His speech to the Central Committee accepting the designation as General Secretary referred to the "strategic line worked out with the vigorous participation of Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov and Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko...

...The tough, sixtyish boss of Leningrad had just had himself made a member of the Secretariat in Moscow, and is thought to have acquired primary responsibility for industry and the military...

...The two key power-wielding bodies of the Soviet political structure are both, of course, in the Party rather than in the nominal government—the Politburo for policy decisions, and the Secretariat for organizational control...

...A Soviet citizen was trying to get into Red Square for Yuri V. Andropov's funeral...