caesar 19 - aftermath of malenkov's resignation (copy 2)

8/4/2019 Caesar 19 - Aftermath of Malenkov's Resignation (Copy 2)

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE ''*DATE: JUN 200719 June 1958 ; < -

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I 0ROM THE' THE-30tH' PkX'IY"C0RGRESS L - A'NTE0XDERTS''BND WTERBATHOF HALENKOV'S RESIGNATION FROM THE PREMIERSHIP(Reference t i t l e : CAESAR 1-58)7

ffice of Current Intelligence

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCYHR70-14(U)


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CONTENTS PAGEPage

I n t r o d u c t i o............................................ 1I . P o l i c y I s s u e s a n d R el at io ns Among Top Lea der s

The Ju ly P l e n u m a n d t h e 2 0 t h P a r t y C o ng r es s. . . . .Delay in D r a f t i n g t h e S i x t h Fi ve- Ye ar P l a n . . . . . .Summit and A f t e r . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8T h e ' D e c l i n e of Kaganovich ....................... 16

23 I

Furthe r Moves A g a i n s t , M o l o t o v . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Persona l Diplomacy .............................. 1911. P e r s o n n e l A p po in tm en ts i n P r e p a r a t i o n for t h e2 0 t h P a r t y Congress

P r om o ti o ns t o t h e P r e si d i um a n d S e c r e t a r i a t . . . . . 22C o n t r o l of P e rsonne l S e l e c t i on a nd Appo in tme n t - 2 3h e S e c r e t a r i a t a n d A p pa r at u s...................The C e n t r a l A p p a r a t u s - O r g a n i z a t i o n a n dP e r s o n n e l ....................................... 24Chdnges i n Re pub l i c Le a de rs h ip.................. 31Oblas t Shake-ups . ............................... 3 4

.I. ......... 111. T he 2 0 t h P a r t y C o n g r e s s a n d t h e S o v i e t L e a d e r s h ipThe Top Leaders o n t h e E v e of t h e Congress . . . . . . 35R e p o r t of t h e C e n t r a l C om mi tt ee - Khrushc he v ' sD e - S t a l i n i z a t i o n - Mikoya n ' s Assa u l t an dKhrushchev ' s S ec r e t Speech...................... 39Speech.......................................... 36

P o l i t i c a l M is ce ll an y - The Speeches of B u l g a n i n ,Kaganovich, Pe rv ukh in, Malenkov,


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PageIV . The New Leading Party Organs'

Continuity and Change in the Central Committeeand Central Auditing Commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Khrushchev's Strength in Central Party Bodies... 50Occupational Representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52The Party Presidium............................. 56Khrushchev's Secretariat and the RSFSR Bureau... 61

Conclusion .... .......................................... 65

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FROM THE 'JULY PLENUM (1955) TO THE20TH PARTY CONGFtESS - ANTECEDENTS A N D AFTERMATHOF MALENKOV'S RESIGNATION FROM THE PREMIERSHIP

Introduction

With the defeat of Malenkov in January 1955, Khrushchevbecame unquestionably "number one" i m the Soviet "collectiveleadership" but he did not thereby command full and continuingsupport from all the other members of the party presidium."Old Bolsheviks" Molotov and Kaganovich, who must have initiallywelcomed and probably assisted Khrushchev to victory over Stalin'sfirst successor, were almost certain t o view with alarm both therapidity with which he, as the second successor, put into actionnew poliCies and tactics and the direction those policies andtactics were taking.committee, by its censure of Molotov for not accepting grace-fully the rapprochement with Tito , put a powerPul brake on anyambit%bnff 0~ot ov'mp y';he ve ad for a stronger voice in Sovietpolicy; and at the same time, in its resolution on Bulganin'sexposition of problems and policies in the field of industry,it put the public stamp of high party approval on an approachto industrial problems which Kaganovich was to view with grow-ing apprehension.

The July 1955 plenum of the party central

Khrushchev's increasing role in Soviet policy formulationand implementation and the consequent loss of influence byMalenkov and Molotov meant essentially that the circle of topleaders had been reduced, and It was doubtful if the additionof Kirichenko and Suslov to the presidium by the July plenumwould serve to enlarge that circle. But though the voices ofMalenkov and Molotov had been diminished they were still membersof the presidium and potentially could challenge Khrushchev'scontinuing leadership.

Having eschewed police terror as the cornerstone of con-trol, both of the regime over the populace and of himself overthe presidium, Khrushchev w a s far more vulnerable to political' machinations and policy failures than Stalin had been for manyyears. He had, It is true, already shown considerable skill

at political maneuvering, but his new policies had yet to befully Implemented and proven in practice.


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. ....... ..I . POLICY ISSUES AND RELATIONS AMONG THE TOP LEADERS

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The July Plenum and t h e 2 0 t h P a r t y C o n g r e s sh e l d f r o m 4 t o 1 2 J u l y 1955, w a s t h e c a l l i n g of t h e 2 0 t h p a r t yc o n g r e s s t o m e e t o n 1 4 F eb r u a r y 1956, j u s t t h r e e years a n d f o u rmonths a f t e r t h e 1 9 t h c o n g r e s s h ad f i n i s h e d i t s work. Therew a s n o announcement of t h e reason f o r c a l l i n g t h e c o n g r e s s b e -f o r e O c t o b er 1 95 6- -t he o u t s i d e d a t e for h o l d in g t h e n e x t c o n g r e s su n de r t h e p a r t y r u l e a d o p te d i n 1 95 2 w hich e s t a b l i s h e d t h a t"regular c o n g r e s s e s of t h e p a r t y ' k r e c a l l e d n o t l e ss t h a n o n c ee v e r y f o u r y e a r s . " The y e a r 1955, however, ended t h e F i f t hF iv e- Ye ar P l a n p e r i o d , a n d t h e n e c e s s i t y t o cons ider p a r t yd i r e c t i v e s f o r a new plan f o r t h e pe r i od 1956-60 p robab lya cc o un t ed f o r h o l d i n g t h e congress as e a r l y as p o s s i b l e i n 1956.The mot iva t i on for so much advance no t ic e of t h e t i m e and agendaof t h e c o n gr e ss - -o n ly s i x w e e k s * n o t i c e w a s g i v e n i n 1952--wasn o t so e v i d e n t . I t i s c o n c e i v a b l e t h a t Kh ru sh ch ev , c l e a r l y i n .t h e ascendancy i n mid-1955, in tended t o us e t h e upcoming con-g r e s s as a propaganda peg f o r h i s p o l i c i e s an d f o r s e c u r in g 'i n c r e a s e d p r o d u c t i v i t y i n "honor of t h e c o n g r es s " by t y p i c a l l yS o v i e t storm t a c t i c s . However, such a propaganda campaign didn o t m a t e r i a l i z e ; a f t e r a b r i e f p e r i o d of p u b l i c i t y , m en ti on oft h e c o n g r e ss became i n c r e a s i n g l y ra re i n t h e S o v i e t p r e s s . ByJ a nu a ry 19 56 , f a i l u r e of S o v i e t media r e c e n t l y t o ment ion t hed a t e of t h e ' open ing of t h e c o n g r e s s l e d t o r e p o r t s t h a t it mightbe pos tponed .

The l a s t i t e m o n t h e ag e nd a o f t h e c e n t r a l committee plenum,

The r e s o l u t i o n c a l l i n g t h e 2 0 t h congress w a s s i m i l a r t ot h e o ne i s s u e d i n 1 95 2 f o r t h e 1 9 t h c o n g r e s s . The a g en d a p r o -v i d e d f o r t h e r e p o r t of t h e c e n t r a l committee t o be d e l i v e r e dby Khrushchev, t h e au d i t i n g commiss ion re p o r t by cha irman ofthe commiss ion P. G . Woskatov, p r e s e n t a t i o n of t h e d r a f t d i -r e c t i v e s f o r t h e S i x t h F iv e- Year P l a n by B u lg a ni n , a n d e l e c t i o nof t h e c e n t r a l p a r t y b o di es . No major r e v i s i o n of t h e p a r t yr u l e s s u ch as o c c u r r e d i n 1 95 2 w a s a p p a r e n t l y c o n t e m p la t ed .Delegates t o t h e c o n g r e ss were t o b e e l e c t e d a c c o r d i n g t o t h es a m e norms--one v o t i n g d e l e g a t e f o r e a c h 5,000 par ty membersa nd o n e n o n v o t i n g d e l e g a t e for e a c h 5,000 c a n d i d a t e members--a n d i n t h e same manne r. The on ly i nn ov a t i on w a s a p r o v i s i o nf o r members of p a r t y o r g a n i z a t i o n s i n S o v i e t Army a nd Navy u n i t sa b r o a d t o e l e c t d e l e g a t e s a t p a r t y c o n fe r en c es i n t h e i r m i l i t a r yu n i t s . M i l i t a r y p e rs o nn e l &broad had l o n g b e en p r o v i d e d r e p -r e s e n t at i o n i n t h e USSR Supreme S ov ie t on t h e b a s i s of d e p u t i e se l ec t ed i n s p e c i a l m i l i t a r y e l e c t o r a l d i s t r i c t s . The e x t e n s i o nof t h i s p r i v i l e g e t o t h e e l e c t i o n of de lega tes t o t h e p a r t ycongress was a n o t h e r o f t h e many ges tu res t o t h e m i l i t a r y whichwere made a f t e r S t a l i n ' s d ea th .

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t h a t r e s e n t m e n t of t he t empo i s so g r e a t t h a t t he Sov ie t economyw o u l d s t a g n a t e if t h e d y na mi c f o r c e s e m a na t i n g f ro m t h e t o pl e a d e r s h i p were r emoved , the re i s c o n s i d e r a b l e e v i de n c e t o sup -p o r t t h e be l ie f t h a t i f t h e lower e c h e l o n s of t h e S o v i e t burearrc-r a c y .- were m ak ing t h e d e c i s i o n , t h e r a t e of growth would bemuch lower. The p r i n c i p a l e vi d e n ce f o r f o o t d r a g g i n g a t l e v e l sn o t f a r removed f r o m t h e t o p l e a d e rs h i p is f ou nd i n t h e p u b l i cs t a t e m e n t s of t h e l eaders themselves and hence must be presumedt o be b u t a small s a m p l e o f t h e f o o t - d r a g g i n g a t t e m p t e d t hr ou gh -o u t t h e s y st em .I n l a t e 1954, amid c o mp l ai n ts t h a t s e v e r a l major m i n i s t r i e shad p roposed ve ry moderate e x p a ns i o n i n t h e i r a c t i v i t i e s , t h ep l an n ed g ro w th o f i n d u s t r i a l p r o d u c t i on f o r 19 55 was s e t a t 9p e r c e n t i n s t e a d of t h e u s u a l 11 t o 13 p e r c e n t . The S o v i e t l e a d e r s ,however, proceeded t o t i g h t e n t h e screws a n d a n increase of n e a r l y13 P e r c e n t r e s u l t e d . S c a t t e r e d e v i de n c e i n d i c a t e s t h a t when t h et i m e came t o d r a f t t h e S i x t h F ive-Y ea r P l a n d i r e c t i v e s t h e pr o-d u c in g m i n i s t r i e s a g a i n p r op os e d o n l y moderate i n c r e a s e s . I n

4 h i s s p e e c h t o t h e 2 0 t h p a r t y congress, Saburov noted, as a n ex-a m pl e , t h a t t h e M i n i s t r y o f F e r r o u s M e t al l u r gy had " s t u b b o r n l y\ d ef e nd ed " p r o d u c t i o n i n c r e m e n t s of 1,300,000 t o n s a n d 1,700,000t o n s of r o l l e d s t e e l below t h e i n cr e me n ts f i n a l l y i n c o r p or a t e di n t o t h e 1956 p l a n . * I t seems c l e a r t h a t i f l e f t t o t h e i r ownd e v i c e s , t h e b u r e a u c r a t s a n d e n g i n e e r s who r u n t h e S o v i e t economyfrom t h e m i n i s t r i e s down t o t h e p l a n t would s e t t l e f o r g r o w t h a ta l e v e l w e l l below t h a t dem anded by t h e l e a d e r s h i p .

The c o n s e r v a t i v e p r o d u c t i o n goa ls s u b m i t t e d by t h e p r o du c-i n g m i n i s t r i e s d i d n o t d e r i v e o nl y from o p p o s i t i o n t o t he t empo .V e r y i m p o r t a n t w a s t h e manager s' des i r e t o m a i n t a i n a c u s h i o n ,t o keep a c e r t a i n amount of r t f a t r ' o p r o t e c t them f ro m t h e i n -e v i t a b l e e x i g e n c i e s of t h e sy s t e m a n d t h e i n s a t i a b l e demands ofthe to p l e a d e r s h i p . The g e n e r a l a t t i t u d e of t h e lower e c h e l o n sw a s t o a s k f o r more t h a n t h e y n e e d e d a n d p r o p o s e t o d o l e s s t h a nt h ey c o ul d a nd t h i s a t t i t u d e w a s c o u n t e r e d by t h e p e o p l e a t t h eapex of t h e py ramid by s e t t i n g p r o du c ti o n g o a l s h i g h a nd c a l l -i n g o n t h e p r od u ci n g m i n i s t r i e s t o make u p t h e d i f f e r e n c e ou tof " u n u t i l i z e d i n t e r n a l r e s e r v e s I 1 " I n t e r n a l reserves" r e f e r st o any improvemen t i n t h e u s e o f r e so u r ce s wh ich w i l l y i e l d agrea te r o u t p u t w i t h no i n c r e a s e i n i n p u t s . " U n u ti l i ze d " s i mp l y

* Another example w a s t h e more t h a n d o u b l i n g of t h e 1960 goa l .f o r t h e p r o du c t i on of b l i s t e r c op p er i n K az ak hs ta n o ve r t h e f i g u r ewh ich th e Kazakh l e ad e r s as l a t e as 18 December 195 5 seemed t oc o n s i d e r p r o p e r . An a r t i c l e o n t h a t d a t e i n t h e Kazakh Repu b l i cnewspaper , Kazakhs tanskaya Prav da , gave th e 1960 goal a s a n i n -crease of 43 pe rc en t ov er 1-production. The pl an d i r e c t i v e s ,p u b l i s h e d i n Ja n u a ry , c a l l e d f o r a n i n c r e a s e of 90 p e r c e n t .Kazakhs tan p roduces almost h a l f of t o t a l USSR b l i s t e r c o p p e r t h i sr e p r e s e n t e d a s u b s t a n t i a l c ha ng e.

S i n c e

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means t h a t owing t o a c o m b i n a t i o n of l ack of i m a g i n a t i o n a n dc o n s c io u s d e c i s i o n t o h o a r d and t o k e e p some l r f a t r r v a i l a b l e ,t h e r e s p o n s i b l e m a na ge rs , a t w h a t e v e r l e v e l , h a v e n o t t a k e n t h en e c e s s a r y s t eps t o r ea l i z e p o t e n t i a l e co no mi es . T he p o i n t ofview of t h e t o p l eaders w a s w e l l e x p r e s s e d by b o t h Saburov andPervukh in a t t h e c o n g r e s s . S ab ur ov n o t e d t h a t :The d i r e c t o r s of c e r t a i n m i n i s t r i \ e s a nd i n s t i t u -t i o n s i n c o r r e c t l y u n d e r s t a n d t h e i r t a s k s i n t h es p h e r e of p l a nn i n g an d d i r e c t i n g t h e economy;t h e y d i r e c t t h e e f f o r t s of t h e i r appa ra t towarddrawing up a n d i m p l e m e nt i n g p l a n s i n a mannerd e s i g n e d t o e x z r a c t e x c e s s i v e means a n d r e s o u r c e sfrom t h e s t a t e , r a t h e r t h an s t r i v i n g t o e x p o s e a n du t i l i z e e x i s t i n g i n t e r n a l r e s e r v e s an d t h u s f u l -f i l l i n g ' t h e agreed-to p l a n s w i t h t h e maximum econ-omy i n t h e u s e o f s ta te resources .

Pervukh in app roached t h e problem from a somewhat d i f f e r e n t a n g l eb u t i n t h e same s p i r i t a n d w i t h a s i m i l a r c o n c l u s i o n . Afterb e r a t i n g t h e o i l and chemical i n d u s t r y m i n i s t r i e s f o r n e g l e c t -i n g n a t u r a l g a s as a n e x c e l l e n t c h e ap f u e l and as a v a l u a b l eraw mater ia l f o r t h e c h e m i c a l i n d u s t r y , P e r v u k h i n s a i d :

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Such a narrow d e p a r t m e n t a l app roach t o i n t e r -s e c t o r p ro bl em s is a s e r i o u s d e f ic i e nc y of manym i n i s t r i e s a nd i n s t i t u t i o n s . C e r t a i n Communists--d i r e c t o r s of m i n i s t r i e s , e co no mic o r g a n i z a t i o n s ,a nd e n t e r p r i s e s - - a r e so bound up w i t h n a r r o w de-p a rt m en t al i n t e r e s t s t h a t t he y ca nn ot see beyond 't h e e n d of t h e i r n o s e s , a n d t he r e fo r e t h e y b r i n ga narrow, u t i l i t a r i a n a t t i t u d e rather t h a n abroad s t a t e a t t i t u d e t o t h e s o l u t i o n of t h e mosti m po r ta n t i n t e r s e c t o r q u e s t i o n s .

H e t h e n berated t h e m i n i s t r i e s f o r p u r po s el y o v e r e s t i m a t i n g con-s t r u c t i o n c o s t s , s t a t i n g t h a t t h e m i n i s t e r i a l cos t es t imatesf o r t h e S i x t h F i ve - Ye a r P l a n i n v e s t m e n t p ro gr am h ad b e en scaleddown some 250 b i l l i o n r u b le s , f r o m a b o u t 1 , 2 4 0 b i l l i o n b u b l e st o t h e 990 b i l l i o n programmed i n t h e d i r e c t i v e s , a nd a r g ui n gt h a t :By s t r i c t l y ob s er v in g a regime of economy andby c o r r e c t l y d i s t r i b u t i n g t h e r e s o u r c e s a l -located t o c a p i t a l c o n s t r u c t i o n , a l l t h ei n v e s t m e n t p r o j e c t s f o r t h e S i x t h F iv e- Ye ar

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Plan for developing the various branchesof the national economy, the constructionof housing and social-cultural institutions,can be unconditionally fulfilled withoutsupplementary capital investment.The case for the opposition was presented by Zademidko andSheremetyev. Zademidko's position was simply stated. Yes,there had been "internal reserves" in the coal industry; de-spite a considerable lag in new mine construction the industryhad overfulfilled the Fifth Five-Year Plan goals. But the over-fulfillment lpd-,exhausted all the "unutilized internal reserves";there was no fat left, not even sufficient reserve capacity topermit the minimum necessary repair and maintengnce work.emidko concluded by stating flatly that the investment alloca-tions to the coal industry for the Sixth Five-Year Plan were

not sufficient and that Gosplan would have to wxamine thematter and increase allocations.

Zad-

Sheremetyev stated a similar case. The "internal reserves"in his industry had also been largely exhausted, the iron oresituation was unsatisfactory, and the pr,ospects for improvementwere dim owing to the unsatisfactory progress of new ore mines.Although Sheremetyev did not say that the investment allocationswere insufficient, he did say that the 1960 goals for ferrousmetals could not be reached if the construction of new mines,blast furnaces, rolling mills, and other new plants fell shortas had happened in the 1951-55 period.The conflicts of interest illustrated in these differing

assessments of production capabilities are, of course, inherentin the Soviet economic and political system and have played a rolein the preparation of all state economic plans beginning with thefirst in 1928. What may have exacerbated the situation in late1955 and stiffened lower level resistance to the changes pro-posed by the top planners was the fact that in several in-dustries--coal, ferrous metals, cement, and possibly others--the pressure for production, coupled with a failure t o providesufficient new pl ae in the past, had squeezed out most if notall of the "unutilized internal reserves" and 'left the ministriesconcerned dependent on new capital construction to meet the highproduction goals assigned them. Neither Pervukhin nor Saburov,nor for that matter, apparently, any of the other top leaders,appeared willing to consider the possibility that not all Ofthe ministries were asking for more than they really needed, andthat there was an element of increasing urgency in the requestsof all.

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The regime was w e l l aware t h a t t h e economy was f a c i n g somep o t e n t i a l l y se r i ous problems . For example , i t r e c o g n i z e d t h a toutmoded machinery an d e qu ip me nt a nd i n d u s t r i a l p r o c e s s e s c on-s t i t u t e d a major d r a g on i m pr o vi n g t h e q u a n t i t y and q u a l i t y ofp r o d u ct i o n , a n d t h a t l abo r c o u l d n o l o n g e r be t r a n s f e r r e d fromt h e a g r i c u l t u r a l t o t h e i n d u s t r i a l sector t o meet i n d u s t r i a lp r o d u c t i o n goals w i th ou t s a c r i f i c i n g n ec es sa ry a g r i c u l t u r a lp r o d u c t i o n .some demobil izat ion which, i n t h e r eg ime ' s view, depended i nt u r n on easing i n t e r n a t i o n a l t e n s i o n , a nd it was c l e a r t h a t t h er e q u i r e d i n c r e a s e i n l abo r p r o d u c t i v i t y w a s t o a c e r t a i n e x t e n t ,a t l e a s t , d e p e nd e n t o n i m p ro v i ng i n c e n t i v e s - - r a t i o n a l i z i n g t h ewage s t r u c t u r e a n d i n c r e a s i n g t h e a v a i l a b i l i t y of h o u s i n g a n dconsumer goods.

T hi s r e a l i z a t i o n increased t h e a t t r a c t i v e n e s s of

The regime w a s a l s o aware t h a t t h e s ys te m of i n d u s t r i a lo r g a n i z a t i o n was too c e n t r a l i z e d t omake! e f f e c t i v e u s e of a v a i l -ab le t a l e n t , b o t h m a n ag e r ia l a n d t e c h n i c a l , or t o d e v e l o p t a l e n ta n d i n i t i a t i v e a t lower eche lons . Moreover , t h e r e was a de-v e l o p i n g i mb a l an ce between t h e growth of t h e basic mater ia ls andf u e l i n d u s t r i e s on t h e o ne hand an d t h e f a b r i c a t i n g i n d u s t r i e son t h e o t h e r , w i t h , as i n d i c a t e d a bo v e , w a rn i n gs of impendingt r o u bl e i n a t l ea s t t w o of the ke y basic mater ia l s i n d u s t r i e sb e c a u s e of i n s u f f i c i e n t new i n v es t m en t a nd d e l a y s i n t h e com-p l e t i o n of new c o n s t r u c t i o n . B u t t h e dominant Sovie t l eaderswere a p pa r en t ly b l i s s f u l l y c o nf i de n t t h a t t h e s e prob lems weree i t h e r n o t r e a l l y u r g en t o r e l s e c o u l d be overcome by ad ho cm e as u re s w i t h i n t h e t r a d i t i o n a l fram ew ork of S o v i e t t l p o l i t i c a l ' lp l a n n i n g. I f a ny members of t h e c o l l e c t i v e l e a d e r s h i p disagreedw i t h t h i s vi ew , t h e y were c a r e f u l n o t t o press t h e i s s u e ... . . ..

,. .. .........

Another p o s s i b l e r e a s o n f o r t h e f a i l u r e t o complete t h ep l a n d i r e c t i v e s as e a r l y as h a d b e e n a n t i c i p a t e d w a s t h e ap-p a r e n t r e d r a f t i n g of p l a n s u b m i s s i o n s f rom lower e c h el o n s i nt h e i n d u s t r i a l h i e r a r c h y i n S ep te mb er i n a c co r da n ce . w i th a nAugust l e t t e r from t h e p a r t y c e n t r a l c om mi tt ee . The l e t t e r w a sprobab ly decree No.1422, da ted 5 August 1955, j o i n t l y i ss u ed byt h e c e n t r a l committee and t h e USSR C o u n c i l o f M i n i s t e r s . I twas e n t i t l e d "On L e t t e r s t o D ir e c to r s , Secre t a r i es of P a r t y Q- - -gan iza t ions , and Cha i rmen of Trade-Union Committees i n C o nn e ct i onWith Drawing U p t h e D r a f t of t h e S i x t h F iv e- Ye ar P l a n f o r t h eDevelopment of t h e Na ti on al Economy" and d e a l t w i t h p r o c e d u r e sf o r drawing up of t h e d r a f t p l a n a n d a p p a r e n t l y e m ph as iz ed i m -p r o v i n g labor p r o d u c t i v i t y , l o w e r i n g c o s t s , a n d i n c r e a s i n g t h e)

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o u t p u t of i n d u s t r i a l products .*p e n s i ty of e n t e r p r i s e o f f i c i a l s t o a s k f o r more r e s o u r c e s t h a nthey needed and t o propose t o produce l es s t h a n t h e y c o u l d , t h e r ewere a t l e a s t t w o r e c e n t d e v e l o p m e n t s t h a t migh t have necess i -t a t ed a , r e d r a f t i n g of t h e p l a n s u b m i s s i o n s made ea r l i e r . * *t ion--new technology--evident i n t h e c r e a t i o n i n + a t e May of as p e c i a l Sta te Committee f o r N e w Technology und er t h e chai rman-s h i p o f Deputy Premier V. A . Malyshev ,and th e emphas i s Bu lgan inp laced on t echno log ica l improvemen ts in h i s s p e e c h t o t h e J u l yc e n t r a l committee plenum. The o the r development was t h e successof t h e regime's e f f o r t s toward a c h i e vi n g i n t e r n a t i o n a l d e t e n t e ,symbol ized by t h e summit c o n f e r e n c e a n d t h e "Geneva s p i r i t . "The close c o n n e c t i o n of t h e l a t t e r w i t h D r o b l e m s of economic plan-

Aside from t h e n a t u r a l p ro -

The f i r s t of t h e s e w a s t h e i n cr e as e d a t t e n t i o n t o moderniza-

n i n g w a s f r a n k l y asser ted by S ab ur ov i n ; ? ar l y J u l y c o n v e r s a t i o n s'worries as p l a n n i n g c h i e f , i i s i s t e d again a n d a g a i n t h a t a lessen-i n g o f t e n s i o n must take p l a c e at Geneva because the Kremlin mustp u t a n e nd t o i n d e c i s i o n i n e conomic d i r e c t i v e s , t h a t i s , musts e t t l e t h e q u e s t i o n of t h e r e l a t i v e share of! r e s o u r c e s t o be de-v o t e d to de fe ns e , inve s tme n t , and consumpt ion .

S ab ur ov , d e s c r i b i n g h i s spec ia l

Summit a n d A f t e rOn 26 May, t h e day Khrushchev, Bulganin, Mikoyan, a n dS h e p i l o v t r a v e l e d t o Belgrade f o r t h e h i s t o r i c rapprochementw i t h T i t o , t h e So v i e t Governmen t, i n no t e s t o Great B r i t a i n ,F r a n c e , a n d t h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , f o r m a l l y a c c e p t e d t h e W e st er n i n -v i t a t i o n t o a four-power, heads of government ( s u m m i t ) con fe rence .

A n o t h e r s t e p w a s t h u s t a k e n toward r e a l i z i n g w ha t ha d be en a con-t i n u i n g goal of t h e p o s t - S t a l i n l e a d er s h ip - -a r e l a x a t i o n of i n -t e r n a t i o n a l t e n s i o n s t h a t w ould e n a b l e t h e S o v i e t Union t o re-d uc e m i l i t a r y e x p e n d i t u r e s a n d d e v o t e more a t t e n t i o n t o domesticeconomic problems.Malenkov and post-Malenkov regimes w a s t h a t t h e f o rm e r, as de-sc r i bed in a p re v io us s t u dy i n t h i s s e r i e s , had "attempted t oe n j o y t h e f r u i t s of d e t e n t e b e f o r e d e t e n t e had been assured."One of t h e c lea r d i f f e r e n c e s b et we en t h e

* Decree No. 1422 w a s ment ioned and D a r t i a l l v described i n aj o i n t decree of 5 January 1956 p u b l i s h e d i n S p ra v oc h ni kP a r t i y n o g o Rabotn ika . Moscow: 1957, pp. 131-133.** O n e t r u s t had s u b m i t t e d i t s d r a f t as ea r ly as May, an d a Juned e a d l i n e f o r s u c h s u b m i s s i o n s i s a reasonable a s s u m p t i o n .

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--I

The Khrushchev-Bulganin reg ime so ug ht t o remedy t h i s m i s -take b y i n c r e a s i n g i t s e f f o r t s t o s e c u r e a g re e m en t o n a s e tof g e n e r a l p r i n c i p l e s of p e ac e , s e c u r i t y , a nd c o e x is t e n ce . Wheret h e M alenkov g ov er nm en t h ad b e en h e s i t a n t , d e f e n s i v e , a n d p e r h a p ssomewhat f e a r f u l i n p u r s u i t of i t s f o r e i g n p o l i c y , K hr us hc he v' sregime was c o n f i d e n t , b o l d , a n d i m a g in a t i ve . The A u s t r i a n t r e a t yand t h e improvement of r e l a t i o n s w i t h B el gr ad e were followed byt h e s u m m i t c o n f e r e n c e i n Ju l y , a n a nn ou nc em en t o f armed fo rcesr e d u c t i o n i n Au gu st , e s t a b l i s h m e n t of d i p lo m a t ic r e l a t i o n s w i t hWest Germany i n S e pt em be r, t h e f o r e i g n m i n i s t e r s c o n f e r e n c e i nbef; anfl:a 'tsQ t o South A s i a by Bulganin and Khrushchev i n O c t o -November-December. A l l t h i s a c t i v i t y w a s marked b y i n c r e a s i n ge v i d e n c e s of a new face of a m i a b i l i t y a n d r e a s o n a b l e n e s s i n end-. l e s s r ou nd s of v i s i t s an d c o c k t a i l p a r t i e s w i t h t h e S o v i e t l eadersand among So v i e t d i p lo ma ts abroad.therefore c e r t a i n t o be head of t h e S o v i e t d e l e g a t i o n t o t h es u m m i t c o n f e r e n c e , b u t there was some s k e p t i c i s m i n W es te rnc i r c l e s c o n c e r n i n g t h e c o n c l u s i v e n e s s of h i s a u t h o r i t y . AWestern newsman asked K hr us hc he v i n e a r l y May i f i t were t r u et h a t he was " t h e power b eh in d t h e t h ro n e i n R us s ia a nd i f , i nt h a t case, it w a s n e c e s s a r y ( f o r him) t o a t t e n d s u ch t a l k s also?"K h r u sh c h e v ' s r e p l y t h a t 'l-TfB u l g a n i n goes, I do n o t h a v e t o got o l o o k o v e r h i s s h o u l d e r" seemed t o a ns we r t h e q u e s t i o n ofK hr us hc he v' s p a r t i c i p a t i o n b u t d i d n o t r e l l ' e m t h e d ou bt a b o utB u l g a ni n ' s a u t h o r i t y . P r e s i d e n t E is en ho we r i n h i s p r e s s c o n f e r -e n c e o n 29 J u n e v o i c e d t h i s doub t when he qu er i e d whe ther th eS o v i e t l eader a t Geneva would be a b l e t o make d e c i s i o n s b i n di n gon t h e o t h e r leaders. The press g a v e u n u su a l c o v e r a g e t o t h eP r e s i d e n t ' s q u er y , and t h e regime announced t h a t t h e de lega t ionwould i nc lu d e Khrushchev, d e s p i t e h i s e a r l i e r d i sa v o w a l of any

B u l g a n i n , as p r e m i e r , was S o v i e t head of government, a n d

n e c e s s i t y t o g o, as r e a s s u r a n c e t o t h e West t h a t t h e S o v i e t d e l -e g a t i o n w o u l d be able t o make b i n d i n g "on t h e s po t' ' d e c i s i o n sa t Geneva, and t h a t t h e S o v ie t leaders were making a g e n u i n e. _ e f f o r t to s e e k a d e t e n t e . I n a press c o n f e r e n c e o n 15 J u l y ,B u l g a n in e m ph a si z ed t h i s l a s t p o i n t by s t a t i n g t h a t t h e S o v ie td e l e g a t i o n s i n c e r e l y desired a p e a c ef u l r e s o l u t i o n of t h eworld 's problems and was g o i n g - t o Geneva w i t h e v e r y i n t e n t i o nof c o o p er a t in g i n t h e search f o r peace.K hrus hc hev , t h e p r i n c i p a l a r c h i t e c t of t h e regime's new" a c t i v i s t ' * a pp ro ac h i n f o r e i g n r e l a t i on%was k e r t a i n l y n o t ' ar e l u c t a n t p a r t i c i p a n t i n t h e c o n f e r e n c e , a n d t o have t o s i t a thome wh il e one of t h e major s t e p s i n t h i s a ppro ach w a s b e i n gt a k e n m i gh t w e l l have ga l l ed t h e s e l f - c o n f i d e n t a nd i m p a t i e n tf i r s t s e c r e t a r y . F o r e i g n M i n i s t e r M olo to v w a s t h e o n l y o t h e rm e m b e r o f t h e t o p l e a d e r s h i p i n c l u d e d , t h e r em a in i ng members

I

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I' _-

of t h e f iv e- man d e l e g a t i o n b e i n g D e fe n s e M i n i s t e r G. K. Zhukova n d F i r s t De pu ty F o r e i g n M i n i s t e r A . A. Gromyko. Zhukov, ofcourse, was i n c l ud e d i n order to cap i ta l ize o n t h e wartime re-l a t i o n s h i p of f r i e n d s h i p a nd r e s p e c t e s t a b l i s h e d w i t h Eisenhower ,while Gromyko was t o s u p p l y t e c h n i c a l a d v i c e .A t t h e t i m e of t h e sum mi t c o n f e r e n c e M o l o t o v' s r o l e i n t h eS o v i e t t o p l e a d e r s h i p an d t h e e x t e n t of h i s i n f l u e n c e was n o tc lear . H i s c e n su r e b y t h e c e n t r a l c o m m i t t e e a t t h e Ju ly p lenumf o r c o n t i n ui n g t o o pp os e t h e r e c o n c i l i a t i o n w i t h Y u g o s l a v i aa f t e r t h e d e c i s i o n h ad b ee n t a k e n I n t h e p r e s i d i um a nd af f i rmedby t h e c e n t r a l c o mm it te e, showed, of course, t h a t he had suf-fered a severe l o s s o f p o l i t i c a l power, b u t he had no t beenremoved f r om t h e p r e s i d i u m n o r r e l i e v e d as f o r e i g n m i n i s t e r a n ds o p r e su m a b l y r e t a i n e d some v o i c e i n S o v i e t f o r e i g n p o l i c y . Thep a r t y c e n s u r e may w e l l h a ve so f t e n e d M o lo to v 's v o i c e b u t h e w a so b v i o u s l y a t o u g h n u t t o crack and it is e n t i r e l y c o nc e iv a bl et h a t he c o nt i n u ed t o express h i s d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n w i t h v a r i o usof Khrushchev ' s po l i cy proposals .

grounds f o r a d d i t i o n a l d i s a g r e e m e n t s a r i s i n g be tw ee n M olo to va n d t h e o t h e r s , e i t h e r i n regard t o S o v i e t object ives o r t h emechanism of t h e co nf er en ce . Molotov may have been somewhatapp rehe ns i ve , however , abo u t how far t h e at tempt t o crea te as p i r i t of c o n c i l i a t i o n m i gh t c a r r y B u l g a n i n a nd K hr us hc he v towardm ak in g s u b s t a n t i v e c o n c e s s i o n s , a nd h e would most likely havebeen more comfortable w i t h o u t K h r u sh c h e v ' s p r e se n c e .

6

The summit conference i t s e l f a p p e a r e d t o p r o v i d e f e w

.. . .. ,

As e v e n t s t r a n s p i r e d , M olo to v n e e d n o t h a v e be en o v e r l yconcerned abou t concess ions , and Khrushchev , so f a r as is known,n e i t h e r u s u r pe d B u l g a n i n 's r o l e as head of t h e d e l e g a t i o n n o ri n t e r f e r e d i n M o lo to v' s j o b of d r a f t i n g , i n c o nj u nc t io n w it ht h e f o r e i g n m i n i s t e r s of t h e o t h e r th ree powe rs, t h e communiqu6o r d i r e c t i v e w hich r e p r es e n t ed t h e s u b s t a n t i v e r e s u l t s of t h ec o n f e r e n c e . T h i s was t h e d i f f i c u l t t a s k of d i p l o m a t i c n e g o t i a -t i o n , t h e p a i n s t a k i n g f o r m ul a t io n , word by word and comma bycomma, of w h a t t h e p a r t i e s t o t h e c o n f er e n c e could agree on.I t was Molotov's r e s p o n s i b i l i t y as f o r e i g n m i n i s t e r a nd a j o bh e was comfortable d o in g . I n t h e r o un d of l u n c h e o n s , d i n n e r s ,and cocktaiP p a r t i e s , however, h e took a back s ea t t o Khrushcheva nd B ul g an i n i n p r o p a g a t i n g t h e s p i r i t of c o o p e r a t i v e n e s s ,a m i a b i l i t y , a nd g e n er a l good f e e l i n g - - t h e "Geneva s p i r i t " - -which w a s t h e main S o v i e t o b j e c t i v e a t t h e c o n f e r e nc e .

The c o n t r a s t b et we en t h e e a r l y p a r t of t h e c o n f e r e n c e , whenKhrushchev and Bulg ani n were i n t e n t on c r e a t i n g t h i s c o r d i a latmosphere, a nd t h e l a t e r s t ages of t h e conference, when Molotovand Grompko were h a rd h ea d e dl y n e g o t i a t i n g t h e c o n f er e n c e a g r e em e n t,-10-


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l e d some o b s e r v e r s t o c o n c l u d e t h a t M o lo to v w a s a s t u m b l i n g b l o c kt o c o n c i l i a t i o n , a n d t h a t so l o n g as h e r e m ai ne d f o r e i g n m i n i s t e rl i t t l e r e a l progress could be r eg i s t e r ed toward t h e s e t t l e m e n tOf o u t s t a n d i n g i ssues . B u l g an i n , i n a p p a r e n t a g r ee m en t w i t h t h i sv iew, remarked a t Geneva , according t o one r e p o r t , t h a t i t migh tbe n e c e s s a r y t o g e t r i d of Molotov as f o r e i g n m i n i s t e r before t h ef o r e i g n m i n i s t e r s ' c o n f e re n c e, which the fou r powe rs had agreedt o ho ld i n October .

The c o n t e x t w i t h i n w h ic h t h e remark w a s a l l e g e d l y made wasnot s t a t e d , b u t it i s l i k e l y t h a t B u l g a n i n w a s r e s p o n d i n g t ocr i t i c i sm of -what one obs e rve r described as Molo tov ' s " t a c t i c sof t r i c k e r y a nd d e vi o us n es s ." B u l g an i n , t h e r e f o r e , w a s prob-a b l y s e e k i n g t o d i s p e ) a n y f e e l i n g t h a t t h e regime was n o ts i n c e r e i n i t s t a l k of peace a n d r e l a x a t i o n of t e n s i o n s , r a t h e rth an i n d i c a t in g any imminent move t o remove Molotov .d i d a p p e a r t o show, however, t h a t Molotov's f u t u r e was s t i l l i nq u e s t o n .

The remark

I n t h e weeks f o l l o w i n g t h e summi t c onfe re nc e , Molo tov ' ss t a t u s a p p e a r e d u nc ha ng ed .leaders a t t h e Supreme S o v i e t s e s s i o n i n e a r l y A ug ust a t w hi c hB u l g an i n r e p o r t e d on t h e summit t a l k s , and he p a r t i c i p a t e d i nt h e campaign f o r a f i a b i l i t p a t B u l g a n i n ' s u n p r ec e d e nt e d p a r t y on7 August f o r t h e c h i e f s of f o r e i g n m i s s i o n s accredited t o Moscow,w i t h t h e i r w i ve s an d c h i l d r e n , a n a f te r n o o n of w a l k i n g , r o w i n g ,r e f r e s h m e n t , a n d ex c ha n ge of p le a s a n t r i e s . Moreover, h e wasamong t h e presidium members who de l i ve re d r e p o r t s on t h e J u l yc e n t r a l committee plenum t o l oca l p a r t y m e e t in g s i n Moscow, h i sb e i n g to a p a r t y m e et in g i n t h e M i n i s t r y o f F o r e i g n A f f a i r s .Khrushchev and Bulgan in con t in ued , however , t o p l a y t h e p r i n -c i p a l ro le s i n r e l a t i o n s w i t h f o r e i g n s t a t e s . They stopped offi n B e r l i n on t h e i r r e tu rn f rom Ge ne va t o r e a s s u re t h e E a s tG er m an regime c o nc e rn i ng S o v i e t i n t e n t i o n s v i s a v i s t h e re-u n i f i c a t i o n i s sue and p ro ba bl y t o d i s c u s s t h e i r t a c t i c s i n re-gard t o t h e for thcoming t a l k s w i t h A de nau er a n d n e g o t i a t i o n sfor e s t a b l i s h i n g d i p lo m at i c r e l a t i o n s w i t h West Germany; andt h e y took t h e lead a t r e c e p t i o n s and t a l k s w i t h f o r e i g n e r s i nMoscow i n t h e program t o "humanize" t h e So v ie t regime.F u r t he r Moves A g a h s t Molotov

H e w a s p r e s e n t w i t h t h e o t h e r S o v i e t

What w a s e i t h e r e v i d e n c e of a f u r t h e r d e t e r i o r a t i o n i nM o l o t o v ' s p o s i t i o n o r a dramatic r e n d a t i o n of t h e l o w es t a t e t owhich he had f a l l e n w a s a p p a r e n t d u r i n g t h e t a l k s w i t h C h a n c e l l o rAdenauer, 9-13 S ep tember . The S o v i e t po l i c y of s e e k i n g d e t e n t eon t h e bas i s of t h e e x i s t i n g power p o s i t i o n s i n Eu ro pe i n v o l v e dt h e immediate o b j e c t i v e of w in n in g g e n e r a l r e c o g n i t i o n of t h e-11-


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. e x i s t e n c e of t w o German s t a t e s . The f i r s t s t e p i n t h a t o b j e c t i v ewas f o r a "no rmal i z ing" of S o v ie t r e l a t i o n s w i t h West Germany,' a n d s t e p s t o t h a t e n d ha d been i n i t i a t e d as e a r l y as J a n u a r y 1955D u ri n g t h e f o u r d a y s of t h e s o m e t i m e s b i t t e r n e g o t i a t i o n s w hic hr e s u l t e d i n t h e e s t ab l i sh m e nt of d i p l o m a t i c r e l a t i o n s , M ol ot ov .s a t i n t h e s ec on d r o w a t t h e : c o n f e r e n c e t a b l e and d i d n o t par-' t i c i p a t e i n t h e e xc hange o f v i ew s. I 1P O l O t O V ' S a p p e a r a n c e w a sI__--_' e s p a e . " A t times he w a s t h e o f f i -

, c i a l , and a t o t h e r s , h e seemed a r o m a n t i c of . t h e o l d d a y s who';-no onger knew how t o c o n d u c t h i m s e l f . "8 g a n i n a p p a r e n t l y w e n t out of t h e i r way t o t r e a t him in a de-+ gra d in g manner.' , t h e y c o n t i n u a l l y used t h e e x p r e s s i o n "let Molotov work t h i s o u t , ". t r e a t i n g h i m l i k e a secretary . _I;r_=?ent he had worked o u t w i t h t h e German s ta te s ec re -. ta ry : "You are n o t t o make ag reemen t s wi th anyone! t h a t i s o u r

Both Khrushchev a n d Bul-When ideas were a g r e e d t o o r d e c i s i o n s reached

Bulgan in berated Mo aL o n e p o i n z I o r a g r e e i n gb u s i n e s s a nd n s t y o u r s .ments. You are o u r ed i to r . " Chan ce l l o r Adenauer h ims e l f ,whlch t h R u s s i a n s t r e a t e d Mol0 ov. H e r e l a t e d how Khrushchevand Bulganin j oked over someone ' s comment t h a t Molotov ' s photo-g r a p h s p o r t r a y e d him l o ok i n g d u l l e r t h a n r e a l i t y . K hr us hc he vlaughed , nudged Bu lgan in and inqu i r ed if h e n o t i c e d a n y i m -provement i n r e a l l i f e .Germans, so i t is d i f f i c u l t t o see w h at provoked bo th Bulgan ina n d Khrushchev in t o t h i s d e m o n s t r a t i o n of M o l o t o v ' s i n s i g n i f i -c a n t i n f l u e n c e a n d p o w e r . A p o s s i b le c l u e is p r o v i d e d by i s s u enumber 14 of Kommunis t, app roved f o r pub l i ca t i on on 30 September,which ca r r i ed Molo tov ' s forced a d m i s s i o n of h a v i n g made a" t h e o r e t i c a l l y m i s ta ke n an d p o l i t i c a l l y h arm ful " d e c l a r a t i o na b o u t t h e a c hi e ve m e nt of s o c i a l i s m i n t h e USSR. Molotov un-1d o u b t e d l y r e s i s t e d t h i s a d d i t i o n a l move a g a i n s t h i m w i t h a l lt h e s t r e n g t h he c o u l d m u s t er , so i t is c o n ce i v ab l e t h a t t h ew r i t i n g of t h e l e t t e r , d a t e d 1 6 Sep tember , t h e day be fo re hel e f t for t h e UN Gen era l Assembly , fo l lowed a n a c r i m o ni o u s s t r u g -g l e w i t h i n t h e p r e s i d i um which car r i ed o v e r i n t o K h ru s hc h ev ' sa n d B u l g a n i n ' s t r e a t m e n t of h i m d u r i n g t h e n e g o t i a t i o n s w i t hWest Germany.p u b l i c p e n a n c e w a s c e r t a i n l y a p s e u d o i s s u e . I t is h i g h l y un-l i k e l y t h a t a nyone c o u l d s e r i o u s l y h ave b e en m i s l e d by Wolotov'Sf a u x pas , which occu r r ed i n t h e c o u rs e of a l o n g s p e e c h to t h eSupreme S ov ie t on 8 F e b r u a r y 1955 d ev ot ed e n t i r e l y t o f o r e i g n

Your so le t a s k is t o draw up t h e a g r e e -I was shocked a t t h e manner i n

The whole ep i sod e made a v e r y bad i m p r e s s i o n on t h e West

The id eo lo g i ca l "mis take" wh ich w a s t h e b a s i s of Y o l o t o v ' s

p o l i c y :

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. ...

Along wi th t he Sov ie t Un ion , where th ef o u n d a t i o n s o f a s o c i a l i s t s o c i e t y h av ea l r e a d y bee n b u i l t , there are a l s o s u c hc o u n t r i e s o f p e o p l e ' s d em oc ra cy as havemade o nl y th e f i r s t , b u t hi gh ly i m -p o r t a n t , s t e p s i n t h e d i r e c t i o n ofsocialism. ( i t a l i c s added)

The phrase w a s c l e a r l y a t v a ri a nc e w i t h o f f i c i a l dogma which,s i n c e 193 6, h ad s t a t e d t h a t s o c i a l i s m has been ach ieved i n t h em a i n a nd t h a t t h e S o v i e t s t a t e is now o n t h e p a th t o communism.B u t t h i s w a s a s l i p i n t e r m in o lo g y r a t h e r t h a n a n a t t e m p t t oc o n t r a d i c t o f f i c i a l d o c t r i ne s i n c e j u s t f i v e p a ra gr ap hs e a r l i e ri n t h e same s p e e c h h e h ad " c o r r e c t l y " I s t a t e d t h a t "socia l ismh ad a l r e a d y t ri um p he d i n o u r c o u n t r y i n t h e p e r i o d b e f o re t h esecond Wor d War. ''The lead e d i t o r i a l i n t h e same i s s u e of Kommunist t h a t pub-l i s h e d t h e l e t t e r u s e d M o l o t ov ' s "error" as a s p r i n g b o a r d for ab r oa d e x p o s i t i o n of par ty p ropaganda on b o t h ex te rna l an d i n t e r n a la f f a i r s . The m a i n stress of t h e e d i t o r i a l was on t h e need for a" c r ea t i ve " r a t h e r th an a "dogmatic" a p p l i c a t i o n of Marxist theory:

Marxist t h e o r y i l l u m i n a t e s t h e p a t h ofp r a c t i c e t o w a r d great aims. But ad-v a n c e d t h e o r y o n l y p r o ve s c a p a b l e oft h i s b y v i r t u e of a lw ay s s e n s i t i v e l yheed ing t h e demands o f l i f e . . . . Thei s o l a t i o n of t h e o r y f r o m l i f e , a t t emptsto c l i n g f a s t t o dogma, a re p a r t i c u l a r l yi m p e r m i s s i b l e .The e d i t o r i a l w a s a p o i n t e d w a rn in g, c e r t a i n l y t o Molotov , bu tp o s s i b l y a l s o t o o t h e r h i g h - r a n k i n g m e m b e r s of t h e S o v i e th i e r a r c h y , t o cease o p p o s i t i o n o r f o o t- d r ag g i ng a g a i n s t t h enew p o l i c i e s o f t h e Khrushchev-Bulganin regime:

G ui de d by t h e r e v o l u t i o n a r y d i a l e c t i c , t h ep a r t y a n a l y z e s t h e phenomena of l i f e fromt h e angle of t h e s t r u g g l e of t h e new w i t ht h e o l d , i n eve r y way su pp or t s wha t is pos i -t i v e a nd erad icates what is n e g a t i v e , takest h e n e c e s s a r y m e a s u r e s for removing from o u rp a t h t h e obs tac les i m pe d in g t h e u n f o l d i n g oft h e c r e a t i v e f o r c e s o f t h e S o v i e t p eo pl e.The pa r ty is i n t o l e r a n t of t he complacency ,t h e c o n c e i t of c e r t a i n l e a d e r s , of i n s t a n c e sof t h e i r i s o l a t i o n f rom the masses. ( i t a l i c sadded)

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..... :

Both domes t i c a n d f o r e i g n r e l a t i o n s prob lem s were mentioned i nt h i s c o n n e c t i o n , m aking i t ' c l e a r t h a t t h e e d i t o r i a l was d i -r e c t e d a g a i n s t - g en e ra l i n f l e x i b i l i t y a nd o b s tr u c ti o n is m a ndn o t e x c l u s i v e l y a t a dogmatic a pp ro ac h i n f o r e i g n p o l i c y .A c e n t r a l committee c e n s u r e s u c h as t h a t given Molotovi n J u l y would p r o b a bl y h av e be en s u f f i c i e n t t o b r i n g most So-v i e t o f f i c i a l s i n t o l i n e , b u t M ol oto v w a s n o t so e a s i l y b ro ke n.There i s more t h a n a h i n t o f c o n t i n ue d in t r a n s i g e n c e i n a re-mark he i s r e p o r t e d t o have made t o onee a r l y S ep te mb er . R e f e r r i n g t o t he new ahe s a i d i n o b v io u s d is g r u n t l e m e n t , " I n o r d e r t o a cc o mp li sh some-t h i n g , we do no t need new methods of n eg ot ia t i on ." Though un- .dou bted ly somewhat s ubdued , he may have continued t o c a r r y o n a

.. . r e a r - g u a r d a c t i o n a g a i n s t Kh r us h c he v ' s prog ra m t h u s g i v i n g t h e +a i d a n d c o mf o rt of a n O ld B o l s h e v i k , w i d e l y r e s p e c t e d t h r o ug h o u tt h e S o v ie t U n i o n , t o those S o v i e t o f f i c i a l s who f o r one reasonor a n o t h e r were opposed t o any aspect of t h e n ew p o l i c i e s .

=::icy,

The f a m i l i a r B ol sh ev ik r i t u a l of p u b l i c pe na nc e f o r p a s tmistakes may, t h e r e f o r e , h av e be e n r e s o r t e d t o as a means ofd r am a ti c al ly i l l u s t r a t i n g t h e s t r e n g t h of t h e Khrushchev f ac t iona n d t h e e x t e n t of M o lo to v' s p o l i t i c a l b an kr up tc y i n order t o un-d e r s c o r e t h e f u t i l i t y of c o nt i nu e d o p p o s i t i o n a n d t h e s e r i o u s -n e s s w i t h w hi ch su c h o p p o s i t i o n o r fbotcdragging would be viewed.I f t h i s were t h e s o l e r e as o n f o r t h e l e t t e r of r e c a n t a t i o n , i twould sugges t t h a t Khrushchev w a s h a v i n g more d i f f i c u l t y p u t t i n gh i s program i n t o e f f e c t t h an is r e a d i l y a p pa r e n t f r o m other i n -fo rmat ion .* Outward ly , a t l e a s t , t h e p o l i c i e s e s po us ed a pp e ar e d* A b e hi nd -t he -s c en es c o n t r o v e r s y o v e r a g r i c u l t u r a l p o l i c y , p e r-h a ps i n v o l v i n g t h e i n t r o d u c t i o n of i d e a s g l e a n e d f ro m US a g r i - Ic u l t u r a l p r a c t i c e , h ow ev er , mi gh t h av e b ee n g o i G on a t t h i s t i m e .The p o s t o f m i n i s t e r of a g r i c u l t u r e , whic h had been v a c a nt s i n c e2 March 1955, w a s f i l l e d by t h e a p p o i nt m e n t of K hr us hc he v' sp r o t e g e V. V. M a ts ke vi ch on 1 4 O c to b er , j u s t s i x d a ys a f t e rKommunist No. 1 4 w a s d i s t r i b u t e d . M a t sk e vi c h, who w a s t h e act-i n g m i n i s t e r , h ad h ea de d a S o vi e t a g r i c u l t u r a l d e l e g a t i o n t o t h eU n it ed S t a t e s (16 Julg-25 August ) and was a p p a r e n t l y v e r y m u c hi m p r es s e d w i t h some aspects of American a g r i c u l t u r e , p a r t i c u l a r l yt h e r e l a t i v e l y f e w l abo re r s r e q u i r e d t o f a r m America's acres .I n e a r l y J a n u a ry 1956 a l e t t e r was s e n t o u t by t h e p a r t y c e n t r a lcommittee c a l l i n g a t t e n t i o n t o " s e r i o u s d e f i c i e nc d e s " i n a g r i -c u l t u r a l work. The p r i n c i p a l d e f i c i e n c i e s l i s t e d were t h e l o wp r o d u c t i v i t y o f l abor o n t h e k o l k h oz y , t h e poor u s e of a g r i c u l -t u r a l m a c hi ne ry , a n d t h e p oo r e f f i c i e n c y i n f a rm in g. A s a n ex-ample o f e f f i c i e n t employment o f l a b o r , reference w a s made t ot h e USA, where o n l y one man w a s needed t o f a rm one t housandh e c t a r e s o f c o r n . The l e t t e r a l s o c i t e d t h e s u c c es s e s of USf a r m in g i n corn h a r v e s t i n g , s i l a g i n g , hay h a r v e st i n g, a nd o t h e ra c t i v i t i e s .

. . .

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. .

...,,., .,..:....,...,.: . '. .. , .. .

. t h e s c h e d u l e s e t i n t h e F i f t h F iv e- Ye ar P la n. * In a ne f f o r t t o f u l f i l l i t s p r o d u c t i o n g o a l s th e government w a sf o r c e d t o r e s o r t t o t h e e x p e d ie n t of i n c r e a s i n g t h e l a b o rf o r c e b ey ond i t s i n t e n t i o n s ,

The problem was c o m p l i c a t e d by t h e f a c t t h a t t h e co n-sumer goods goa l s were n ot f u l l y m e t , l a r g e l y b e c a u s e as u f f i c i e n t i n c re a s e i n a g r i c u l t u r a l o ut pu t d i d n ot mzterial-i z e , a n d , c o n se q u e n t l y , p u r c h a s i n g powe r r a n ah e a d of a v a i l -a b l e s u p pl y . The e f f e c t of t h e g o v e r n m e n t ' s p o l i c i e s wast h u s t o i n c r e a se d emand b e f o r e i t was able t o p ro vi de t h econsumer goods to meet i t a n d , t h e r e f o r e , t o v i t i a t e t h ei n c e n t i v e e l em en t i n i t s program. In a March 1955 c o n v e r sa -t i o n w i th a fo re ig n ,d ip lo mat i n . Moscow, Khrushchevr e p o r t e d l y c r i t i c i z e d h l a l e n k o v d i r e c t l y on t h i s score, a l -l e g i n g t h a t h e had "created demands in t h e S o v i e t p e o p lew i t h o u t h a v i n g crea t ed t h e c a p a c i t y f o r s a t i s f y i n g them."Much t h e same p o i n t w a s made by Kaganovich, who remarked t oa Weste rn d ip lomat t h a t " i t was a mis take t o r a i s e t h es t a n d a r d of l i v i n g too q u i c k l y a s t h i s p r o d u c e d demoraliza-t i o n a nd l a c k of d i s c i p l i n e among t h e p o p u l a t i o n . " B u t ,though i t had f a i l e d t o meet i t s $oa l s , t h e p ro gr am had ap-p a r e n t l y had t h e f u r th e r - u n d e s i r a b l e e f fec t o f p u t t i n g ad r a i n on s t a t e r e s e r v e s , a c o n d i t i o n which B u l ga n in , i nh i s f i r s t s p e e c h a s premier , s a i d c o u l d n o t be allowed.C o n fu s i on i n t h e Ranks

Towards t h e end of 1 9 5 4 , a p p a r e n t l y , t h e r e w a s a f a i ramount of p e r p l e x i t y a s t o t h e reg ime ' s a i m s a nd i n t e n t .The ] h a s desc r ibed a meet-i n g 'of i d e o l o g i s t s an d e co n o mi s ts wh ic h h e a t t e n d e d i n hIos-cow i n D e c e m b e r 1954. "When t h e s u b j e c t of r e l a t i v e s t r es son l i g h t a nd he av y i n d u s t r y came up f o r di s c u ss i o n , " h e s a y s ," t h e r e w a s a s i t u a t i o n a m ou nt in g t o ' b o u r g e o i s l i b e ra l i za -t i o n , ' w i t h e v e ry man e x p r e s s i n g h i s o w n i n t e r p r e t a t i o n oft h e p a r t y p o s i t i o n . I t w a s comljlete d i s o r d e r and t h e f i r s t=cording t o S o v i e t s t a t ' i s t i c s , l a b o r p r o d u c t i v i t y i n c r e a s e do n l y 33 p e r c e n t f o r t h e 19 51 -54 p e r i o d , whereas r e a l wages i n -creased 37 percen t . F rom t h e p o i n t o f v i e w o f th e S o v i e t l ead-e r s h i p , s u c h a r e l a t i o n b e t w e e n these r a t c s of growth ils h igh-l y u n f a v or a b l e, b e ca u s e it t e n d s t o c o i l s t r i c t t h e s u r p l u s a v a i l -a b l e f o r i n v e s tm e n t a nd h e nc e t h e r a t e of growth 'o f t h e S o v i e teconomy.

-15'

, ..,. .


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o n disarmament on th e 10 May pr op os al s a l re ad y rejected by theWestern powers- - in o t h e r words t o s t a n d p a t on a l l t h r e e itemson t h e c o n f e r e n c e a g e n d a - - i t i s d o u bt f u l t h a t t h e l e t t e r hadany a d v e rs e e f f e c t o n t h e n e g o t i a t i o n s . M ol ot ov a b l y u p h e l dt h e S o v i et p o s i t i o n on a l l i s sues and managed a t t h e same t i m et o convey the idea t h a t t h e f a i l u r e o f t h e c on f er e nc e t o r e a c hagreement on any of the m a i n i s s u e s d i d n o t e n d t h e G enevas p i r i t o r h e r a l d ' t h e r e t u r n o f t h e c o l d w a r . Though bereftiof much of h i s o l d pow er a n d i n f l u e n c e h e c o n t i n u e d t o be au s e f u l m e m b e r of t h e p r e s i d i u m f o r h i s e x p e ri e n c e a nd s k i l l a td i p l o m a t i c n e g o t i a t i o n .The Dec l ine of Kaganovich

M olo to v' s d i f f i c u l t i e s i n a da p t in g t o t h e new f ' o r e i g n p o l i c yl i n e a n d t o Khrushchev 's dynamic and sometimes unor thodox t ac t i c swere a p p a r e n t l y i n some measure s h a r e d by Kaganovich. I n h i sf o u r p u b l i c speeches s ince S t a l i n ' s death, Kaganov ich had r evea leda c o n t i n u i n g o r i e n t a t i o n t ow ard, a B o ls he vi k s t y l e of t h o u g h tand r e v e r e n c e f o r S t a l i n , a r a t h e r r e l u c t a n t e n d o r s e m e n t of t h ep o s t - S t a l i n " n e w l ook ," and a t endency t o emphas ize a t oughf o r e i g n p o l i c y . H e w a s undoub ted ly one o f Khrushchev ' s s t aunch .a l l i e s i n t h e heavy v s . l i g h t i n d u s t r y c o nt r o v e r s y a nd he pro b-a b l y a l s o s u p p o r t e d h i m i n h i s e f f o r t s t o r e o e s t a b l i s h t h es up re ma cy o f t h e p a r t y a n d i n s t i l l a more m i l i t a n t s p i r i t i np a r t y members.*

. .

On 24 May, Kaganovich had b ee n a p p o i n t e d c h a i rm a n of t h enewly o rgan ized s t a t e committee f o r labor a n d wages i n w h a ta p p e a r e d t o be a n o t h e r of t h e t r o u b l e - s h o o t in g a s s i g nm e n t s f o rwhich he w a s j u s t l y famous. The f o r m a t i o n of t h i s supramin i s -terial.:: body w a s p a r t of a broad program fo r i n c r e a s i n g l a b o rp r o d u c t i v i t y which , i n v ie w of t h e smaller a d d i t i o n s t o t h elabor f o r c e l i k e l y t o be a v a i l a b l e , w a s a m a j o r r e q u i r e m e n tf o r c o n t i n u i n g t h e h i g h r a t e s of i n d u s t r i a l growth des i r ed byt h e regime. The committee w a s g i ve n r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r co-o r d i n a t i n g a n d o v e r s e e i n g t h e work of m i n i s t r i e s a nd depar t -m en ts i n t h e h a n d l i n g of labor r e s o u r c e s , %or r e g u l a t i n g i n t e r -i n d u s t r y a n d i n t e r r e g i o n a l wage d i f f e r e n t i a l s , t h e i n d u s t r i a la nd g e o g r ap h i ca l d i s t r i b u t i o n of t h e l abor f o r c e , work con-d i t i o n s an d s a f e t y , c o n s t r u c t i o n of d w e l l i n g s a nd o t h e r b u i l d -i n g s d e s i g n e d f o r worker u s e , a n d s o c i a l i n s u r a n c e - - i n s h o r t ,g e n e r a l s u p e r v i s i o n of a l l g o v e r n m e n t a c t i v i t i e s i n t h e l aborf i e l d . The j ob o f chairman w a s , t h e r e f o r e , o ne of pr ime i m -p o r ta n c e a nd n o t l i k e l y t o be g iven anyone f e l t t o be o u t ofsympathy wi th t h e aims of t h e regime.* H e w a s , f o r e xa mp le , t h e f i r s t p r e s i d i u m m e m b e r t o come o u tp u b l i c l y ( e a r l y 1954) f o r Khrushchev when t h e l a t t e r began h i sc l i m b t o t h e t o p i n t h e c o l l e c t i v e l e a d e r s h i p .

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, .O t h e r s i g n s t h a t K ag an ov ic h r a n k ed h i g h i n t h e l eader sh ' lpwere no ted w e l l i n t o t h e f a l l : t h e p ho to gr ap h i n t h e 28 J u l yP r a v d a sh o w i n g t h e r e t u r n of Bulganin and Khrushchev f rom thesummit confe rence has Kaganov ich l o o m i n g i n t h e f o r e g r o u n d ast h e most prominent of t h e gree te rs , a n d he w a s chosen t o de-l i v e r t h e O ct ob er r e v o l u t i o n a n ni v e rs a r y a d d re s s , t r a d i t i o n a l l yt h e m os t co mp re he ns iv e a nd a u t h o r i t a t i v e p o l i c y s t a t e m e n t oft h e y e a r.The sp e e c h h e d e l i v e r e d was a c u r i o u s m i x t u r e of e x p r e s s i o n sa n d c o n c e p t s of r e v o l u t i o n a r y Marxism, a f f i r m a t i o n of t h e v i r t u e sof c o e x i s t e n c e , a n d p r a i s e , a l b e i t g ru dg in g, f o r t h e West. Amajor emphasis of t h e s p e e c h w a s on c l a s s i c a l M a r x i s t - L e n i n i s tr e v o l u t i o n a r y t h e o r y , a p r e o c c u p a t i o n u n p a r a l l e l e d i n Octoberr e v o l u t i o n s p e ec h e s s i n c e t h e w a r . I n t h i s e m ph a si s t h e sp e e c hwas i n l i n e w i t h t h e Konununist e d i t o r i a l t h a t a c co mp a ni ed Molo-t o v ' s a p o l o g y f o r i deo l og i ca l error. But whereas t h e Kommuniste d i t o r i a l i nv ei gh ed a g a i n $ t ' . th e " i s o l a t i o n of t h e o r y 2rom prac-

t i c e , a t t e m p t s t o c l i n g t o dogma" and appealed f o r f l e x i b i l i t y ,Kaganovich s t res sed " d e v o t i o n t o p r i n c i p l e s " a n d t h e l e s s o n sof t h e 1917 r e v o l u t i o n . H e seemed t o be t r y i n g t o show t h a tc u r r e n t S o v i e t p o l i c y w i t h I t s i n no v at in g f l e x i b i l i t y w a s p a r tof t h e world r e v o l u t i o n a r y stream a nd c o n s t i t u t e d a " t r u l yMarxist approach ," bu t h i s m i l i t a n t d o c t r i n a i r e o rt ho do xy soov ersh ado wed t h e w hole e f f o r t t h a t t h e s p e e ch s t a n d s o u t ast h e major d i s c o r d a n t n o t e in t h e Soviet new look between t h eJuly p lenum and t h e 2 0 t h p a r t y c o n g r e s s .subway, which had borne Kaganovic h 's name o h c e 1 9 3 5 , w a s re-named for Le ni n. The subway may hav e bee n renamed i n i m i t a -t i o n of t he newly completed Le ni ngr ad subway, named f o r Leninon 14 November, an d t o e n s ur e t h a t a lesser subway would notbear a greater name, but it w a s t h e f i r s t t i m e t h a t t h e n a m eof a S o v i e t leader had been removed from a major S o v i e t in-s t i t u t i o n except when such leaders were purged or o t h e r w i s ed i s g r a c e d , and so vas u n q u e s t i o n a b l y a blow a t Kaganovich 'spres t ige and a sign t h a t h e h ad s l i p p e d some wha t in power andi n f l u e n c e . H ow eve r, t h e r e w a s n o t h i n g in t h e subway i n c i d e n tt o s u g g e s t t h a t i t w a s p a r t of a n a t t a c k on him--there was noment ion , fo r example, t h a t i t had ev er born e 'h i s name and oneof t h e s t a t i o n s was i m me d ia t el y r e d e s i g n a t e d w i t h h i s n ame.

Two and a h a l f weeks l a t e r , on 25 November, t h e Moscow

Poss ib ly Kaganov ich had begun t o s l i p Bven before h i s 7November speech. There is some e v i d e n c e , a t any r a t e , t o sug-gest t h a t M. G. Pervukh in had ga ined i n p re s t i g e a n d i n f l u e n c ea t Kagano vich's expe nse . Both men were f i r s t d e p u t y p r e m i e r sbut Kaganovich was sen io r t o Pervukh in , hav ing been a f i r s t-17-

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. .7 .. ., . , ..< ,..''.:,-.... ,

.. . .. . . . ...... .-. . .

depu ty premier s i n c e March 1 9 5 3, w h i l e t h e l a t t e r w a s n o t madea f i r s t d ep ut y p re mi er u n t i l F e b ru ar y 1955.b e r a n d a g a i n o n 1 9 October 1955, P e r v u k h i n s i g n e d decrees oft h e USSR Counc i l o f Min i s t e r s , p r esumably as a c t i n g c ha ir ma ns i n c e decrees ( p o s t a n o v l e n i y a ) are s i g n e d by t h e c h ai rm a n ( o rp e r s o n a s s i g n e d t o a c t i n h i s s t e a d ) a nd by t h e a d m i n i s t r a t o ro f a f f a i r s . P e rv u kh i n, t h e r e f o r e , would seem t o have had sen i -o r i t y over Kaganov ich , who w a s a p p a r e n t l y in Moscow d u r i n g t h eper iod c o v e r e d by t h e s e decrees.*e a r l i e r been made chai rman of a "Commission of t h e Pres id i um oft h e USSR C o u n c i l of M i n i s t e r s f o r C u r r e n t A f f a i r s " which had beenc r e a t e d " t o examine and decide a l l c u r r e n t q u es t io n s" r e l a t i n gt o areas of r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of more t h a n o n e f i r s t d e p u t y premieror d e pu t y p r e m i e r , i n o t h e r wo rd s, t o d e c i d e i s s u e s b et we endepu ty p remier s . Th i s wou ld app ear t o be a j o b of c o n s i d e r a b l epower and in f l ue nc e , bu t none o f th e problems w i t h w hi ch t h e com-m i s s i o n i s known t o ha ve c on ce rn ed i t s e l f a p pe a r p a r t i c u l a r l ys i g n i f i c a n t so it is p o s s i b l e t h a t i t s power d i d n o t e x t e n d be-yond r e l a t i v e l y m in or a d m i n i s t r a t i v e d i s a g re e m e n ts . Even so,t h e j o b w a s a n i m p o r t a n t o n e a n d s e r v e d t o enhance Pervukh in ' sp o s i t i o n .

On 20 and 23 Septem-

P e r v u kh i n ha d a p p a r e n t l y

F ol lo wi ng t h e o u s t e r i n J u n e 1957 of t h e " a n t i - p a r t y group''(Malenkov, Molotov, Kaganovich, and Sh ep il ov "who jo i n e d ' them") 8Kaganovich w a s c h a r ge d i n S o t s i a l i s t i c h e s k y Tr'ud, j o u r n a l of t h eS t a t e Committee on Labor a n d Wages, w i t h hav-sabotaged t h ework o f t h e committee w h i l e he was chairman (May 1955-June 1956):Kaganovich def l ec t ed i t f r o m s o l v i n g t h ef u nd a me n ta l , p r e s s i n g t a s k s of s e t t i n g in- order o r g a n i z a t i o n o f w ork a n d q u o t a - s e t t i n g ,i m pr o vi n g w or ki ng c o n d i t i o n s , a n d c o n s i s t e n t l ya p p ly i n g t h e s o c i a l i s t p r i n c i p l e of paymenta n d t hr o u g h s t i m u l a t i o n of h i g h e r labor pro-d u c t i v i t y ... t h e o n l y t h i n g i n w hi ch K agano-v i c h s howed p e r s i s t e n c e was t h e p o l i c y o f

* Premier B u lg a ni n d i d n o t l e a v e on h i s v a c a t i o n u n t i l 2 3 Sep.-tember but may have be e n s o -by ' t h e 2 0 t h w i t h d i p l o m at i c f u n c t i o n sa nd l as t -m i nu t e p r e p a r a t i o n s f o r t h e t r i p t h a t h e ha d a l r e a d ya p p o i n t e d P e r v u k h in t o a c t f o r him. Of t h e o t h e r f i r s t d e p u t ypremiers , Mikoyan w a s a b s e n t from Moscow on v a c a t i o n t h r o u g h o u tt h e pe r i od ; Molotov , who w a s away i n September , had r e t u r ne db e f o r e 19 October b u t w a s n o t l i k e l y t o r a t e t h e a c t i n g c h a i r -man's job ; Saburov l i k e Kaganov ich was p r e s e n t t h r ou g ho u t t h ep e r i o d a nd was a p p a r e n t l y t h e r e f o r e a l s o ou t r anke d by Pervukh in .

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liquidating (the committee). Sensingthat there would be inevitable exposureof his inactivity in carrying out the20th party congress decisions on puttingin order the organization, quotas, andpayment of labor, Kaganovich tried toput through a decision to disband thecommittee and thereby evade responsibil-ity.

There is, of course, a suspicion of prevarication in such de-Sayed criticism but the committee did make little observableprogress during the period of Kaganovich's chairmanship, andthe pace of the wage reform was stepped up considerably in thefall of 1956 after he was relieved. The main emphasis ofSotsialistichesky Trud's criticism was on the period followingthe 20th party congress, so there is a strong possibility thatKaganovich's opposition developed slowly through the fall andwinter of 1955-56 but did not become really active until afterthe denigration of Stalin at the'20th party congress.

It seems improbable that Kaganovich was opposed to wagereform as such. More likely, he became generally disillusionedwith the trend away from the tried and true practices of thepast associated with Khrushchev's post-Malenkov policies. Withhis general ideological orientation it is certainly conceivablethat he evaluated the results of the summit conference negatively,on the grounds that capitalists can't be trusted, and opposed anyreduction in the share of national income to be devoted to de-fense in the coming five-year plan period. He may also haveopposed even the very limited steps toward decentralizing Sovietindustrial administration that followed Bulganin's July plenumspeech, probably fearing that the regime would weaken its con-trol of the industrial process. And he probably had strongreservations about the value of wage reform in increasing laborproductivity, an issue more directly related to the work of hisState Committee on Labor and Wages. However, despite the prob-ability that he was less than enthusiastic for some of Ehrush-chev's policies, there was no public attack on him, suggestingthat he was careful not to object too strongly.

'

Personal DiDlomacvThe Soviet role in the impasse at Geneva suggested that theSoviet leaders had only a limited appreciation for formal multi-

lateral negotiations, while the vigor with which they were pur-suing informal and bilateral nonbloc contacts. eflected Khrush-chev's faith in personal persuasion. Mikopan "vacationed" in

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. _ _ _ . . -.-.

Y u g o s l a v i a from 18 September t o 4 October , c o n t i n u i n g t h e woo ingof T i t o a nd o t h e r Y ug os la v p a r t y o f f i c i a l s on a n i n f o r m a l , u n-o f f i c i a l p l a n e , and dur ing the summer a n d f a l l a n u n p r e c e d e n t e dser ies o f v i s i t s t o Moscow by non-Communist l e a d e r s and dele-g a t i o n s were so l i c i t ed , a la rge number of which were q c c e p t e d .F o l l ow i n g t h e v i s i t of A de na ue r, t h e r e w e r e v i s i t s by F in n i shP r e s i d e n t T. K. P a a s i k i v i i n Se p te mb er , C a n ad ia n M i n i s t e r o fE x te r n a l A f f a i r s L e s t e r P e a r s o n , N ew Z e a l a n d Deputy Premier Kei thHolyoake, and Burmese Pre mi er U Nu i n Oc tob er , followed by oneby Norwegian Premier E . Ge rh ard se n i n November. Some of t h e s ecame a t t h e he ad of o f f i c i a l d e l e g a t i o n s f o r n e g o t i a t i o n s w it ht h e S ov i e t l e a d e r s , o t h e r s were j u s t f r i e n d l y v i s i t s .

Ano ther ty pe o f con t ac t which w a s f o s t e r e d w a s t h e v i s i tof p a r l i a m e nt a r y d e l e g a t i o n s . T he se v i s i t s ha d d e ve l op e d r a p i d l ya f t e r t h e USSR had o rgan ized a p a r l i a m e n t a r y g r o u p o n 29 Ju n ea nd d e c i de d t o j o i n t h e I n t e r p a r l i a m e n t a r y Union. V i s i t s ofp a r l i a m e n t a r y d e l e g a t i o n s f ro m S y r i a , Y u g o sl a v ia , J a p a n , F r a n c e ,Be lg ium, A us t r i a , Luxembourg, and o t h e r s fo l lowe d i n r a p i dsu c c e s s i o n . The S o v i e t g r o u p w a s a b i t s l o w on r e t u r n i n g t h ev i s i t s buf. d i d v i s i t Y u g o sl a vi a a n d F i n l a n d . More s p e c i a l i z e dc o n t a c t s were a160 s o u g h t , s u c h as s e n d i n g a c o n s t r u c t i o n de le -ga t i o n headed by Deputy Premier V . A . Kucherenko t o B r i t a i n ,F r a nc e , a nd I t a l y ; e xc ha ng in g n a v a l v i s i t s w i t h B r i t a i n , Yugo-s l a v i a , A u s t r i a , a nd Sweden; a n d r e c e i v i n g su c h g r o u p s as a nA u st r i a n d e l e g a t io n of j o u r n a l i s t s , s e v e r a l a g r i c u l t u r a l dele-g a t i o n s , a n d a d e l e g a t i o n f r o m t h e London Coun ty ' Counc i l ands u c h i n d i v i d u a l s as US S u p r e m e C o u r t Ju s t i c e W i l l i a m 0 . Douglas.

D ur in g t h e n e g o t i a t i o n s w i t h o r r e c e p t i o n s f o r t h e s ef o r e i g n e r s , B u l g a n i n a n d K hr ushc he v p l a y e d t h e p r i n c i p a l r o l e s ;a n d t h e y w e r e t h e s t e l l a r a t t r a c t i o n s , for t h e f i r s t t i m e un-accompanied by o t he r t o p l e a d e r s , i n t h e m o s t a m b i t i o u s a n ddramatic of t h e i r p os t- su mm it e f f o r t s a t personal d ip lomacy--th e month- long to ur of India , Burma, a n d Afghan i s t an whichbegan on 18 November.

From t h e o u t s e t it w a s a p p a r e n t t h a t t h e S o v i e t Unio n i n -tended t h e t r i p t o be m o r e t ha n j u s t a f r i e n d l y v i s i t a nd t h a tKhrushchev and Bulg anin exp ect ed t o u s e it as a s p r i n g b o a r d f o rl a u n c h i n g a major p ro pa ga n da a n d p o l i c y b i d t o l i n e u p A s i a nb e h i nd S o v i e t " p e a c e f u l c o e x i s t e n c e . The twoa p p e a r e d t o work w e l l as a team. I n a t a c t i c repeated w i t hc o n s i d e r ab l e e f f e c t , B ul ga ni n as premier made t h e e x p e c t e df r i e n d l y , n o n c o n t r o v e r s i a l s p e e c h a n d Kh ru sh ch ev fol lowed w i t ha v i t r i o l i c , r a b b le - ro u si n g s p ee c h t a k i n g c o n s i d e r ab l e l i b e r t yw i t h h i s t o r i c a l de ve lo pm en ts a n d s e e k i n g t o s t i r u p h a t e f o rp a s t c o l o n i a l masters. E x ce pt i n A f g ha n i s ta n , t h e two mades p e c i a l e f f o r t s t o break away from a V I P , c o n d u c t e d - t o u r r o u t i n e

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and meet t h e p e o p l e. They s t r i v e d t o crea te a n i n f o r m a l atmos-p h e r e , d on ne d n a t i o n a l c o s t u m e s , t as t ed loca l f o o d s , a n d g a v espec ia l a t t e n t i o n t o l i t t l e c h i l d r e n .

.. '. . . . ... .. .. . .. .. . . .

So f a r as r e l a t i o n s be tw ee n t h e t w o were c o n c e r n e d , t h e t r i ps e r v e d t o d e mo n st r at e t h e r e l a t i v e s u p e r i o r i t y o f Khrushchev o v e rBulgan in . Though Khrushchev had c e r t a i n l y been t h e more v o c a li n p r oc l ai m in g t h e post-Malenkov new c ou rs e , t h e West Germanshad come away i n Septe mber w i t h t h e i m p r es s io n t h a t t h e t w o were'e q u a l , n e i t h e r a p p a r e n t l y making a d e c i s i o n w i t h ou t c o n s u l t i n gt h e o t h e r . Ad ena ue r e v e n e n t e r t a i n e d t h e idea t h a t Bulgan inmigh t be t h e more impo r tan t man. Dur ing th e Sou th -Eas t Asiat r i p , however , Khrushchev q u i t e obv io us ly took t h e i n i t i a t i v e ons e v e r a l o c c a s i o ns w i t h o ut p r i o r c o n s u l t a t i o n w i t h B u l ga n in . * I tWAS Khrushchev who announced t h e So vi et ex pl os io n of a m u l t i -megaton dev ic e , who gave app rov al f o r d i s p a t c h i n g - a g r ou p of So-v i e t s t u d e n t s an d s c h o l a r s t o work i n I n di a n e d u ca t i on a l i n s t i - 't u t i o n s , and who took t h e lead i n p u r s u i n g i n f o rm a l c o n t a c t s .Th a t Kh ru sh ch ev a n d B u l g a ni n sh o u l d h av e f e l t f r e e t ot r u n d l e a r o u n d S o u t h A s i a f o r o v er f o u r weeks and t o take w i t hthem t h e c h i e f of t h e secre t p o l i c e , Serov , was c o n v i n c i n g proofof t h e c o n f i d en c e w i t h which t h ey viewed t h e s t a b i l i t y of t h e i rp o s i t i o n s a nd t h e s e r e n i t y of t h e p o l i t i c a l s c e n e a t home. Miko-yan, who had accompanied them t o C h in a i n 1954 and Yugos lav ia i n1955 but who had been l e f t a t home " t o run th e farm" when t h et w o went t o Geneva f o r t h e s ummit m e e t i n g i n J u l y , was a p p a r e n t l ya g a i n l e f t i n charge d u r i n g t h e A s i a j u n k e t .Toward the l a s t of December, both Khrushchev a nd Bulgan ingave . r e p o r t s o n t h e i r t r i p t o t h e Supreme Sov ie t , emula t ingthe example s e t i t i n Augus t when Bulgan in r ep or t e d on t h e summit

c o n f e r e n c e . B u l g a n i n ' s December r e p o r t w a s l a r g e l y a - r o u t i n ea c c o u n t of t h e t r i p w h i l e Khrushchev's remarks c o v e r e d a wholer a n g e of i n t e r n a t i o n a l p ro bl em s. B o t h e x p r e s s e d c o n f i d e n c e t h a tt h e t r i p had enhanced Sov ie t pres t ige and in f luence among theso-called "uncommittedt1 na t i on s of S o u t h e a s t A s i a . Th e sp e a k e r si n t h e e n s u i n g " d is c us s io n " praised t h e i r a c t i v i t i e s a n d t h eSupreme S ov ie t f or ma l l y commended them and e xp re ss ed completes a t i s f a c t i o n w i t h t h e r e s u l t s o f - t h e t r i p .I * K h r u sh c h e v ' s ' p r i m a c y i n t h e p r e s i d i um had a l r eady been moreo r less pub l i c ly acknowledged . On 15 O c t o b e r , P r a v d a p u b l i sh e dh i s remarks a t t h e p r e s e n t a t i o n of t h e Order o f t h e e d Bannerof Labor t o t h e e i t y of S e v a s t o p o l o n 13 October i n w h ic h , t h o u g h

V o r o sh i l o v had made t h e major s p ee c h i n p r e s e n t i n g t h e award,Khrushchev undertook t o speak "on behal f of" t h e c e n t r a l com-mit tee and t h e p r e s i d i u m . On 3 November, Pravda pub l i sh ed w i t h -o u t c h a n g e o r comment a telegram from Deputy Prime M i n i s t e rHolyoake of N e w Ze a l a n d , m i s t a k e n l y a d d r e s s i n g Kh ru sh ch ev b yt h e o l d t i t l e of supreme l e a d e r s h i p , "Genera l Secretary of t h eCP S U .-21-


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11. PERSONNEL APPOINTMENTS I N PREPARATION FOR THE TWENTIETHPARTY CONGRESSP r o m o t i o n s t o t h e P r es i di u m a n d S e c r e t a r i a t

I n h i s s t r u g g l e t o reach the commanding place i n t h e leader-s h i p , K hr ushc he v, p e r h a p s m i n d f u l of t h e r e a c t i o n a g a i n s t Be r iy a ,h ad a p p a r e n t l y u s e d w i t h r e s t r a i n t a n d some h e s i t a n c y w h a t e v e rp ow er s h e p o s s e s s e d i n the m a n i p u l a t i o n of p e r s o n n e l a s s i g n m e n t sand pack ing o f pa r t y and government bodies . W he th er t h i s w a s byc h o i c e or b e c a u s e h e l a c k e d a f r e e hand i n t h i s f i e l d is r e l a -t i v e l y u n im p o rt a nt . The p o i n t i s t h a t t h e s t r u g g l e t oo k placep r i ma r i ly i n a d i f f e r e n t arena. Both Malenkov and Molotov werebested i n p o l i c y d i s p u t e s a n d, t ho ug h t h e y r e c e iv e d t h e i r de-mot ion and r ebuke a t t h e ha nd s o f t h e c e n t r a l committee, t h i sac t ion was l a r g e l y p r o forma f o l lo w i n g t h e v i c t o r y of Khrush-. ._ c h e v ' s p o i n t o f v ie w i n t h e p r e si d iu m .The Ju l y p lenum app ea r s t o mark a s l i g h t change i n -rush-c h e v ' s a p p r o a c h ; he seems t o become somewhat l ess r e s t r a i n e d i ns e c u r i n g p er so nn e l c hang es c l e a r l y i n h i s p o l i t i c a l i n t e r e s t .I t i s , d i f f i c u l t , f o r example, t o see " c o l l e c t i v e l e a de r s h ip "

' at work i n t h e s e l e c t i o n of t h e new members adde d t o t h e a l l -i m p o r t a n t pres idium a n d s e c r e t a r i a t a t t h e p le nu m, t h e f i r s t t oe i t h e r body s i n c e t h e r e o r g a n i z a t i o n s f o l lo w i ng S t a l i n ' s d ea th .B e r i y a ' s o ld p o s i t i o n o n t h e c e n t r a l committee was t a k e n b yMarshal Zhukov i n Ju ly 1953, b u t n o successor had been namedt o B e r i y a ' s p l a c e on t h e p r e s i d i u m an d n o r e p l a c e m e n t o n t h es e c r e t a r i a t had been made f o r S. D. Igna tyev- - r emoved in .Apr i l1953 f o r c o mp l ic i ty i n t h e Doctors Plo t - -o r N. N. S h a t a l i n - -t r a n s f e r r e d t o P r im o r ye g r a y i n March 1955 f o l l o w i n g M a le n ko v 'sdemot ion,. ..,

. ..... ..,. .. .; ..:.;. . .

A. I . K i r i c h e n k o , e l e c t e d t o t h e p r e s id iu m , w a s Khrushchev ' sproteg6 ' and p o l i t i c a l steward i n t h e U k ra in e. Two of t h e newsecre tar ies , N. I . B e l ya y e v, p a r t y b o s s in t h e A l t a y K ra y a n da n a g r i c u l t u r a l e x p e r t , a nd P ra vd a e d i t o r D. T. Shep i lovshowed e vi de n ce s of b e i n g K h w e v men. Bely ayev had cham-p io ne d a n a g g re s s i ve v i r g i n l a n d s a g r i c u l t u r a l program i n A l t ayKray i n December 1953 i n a pp ar en t a n t i c i p a t i o n of Khrushchev ' s''new lands " program pr es en te d t o t h e c e n t r a l committee i n Feb-ru ar y 1954. Sh ep i lo v accompanied Khrushchev t o P e i p i n g i nSeptember 1954 f o r t h e f i f t h a n n iv er sa ry c e l e b r a t i o n o f t h er ap pr oc he me nt w i t h T i t o . K h ru s h ch e v 's o u t r a g e d d e s c r i p t i o n ofS h e p i l o v in J u l y 1 9 5 7 as a " s ha me le s s, d o u W d e a l i n g i n d i vi d u a l"s u p p o r t s t h e v ie w t h a t e a r l i e r , a t l e a s t , he had been on Khrush-c h e v ' s team.

.-,- Chinese People 's R e p u b l i c a n d t o Bel grad e i n May 1955 f o r t h e

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. . .

.. .

S u sl o v, t h e o t h e r a d d i t i o n t o t h e presid ium, had become acen t ra l p a r t y s e c r e t a r y two y e a r s before Khrushchev. Andthough they were t o g e t h e r on t h e s ec re t a r i a t f o r f o u r a n d ah a lf y e a r s t h e r e i s n o e v i d e n c e t o i n d i c a t e more t h a n a workingr e l a t i o n s h i p . S u s l o v , t h e r e f o r e , may h av e b ee n s p o n s o r e d bysome other member or members of t h e pres idium. The same c a nbe s a i d c o n c er n i ng t h e s p o n s o r s h i p of Ari s tov , t r a n s f e r r e d f r o mt h e f i r s t s e c r e t a r y v s p o s t i n Khabarovsk Way t o become t h e t h i r da d d i t io n a l c e n t r a l p a r t y s e c r e t a r y . I t i s d i f f i c u l t , h o w e v e r ,t o see who t h e i r sp o n so r s m ig h t be. N e i t h e r S u s l ov n o r A r i s to vhad any s p e c i a l d i s c e r n i b l e t i e s w i t h o t h e r members of t h e p r e -s i d i u m a n d i n a ny e v e n t t h e i r a p p oi n tm e nt h a r d l y seems an ad-e q u a t e q u id p r o quo for t h e a p p o i n t m e n t of Ei r i c h e n k o , B e l y a y e v ,and Shep i lov . Moreover, Sus lov ' s sp eec h a t t h e 2 0 t h p a r t y c on -g r e s s i n F e b ru ar y 1956 w a s t h e m o s t f r a n k l y l a u d a t o r y o f K hru sh-chev of any by a t o p l e a d e r , a n d A r i s t o v p ro m pt l y to o k o v e rr e s p o n s i b i l i t y for p a r t y o r g a n i z a t i o n a l an d p e r s o n n e l wo rk, a p-p a r e n t l y a c t i n g in K h r u s h c h e v ' s i n t e r e s t s f o r a n i n c r e a s i n gnumber of h i g h - l e v e l a p p o i n t m e n t s b eg an t o bear t h e stamp OfKhrushchev 's hand.C o n t r o l of P e r s o n n e l S e l e c t i o n a n d Appointment - T h e S e c r e t a r i a tAnd Apparatus

C o n c e n t r a t i o n of c o n t r o l o v e r p e r s o n n e l a s s i gn m en t s i n a l lf i e l d s of S ov ie t l i f e i n t h e pa r t y s e c r e t a r i a t and i t s e x e c u t i v es t a f f , t h e a p p a r a t us , w a s one of t h e i m p o r t a n t , i f n o t t h e mosti m po rt a nt , f a c t o r s i n S t a l i n ' s r i s e t o supreme d i c t a t o r i a l power.I f t h i s power r em ai ne d c o n c e n t r a t e d i n t h e s e c r e t a r i a t a f t e rS t a l i n ' s : deatH;, e'n Khr ush che v, from; March :1953 t h e top-r ank ing sec ' r e - t a ry and. i n .September , named . f i r s t secre-,t a r y , was from t h e v e r y b e g i nn i n g in t h e m o s t p o w e r f u l p o l i t i c a lp o s i t i o n , a n d i t c o u l d be only a matter of t i m e before he hade s t a b l i s h e d h i s own one-man r u l e as S t a l i n ' s t r u e s u c c e s s or .That Khrushchev seems w e l l on h i s way t o a p o s i t i o n of a b s o l u t ep o l i t i c a l su pr em ac y , ho we ve r, is n o t p r o of t h a t w hat w a s t r u ef o r S t a l i n w a s t r u e f o r Khrushchev . Khrushchev f o r a t i m e a tl e a s t may have had t o r e l y on o t h e r me ans .

What is n o t c l ea r i n t h i s c on ne c t io n is t h e e x t e n t t o whicht h e p r e s i d i u m i n t h e m ont hs i m m e di a te l y f o l l o w i n g S t a l i n ' s d e a t hm a i n t a i n e d a d i r e c t i n t e r e s t i n a n d c o n t r o l o v e r t h e s e c r e t a r i a tand a p p a r a t u s i n t h e p e r s on n el f i e l d . U l t i m a t e c o n t r o l o v er per-s o n n e l s e l e c t i o n an d a p p o in t m e nt , as i n a l l s u b s t a n t i v e p o l i c yf i e l d s ,was presumably in t ended t o be exercised by t h e p r e s i d i u m ,a c t i n g as a b od y. B u t t h i s d i d n o t p r e v e n t B e r i y a f r o m i n -d e p e n d e n t l y making p e r s o n n e l changes i n a b i d for supreme power.

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. ... . .... ., . ... .

-.I t is d o u b t f u l , h o we ve r, e v e n if p r es i di u m c o n t r o l weref o r a t i m e somewhat l a x , i f Khrushchev would have had a f r e eh a n d w i t h i n t h e s e c r e t a r i a t . The maneuver i n March which cos t

Malenkov h i s place o n t h e se c r e t a r i a t l e f t t h e r e on e o f h i sp r o t e g e s , N. N. S h a t a l i n , w her e h e c o u l d r e p o r t t o h i s p a t r ona n d p o s s i b l y c h e ck a n y u n i l a t e r a l moves Khrushchev might m a k e .Th e r o l e of Sus lov, who had become t h e r an k in g s e c r e t a r y i n termsof t e nu re , and who presumably had ample o p p or t un i ty i n h i s s i xy e a r s o f i n t i m a t e d ay -t o- da y w ork w i t h t h e p r o f e s s i o n a l p a r t ymachine t o l e a r n t h e p o l i t i c a l r op e s an d b u i l d a f o l l o w i n gt h r ou g h p e r s o n a l r e l a t i o n s h i p s a n d p a t r o n a g e , is s t i l l some th ingof a mys8ery. H i s p o l i t i c a l t i e s w i t h members o f t h e p o s t - S t a l i np r e s i d i u m a re n o t c l e a r , a n d i t is e xt re me ly d i f f i c u l t t o seeh i s h and i n more t h a n a few o f t h e p e r s o n n e l c h a n g e s b et we en t h e1 9 t h ' a n d 2 0 t h p a r t y c o n g r es s e s . P o s pe l ov seems t o have been evenless i n v o l v e d in p o l i t i c a l m a ch i n at i on s . With t h e d o w nf a ll ofMalenkov and t h e co n s e q u e nt r em ov al o f S h a t a l i n f r o m t h e secre-t a r i a t , K h r us h c he v ' s f re ed om of a c t i o n w i t h i n t h e se c r e t a r i a ta n d a p p a r a t u s w a s p e r c e p t i b l y i n c r ea s e d .The C e n t r a l Appara tus - O r g a n i z a t i o n a nd P e r s o n n e l

The v a l u e of t h e a p p a r a t u s as a n i n s t r u m e n t o f i n f l u e n c eand power l i e s p r i n c i p a l l y i n i t s t w o major f u n c t i o n s . I t s e r v e sn o t o n l y a s a means of c e n t r a l i z e d c o n t r o l o v er p e r so n n el a s s i g n -ment s bu t a l s o a s a n i m p o r t a n t s o u r c e of i n f o r m a t i o n a n d a d v i c ef o r t h e t o p leaders . Repor t s , m e m o s , a n d s t a f f s t u d i e s em an at-i n g from t h e a p p a r a t u s u n d o ub t e dl y i n f l u e n c e p ol ic y- ma ki ng . P u tt o p a r t i s a n p u rp o s es , s u c h r e p o r t s m ig ht be d e c is i v e i n e f f e c t i n gp o l i c y d e c i s i o n s d e s i r e d by Khrushchev.O r g a n i z a t i o n a l l y , t h e m ain d e ve lo p me n ts i n t h e a p p a r a t u si n t h e two

caesar 19 - aftermath of malenkov's resignation (copy 2)

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