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How "New" Is the Kremlin's New Line?

By Philip E. Mosely
April 1955
Article Summary and Author Biography

PHILIP E. MOSELY, Director of the Russian Institute, Columbia University; former officer in the Department of State; Political Adviser to the United States Delegation, European Advisory Commission, London, 1944-45; author of historical works

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HAS the struggle for top place within the Soviet hierarchy come to a more or less orderly conclusion with the dramatic resignation, on February 8, of Premier Georgi Malenkov and his replacement, on nomination of Nikita Khrushchev, by Marshal Nikolai Bulganin? Is the Soviet Government scrapping its post-Stalin program, advertised with much fanfare, for relieving the harsh lot of the great bulk of its citizens? Has it come to the conclusion that it must go all-out in preparation for an early showdown with the growing strength of the free West? Has a "soft" line, both at home and abroad, widely attributed to Malenkov, succumbed to a "hard" line, promoted by Khrushchev and the military?

The startling events of February 8 provided only a small dose of hard facts and can be interpreted varyingly to support a rather wide range of projections and speculations. One firm fact is that Malenkov has been demoted from the position of Chairman of the Council of Ministers and assigned to the Ministry of Electric Power, an important but not decisive post. Its importance, incidentally, has been greatly diminished by the creation, by decree of November 22, 1954, of a separate Ministry of Electric Station Construction. However, if the Ministry of Electric Power is responsible for the atomic power industry, Malenkov will continue to occupy a key position in Soviet military programs, as well as remaining, so far, as Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers...

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