Entrance & Exits

Dictator Stalin's veteran favorite, Lazar Kaganovich, big-nosed and brutally effective in driving Soviet bureaucrats to greater Five-Year Plan zeal was last week gazetted a Vice Premier. Thus was promoted a man who is one of the few remaining Old Bolshevik top-rank members of the Government, deserving of promotion if only for the amount of trouble he has shouldered. But even such good news as a promotion was a reflection of a purge. The announcement made passing mention of "former" Vice Premiers Vlas Chubar and Stanislav Kosior. Chubar and Kosior recently failed of election to either the Legislature of their native Ukraine or that of the Russian Socialist Federated Soviet Republic. Secretive Soviet officials would not say whether or not this prominent Bolshevik pair are still Vice Premiers, but in journalistic Moscow they were rated "finished."

Meanwhile, it was reported last week that: 1) the Commissariats for Food, Machine Building and Purchases had been purged and given new heads; 2) the Commissariats for the Navy, Trade and Agriculture are soon due for purging; 3) ten officials of the Azerbaijan Agriculture Commissariat were executed for "plotting to overthrow the Soviet Government and sabotage animal husbandry."

Visitors to Moscow report that a few Russians whose love of fun--* is greater than their discretion are now saying: "Isn't it too bad, Comrade? They say our beloved leader has lost his last friend and the poor man has had to start shooting mere acquaintances."

--*German funsters, like Russians, are still willing to risk their necks with political wisecracks. A recent conundrum which they thought sidesplitting: "What is the difference between Russia and Germany?" Answer: "Russia is much colder."

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