THE SHORT UNHAPPY LIFE OF THE COMINFORMISTS

From Bucharest last week came another of those grimly familiar communiques out of the Land of Darkness at Noon: "Ana Pauker has been relieved of her functions by the Presidium of the National Assembly." And so another Cominformist bit the dust. Five years ago, 18 Communist big shots gathered somewhere in Poland "to reorganize the general staff of the world revolution." Of these 18, two have been executed, two excommunicated; two have risen higher in favor, at least three, and possibly five, have been purged. Moreover, the leadership of every one of the six principal satellites in the Cominform has been shaken up. The roll call:

RUMANIA--Ana Pauker, 58, porcine First Lady of Communism reigned in Red Rumania as Foreign Minister and Politburocrat; more than any other Rumanian Red, was the link between Moscow and Bucharest. Began sliding last month (TIME, June 9) when accused of "crimes against the state." Confessed to deviation both right & left, and saw her power transferred to her rival, Georghe Gheorghiu-Dej, who, along with her, was Rumania's spokesman at the Comin-fornrs birth. Purged last week as Foreign Minister. Probable fate: public trial, imprisonment or death.

YUGOSLAVIA--Tito sent Edvard Kardelj and Milovan Djilas to the original Cominform meeting. After Tito broke from Moscow in 1948, all three were damned as "lackeys of the imperialists." Disposition: excommunicated.

HUNGARY--Two cliques vied for Moscow favor after the war. Neither risked leaving the country when the Cominform was set up: little shots went instead. One clique was led by bullet-headed Matyas Rakosi, now 62, Soviet-trained and a seasoned jailbird. The other was led by Laszlo Rajk (rhymes with yoick), boss of underground Hungarian Reds during Nazi occupation. Two years later, Rajk was ousted from the party, "confessed" to being a spy, traitor and informer, and to plotting with Tito to overthrow the Communist regime. Disposition: hanged. Now boss: Rakosi.

POLAND--No. 1 Communist when the Cominform was born was Wladyslaw Gomulka, 47, the "little Stalin" whose portrait was the political ikon on every Polish street corner; was supreme for three postwar years, then began a Pauker-like fall in 1948. Castigated by the party for "alien opportunistic ideology," and though he admitted his errors, was removed as party secretary. Present state: in prison.

BULGARIA--Vulko Chervenkov (the name means "The Red Wolf") is one of the two original Cominformists whose fortunes have improved since 1947 (the other: Ana Pauker's rival, Gheorghiu-Dej). A veteran NKVD tough who spent 19 years in Moscow, Chervenkov became brother-in-law and bodyguard to famed Communist Georgi Dimitrov. He wore a necktie for the first time in 1948, now as boss of Bulgaria takes pains to swear his "loyalty to the last breath" to Stalin. Dimitrov, star of the Reichstag trial (1933), ex-Secretary General of the old Comintern, was the big man in Bulgaria's postwar days. Arriving from Moscow, he took over from homegrown Red Traicho Kostov, made Kostov his No. 2 man. Soon Kostov was accused of "anti-Sovietism," tried for treason. Persuaded to write a 32,000-word confession, at trial became the first major Communist defendant to repudiate a confession. Disposition: hanged. Dimitrov did not last either. Displeased with Dimitrov's own Titoist tendencies, the Kremlin called him to Moscow for "medical treatment." Final entry: dead of "liver ailment."

CZECHOSLOVAKIA--Represented at the first Cominform meeting by Rudolf Slansky. A fierce, red-haired butcher's son who became the Kremlin's hatchet man in Czechoslovakia, he was considered the real power behind Klement Gottwald, front man in the coup of 1948. But in Czechoslovakia's recent struggle for power, it was Gottwald, not Slansky, who came out on top. Accused of "activities against the state" last December, Slansky was stripped of all offices. Disposition: "in custody," awaiting trial.

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