Comrade Eisler's Turn?

COMMUNISTS Comrade Eisler's Turn?

Communist leaders in East Germany grew sick with apprehension. Premier Otto Grotewohl publicly admitted that "temporary difficulties" had disorganized the supply of butter, margarine, sugar and meat. Then he made a public promise that sent the specter of Rudolf Slansky howling down the corridors of East German government departments: "[We] will ruthlessly remove all mistakes and shortcomings . . . Those who are guilty will face the consequences."

The first head fell quickly. Dr. Karl Hamann, 49, Minister of Trade and Supply, was sacked and jailed for "bad and bureaucratic work"; his assistant, Rudolf Albrecht, State Secretary for Food, was denounced as a "saboteur." Next in line were "a number of leading bandits" responsible for the "month-by-month decline" in coal production. Then the accusing finger pointed at Gerhart Eisler, the shifty little Comintern agent who jumped bail in the U.S and escaped to East Germany on the Polish liner Batory. There he became Chief of Information (i.e., Propaganda) in Soviet Germany. "A basic change [is needed] in the work of the Bureau of Information," said Communist Investigator Hermann Axen, whose official title is "Head of the Agitation Department." This seemed to spell trouble ahead for Comrade Eisler, who by now is presumably wondering whether his trip on the good ship Batory had really been worth while.

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