The Unmurdered

The living ghosts of his old comrades in Stalinism apparently still haunt Nikita Khrushchev--although Malenkov presumably runs a power station, Shepilov teaches school, Molotov tends diplomacy in the outer wastes of Mongolia, and Zhukov has reportedly retired from active military duty. Three weeks ago, in terms Communists recognized as portentous, Pravda published two front-page editorials warning that the party "cannot forget" the opposition of "Malenkov, Kaganovich, Molotov and Shepilov." At a Lenin birthday celebration, in Khrushchev's presence, Party Secretary Petr Pospelov attacked the fallen "antiparty group" by name for their "fierce resistance." Finally, Khrushchev himself joined vigorously and enthusiastically in the denunciations, and, in a speech on agriculture at Kiev, singled out Georgy Malenkov as "one of the main culprits" responsible as Stalin's right hand and successor "for all shortcomings."

Noting the signs and wondering how long Khrushchev dared avoid "tidying up" his internal situation, Columnist Joseph Alsop last week quoted a recent dictum of that old student of the Soviet system, former Ambassador George Kennan: "In the Soviet Union today there are just too damned many people who have been left unmurdered.,"

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