Oregon Daily
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Vo!- L,V. Lni. of Oregon, Kugrnr, Friday, Mar. 6, 1953
No. 85
Russians Grieve;
Ike Sends Cable
Of 'Condolences'
The Moscow home radio
gave the news of Joseph Stalin's
death to the Russian people some
f ight hours after Stalin had died
and two hours after the world uJ
large had received the news.
Associated Press Correspondent
Kddy Gilmore reported hearing
the news over car radio as he was
riding through Moscow's snowy
streets. The driver, a former So
viet army man, was stunned and
could hardly drive the car.
"Excuse me," he said, a trickle
of tears rolling down his cheek.
"He was a real person." That
probably sums up \vhat is in the
heatt of many Soviet citizens, Gil
more reported.
In Washington President Eisen
hower directed Secretary of State
Dulles to send a message to the
American embassy in Moscow for
transmission to the Soviet govern
ment as follows:
"The government of the United
State;! tenders its official condol
ences to the government of the
Union of Soviet Socialist Repub
lirtx o! the death of Generalissimo
Joseph Stai n, prime minister of
the Soviet Union."
It was noted immediately that
the message, which spoke only of
"official condolences," ommitted
the usual words of sympathetic
tribute which are almost a part
of protocol when the leader of
any other nation dies.
Secretary of State Dulles has
asked the senate to speed action on
the nomination of Charles Kohlen
to be ambassador to Russia. Dulles
indicated he wants Bohlen to be
free to hurry to Moscow to repre
sent the counti y during any crisis
which may develop. Bohlen is a
specialist on Soviet affairs.
In New York, it was announced
the blue and white UN flag will
be lowered to half staff this morn
ing. This is in accord with the
UN code to honor dead chiefs of
state.
The announcement of Stalin's
death came as Soviet Foreign Min
ister Andrei Vishinsky was mak
ing hurried preparations to leave
New York for Moscow.
4
—— 11111 ■ *' ■ ' ■* ilWBIK .i.
JOSEPH STALIN
Th.- leader is gone . . . Jiussia mourns
MALENKOV, BERIA AND STALIN
Anil the free world wonders
LONDON-(AP)-Moscow announced Thursday that
Joseph Stalin, who ruled Russia for nearly 30 years
as the most powerful dictator in history, is dead.
The official announcement said:
I he heart of the comrade and inspired continuer of Lenin’s
will ,the wise leader and teacher of the Communist Party and
the Soviet pet pic—Joseph Vissarionovitch Stalin—has stopper!
beating.”
The news of his death reached London initially in a Russian lan
guage broadcast by the official Soviet news agency, Tass, for news
papers in the provinces of the Soviet Union. The 73-year-old Russia*
prime minister had been stricken with a brain hemorrhage Sunday,
and had grown progressively worse. The announcement at 5:07 p.m.
said Stalin had succumbed at 10:50 a.m., 'PSTi.
The broadcast said the announcement of Stalin's death was author
ized by the Central Committee of the Communist Party, the Council
of Ministers of the Soviet Union and the Presidium of the Supreme
Soviet.
As if appealing for unity, the official statement said:
"In these sorrowful days all the peoples of our country are rallying
even closer in a great fraternal family under the tested leadership of
the Communist party created and reared by Lenin and Stalin.
The Soviet people have boundless faith in and are permeated witJv
a deep love for their Communist party for they know that the supreme
law governing all the activity ox the party is service ;n the interests
of the people, ".
Stalin, who through Communism extended his sway beyond the bor
ders of the Soviet Union and its 200 million people to areas encompass
ing another half billion people, rose from a hovel in South Russia to
this fantastic power.
K. was a small man physically., just five feet five inches in height,
two inches taller than Napoleon. But if he was short in stature, he
was a giant in intrigue.
Stalin was the grandson of a chattel slave. K<s father was a ne'er
do well cobbler and his mother a peasant. His mother dedicated him to
God in childhood, but he schemed, plotted, clawed ar.d killed ar.d made
his way over blood stained paths —to the top.
Born Dec. 21. 1S<9. in Gon. Georgia, Staim was christened Joseph
Vissanonovitch Djugashviii. When he was 15, his mother er.tcied
Joseph—Little Soso, she called him—in a seminary’ at Tiflis. There he
found a hotbed of revolutionary activity—against the monks, estab
lished cruer and the Czar.
Your.g Joseph was a good, sometimes even a brillant. student. But
he Irecjnently was penalized lor breaches of discipline. Ke joined-the
revolutionists and came upon the works of Kar! Marx. On May 29. 1S99,
he was expelled.
He became an organizer of the Social Democratic party under th<*
name of Koba. In 1917 he was called Staim ("man of steel”) by Lenin,
who he had joined after his return in 1904 from Siberia, where he had
| been sent after his arrest by the Czar's secret police.
After Lenin's death in 1924 Stalin fought it out with Leon Trotsky,
and won. Slowly, without pity, he consolidated his power, until he be
came the most powerful dictator the world has known. Of his seem
ingly endless executions, Tiotsky said, "Stalin cannot stop. Me re
sembles a man who drinks a salt solution to quench his thirst.”
After shocking the world with his 1939 deal with Hitler, Stalin
fought with the'Allies to win World War II. Then he returned to
Communist world aims, whipping them to such a peak that they be
came the center of the great struggle of today’.
Who's Next? Maybe No One: Wright
Who will replace Stalin?
Georgi Malenkov? V. M. Molo
tov ? Lavrenty Beria ?
While the woild played guess
ing games Thursday night, the
Emerald contacted a man who
insisted that he was no expert on
the matter. Nevertheless, the
opinions of Dr. Gordon Wright,
head of the history department,
were worth listening to.
This was, in essence, his
analysis of the situation.
There’s a possibility that no
one will replace Stalin, either in
a formal or informal sense for
some time. The Red boss's posi
tions may be portioned out among
various other top officials with
no one man taking the whole job.
Nobody replaced Lenin imme
diately. When he died a trium
virate emerged and shared pow
er, primarily because each man
was jealous of the others. If
there is a smooth transition ami
one replaces Stalin, it will be the
first time in history that a group
of men held such power and
failed to quarrel over its suc
cession.
It’s possible that Molotov, the
only remaining Old Bolshevik,
would be the front man, but not
much more than that.
Eventually somebody will take
over. Malenkov probably has the
inside lane. There's also some
speculation on Nikolai Schvernik,
a younger man who’s suddenly
been given some very Important
assignments.
No matter who takes over,
there'll probably be littte change
in Russian policy. There prob
<
ably aren't any deep divergen
cies in (he Politburo. There
could be differences among top
leaders, but these would prob
ably be more of temperment. One
might be more inclined toward
aggressive action than another.
Official policy has certainly
been shaped a lot by Stalin in
the 20 odd years he’s been in
power. Its probably to the point
now where the basic doctrine is
clear cut, the long-run goal de
termined.
This death doesn't make much
difference except that after sev
eral years the effects will start
showing up. If there are internal
squabbles, they probably won’t
occur for a while, and we may
not know about them for a long
time after that.
The purges ? It was probably
just an accident that they hap
pened just before Stalin died.
There h^ve been three schools
of thought about them: 1. that
they were connected with foreign
policy; 2. that they were part of
the battle for power internally;
3. or that they were intended to
divert the people from other
sources of internal discontent.
And the satellites? Stalin's
death shouldn't have much effect.
The European countries are
pretty well tied to Russia. China,
a kind of junior partner, may be
a different story. We may ex
pect trouble in the long run be
tween Russia and China, but not
in the short future. His death
probably won't speed its coming
very much.
GORDON WRIGHT
Smooth Change Would Be Unique