SUCCESSOR TO STALIN

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 26984, 9 March 1953, Page 7

SUCCESSOR TO STALIN

Malenkov Prime Minister MOSCOW. March 6. Stalin's successor will be Mr Georgi Malenkov, aged 51. He has been appointed Prime Minister of the Soviet Union, Mr L. Beria, Mr V. M. Molotov, General L. Bulganin, and Mr Lazar Kaganovich have been appointed Vice-Premiers. Mr Molotov wiil be Foreign Minister. General Bulganin, Minister of War, and Mr Beria Minister of Internal Affairs. Mr Andrei Vyshinsky becomes Deputy Foreign Minister, and is appointed to the United Nations. The. President (Mr Nikolai Shvemik) is replaced by Marshal Klementi Voroshilov. A session of the Supreme Soviet has been convened for March 14. Mr Shvernik. the former President, will, according to Moscow Radio, be recommended as chairman of ’ the Soviet Trade Union Movement, as Mr Vassili Kuznitzov is to be released from that post. Mr N. Pegov has been appointed secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. He hitherto has been virtually unknown to the West, but he was one of the seven men appointed to organise Stalin’s funeral. A 10-member Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party is being set up. consisting of Mr Malenkov, Mr Beria. Mr Molotov, Marshal Voroshilov, Mr Kruschchev, General Bulganin. Mr Kaganovich, Mr Saburov. Mr Pervukhin, and Mr Mikoyan. Marshal Alexander Vassilevsky and Marshal George Zhukov have been appointed Deputy-Ministers of War. Mr Vyshinsky and Mr Jacob Malik are appointed Deputy-Foreign Ministers. Only 10 Top Leaders This sweeping reorganisation in the Soviet Government means that Rus-

sia’s topmost leadership has now contracted from 36 men to 10. A joint statement issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party, the Council of Ministers, and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet said: “At this difficult moment for our party and country we consider the most important jask is to ensure the uninterrupted, correct direction of the entire life of the country, which, in its turn, involves the greatest cohesion of leadership, prevention of any diversion of effort and panic, in order to ensure the realisation of the policy drawn up by our party and Government as regards our internal and external affairs. “As a result of this and with a view to preventing any difficulties in the direction of the activity of the Government and party organs, we deem it necessary to put into effect a number of measures aimed at the organisation of the party and Government. “We have, accordingly, appointed Comrade Malenkov President of the Council of Ministers, and to appoint as first deputies -to the President of the Council of Ministers Comrades Beria, Molotov, Bulganin and Kaganovich. ‘lt has been decided that the Council of Ministers should consist of one organ—Presidium of the Council of Ministers—instead of two organs—the Presidium and the Bureau of Presidium. The Council of Ministers shall be composed of the President and the first deputies.” Mergers of Ministries After naming the other main appointments, the statement continued: “The ministries of Foreign Trade and Home Trade will become one ministry to be called the Ministry of Home and Foreign Trade under Mr A. I. Mikoyan. Mr K. Kumykin and Mr Zhavoronov become his deputies. The Ministry of Motor-car and Tractor Industries, the Ministry of Machine-Building and Tool Instrument-Making and the Ministry of Machine Tools will be merged into one ministry to be known as the Ministry of Machine-Building. “Mr Saburov becomes Minister of the new Machine-Building Ministry. “The Ministry of Transport Machine-Building, the Ministry of Shipbuilding, the Ministry of Heavy Machine-Building and the Ministry of Construction and Roadmaking Ma-chine-Building will become one ministry to be known as the Ministry of transport and Heavy Machine-Build-ing. “The Ministry of Electric Power Stations and Electric Industries will be fused with the Ministry of Means of Communication to be known as the Ministry of Electric Power Stations and the Electric Industry. Mr Pervykhin becomes Minister of the hew ministry. Comrade Kosciachenko is appointed chairman of the State Planning Commission.” Mr Saburov was chief of the State Planning Commission under Stalin. Mrpervukhin was a Deputy-Premier. .The post of Secretary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, which is now taken by Mr Pegov, has been held for many years by Mr A. F. Gorkin. Mr Beria’s formal appointment as Minister of Internal Affairs means he has a new ministerial post. He relinquished the post of Minister in charge of Security and Internal Affairs in 1946, but was generally Understood to have controlled these Affairs at the higher Politburo level, ihe post carries with it control of the secret police and is generally un- . herstood to include direction of the labour camps. Moscow Radio says Mr Gorkin, who *° s t his post to Mr Pegov, will become Pekov's deputy. Mr Kuznitzov, who will give up his post as chairman ( di the Soviet Trade Union Movement, : a Deputy Foreign Minister Mr Vyshinsky and Mr Malik. Moscow Radio concluded that the supreme Soviet would meet in Mos°n March 14 to approve the ap- • P°mtments and changes. The announcement made no mention ■ ™ position of Mr Malenkov in : •Whexion with the all-important Com-

munist Party secretariat, but it is known that he was senior secretary of the 10-man group immediately after Stalin. Mr Malenkov was generally understood to run the party though Stalin was in nominal control. There has been a reshuffle of the party secretariat however. Mr Ignatov Ponomarenko and Mr Brenznev have been replaced by Mr S. Ignatiev, a former full member of the Presidium, Mr P. Pospelov, a Marxist intellectual and former editor of “Pravda,” jmd Mr N. Stalalin, a former deputy member of the Central Committee.