COMMENT IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28321, 5 July 1957, Page 11

COMMENT IN BRITAIN

“Severe Blow To Stalinism”

(Rec. 11.30 p.m.) LONDON. July 4 The news that three of Stalin’s old colleagues have been ousted from the Soviet Russian Communist party leadership was generally seen in today’s British press as a startling indication of a struggle for power in which Stalinism has received a severe blow.

“The Times” predicted that the present Russian leaders would hold their supremacy over the “disgraced” opposition. “Certainly in this matter they will have the Russian people with them.” The “News Chronicle” said: “For the West this new convulsion in the Kremlin is of double importance. It shows more clearly than ever that there are now two forms of communism—Soviet and Chinese—towering over Asia, and that for the immediate future in Europe, the West must negotiate with Khrushchev’s diplomacy, not Molotov’s. “At any time this would be a choice between two evils. Mr Khrushchev, who at least is no icy robot, may yet prove the lesser,” the “News Chronicle” said.

The “Daily Mail” commented: “Malenkov is a young man who was Stalin’s successor until 1955, when he was thrown out by Khrushchev and became a mere Minister.

“Since then the struggle for power has been waged unrelentingly between these two. “Our guess—not a difficult one —is that the latest events are the end of that struggle Khrushchev has won.”

A large front-page headline in the “Daily Herald” declared: “Molotov in disgrace, may face treason trial.”