The News And Views

youngster brought up in the isolation of Soviet communism as Stalin's protege.

There have been persistent hints that Stalin was relinquishing his active direction of Soviet affairs. He has just turned 72, and is reported in failing health.

November dispatches from Moscow, describing the 34th anniversary celebration of the Bolshevik revolution, gave the impression Malenkov was the reigning power in the USSR with support from Lavrentiy Pavlovitch Beria, director of the all-present, all-powerful secret police.

Molotov was not present, a striking development in itself, since that ceremony is the year's most important in Moscow. Stalin was not there, either, but Stalin usually has gone south in recent winters.

The pictures of that celebration -- like other pictures before them -- were revealing. Dispatches from Moscow ranked Molotov first after Stalin among politburo members -- in accordance with the long-established custom of the Soviet press. But the photographs told a different story. These indicated Molotov was slipping badly. The last picture of him showed him ranking about fifth. For several months this reader has seen no mention of Molotov in either Pravda or Izvestia.

At the Bolshevik Revolution ceremony, pugnacious, pudgy Malenkov towered over the others in the manner of a dictator. The pictures showed him clearly as the most prominent figure present -- flanked on the right by his ally in power, Beria.

Malenkov, the non-drinking, non-smoking sphinx of the politburo, a calculating climber throughout all his political career, is little known to the Soviet people, but the chances are now that a campaign will be started to give a picture of him as a great Soviet hero.

Malenkov was born at Orenburg in the Urals in 1902. His family background is lost in the mists of party history, probably so that it could be re-made at will. The indication is that he came from a comfortable Bourgeois background.