RUSSIA: Sharpened Sickle

The great hall of the Kremlin palace was packed and hot. Klieg lights stared at the tense and various faces of 1,360 delegates to the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., ready for the final session of the 10th Congress. Russia's great filed in, and the applause began. It was still beating hard against the marble statue of Lenin above the platform, when Marshal Stalin stepped on stage to stand almost shyly through a three-minute ovation, then slip into a back-row chair.

The Change. Everybody knew that Foreign Minister Viacheslav Molotov was no orator. Everybody knew that Molotov's speech would be...

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