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Signs of Nervousness. This week inside the Kremlin, in the palatial chamber of the Supreme Soviet, more than 1,200 voiceless legislators of the U.S.S.R. gave the façade of legality to the succession of Malenkov, Beria, Molotov & Co., formally "approved" unanimously the new government and the abolition of more than half the cabinet jobs that existed under Stalin. Some of the deputies had traveled for days from the Asiatic reaches of the U.S.S.R. to reach Moscow. They were ready to head for home after a "legislature" session of 67 minutes.
Encased in a tightly buttoned greenish khaki tunic, Malenkov used the Soviet meeting for a replay of the old Stalin record of peaceful intentions toward the West. "At present," said he, "and in the future, there is no . . . question which cannot be solved by peaceful means. This refers to relations with all states, including . . . the U.S. . . ." The delegates broke into a roar of applause, and the more starry-eyed Western diplomats, on hand for the rigged meeting, began to hear the beat of the wings of Russia's mechanized dove of peace; some of them interpreted Malenkov's generalized remarks as an invitation for the U.S. to come to the peace table.
Well rehearsed, the show was meant to be further proof of the "monolithic solidarity" Malenkov boasted of. The Communist empire had survived the first convulsions of death and succession. But there were signs of nervousness and uncertainty:
> The mourning for Stalin ended abruptly four days after his death, only seven minutes after the tomb doors closed on his remains. The people were told to look not back but ahead.
>Red air waves chattered with admonitions to "keep calm" and assurances that there would be no "disarray or panic." Pravda and its lesser imitators were black with warnings against "enemies within and enemies without." Freshly made posters saying "Vigilance—Our Weapon—" were plastered on billboards all over Moscow and, presumably, in other Soviet cities.
> Malenkov talked of "the possibility of the prolonged co-existence and peaceful competition of two different systems, capitalist and socialist" (in hopes of winning time to consolidate), while Red MIGs over Germany shot down a British and a U.S. plane (to show how alert Soviet strength is, even during a transition).
It was too much to expect that the nervousness and uncertainty would be allowed to get out of hand. Georgy Malenkov & Co. are postgraduates in the school of power, who may scoff at the Bible but recognize the force of a Biblical maxim: "If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?"
Stresses & Strains. The new rulers in the Kremlin inherited with Stalin's empire all the strains and stresses which assail its granite exterior; they did not inherit the cement of Stalin's myth and mystique. Now, on both sides of the great Red wall, the deadly, cold-eyed watch has begun—the Communists alert to prevent any fissures in their monolith; the West alert to find even hairline cracks through which to enter wedges.
To a diligent and patient West, the watch may well prove rewarding. There are weak points in the empire Stalin built, especially around the edges.