Just an Old Cow Hand ...

Toward the end of World War II, a Kremlin visitor warned Stalin that the German Communist Party might--someday--outnumber and outdo the Russian party. Stalin snorted: "Communism on a German is like a saddle on a cow."

By 1951, Stalin's communizers of East Germany had learned from bitter experience that Stalin might be right. After nearly five years of trying to saddle their cow, they seemed to be having more trouble than ever. Last week Party Boss Walter Ulbricht decreed that East Germany's Socialist Unity Party (SED) would have to be purged. He announced that 20,000 party officials, working from now until July in 4,000 teams of five, would screen the SED's 1,600,000 card holders. The 20,000 would be supervised by 1,000 of the party's elite.

The SED was formed in 1946 when the regular Communist Party merged with the Eastern Zone Socialists. For a while, the Communists honored their promise of biparty "parity." Then, one by .one, nearly all the Socialist leaders were eased out. Now the rank & file Socialists who have not been fully converted to Communism will have to go too. SED card holders, announced Ulbricht, will be investigated "regarding all phases of their lives." They must be "true workers," must know Marx & Lenin by the numbers, must above all be devoted to the interests of the Soviet Union--no "morally tainted elements or careerists" will be tolerated. All party cards will be turned in, and to get new cards, members will have to answer "a number of questions on the role played by the Soviet Communist Party."

Ulbricht & Co. predict that they will oust 25% of the party's functionaries, 10% of its rank & file members, be left with a tighter, handier Communist Party. But if Stalin knew what he was talking about, the saddle was still likely to be an odd fit.

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