Two Giants

While Molotov was busy mixing peacetime Molotov cocktails (honey and ground glass) at Geneva, two other leading Communists were breathing martial fire in Moscow before the Supreme Soviet. Said Premier Malenkov, to one parliamentary chamber: "If the aggressive circles banking on the atomic weapon should resort to madness, and should want to test the strength and might of the Soviet Union, there can be no doubt that the aggressor would be crushed . . ." Party Secretary Nikita Khrushchev told the other chamber: "It will inevitably end in the collapse of the whole capitalist system."

Bellicose and synchronized words like these had been uttered before. What stimulated the interest of Western observers was that i) this was the first time Khrushchev had spoken out on Soviet foreign policy; and 2) Malenkov and Khrushchev seemed to be on almost equal terms. More than ever, it seemed likely that the next explosive clash in the Kremlin would be between these two giants.

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