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Swift
Changeof
Power
•
tn
the Soviet
Union
WHAT
IT
COULD
MEAN
Athens, Greece
T
HE DEATH
o f Leonid l.
Brezhnev, 75, had been
long
expect~d.
He had
s utfered from a variety of ill–
nesses fo r a long time. Nev–
e rtheless
it
still carne as some–
what of a s urprise. Only three
days earlier on Sunday, Novem–
ber 14, Mr. Brezhnev had deliv-
2
ered a tough speech from the Krem–
lin denouncing Western, especially
American, military policies, promis–
ing to "crush" any attacks from the
so-called imperialists.
Far more surprising than Mr.
Brezhnev's demise was the swift
accession to power, befare the week
was out, of his successor. The par–
ty's new General Secretary-the
top political office in the
U.S.S.R.-is Yuri Vladimirovich
Andropov, age 68, one of the two
candidates (the other being Kon–
stantin Chernenko) long-rumored
for the leading role.
It
is significant that the honor of
announcing the new leader went to
Mr. Chernenko, thus indicating an
attempt on the part of the hierar–
chy of Soviet power to clase ranks
around the new leader in a public
display of unity. Also significant is
the fact that in his speecb, Mr.
Chernenko stressed that it was now
"twice, three times more important
to conduct party affai rs collective–
ly. " Thi s was seen as a clear
reminder to Mr. Andropov of the
principie of collective leadership, a
policy refined during Mr. Brezh–
nev's 18 years of rule.
In his
acceptan~e
speech Mr.
Andropov took a tough line. He
backed up a call for hard work at
borne, in arder to spur the stagnant
Soviet economy, with an uncom–
promising message for the West
similar to bis predecessor's message
a few days previously . "We know
full well," he said, "the imperialists
will never meet one's pleas for
peace. It can be upheld only by
resting on the invincible might of
the Soviet armed forces ."
Mr. Andropov's Background
There is much more than mere
toughness to Mr. Andropov's char–
acter (and even then his toughness
is without the rough uncultured
tone of sorne of his predecessors).
Yuri Andropov has worked with
intense dedication for bis country's
interests through bis years of ser–
vice, beginning in 1936. Few top
Soviet leaders have the multifac–
eted experience he possesses in the
fields of both domestic and foreign
policy.
Mr. Andropov was boro June 15,
1914, in a little Cossack town in the
north Caucasus.
It
is almost certain
that one of bis maternal grandpar–
ents was Jewi sh. Stories also
abound that he has considerable
Armenian blood . Researchers for
the American CIA suspect that the
family name was quietly changed
along the way from Andropian.
Pictures of the new leader certainly
bet ray non-Slavic features.
Unlike bis predecessors, Mr.
Andropov is urbane and coolly
intellectual, with a taste for music
and fine art and a penchant for for–
eign languages. He can speak and
read English, having been tutored
by one of the best teachers of Mos–
cow University. He also has a good
working knowledge of both Ger–
man and Hungarian.
The new party chief has had a
great deal of experience in East–
ern European affairs. He was
attached to the Soviet Embassy in
Budapest, Hungary, from 1954
through 1956 (becoming ambassa–
dor in the latter year). After the
Hungari an revolt i n 1956 was
crushed, Mr. Andropov returned
to Moscow as Control Comri:littee
Secretary in charge of Eastern
Europe until 1967. An account in
London's
Sunday Times
of No–
vember 14 of last year gives an
insight into the Andropov charac–
ter:
"lt
was there in Budapest that
the first indications carne of bis
complexity, bis ability to dissimu–
late, and his cool, harsh effective–
ness in face of crisis. As resistance
to Soviet domination gradually
developed during 1954 and 1955,
the Ambassador was everywhere,
giving little jazz parties, en tertain–
ing groups of Hungarian intellec–
tuals, expressing quite a lot of
sympathy with their discon–
tents . . . and giving the impres–
sion of liberal flexibility which
Hungarians now in exile ... still
remember. . . . When the crunch
carne, however , he acted without
hesitation. He blandly reassured
the Prime Minister, Imre Nagy,
that there would be no possible
invasion, and by the time the gov–
ernment woke up; the Soviet tanks
were already in the city."
[n 1967, Mr. Brezhnev asked
Mr. Andropov to take charge of
(Continued on page 45)
The
PLAIN TRUTH