The Fall of Beria

[p023] THE FALL OF BERIA By T. Mercer In December, Lavrentia Beria, former head of the Soviet secret police, was condemned to death by a secret court and promptly shot. Just after the death of Stalin, Beira was being eulogised as the ‘ best son of Russia’. A few months later he and his associates were described as “‘reptiles in human masks,” ““an ampule of evil microbes”’ and as ‘“‘ pygmy Napo- leons”’ at the public meetings called all over the Soviet Union to discuss his arrest. Beria was at the peak of the Kremlin dictatorship. He appeared to occupy second place in the triumvirate— Malenkov, Beria and Molotov—which succeeded Stalin at the head of the Soviet State. His elimination is no small matter. His arrest last July was immediately followed by purges. and arrests among leading officials in Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan and Byelorussia. A few months later the arrest of V. N. Merkulov, lately Minister of State Con- trol and former Minister of State Security, indicated that the purge was still continuing. This latest wave of purges, itself followed widespread purges in the Soviet Republics after Stalin’s death. It appears Beria’ was then attempting to gain control of the State apparatus. The Soviet State Prosecutor in his indict- ment made the accusation that he *‘ committed terroristic murders for the purpose of wiping out honest cadres de- voted to the cause of the Communist Party and of the Soviet regime.” Six months after his dismissal as Vice Premier of the Soviet Council of Ministers and as Minister of Internal Affairs; six months after his arrest, it was announced that Beria and six others had confessed to crimes testifying to their “‘ profound moral degeneration.”’ All the familiar marks of a Stalinist purge technique were present in the . " announcement. 23

[p024] that stated was it dismissed was Beria Lavrentia When be-- “‘ and renegade bourgeois a into developed’”’ had ‘‘ he had he declared Pravda imperialism.’ of agent an come Stalinist the all in as But Communist.” a of face the lost ‘* an and traitor a be to shown be must accused the purges . cannot regime The beginning. the from agent imperialist and reptile a but other anything that suggestion the permit it. to opposition develop can agent an as December in indicted finally was therefore, Beria, 1919. since Intelligence British of agent an. been having usual the to confessed have to alleged is he that to Added pub- to bought not was Beria crimes. of amalgam stalinist liquidated was He confession. his make to there trial lic in that mean only can That way.” “administrative the not could prosecution the and confession no made he fact executioner. public abject own his be would he ensure accord- in procedure the of use made liquidation His was edict This 1934. December, of edict an with ance- the following atmosphere crisis the in Stalin by issued heard be must ‘“‘ case the it Under Kirov. of asassination against appeal and ”’ parties the of participation the without permitted. not are pardon for petitions and sentence the SCAPEGOAT A AS USED WAS BERIA to plot anti-Soviet an organising of accused was Beria re- worker-peasant Soviet the liquidate ‘“‘ and power seize the securing and capitalism restoring to view a with gime bourgeoisie.” the of domination the of revival the for scapegoats the became accomplices his and He society. Soviet of antagonisms and difficulties solve to failed has Union Soviet the in rule Bureaucratic be- antagonisms sharp exists There problem. national the the of inhabitants the of aspirations national the tween the of centralisation bureaucratic the and Republics Soviet con- have to said is He blame. the takes Beria Kremlin. the resuscitate to measures criminal out carrying to fessed Soviet the in elements nationalist bourgeois of remnants peoples the between discord and hatred sow to Republics, 24

[p025] of the U.S.S.R. and, above all, to undermine the friend- ship of the Soviet people with the Great Russian people.” There are grave difficulties in Soviet agriculture. At the Central Committee meeting of the C.P.S.U., last September Kruschev declared while industrial production had risen by 130 per cent between 1940-52, agricultural production had increased by only 10 per cent. He attributed this primarily to the failure to realise the importance of the collective farmer’s personal plot of land. He denounced those who had adopted a strongly negative attitude towards the farmers’ personal production. Whether Beria was among those denounced, or whether the Kremlin is finding a necessary excuse for not fulfilling its promises of rapidly increasing food production, is not clear. The indictment of the former head of the secret police, however, contains the following significant charges: “To subvert the collective-farm system, and to create food difficulties in our country, Beria, by all manner of means sabotaged and interfered with the enforcement of most important measures of the party and Government directed towards an upsurge of the economy of the collective and state farms, and toward a ‘steady improvement of the well-being of the Soviet people.” Like the accused in the Moscow trials before the war, like Rajk, Kostov and Slansky before the death of Stalin, now, after the death of Stalin, Beria and other former Soviet leaders are liquidated with a fantastic indictment that no- one but the most innocent members of the Communist Party will believe. The old familiar Stalinist pattern of purges and confessions which emerges makes it clear that the bureacratic caste ruling the Soviet Union has no- new methods of solving thé problem of maintaining its power and privileges. A BLOW TO THE LIBERALISATION THEORIES Beria’s liquidation and the methods by which it was accomplished deal a shattering blow to the theories that the Soviet bureacracy is being forced to don a ‘new look.’ Since the death of Stalin there has been much speculation on the theme of the ‘liberalisation’ of the regime. Im- 25

[p026] prisoners for amnesty an Stalin of death the after mediately promised was code penal the of revision a announced, was im- been had who doctors Soviet and days, thirty within poisoned having to confessed already had who and prisoned released. were leaders Soviet of beginning the being as quoted were events these All being were Stalin of successors the which in process a of aspects hideous most and worst the suppress to forced masses. Russian the over terror the diminish and Stalinism irre- an as interpreted was doctors the of release The purges. and trials frame-up of system the to blow parable the that declared release their on statement official The secur- in judiciary the and police the by adopted methods criminal’, ‘‘ “fraudulent”, were confessions their ing inadmissable.”’ “ and unknown not were excesses police of criticism However, several purged was G.P.U. the indeed and Stalin under Beria which by methods The regime. his during times so Stalin, under as that plain it make liquidated been has in- ‘ not are purges and trials Malenkov—frame-up under the assume to struggle the In general. in admissable’ can successors his chief, in purger the Stalin, of -mantle building the means That Stalin. of methods the use only and purge by apparatus the in support personal of up in opposed not are bureacrats victorious Thé arrest. as system the to only but terror of system this to general rivals. their by used iso- on generalise to superficial.attempt a from Arguing arrest the that drawn be could conclusion the facts lated blow a itself police—was secret the of head Beria—the of - chief police first the not is Beria But regime. police the at 1938 In executed. and arrested be to Union Soviet the in G.P.U. the and Cheka the in worked had Yagoda—who he after liquidated head—was. its as later years, sixteen for leaders. Soviet poisoning to confessed publicly of representative prominent most the Deutscher, Isaac from ‘liberalisation’ a of possibility the of theory the that conjectured has sure, be to Union, Soviet the in above leaders. Soviet the of wing liberal the on was himself Beria 26

[p027] That is entering into the realm of speculation. In the struggle among the tops of the bureacracy after the death of Stalin the supreme arbiter—a struggle which is not yet resolved—it is always possible that one or the other of the contestants can make a limited appeal to the masses by appearing to be against the worst excesses of the regime, particularly as the death of Stalin unquestionably released a flood of hope among the people that they would get a new deal. Beria may have been attempting to make such an appeal and himself be responsible for the release of the doctors. What is sure, however, is that had he gained the ascendancy, he, no more than Malenkov could permit an ever unfolding process of liberal reforms. THE SOVIET WORKERS WILL DECIDE The Soviet Union will not be cleansed from bureacracy and its terror by evolutionary changes in the bureacracy itself. Concessions from above are limited by one major factor. That all sections of the ruling group fear, like the plague, the development of an independent organisation of the workers. When the amnesty for prisoners was de- clared it specifically excluded those who had been impri- soned for ‘counter revolutionary’ crimes. The formula covers all those imprisoned for opposing the stalinist dicta- torship including those who are anti-capitalist and defend the progressive economic base of the Soviet Union—the nationalised property. The leaders feared the release of any figures around which the oppositional currents among the Soviet workers could rally, and signified by excluding political prisoners that they intended to continue the poli- tical oppression. However, events in Eastern Germany last June showed how the forces for the regeneration of the Soviet Union can organise and develop despite the political dictatorship of Stalinism. That movement developed among the workers against the bureacracy and in severe conflict with it. The Russian working masses, inspired and helped by the socialist struggle in other countries, are the only guarantee of a regeneration of the Soviet Union. They will flush away from top to bottom the bureacratic dictatorship and enable the nationalised economy of the Soviet Union to make real advances to Socialism. 27

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