Word: politburos
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Confined to hospitals or to their homes were Premier Aleksei Kosygin, President Nikolai Podgorny, Communist Party Ideologist Mikhail Suslov, Trade Union Leader Alexander Shelepin and Deputy Premier Dmitry Polyansky. Such widespread contagion within the U.S.S.R.'s ruling body-some spoke of the "Politburo plague"-revived last month's rumors of a Kremlin shake-up (TIME, March 23). It is, of course, medically possible (if statistically implausible) that all are genuinely ill, especially in view of the advanced age of some of the patients: Kosygin, Podgorny and Suslov are all over 65. But many analysts speculated that Party Chief...
Several experts in the West theorized that a decision to oust some of the top leaders has already been made, perhaps at a secret Politburo meeting rumored to have been held on or around March 30. After that date the five Politburo members were conspicuously absent from several state occasions and began canceling travel plans. According to this argument, the announcement of the ousters, which must be formally approved by the Central Committee, is being delayed until after next week's mammoth Lenin centennial celebrations. Stories are already circulating in Moscow that a meeting of the committee for this...
Amidst the ideological trumpetings and fanfares preceding the Lenin anniversary, such a purge of the nation's top ideologists sounded a discordant note, to say the least. Some analysts saw a connection between the dismissals and the Politburo illnesses, especially since some of those fired are associated with Shelepin and all come under Sus-lov's authority. In a biting analogy, British Sovietologist Leopold Labedz observed that "the dogs are fighting under a blanket, but all we can see is the blanket moving. We don't know which dog has his teeth in which other dog." Other...
There was some evidence that Brezhnev was trying to shore up his power. He was the only Politburo member to review the massive army maneuvers in Byelorussia last month and was photographed with the Soviet Defense Minister, Marshal Andrei Grechko, prominently at his side. It seemed that, as party General Secretary, he was asserting his position as first among equals in the Politburo and pointing to the support he personally commands in the Soviet army. Kremlinologists were also struck by the fact that Brezhnev, on his return to Moscow from a three-day trip to Budapest last week...
Kremlin Silence. One indication of a possible change in leadership is that the Kremlin has not moved to halt the rumors by denying them. Another way to quash the rumors would be to rouse the sick Politburo members from their beds long enough for them to gather at some official occasion. Just such an occasion was provided last week at a Kremlin party for Soviet cosmonauts. Only one of the ailing leaders felt well enough, in body or spirit, to put in an appearance. He was Shelepin, who looked pale...