ABSTRACT
The men who have been ruling the Soviet Union since Joseph Stalin death are epigoni, "sons," aftercomers. Lenin began by creating a party in which the Center selected the local committees, which in turn sent delegates to the conventions that confirmed the Center. Lenin is the author of the great theories and the initiator of the great works, and Stalin is reduced to continuator, developer and disciple. The Stalin cult, whose high priests these men were, has made the problem of the succession more difficult. The troika that planned the purges under Joseph Stalin's personal direction was made up of Malenkov, keeper of the dossiers and supplier of leads, Vyshinsky, prosecutor and impresario of staged trials, and Yezhov, apprehender, inquisitor and executioner. When the fury had run its course, Yezhov was made expiatory goat, but Malenkov and Vyshinsky were promoted.
