The Era of Conspiracies

At the joint session of the Central Committee, the Council of Ministers and the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet on 6 March 1953, a new Presidium of the CC was elected, consisting of Beriia, Bulganin, Voroshilov, Kaganovich, Malenkov, Mikoian, Molotov, Pervukhin, Saburov and Khrushchev. Candidates were M. D. Bagirov, L. G. Melnikov, P. K. Ponomarenko and Shvernik. ¹ The meeting took place at the Kuntsevo dacha with Stalin’s body still there. His daughter was crying. ² The event constituted a revolt of the old Politburo against their dead leader. The large Presidium was abolished and apparently agreed to step aside without a fight. Real power was in the hands of a small group of oligarchs, representing the security police, the party apparatus and the state bureaucracy. Their conspiratorial power struggle raged until June 1957. Georgii Malenkov, a puffy man with an odd baby face, served as Stalin’s successor, being nominated Prime Minister while keeping his seat at the Secretariat. Khrushchev was the only other Secretary of the CC on the Presidium.