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THE STAR

Friday, March 6, 1953

No 20,170

LATE EDITION
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&

August 2012
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Contents

STALIN TO LIE BESIDE LENIN ........................................... 5

Malenkov, Molotov & Beria Will Guard The Coffin ............... 5

7 Men Plan State Funeral .......................................................... 5

CROWDS FLOCK TO RED SQUARE ......................................... 6

Gun Carriage ............................................................................... 6

Black-Bordered ........................................................................... 7

People Weep .............................................................................. 7

ON FUNERAL COMMISSION ............................................... 9

HALF-MAST IN LONDON ................................................... 10

VISITORS AT THE SOVIET EMBASSY ............................ 11

SHRINE IN RED SQUARE ................................................... 12

IMPORTANT NEW ‘STAR’ SERIES ................................... 13

THIS IS TITO............................................................................... 13

Parachute MP’s Inside Story ........................................................ 13

RUSSIA AFTER STALIN By William Forest ....................... 14

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The Riddle Of Russia: What Will Happen Now?

‘MOMENTOUS EVENT’—& WORLD WAITS .................. 15

‘Be Ready’ Warning ..................................................................... 15

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STALIN TO LIE BESIDE LENIN

Malenkov, Molotov & Beria Will Guard The

Coffin

7 Men Plan State Funeral

WHILE ALL RUSSIA TODAY MOURNED THE

DEATH OF STALIN, MOSCOW ANNOUNCED
ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE LYING-IN-STATE AND
THE FUNERAL

The lying-in-state will be in the Hall of Columns of the

Trade Union House near the Kremlin where Stalin lived
and died with members of his family and party leaders at
his bedside.
Stalin will lie in an open coffin, guarded by troops, while
thousands file past to pay tribute.
The soldiers will be joined for short intervals by high
Soviet personalities. Among them will be Malenkov—thought
by many to be Stalin’s successor. Others are expected to be
Molotov, the Deputy Premier ; Beria, chief of the secret police,
both of whom have chances of succession; Mikoyan, and
Marshals Voroshilov and Bulganin.
Stalin is likely to be buried beside his old comrade Lenin,
who died in 1924; under the great pink mausoleum in the Red
Square. It lies at the foot of the main wall of the Kremlin.
Stalin has stood hundreds of times with his closest
associates on its broad flat top reviewing great parades on May
Day, November 7, anniversary of the revolution, and other big
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occasions.
The House of Unions is ready for the lying-in-state.
A big portrait of Stalin, edged in black cloth, has been
placed above the main doors.
Once the embalmed body is lying in state a cordon of
thousands of security troops and police lined six-deep will ring
a wide area round the trade union house. It will be impossible
for unauthorised persons to break through this cordon.
The cordon will enclose the Metropole Hotel where most
foreigners stay. They and other people living within the circle
will be isolated and unable to move more than a few hundred
yards.

CROWDS FLOCK TO RED SQUARE

The Council of Ministers and the Central Committee of the

Communist Party have appointed a commission to arrange the
State funeral, said Reuter.
It is headed by Nikita Krushchev, President of the
Ukrainian Council of People’s Commissars, and includes
the Soviet President, N. M. Schvernik.
The Mayor of Moscow, A. Yasnov; the Minister of War,
Marshal Vasilevsky; the Commandant of Moscow, General
Artemyev; Deputy Premier Kaganovitch; and a member of the
Communist Presidium, N. Pegov make up the other members.

Gun Carriage

The body will probably be carried from the Kremlin on a

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gun carriage draped with the red flag and piled high with
flowers. If custom is followed six or eight black horses will
draw the carriage.
The mile-long procession will be led by the highest
military and State leaders, each probably carrying velvet
cushions on which will rest one of Stalin’s decorations.
Not far behind them will come one person carrying the
coffin lid, and this will not be screwed on to the coffin until
just before it is lowered into the grave.

Black-Bordered

This Russian custom dates from the time when people

suspected that some of the Czars had not died peacefully.
Today black-bordered red flags fluttered at half-mast over
the Soviet capital. The streets, white with snow, were silent and
solemn guards stood at the walls of the Kremlin.
The people of Moscow, who had kept an all-night vigil
by their radios, were first told that Stalin’s heart had
“stopped beating” in the first radio broadcast of the day at
6 am Moscow time (3 am GMT).
It was followed by the last movement of Tchaikovsky’s
“Pathetique” Symphony.

People Weep

Along every street and by-way of snow-covered Moscow

the flags of mourning were hoisted in a profuse array.
Men and women, aged and children, expressed in tears
their deep sorrow.
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Patiently, in long silent queues, they waited for the first

copies of the newspapers to appear. Then the people of
Moscow flocked to the Red Square, traditional meeting place
in times of crisis.
British, French, U.S. and other Western Embassies
arranged for their heads to call at the Foreign Ministry to
present formal condolences.

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ON FUNERAL COMMISSION

Nikita Kruschev, on left, will preside over the Commission appointed to

arrange the State funeral. With him is Lazara Kaganovitch, also appointed.

Also members at Stalin’s funeral commission are Nikolai Shvernik, on left,

and Marshal Vassilevsky.

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HALF-MAST IN LONDON

The Red Flag, edged with black, flies at half-mast over the Russian
Embassy annexe in London today.

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VISITORS AT THE SOVIET EMBASSY

ABOUT 30 women with children arrived at intervals of a

few minutes at the Russian Embassy in Kensington Palace-
gardens today and stayed there.
Other men and women came by bus.
All visitors were inspected through a peephole before
the door was opened.
The High Commissioner for India, Mr B. G. Kher, called
to offer his condolences.
A telegram boy handed in a telegram. Others arrived with
messages.

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SHRINE IN RED SQUARE

Lenin’s tomb in Red Square, Moscow. It is likely that Stalin will be buried
by the side of his old comrade.

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IMPORTANT NEW ‘STAR’ SERIES

THIS IS TITO

Parachute MP’s Inside Story

WITH the death of Stalin, Marshal Tito of Yugo-Slavia,

the man who defied him, becomes a figure of even greater
world interest and importance.

Starting On Monday a notable series of articles, “This Is

Tito,” will appear in “The Star.”
The articles have been written especially for this
newspaper by Fitzroy Maclean, MP.
No living Briton has a closer personal knowledge of
Marshal Tito than Fitzroy Maclean.
During the war, in which he was a Brigadier, he was
parachuted into Yugo-Slavia as head of the British Military
Mission to Tito’s headquarters.
He spent eighteen months with the Partisans while they
were waging their guerrilla warfare against the Germans,
Since the war he has paid more fact-finding visits to Tito’s
country.
He will reveal in his “Star” articles facts told to him by
Tito himself of his childhood, his early life as a
revolutionary and his adventures in Russia.
The articles will tell how Tito rose to supreme power in
Yugo-Slavia and why he broke with Moscow.
Later this month Marshal Tito is visiting this country and
will lunch with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
Do not miss this important series of articles about him,
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starting in “The Star” on Monday.

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RUSSIA AFTER STALIN By William Forest

A momentous series begins on Monday in the News Chronicle

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The Riddle Of Russia: What Will Happen

Now? ‘MOMENTOUS EVENT’—&
WORLD WAITS

‘Be Ready’ Warning

WORLD reaction to the news of Stalin’s death was

summed up in this Paris comment: “The most momentous
development since the end of the second world war.”
But opinions on the probable consequences varied widely.
The New York “Herald Tribune” expressed the uncertainty
that reigned: “No-one can predict with any certainty what
Stalin’s removal from the scene will mean to Russia and the
world.
The only safe course for the West is to be thoroughly
prepared to keep its unity and strength intact, so that when
Communism explodes into aggressive war or into self-
destruction internally, the free nations will be ready.”
Lord Ismay, NATO Secretary-General, said in
Hamilton, Ontario, that the NATO leaders, did not expect a
change of power in Moscow to lessen Russian efforts to
split the Western nations.
Among other reactions were these:—
AUSTRALIA. — The Prime Minister, Mr R. G. Menzies:
There will be competitors for the succession and a period of
time in which there will be uneasiness in the Soviet Union and
throughout the world. We must hope that the regime in
Moscow will recognise this and depend on mutual respect and
mutual non-Interference.
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Dr H. V. Evatt, Leader of the Labour Opposition:

The cold war and strained relations with Russia have
inevitably obscured the fact that should not be forgotten—
Stalin stood before the world as the embodiment of Russia’s
indomitable will to win in the struggle against Hitlerism,
despite colossal losses of life.
SOUTH KOREA.— President Syngman Rhee expressed
regret and added: What we are fighting is not between human
and human but between ideas and ideas. If the Communists
prove they have no desire for aggression against their
neighbour nations, we can even make Russia our good friend.
WEST GERMANY. — The Vice-Chancellor, Herr Franz
Bluecher: I do not think Stalin’s death will bring a visible
change of Soviet policy in the near future. I expect no
immediate political effect on Germany.
UNITED STATES. — General Bedell Smith, former U.S.
Ambassador in Moscow and now U.S. Under-Secretary of
State, thought Malenkov would emerge as Russia’s most
powerful man.
But Senator Leverets Salton-stall, chairman of the U.S.
Senate Armed Services Committee, said this was no time to
relax United States defences. And Mr Sam Rayburn, the
Congress Democratic leader, said: “Russia was bad enough
under Stalin. I hope it won’t be worse under his successor.”
INDIA.— The Vice-President, Sarvapalli Radhakrishanan,
former Ambassador to Moscow, said Stalin told him in 1951
that he wished to “leave my country in a peaceful condition,
without any turmoil.” Stalin, he said, added: “I want a young
man to succeed me, and ensure the long stability of our
Government.”

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