Ten in a Row

The clock in the Kremlin Spassky tower chimed 10 as Defense Minister Nikolai Bulganin, resplendent in gold-braided dress uniform, arrived in Moscow's Red Square. He came not astride the usual cavalry charger, but perched on the back seat of a dove-hued ZIS sports car. After briefly touring the crack units up for review, he joined Georgy Malenkov and the eight other Presidium members atop the Lenin-Stalin tomb. As 150 massed bugles unloosed a mighty blast, he advanced to the microphones and began the traditional address on Soviet Russia's 36th May Day.*

Gone were the familiar gibes at warmongers and capitalists. Bulganin proclaimed: "Given good will and a sensible approach, all international problems can be solved by peaceful means." Then, blandly throwing Eisenhower's words back, Bulganin observed: "The Soviet government would like to see the peaceful statements of other governments supported by deeds . . . We must remain vigilant . . ."

The military parade, without the usual ominous big tanks and guns, was whisked out of sight in 13 minutes, the shortest show of muscle in all Soviet May Day history. That other stock skit on such occasions, the staged break of a little girl from the ranks bearing a bouquet to a beaming Stalin, was multiplied tenfold this year. Ten little girls headed up the steps, handed over ten bouquets, one for each Presidium member, carefully showing no favoritism among the new rulers.

*Which, however, is not a Russian invention. May Day workers' celebrations began in Chicago in 1886, as a demonstration for the eight-hour day. The idea spread to Europe, first to the Socialists, then to the Communists.

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