Soviet Union: A Demonstration of Unity

Andropov gets a new title, but doubts about his strength remain

Painfully, haltingly, the stooped figure moved across the dais of the vast, neoclassical chamber in the Great Kremlin Palace. As the 1,500 delegates of the Supreme Soviet rose to their feet to deliver a tumult of applause, Yuri Andropov's strained face stared ahead without a smile. Hurriedly, the leadership pushed through the session's most important item of business. After an effusive nominating speech by Konstantin Chernenko, Andropov's principal rival on the Politburo, the delegates voted unanimously to confer upon Andropov the ceremonial but authoritative post of President of the Soviet Union.

The vote came in the midst of a four-day meeting of Soviet leaders that seemed to consolidate Andropov's power after months of uncertainty. As President, General Secretary of the Communist Party and Chairman of the Defense Council, Andropov now holds the same three positions that his predecessor Leonid Brezhnev did. One difference is that it took Andropov seven months to get the three titles; Brezhnev needed 13 years. In nominating Andropov last week, Chernenko praised him as "an outstanding leader of the Leninist type."

For Soviet citizens, the biggest surprise was that Chernenko played such a prominent role. As a Brezhnev protégé, the silver-haired Chernenko, 71, was long considered a potential successor. But a few months after Andropov's designation as party leader, Chernenko dropped from public view, ostensibly to battle a bout of pneumonia. When he failed to appear for the traditional May Day lineup atop the Lenin Mausoleum, Moscow's active rumor mills began to speculate that he had lost another behind-the-scenes power struggle with Andropov. But once the more than 300 members of the powerful Central Committee had retreated to their semiannual closed-door meeting last week, the official Soviet agency TASS revealed the dramatic news that none other than Chernenko was delivering the keynote address.

Looking pale, Chernenko galvanized the conference with a candid appeal for reform in Soviet society. Inveighing against many ills, including trite propaganda, red tape, "sponging, bribe taking and money grubbing," he demanded a "new atmosphere of intolerance" ideologically to combat what he called a U.S.-sponsored program of "psychological warfare" against the Soviets.

The honor of delivering the central address indicated that Chernenko was, for now at least, in control of the important post of chief party ideologue. But by carefully echoing positions already taken by Andropov in recent months and deferentially praising his campaign to instill discipline in the work force, Chernenko also made it clear that he respected Andropov's pre-eminent position. The leadership, Chernenko insisted, was working "efficiently, concertedly." Remarked a Soviet official after hearing the speech: "I think our leaders were aware of the rumors of a power struggle and wanted to demonstrate unity."