From 1934 to 1938 was a period of great purges. The world witnessed the spectacle of gigantic public trials of old Bolsheviks such as Grigori Zinoviev and Nikolai Bukharin, both former presidents of the Communist International, and A. I. Rykov, a former Premier, all accused of treason. Even Yagoda, former head of the secret police, was brought to court. Many, as comrades of Lenin, had fought to create the Bolshevik revolution. Now they were denounced as arch traitors. Nobody knows how many thousands were killed in these blood purges. But one thing was obvious: Stalin was liquidating all possible opposition. Inevitably Stalin became, in communist eyes, a virtual god on earth. He was pictured as the world’s greatest military genius, scientist, author, critic, statesman, popular hero, thinker and engineer. Here are some of the accolades: Long live the wise leader of our Party and people, the inspirer and organizer of all our victories, Comrade Stalin! (N. S. Khrushchev, October, 1952) ... Stalin’s work will live through the ages, and grateful posterity will, like us, glorify his name. (G. M. Malenkov, March, 1953, who in 1957 was junked like Stalin) ... During those hard and grim days for our Motherland, the greatness of our leader and teacher, Comrade Stalin, was revealed in all its magnificence. (N. A. Bulganin, December, 1949) On March 5, 1953, Stalin died. The communist world went into mourning. His funeral was a state spectacle. His body, like Lenin’s, was entombed in Moscow. Speeches extolled his “greatness.” The whole world wondered, What next? First a triumvirate, Malenkov, Molotov, and Beria, assumed control. Less than a year later Beria, head of the secret police, was executed as a “traitor.” Then Malenkov, generally regarded as the Number One leader, was deposed as Premier. Later, Molotov, the old-time Bolshevik, was ousted from the Foreign Ministry, as was his successor, Dmitri T. Shepilov, former editor of _Pravda_. All three were denounced in 1957 as “enemies” of the Party. (Still later, Marshal Georgi Zhukov, Red Army hero, was ousted as Soviet Defense Minister.) Gradually new faces began to appear, especially that of Nikita S. Khrushchev, a Politburo member, who became First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, a powerful position. N. A. Bulganin, one of Stalin’s “political” generals, assumed the job of Premier. These two, referred to as “B and K,” became the most prominently known leaders.