ON THE OTHER HAND NIKITA KHRUSHCHEV'S SPEECH STARTED OFF LIKE JUST ONE 
MORE OF HIS EXHAUSTIVE EXHORTATIONS FOR HARDER WORK BY PARTY BOSSES 
AND FACTORY HANDS . BUT BY THE TIME HE WAS THROUGH, 
THREE HOURS LATER, HIS RAMBLING REMARKS IN THE KREMLIN'S PALACE OF 
THE CONGRESSES HAD TOUCHED OFF A FRESH TORRENT OF SPECULATION ABOUT 
THE FUTURE LEADERSHIP OF THE SOVIET UNION . AND ALL BECAUSE 
OF A FEW VAGUE SENTENCES ABOUT OLD AGE . MUSED THE 
KREMLIN COMMISSAR : " HERE AM I, A MAN OF THE 
OLDER GENERATION . . . I AM ALREADY 69, AND EVERYONE 
KNOWS THAT I CANNOT HOLD FOREVER THE POSITIONS I NOW HOLD 
IN THE PARTY AND THE STATE . " CRYSTAL BALLS . 
WHAT ON EARTH DID KHRUSHCHEV MEAN ? WAS HE ABOUT TO 
RESIGN AS PREMIER OF THE NATION, FIRST SECRETARY OF THE COMMUNIST 
PARTY, OR BOTH ? HAD HE LOST OUT IN A BACK-ROOM 
POWER STRUGGLE ? OR WAS HE MERELY TRYING TO SMOOTH THE 
WAY FOR A POSSIBLE SUCCESSOR ? IF THE PUBLIC WAS BAFFLED, 
SO WERE THE FREE WORLD'S KREMLINOLOGISTS, THAT TIGHT LITTLE BAND OF 
EXPERTS WHO SPEND HALF THEIR TIME READING BETWEEN PRAVDA'S LINES AND 
HALF PEERING INTO THEIR CRYSTAL BALLS . FOR WEEKS, THE EXPERTS 
HAD BEEN FERVERISHLY SPECULATING OVER KHRUSHCHEV'S POSSIBLE HEIR . THE FAVORITE 
WAS HANDSOME, HARD-BOILED FROL KOZLOV, 54, NO . 2 MAN IN 
THE PARTY, WHOM NIKITA HAD QUIETLY SINGLED OUT AS HIS CHOICE 
ALMOST FOUR YEARS AGO (TIME COVER, JULY 13, 1959) . BUT 
OTHER EXPERTS EXCITEDLY POINTED OUT THAT KOZLOV WAS THE ONLY KREMLIN 
LEADER ABSENT FROM A MAJOR MOSCOW BLOWOUT LAST WEEK MARKING THE 
93RD ANNIVERSARY OF LENIN'S BIRTH, THUS CONCLUDED THAT KOZLOV MIGHT BE 
ON THE SKIDS . ON THE BASIS OF SUCH BARELY VISIBLE 
CLUES, WEARY KREMLINOLOGISTS STAKE THEIR REPUTATIONS . ONE OF THE BEST 
OF THE BUNCH, BRITAIN'S EDWARD CRANKSHAW, INSPIRED ONE THEORY OF NIKITA'S 
FUTURE WITH A FRONTPAGE STORY IN LONDON'S OBSERVER DECLARING THAT AGING 
KHRUSHCHEV MIGHT ANNOUNCE HIS RETIREMENT " WITHIN TWO YEARS " AT 
THE COMING MAY 28 MEETING OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY CENTRAL COMMITTEE 
. WHO TOLD HIM ? " WELL-INFORMED SOVIET SOURCES, " OF 
COURSE . ALL GUESSWORK . IT IS NOT EASY TO SAY 
WHO SHOULD BE BELIEVED . FROM JEREMY WOLFENDEN, LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH 
CORRESPONDENT IN MOSCOW, CAME WORD THAT " RUSSIAN SOURCES DECISIVELY REJECT 
THE IDEA THAT MR . KHRUSHCHEV WILL RETIRE EITHER FROM THE 
PREMIERSHIP OR THE SECRETARYSHIP OF THE PARTY . " MERLE FAINSOD, 
DIRECTOR OF HARVARD'S RUSSIAN RESEARCH CENTER, SAID CRANKSHAW / IS SPINNING 
THINGS OUT RATHER THIN . " WILLIAM GRIFFITH, RESEARCH ASSOCIATE ON 
COMMUNIST AFFAIRS AT M.I.T.'S CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, DECLARED, " I 
WOULD NOT SAY THAT THE WEIGHT OF EVIDENCE IS ON CRANKSHAW'S 
SIDE . " BUT JUST IN CASE IT WAS, GRIFFITH ADDED 
: " YOU CAN ARGUE EITHER WAY ; EITHER KHRUSHCHEV IS 
IN TROUBLE, OR HE'S SO SECURE IN POWER THAT HE CAN 
PERFECTLY WELL AFFORD TO MENTION RETIRING . / ONE DARING DEMONOLOGIST 
EVEN SUGGESTED THAT NIKITA HIMSELF GAILY WAS SPREADING THE RUMORS IN 
ORDER TO RALLY MORE SUPPORT . ON THE OTHER HAND, WOLFGANG 
LEONHARD, THE EX-COMMUNIST WHO NOW ANALYZES RED AFFAIRS FOR WEST GERMANY'S 
DIE ZEIT, THOUGHT IT WAS " VERY POSSIBLE THAT KHRUSHCHEV WILL 
GIVE UP ONE OF HIS POSTS, MORE LIKELY THE GOVERNMENT JOB 
. " THE FREE-FOR-ALL WAS CLEARLY GETTING OUT OF HAND ; 
SOMEWHAT UNPROFESSIONALLY THE GUARDIAN'S POLISH-BORN SOVIET EXPERT, VICTOR ZORZA, SHRUGGED, " 
IT'S ALL GUESSWORK, " THEN PLUNGED BACK INTO THE FRAY . 
