25 OCTOBER 1946, Page 5

A good many people probably heard the name of M.

Malenkov for the first time when they read the article on " Stalin's Successor in The Spectator a fortnight ago. The attention drawn to this little- known personality has soon been justified, by the announcement of his appointment to the high post of joint-deputy-chairman of the Soviet Council of Ministers—a body better known by the title, Coun- cil of People's Commissars, which it bore till March of this year. M. Malenkov is a member of the Praesidium of the Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R. and a reserve member of the Politburo, which exercises so poiverful an influence in the shaping of foreign policy.