CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1952/05/16

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02020563
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: May 24, 2019
• Document Release Date: May 30, 2019
• Publication Date: May 16, 1952

Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2020563
'TOP S ET
SECURI NFORMATION
16 May 1952
Copy No. 5 3
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
*OCUMENT NO.
NO OHANG CI 04
DE01,.ASSWIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS $
NEXT f4C.ViEW DATE-. �
AUTN: FAR 70-2
VIEWER
DATE:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
3.5(c)
3.5(c)
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2020563
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2020563
1-SECRET
SUMMARY
GENERAL
1.
SOVIET UNION
2. Cash returns to Soviet State Bank below planned levels (page 3).
FAR EAST
3. India agrees to facilitate Chinese grain shipments to Tibet (page 4).
4. French peace overture to Viet Minh expected
(page 5).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
5. Britain fears consequences of attempt to exclude USSR from
Tangier (page 5).
WESTERN EUROPE
6. Austrian Foreign Minister reportedly plans visit to Yugoslavia
(page 6).
7. Only minor Communist demonstrations expected in Berlin (page 6).
8. East Germans reportedly organizing defense ministry (page 7).
LA TIN AMERICA
9. Argentina fabricating charges of United States plot (page 7).
* * * *
- 2 -
T)MET
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2020563
Approved for Release: 2019/6-5/08 CO2020563-0'
I9 SECRET
GENERAL
1.
SOVIET UNION
2. Cash returns to Soviet State Bank below planned levels:
An order from the Soviet Minister of Finance
on 17 March directed the subordinate branches
of the State Bank to take measures for increas-
ing revenues by improving the collection of
taxe payment of loans, and by increasing retail sales, all of which were
below planned levels for the first half of March.
3
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2020563
Approved for Release: 2019/0-5/08 CO2020563
ET
Comment:
loans and taxes, particularly those levied on peasants, were
not being collected as scheduled. Income of agricultural workers has
fallen off significantly owing to the ten percent tax increase on their
private earnings imposed last August and the raising of work norms by
the State. Heavier work schedules have reduced the time spent on
rivate plots of land and thus caused a drop in monetary income
FAR EAST
3. India agrees to facilitate Chinese grain shipments to Tibet:
The American Embassy in New Delhi has been
reliably informed that the Indian Government
has indicated willingness to allow the shipment
of 1,500 tons of Chinese grain to Tibet by way
of India.
India has, however, rejected a Peiping pro-
posal to ship 10,000 tons of food and other supplies to Tibet via India and
to sell grain to India. New Delhi took the view that the request for transit
facilities should not be tied to the grain offer, and that in any case Tibet's
transport facilities were inadequate for handling such large quantities.
The Embassy assumes that Peiping will accept
the Indian offer quickly in order to relieve a serious food shortage in
Tibet.
Comment: The Peiping regime has been ex-
pected to seek Indian cooperation in alleviating the food shortage in Tibet.
India's partial compliance with the Peiping
request was presumably designed to conciliate Communist China without
contributing substantially to Chinese strength in Tibet
- 4
T3SEC1TE
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2020563
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2020563
TOP BECKET
3.5(c)
4. French peace overture to Viet Minh expected
French
Premier Pinay is convinced of the necessity
of ending the fighting in Indochina at an early
date. Two French emissaries are soon to meet in Europe with repre-
sentatives of the Viet Minh and probably also with representatives of the
Chinese Communists to discuss possibilities of an armistice.
Comment: Rumors of this sort have been
reported from various countries during the past few months. A report
in the 11 May issue of a French weekly claimed that a high Frenchofficial
had met a brother-in-law of Mao Tse-tung in Geneva to discuss Indochina.
Various French officials have categorically
denied any intention of making armistice overtures to the Viet Mirxh.
Minister Resident Letourneau recently repeated these denials, but also
stated that the door to some sort of arrangement with the Viet Minh has
not been closed.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
5. Britain fears consequences of attempt to exclude USSR from Tangier:
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
After serious consideration, the British Foreign
Office has abandoned the idea of excluding the
USSR from the Committee of Control in the
International Zone of Tangier because of the
Impossibility of maintaining the secrecy necessary to prevent the USSR
from making a counter move.
The British believe that Spanish participation
in the administration could be increased without arousing Soviet interest
In assuming its seat on the Committee of Control.
-5
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2020563
Approved for Release: 205/05/08 CO2020563
11:e_FsECRET
3.5(c)
Comment: Under the 1945 bilateral French-
British agreement establishing the present provisional administration in
Tangier, the Soviet Union as well as the United States was awarded a
seat on the Committee of Control, which is the ultimate authority in
Tangier. The USSR has thus far refused to sit on the same council with
a representative of the Franco regime, but the Western powers fear that
it might exercise its prerogative and thus establish a foothold in this
strategic area.
WESTERN EUROPE
6. Austrian Foreign Minister reportedly plans visit to Yugoslavia:
Austrian Foreign Minister Gruber reportedly
plans an official visit with Marshal Tito at
Bled about 20 May. Discussions would in-
clude Austro-Yugoslav trade relations,
Austrian prisoners of war held in Yugoslavia, the opening of more
border-crossing points, and a cultural exchange treaty.
Comment: A meeting between Gruber and
Tito, to discuss an Austro-Yugoslav "military understanding" among
other things, was reportedly considered by the Vienna and Belgrade
governments last September. This meeting, which was strongly op-
posed by the US Legation in Vienna, failed to materialize.
The Communist press in Austria is likely to
interpret a Gruber-Tito meeting as further "proof" that both countries
are linked to Western defense planning.
7. Only minor Communist demonstrations expected in Berlin:
Although the US High Commissioner's Office
in Berlin has expected Soviet-created "diffi-
culties" over signing of the Allied-German
contractual agreement, it reports that intelli-
gence and police agencies have uncovered nothing more tangible in the
way of specific Communist plans than the fact that the East and West
Berlin Socialist Unity Parties intend to demonstrate on 20 May,
TgP-SEefitt
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2020563
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2020563
TftwiP ET
3.5(c)
American officials in Berlin still anticipate
an increasing number of incidents before, and possibly after, the signing
of the contractual agreement, but feel that the situation can be regarded
with "calmness!'
8. East Germans reportedly organizing defense ministry:
American army headquarters in Germany
considers that the provisional appointment of
Willi Stoph, former chief of the East German
paramilitary police procurement agency, to
head the Ministry of the Interior may be merely a "convenient cover"for
Stoph and several of his associates while they organize a defense ministry.
The new ministry might be formally announced upon the ratification of the
Allied-West German contractual agreement.
3.3(h)(2)
Comment: According to several recent reports
of unknown reliability, various high-level specialists have been transferred
from other East German government agencies to the Ministry of the Interior
for the purpose of organizing a defense ministry. Heinrich Rau, who be-
came a Soviet citizen in 1935 and led a Communist brigade in the Spanish
Civil War, is mentioned as the government's choice to head the new ministry.
LATIN AMERICA
9. Argentinafabricating charges of United States plot:
l'aA former OSS agent of Czech-Argentine nation-
ality has stated that he was arrested and inter-
rogated along lines which convinced him that
the Argentine police are "all out to uncover a
plot by the United States." He added that large numbers of people are
being questioned, and that this will later receive wide publicity.
- 7 -
TS/ME ICET
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2020563
Approved for Release: 20-19/05/08 CO2020563
When the US Embassy asked the Foreign
Minister
why two Argentine employees of the US International Education service had
been arrested, he replied vaguely that he "hoped to show the Embassy
something soon."
Comment: Government controlled newspapers
and Peron's recent speeches have the theme that foreigners,
directed by the United States, are plotting against Peron. The police are
apparently now trying to collect "evidence" to prove American interference
in Argentine affairs and possibly to justify a demand that all USIE activities
be terminated.
8
3.5(c)
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2020563