CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1953/03/08

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02026918
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: July 15, 2019
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2019
• Publication Date: March 8, 1953

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8 March 1953
Copy No. 53
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO.
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DATE/
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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RITY INFORMATION
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SUMMARY
SOVIET UNION
1. Comment on Soviet governmental reorganization (page 3).
SOUTH ASIA
2. Comment on arrest of Hindu rightist leaders in India (page 4).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
3,
WESTERN EUROPE
4. Comment on West German 'Court's decision on Bonn and Paris
treaties (page 5).
5. French and British closer to EDC understanding (page 6).
6. Italian Communists reported preparing for violence to avert
electoral defeat (page 6).
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SOVIET UNION
1. Comment on Soviet governmental reorganization:
The sweeping governmental changes, cen-
tralizing power in the Council of Ministers under Malenkov as Chairman
and four first-deputy chairmen, Berta, Molotov, Kaganovich, and
Bulganin, appears to be a move aimed at tightening and streamlining
the administrative organization. The extensive reorganization and
merger of several major ministries can also be viewed in this manner.
Organizationally, it restores a system similar to that used during
World War IL
The return of various members of the old
Politburo as heads of key ministries places them in experienced hands.
This is an important move in countering any unrest within the Orbit
or possible aggression from the West.
Despite Malenkov's pre-eminent position,
the fact that the top members of the old Politburo have been accorded
prominence, with four of them renamed as deputy chairmen, suggests
at least a temporary agreement among them and presents a united
front to the Russian people and to the world. It is believed that these
shifts significantly lessen the possibility of any immediate struggle for
power or any violent internal upheaval.
While Malenkov headed the list of the party
Central Committee Presidium, he was not specifically named the
party's Secretary General. It is presumed that as senior secretary
he presently has the power which this key position carries.
The extensive scope of the reorganizations,
particularly the economic ministries, and the speed with which they
were announced appears to reflect a previously well-organized plan
for a crisis. Analysis of the reorganization of economic ministries
indicates that the only two major fabricating industries not included
in this reorganization were the Ministry of Armaments and the Min-
istry of the Aviation Industry. The eight remaining heavy fabricating
ministries have been merged into two.
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SOUTH ASIA
2. Comment on arrest of Hindu rightist leaders in India:
By arresting the leaders of three rightist
Hindu communal organizations and a number of other individuals in
Delhi on 6 March, the Indian Government has taken its first important
step in suppressing agitation for the immediate union of Kashmir
State with India.
3.
The arrests apparently followed an announce-
ment on the same day that these three organizations had decided to
launch a civil disobedience movement in Delhi and in Pathankot, near
the Kashmir border, in support of Hindu landowners in Jammu.
Since November, this latter group has carried on a campaign of
violent opposition to the leftist land reforms and the Moslem leader-
ship of Sheikh Abdullah's government in Indian-held Kashmir. The
Nehru government, which to date has only verbally opposed Hindu
rightist activities, will not tolerate communal unrest in the national
capital.
The arrests may also indicate growing
Indian recognition that continued use of violence by Kashmiri Hindus,
supported by Indian communal organizations, might create a fear of
Hindu domination and turn the Moslem population of Kashmir toward
Pakistan, thus jeopardizing India's hold on the state.
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
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WESTERN EUROPE
4. Comment on West German Court's decision on Bonn and Paris
treaties:
Although the West German Constitutional
'Court rejected on 7 March the government's petition for an immediate
ruling on the Bonn and Paris treaties, the Bundestag is expected to
ratify them by the end of March. Bundesrat approval, however, has
now become much more unpredictable and will probably not be
forthcoming until summer, when the federal election campaign gets
under way.
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In any event, the opposition Social Democratic
Party willalmost certainly resubmit its case to the court should both
houses of parliament approve the treaties in the next two months.
Should the court then declare the treaties
Incompatible with the constitution, a decision which is now somewhat
more likely, a governing coalition of all major parties might be
formed following the elections. After some delay this coalition
would likely "re-ratify"the treaties by amending the constitution.
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5. French and British closer to EDC understanding:
An acceptable solution to the problem of
British ties with the EDC may be forth-
coming if Britain accepts a modified
French proposal which would in effect
ask Britain simply to reaffirm its present
continental commitments under NATO.
The French Foreign Ministry has been
more successful in negotiations with the
British on this point than it has been willing to admit in order to
give a domestic impression that the government has made every
effort to force the absolute maximum in association from the British.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman, who has
informed American officials of the new proposal, states that France
will be satisfied with a link between British political participation
in the EDC and British maintenance of troops on the Continent.
Comment: The British have already
agreed to be represented at executive level. If the pro-
posal for British "participation" satisfies the French Socialists,
Premier Mayer will be able to ignore Gaullist pressure to scrap
the treaty.
The Saar deadlock must yet be broken,
however, before the government presses for ratification.
6. Italian Communists reported preparing for violence to avert
electoral defeat:
The leadership of the Italian Communist
Party has ordered the creation of action
squads to stir up violence throughout Italy
if the party's defeat annears certain
because of the new electoral law,
the squads would be made up of seasoned Communist
partisans of World War II resistance groups.
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Comment: Although the security forces
would be capable of dealing with any disturbances, Communist
filibusters have delayed final action on the electoral law until
22 March, and the government is using Communist obstructionism
as an excuse for nostponina EDC ratification�
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