CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1954/01/10
Document Type:
Collection:
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST):
03003777
Release Decision:
RIPPUB
Original Classification:
U
Document Page Count:
9
Document Creation Date:
August 20, 2019
Document Release Date:
August 30, 2019
Sequence Number:
Case Number:
Publication Date:
January 10, 1954
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CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULL[15689431].pdf | 322.97 KB |
Body:
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10 January 1954
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
1.7I DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: CQ 9
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE:
VIEWER: _
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
(/' ; x)ECT
3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
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SUMMARY
SOVIET UNION
1. USSR attempts to purchase large amounts of US agricultural
products (page 3).
FAR EAST
2. Soviet early-warning net in North Korea reactivated (page 3).
3. Comment on Chou En-lai's statement on Korean talks (page 4).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
4. Indonesian Communists make important gains through control
of labor (page 5).
SOUTH ASIA
5. Afghanistan approaches US for military aid (page 5).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
EASTERN EUROPE
7. Czech aircraft deliveries to other Satellites indicated (page 6).
8. Comment on increased resistance activities in Czechoslovakia
(page 7).
WESTERN EUROPE
9. Laniel preparing for post-Berlin EDC debate in French Assembly
(page 7).
10. Fanfani seen rivaling Pella for Italian premiership (page 8).
11. Late item: Comment on attack on Yugoslav leader Djilas (page 9).
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SOVIET UNION
1. USSR attempts to purchase large amounts of US agricultural products:
The USSR has approached a Swiss firm to
arrange the barter of 600,000 tons of manga-
nese ore at $48 per ton for 20,000 tons of
American butter,
The Soviet Union also desires to purchase 200,000
tons of American cottonseed oil for which payment would be made in gold.
The same Swiss firm was also approached by
Czechoslovakia, which was interested in the purchase of 50,000 tons of
cottonseed oil with payment in dollars part of the oil to go to Poland
and Hungary.
Comment: If such an exchange were arranged
with the USSR, it would increase the level of Soviet-US trade to over $100
million in each direction, as contrasted with American exports and im-
ports of only $16,000 and $8,032,000, respectively, during the first eight
months of 1953.
While the USSR has made several large pur-
chases of butter from Western Europe during the latter half of 1953, these
purchases total less than the above quantity. There are indications that
the planned imports of consumer goods from the West are behind schedule,
and the USSR is apparently making an effort to overcome this deficiency.
FAR EAST
2. Soviet early-warning net in North Korea reactivated:
3
TOP CRET
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Comment: The silence of this net follow-
ing the truce had led to some speculation that Soviet personnel had
been withdrawn from Korea to prevent neutral detection. Since the
Soviet fighter units which this net served have remained active in
training exercises in Manchuria, the reactivation of the net indicates
their continued state of readiness to resume air operations over North
Korea. There are no indications, however, that the Communists intend
to resume air or ground operations in North Korea.
3. Comment on Chou En-lai's statement on Korean talks:
Chinese Communist premier Chou En-lai's
statement of 9 January bids for a resumption of the Korean talks but
provides no firm indication that the Communists would negotiate seriously
for a Korean political conference at this time.
Chou does not renew the charge of American
"perfidy" and he hints that a compromise might be reached if the talks
were quickly resumed. Chou reaffirms the Communist position, however,
and does not suggest that the main issues in the talks could be rapidly
resolved.
The statement concludes with a demand for
Chinese Communist and North Korean representation at any UN General
Assembly discussions of Korean issues, and with an endorsement of the
Soviet proposal for a meeting of the "five great powers" to consider
"pressing international questions." The Communist may thus have de-
cided to mark time on Korean issues while awaiting developments in the
UN and the Western response at the Berlin conference to the Soviet pro-
posal for a five-power meeting.
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SOUTHEAST ASIA
4. Indonesian Communists make important gains through control of labor:
The American embassy in Djakarta reports
that SOBSI, the Communist.controlled
Indonesian labor federation, holds 40 to 50
key positions .in the Labor Ministry. The
present government has bowed to the federation on every major issue
and the latter is gaining strength at the expense of non-Communist
unions.
Comment: For over four years Indonesian
Communists have exercised their greatest influence through labor, and
their strength in this field would survive the downfall of the present
leftist government. The federation stresses nationalism, anticapitalism
and anti-imperialism in its propaganda. Since anti-Communism is not
an effective issue, non-Communist unions often are forced into a "me too"
position.
SOUTH ASIA
Afghanistan approaches US for military aid:
Afghan foreign minister Naim on 7 Ianuary
asked Ambassador Ward what the American
attitude would be toward an Afghan request
for US military aid similar to the assistance
contemplated for Pakistan.
Naim spoke at length of Afghanistan's aware-
ness of the danger of Communist aggression in South Asia and the need
that the United States strengthen Afghanistan, the Soviet "avenue of
approach" to Pakistan.
Comment: Afghanistan had previously taken
the public stand that American aid to Pakistan would threaten rather
than strengthen Afghanistan's security.
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4101 A-N.1-e A.
NEAR EAST AFRICA
6.
EASTERN EUROPE
7. Czech aircraft deliveries to other Satellites indicated:
Comment: These flights were along the
route most likely to be used for delivery flights from Czech assembly
plants in the Prague area to Hungary or through Hungary to Rumania
or Bulgaria. They provide the best indication to date that Czecho-
slovakia is producing jets for export as well as for its own air force.
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Estimated production of MIG-15 jet fighters
in Czechoslovakia has increased from 25 to nearly 40 pei month during
the past three months, with no apparent corresponding increase in Czech
jet fighter strength.
8. Comment on increased resistance activities in Czechoslovakia:
serious concern of the Czech government with an increase
in "provocations on the part of enemy groups," including the distribu-
tion of bogus circulars announcing Christmas bonuses for railway
workers and chain letters calling for mass demonstrations.
Despite intensive measures undertaken in
early December to curtail resistance activities, the secret police
were unable to halt the widespread distribution of these circulars,
which were clever forgeries of official forms.
, they originated with an "underground group" and were
being mailed in late November and early December to railway instal-
lations throughout the country. The public denial on 8 January of the
validity of the bonus announcement is evidence of the seriousness of
worker reaction.
Although the chain-letter appeal for mass
demonstrations on 23 December was apparently not successful, the
preventative police measures indicate the regime's fear of such
activity.
WESTERN EUROPE
9. Laniel preparing for post-Berlin EDC debate in French Assembly:
French NATO representative Herve Alphand
told American embassy officials in Paris
that Premier Laniel has instructed him to
prepare a simplified explanation of the EDC
treaty for public distribution on the assumption that the ratification
debate will take place following the Berlin conference.
Alphand hopes that Laniel's reference to EDC
in his demand on 6 January for assembly support will stop Foreign
Ministry officials from preparing an alternative to the EDC treaty in
line with Gaullist objections to a supranational organization.
TOP
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Comment: Despite the increasing intensity
of attacks by opponents of the treaty, the French government has never
hitherto undertaken a widespread exposition of the EDC or attempted to
win public support for it.
Articles on possible alternatives to EDC are
currently being featured in the French press, linked to allegations that
Laniel has promised that France will retain complete freedom of action
at Berlin.
10. Fanfani seen rivaling Pella for Italian premiership:
According to the American embassy in Rome,
there is a strong possibility that Interior
Minister Fanfani will be asked to head a newt
Italian government. Fanfani has expressed
his intention to try to form a coalition of all "moderate" parties, in-
cluding the Monarchists, and claims he also has the support of Christian
Democratic right-winger Piccioni and the Italian manufacturers' associa-
tion, Confindustria.
Monarchist sources, on the other hand, indi-
cated that if Fanfani is chosen, he will probably be unable to produce a
program acceptable to their party and that "inevitably" Pella will re-
turn to the premiership with his power greatly strengthened.
Comment: Fanfani, a leader of the Christian
Democratic reformist "left" wing, risks losing the support of this group
if he weakens his social reform progam in an attempt to gain the Monarch-
ist support. the government
crisis will probably last for two or three weeks.
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� LATE ITEM
11. Comment on attack on Yugoslav leader Djilas:
The attack on Vice President Milovan
Djilas, one of the long time top four party leaders, by the
Executive Committee of the Yugoslav Onion of Communists
is probably purely an, internal matter, with no evidence that
Yugoslav orientation toward the USSR is involved. Both per-
sonal factors and a divergence in opinion concerning the form
and timing of party policy may be involved in the dispute.
Although Djilas' recent articles in Borba
have not openly clashed with the line laid down at the Sixth
Party Congress, his attacks on party "bureaucratism" and his
well-defined proposals for the abolition of "sterile" cell meet-
ings and other "outmoded forms" have gone much farther than
the line as expressed by other Yugoslav leaders. It is possible
that some fears existed among the top levels of the party that
Djilas, whose prominence has been continuously growing during
recent years, may be attempting to obtain an even more power-
ful position through championing a more appealling "democratic"
line.
Reference by the Executive Committee to
Djilas' condemnation of the personal behavior of top communists
recalls the scandal raised by 'Secretary General of the Govern-
ment Ljubodrag Djuric, during the Sixth Party Congress of No-
vember 1952, when Djuric was expelled after raising the issue
of moral laxity in the party. The charge made by the Executive
Committee that Djilas' article on "the Anatomy of Morals" has
"evoked confusion in the ranks of the Union of Communists"
suggests the possibility that personal relationships have again
become a vital issue within the inner Yugoslav party circle.
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