DIRECTORIES OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNIST - FRONT ORGANIZATIONS AND COMMUNIST SOCIETIES OF FRIENDSHIP AND CULTURAL RELATIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-00915R000600150049-6
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: November 17, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 28, 1998
• Sequence Number: 49
• Publication Date: October 1, 1956
• Content Type: MEMO

Approved For Release 00/08/ 0915R000600150049-6
SUBJECT: Directories of the International Communist-front
Organizations and Communist Societies of Friendship
and Cultural Relations.
I. Purpose
1 Attached is a set of directories of the international
Communist-front organizations, as well as va .'ious Communist
societies of friendship and cultural relations. The directories
are intended as a ready reference for background information on
these organizations,
2, To the extent that information was available, the directories
provide data concerning the headquarters address, executive officers,
regional bureaus and officers, official publications, and claimed or
estimated membership of the following international Communist-front
organizations:
International Association of Dcnrtocratic Lawyers (IADL)
International Broadcasting O.r.;anization (OIR)
International Committee fo-r txle Promotion of Trade(ICPT)
International Federation of Resistance Fighters (FIR)
International Organization of Journalists (IOJ)
International Union of Students (IUS)
World Congress of Doctors (W,NrCD)
World Federation of Democratic Youth (W FDY)
World Federation of Scientific Workers (WFSW)
'Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF)
'World Peace Council (WPC)
'World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU)
World Federation of Teachers' Union;: ;.(FISH)
3. Additionally, the directories also list the name, address,
official publication, and claimed or estimated membership of the
various national affiliates or parallel organizations of these inter-
national Communist-front organizations, as well as the various
Communist societies of friendship and cultural relations.
'*' Based on data available as of 1 October 1956.
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IL Information Needs
48 The information contained in the directories is that available
as of 1 October 1956. In some cases the data was fragmentary, unknown,
or possibly outdated.
5. To enable us to make these directories current and accurate,
we would appreciate an indication of any corrections, additions, or
deletions that may be necessary for this purpose. As this is a
period of considerable,- .tress and strain for the front organizations
concerned, and as it may well result in the reorganization., dissolution
of some, or the creation of new organizations, we are particularly
interested in learning of any such changes that may take place.
6. In a number of cases it was not known whether a li::ted organi-
zation was still in existence, and in other cases it was not cert7.in
whether the front organization enjoyed a legal existence or operated
unde-?:-~-ound,,. At the same time it is possible that there may be
formal affiliations of which we are unaware. Clarification of these
points would be most helpful.
7. With particular reference to Communist societies.of
friendship and cultural relations, the directory lists in Section A
the Soviet, Chinese, East European satellites, North Korean and
North Vietnamese organizations which are known or believed to
provide ultimate guidance for the Communist-dominated societies
of friendship and cultural relations throughout the world and exploit
these societies as vehicles for propaganda, In Section B are listed
all the Communist controlled friendship-cultural relations societies
known to exist throughout the world..
8. In many parts of the free world, great reliance is placed on
these fxiendslai.p-cultural relations groups by the sponsoring Communist
countries for assistance in spreading "peaceful co-existence" propa-
ganda, for supporting the implementation of treaties of friendship
between non-Orbit countries and the sponsoring Communist nation,
and for promoting trade between the free world and countries of the
Soviet/ satellite bloc. The continual appearance of new Communist
controlled friendship and cultural relations societies attest to their
importance at this time in the propaganda programs of the Communist
nations
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9. Additionally, the significance of friendship and cultural
relations societies as instruments useful to the intelligence services
of the Soviet Union, Communist China, and other Communist
countries is confirmed. The Report of the Royal Commission on
Espionage, published by the Commonwealth of Australia. in August
1955, for example, clarified, how the Australia-Soviet Friendship
Society has been used to further the effort of Soviet espionage in
that country. Certain key officers of the Society served as intelli-
a.;ents performing any task demanded of them, and the
.r.:aerr'.bership as a whole was regarded by a Soviet intelligence
Service as a source of manpower which could be drawn upon to
supply operational information. The advantages which these
societies offer as, channels of communication for intelligence
services of countries of the Communist bloc have been noted in
other areas. The attached compilation of these "societies" will
therefore be of assistance in the performance of counter-intelligence
work,
10. Your assistance is solicited in the acquisition of as much
data as possible about the controlling organizations, the Sovi..t
All-Union Society for Cultural Relations Abroad (VOKS) the
satellite counterparts wdv'.-_I.ch guide, support and exploit the friendship-
cultural relations societies. It will be -noted that there is particular
need for information on the unit of the Czech party-government
structure which controls that country's societies of friendship,
11. We have a specific interest in information regarding all
cases in which sr.?.pport functions are performed by a friendship or
cultural relations society for an intelligence service of one of the
Communist countries. Any information showing that intelligence
services of the Communist bloc are using these societies for
recruitment of agent personnel is of particular interest..
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