INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATONS GROUP WEEKLY SUMMARY NO. 8

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-01090A000100020044-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2000
• Sequence Number: 44
• Publication Date: February 22, 1949
• Content Type: PERRPT

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INTFRNATIONLL ORGANIZATIONS GROUP
WEFY%LY SUMMARY NO. 8
For week ending 22 February 1949
The International Week
Dutch compliance "in principle" with the Security Council's latest
Indonesian resolution is unlikely to satisfy Republican demands emanating
from the 28 January resolution and thus break the existing deadlock.
Soviet withdrawal from the World Health Organization is not expected to
alter materially the present, Soviet attitude toward participation in the
UN itself, US-UKKFrench opposition to the appointment of even a British
nominee as Governor of the Free Territory of Trieste will probably not deter
the USSR from again pressing for a settlement. The OFEC Council decided to
strengthen OEFC by appointing an eight-nation Executive Committee of finance
ministers to direct its work. Meanwhile, the ECE Trade Committee took con-
crete steps toward promoting East-West trade.
Rhodes talks successful. Following six weeks of seesawing negotiation
in which both Egyptiaans and Israelis jockeyed for position, the Rhodes talks
appear on the verge of success. The effect of ngypt's trouncing, combined
with the deep war-weariness of Israel, has apparently enabled Acting Medi-
ator Bunche to put across an armistice. Beneath the surface cockiness of
the Israelis lies the fact that their manpower loss during the recent con-
flict has been greater than is generally realized, particularly in the youth
category. Inasmuch as mounting difficulties are being experienced in ar-
ranging emigration of youthful, as opposed to aged, Jews from Eastern Europe,
Israel is acutely conscious of the effect of prolonged hostilities on her
population makeup as well as on the nations economic resources. The matters
in dispute at Rhodes have largely boiled down to Beersheba U- a strong point
geographically of greater concern to Transjordan than to Egypt. The recent
exchange between Israel and Transjordan of over 5.,000 PWs indicates that as
a practical matter the war between these states is at an end. Should Israel
be able to settle immediate differences with Egypt and Transjordatn, the
remaining Arab states could be expected to fall in lint-. Thus, while de 19rp
ms close at
tio
bili
n see
za
peace may be a long way off, d2 fac o military sta
hand. This should give the US and the UK an opportunity to foster political
and economic cooperation between Islam and Israel and so reduce the long term
causes of friction in the Middle East. ppCl}MENTNO.
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British labor withhold$ sup orL_f"ron, Indi, and?nsored Asian lakc~r
federation. The apparent unwillingness of the British Trades Union Congress
to back efforts of the India National Trade Union Congress (INTUG) to o'r?gan.-
ize an anti-Communist Asian labor federation is reflected in its report d
refusal to attend the May Asian labor conference at Indore. This relucteLacp
is probably induced by disinclination to support the Government-sponsored
INTUC, which UK labor leaders regard as something less than a bona fide
trade union movements and unwillingness to move in this area until the inter-
national. trade union situation is clarified. INTUC efforts to form an Asism
labor federation (incorporating unions from India, Australia, China, Burma,
the Philippines, Indonesia and Iran) will be further embarrassed should the
current AFL-CIO international rivalry result in the absence of any US labor
representative at the Indore conference. This lack of concerted Western
trade union support for the nascent Asian Labor Federation is likely to
persist until the US and UK organizations resolve the differences currently
delaying the establishment of a Western-oriented world labor federation.
Should the Western trade unions fail to extend prompt support to non-
Communist Asian labor, the WFTU, increasingly active in this area, can be
expected to carry on its organizing drive in Southeast Asia without serious
opposition.
iIFDY orders "total mobilization"pf colonial youth movements. An aecel~>
crated drive by the Communist-directed World Federation of Denocratic Youth
to extend Communist influence in colonial and dependent areas is under way.
The scope of this WFDY drive is indicated by its (1) promotion of efforts
by the Indian All.-Union Student Federation to train "combatants" to partici-
pate in strikes against the "collaborators" governing India; (2) preparation
of a pamphlet on "penetration of Amerian Imperialism in India" for Indian
consumption; and (3) special instructions to national youth organization
affiliates to celebrate 21 February as a "Day of International Solidarity with
Youth Fighting Colonialism." In these instructions the WED! calls upon its
component organizations to deal "a formidable blow" against imperialist
forces in the colonial areas. The current organizing drive by the World
Federation and by the International Union of Students (I138),, which together
claim a membership of seven millions in Southeast Asia, probably reflects
Soviet determination to reinforce the similar drive it has recently launched
to control Asian labor.
Western prima a_nda offensive in ECOSOC. In the Economic and Social
Council last week the West probed an extrerrely sensitive spot in Soviet
armor -- forced labor. The ineffective frenzy of the reply illustrates
the sensitivity of the Soviet bloc to investigations of conditions behind
the Iron Curtain and points up the potentialities of this line of approach
for exposing to world public opinion the cynical and oppressive nature of
the Soviet system. The vitriolic retort consisted of lengthy counter-
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accusations of capitallati.c labor exploitation rather than a reftitation of
Western charges that millions of persons are subjected to inhumane treatment
in Soviet slave labor ramps.- This first heavy offensive by the West against
the USSR on the social and labor plane has hit its mark and any follow--'up
of this line of attack will produce intensified Soviet reactions centered
about attacks on alleged unequal treatment of Negroes in the US and exploi-
tation of native labor in colonial areas...
World Congress of Intellectuals sf. s uu plans for national Peace
Co messes., Recent novas by the International Liaison Bureau of Intellec-
tuals for Peace, the Paris secretariat of the Soviet-oriented World Congress
of Intellectuals, demonstrate Soviet determination to make the fullest pos-
sible use of this organization as a means of uniting "democratic forces in
every country" behind its "peace offensive." The Bureau has scheduled
national peace congresses in the US (25 March) p France (April), the UK
(September)A Rumania, Mexico and Italy. The importance which the USSR at-
taches to these congresses has been further indicated by the Soviet repran
sentative?s promise of support for "all initiatives aimed at peace, whatever
their origin" and by a decision to enlarge the Bureau beyond Its present
membership of twenty-five delegates representing forty-five countries.
Although the congresses are usually initiated by national committees of the
movement (the US conference, to be attended by a Soviet delegation including
Dmitri Shostakovichd will be nominally convened by the National Council of
the Arts, Sciences and Professions), the agenda and timinpof these rvetings
are coordinated with the International. Liaison Bureau,
Current role of ECQ Recent developments in the Economic Commission
for Europe indicate that in addition to its early function as a mechanism
for economic cooperation (chiefly between the Western European countries),,
ECE is becoming a forum for increasing Soviet bloc propaganda attacks against
the Westns restrictive trade policies and the site for East-West trade nego-
tiations to meet the needs of both sides of the Iron Curtain? ECE has
recently been the scene of a No= of Soviet-Satellite complaints against
Western discrimination on scrap allocations, restitution of rolling stock
and general trade with the Soviet bloc. On the other hand, the USSR and
Its Satellites, with a developing need for Western machinery and other prod-
ucts and conscious of their failure to defeat the ERP9 see in ECE an ideal
mechanism for promoting essential trade. By using ECE, the Soviets can say
that they, in crntrast to the USA; are not bypassing the UN in European
economic matters. They can also expect a consistently friendly reception
from the ECE Secretariat which is anxious to coordinate European economic
efforts. The decision of the recent ECE Ad Hoc Trade Ccmmittpe meeting to
ask both Eastern and Western blocs to draw up lists of import needs reflects
the desire of both side to increase trade with each other,
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prasoMg for a i11& f..XZ q n act. Recent indications that Turkey,
Greece and other Levant states are interested in some counterpart of the
Atlantic Pact for the Mediterranean are likely the forerunners of growing
pressure for such an arrangarrent. Greece and Turkey in particular, already
recipients of US aid, are ccncerned feet their exclusion frorr. the prospec-
tive Atlantic Pact means a slackening of US interest in the Eastern Mediter-
ranean. They are unlikely to be satisfied by any US-UK assurances of con-
tinued backing and will increasingly seek some rrathod of tying themselves
to any Atlantic security arrang(3r.ent or at least of getting US-UK participa-
tion in a regional bloc of their own, The Arab states and Iran, too, harp
recently shown greater interest in closer security ties with the US and UK.
Moreover, some prospective Atlantic Pact members have seen in a Mediterranean
Pact a rreana of including Italy in some regional security arrangenont involv-
ing US backing, without themselves being committed to defend Italy. Any
efforts to conclude a Mediterranean Pact', howPverr, would probably run up
agdnst strong Soviet opposition, The USSR would be In a position to exert
much more pressure on certain of the relatively weak Levant states and Iran
than on Western Europe.. Moreover, the USSR might well feel that a Mediter-
ranoan blocs added to an Atlantic Pact, was real "capitalist encirclement"
calling for the strongest counterreasuras
OEEC atrenRthend. The recent decision of the OEFC Council to estab"
li3h an Executive Committee of ministerial rank representatives from Bright
key ERP nations should result in much greater combined planning and coordi-
nation of the ERP economies. The Committee, which is to meet at least
quarterly, will bs able to take more binding decisions than could the sub-
ordinate national representatives attending previous OEFC meetings. The
xvoent OEFC interim report on the four-year program clearly indicated the
necessity of much closer coordination of country programs if the prospective
three billion dollar deficit in 1952 is to be reduced to manageable propor-
tions., One major problem will be to remove the inconsistencies between the
various country programs, some of which contemplate more exports to other
countries than these plan on taking and which include much duplication of
facilities in such critical areas as textiles and steel. Results to date
from the intra European payments system have also been disappointing and
a much greater degree of trade stimulation appears required. The new
Executive Committee should provide a rrcans of dealing more vigorously with
the key problems.
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