SOVIET UNION EASTERN EUROPE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00865A000400310001-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 21, 2016
• Sequence Number: 1
• Content Type: NOTES

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Top Secret
125ul ~ P K Ou M
Soviet Union
Eastern Europe
State Department
review completed
Top Secret
February 28, 1975
25X1
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This publication is prepared for regional specialists in the Washington com-
munity by the USSR - Eastern Europe Division, Office of Current Intel-
ligence, with occasional contributions from other offices within the
Directorate of Intelligence. Comments and queries are welcome. They should
be directed to the authors of the individual articles.
February 28, 1975
Polish Miners Reportedly
Restive in Katowice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Vatican Foreign
Minister Visits Czechoslovakia . . . . . . . . 4
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Polish Miners Reportedly
Restive in Katowice
ous and growing
industrialized
trouble for the
unrest"
Katowice
Polish
among miners in the highly
region could pose "serious
regime."
the miners have become increasingly open and
vocal in complaining about pressures to meet pro-
duction goals through extended working hours, in-
cluding work on Sundays. The miners, who are the
highest paid workers in Poland, are also allegedly
unhappy about shortages of consumer goods and hous-
ing, and unsatisfactory pay scales.
Pro ems with coal production have evidently
led to some political infighting both in Katowice
and at the national level. Last week Jan Mitrega
lost his post as a deputy premier for some of the
same reasons that had led to his removal as minis-
ter of mining and power last September.
Poland relies heavily on coal not only for the
domestic production of energy, but also for the
substantial amount of hard currency it earns. As a
result--and despite serious shortages of skilled
miners--the regime has urged miners to pledge pro-
duction above plan figures. The US embassy in War-
saw last fall reported that employment in the mines
is 16,000 below the desired level and that miners
are clearly being "worked to the limit."
February 28, 1975
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Party leader Gierek is expected to take a di-
rect and personal interest in the miners' problems.
He himself was a miner and views Poland's miners as
his own people. If the protests increase, he will
go into the mines to listen to the complaints.
Gierek recently told the Katowice party organization
that it must continually be aware of and respond to
public opinion.
February 28, 1975
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Vatican Foreign Minister Visits Czechoslovakia
The Czechoslovak regime rolled out the red
carpet for a recent three-day visit of Archbishop
Casaroli, the Vatican's foreign minister, but the
"unofficial" talks apparently avoided sticky sub-
stantive issues. Although the Archbishop met with
Czechoslovak officials in charge of church-state
relations, the Italian press quotes a church source
as saying the fundamental issues will not be dis-
cussed until a "different level" meets--possibly
in Rome during May.
The talks with Foreign Minister Chnoupek re-
ceived two days of unusual front-page coverage in
the party daily, Rude Pravo, and prominent upbeat
play in other Czechoslovak media. The newspaper
articles stressed the "emphatically positive at-
titude" of the Vatican toward peace, suggesting
that the regime sought the visit to gain support
for its position at the European security talks.
Czechoslovak-Vatican negotiations have taken
place sporadically over the past few years, but
without much forward movement. The outstanding
issues have been:
--Filling vacant bishoprics. There are
only two resident bishops in the 13
dioceses,; and the 76-year-old apostolic
administrator of the important Prague
archdiocese is nearing the 'mandatory
age of retirement.
--The Vatican's opposition to meetings
of the regime-sponsored organization
"Pacem in Terris" at which earlier this
year a pledge of loyalty to both the
state and the Communist party was ex-
tracted from the Catholic clergy.
--Religious teaching and the regime'
active agitation for atheism. F_
February 28, 1975
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