STAFF NOTES: SOVIET UNION - EASTERN EUROPE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00865A001800150002-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2002
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: September 23, 1975
• Content Type: NOTES

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SOVIET UNION - EASTERN EUROPE
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September 23, 1975
Fourth Cominformist Plot
Reportedly Unearthed in Yugoslavia. .
. .
. . .
Yugoslav Party May
Cut Its Ballast . . . . . . . . . . .
. .
. . .
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Zhivkov Accentuates the Positive in Talks
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with Deputy Secretary Ingersoll . . . . .
. . .
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Fourth Cominformist Plot Reportedly
Unearthed in Yugoslavia
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A leading West German newspaper has reported
rumors from Belgrade that a new group of pro-Soviet
dissidents has been arrested in Serbia and the prov-
ince of Vojvodina.
According to the newspaper story, the new
group is large, and numerous arrests have been made.
Yugoslav authorities allegedly view the group's ac-
tivities as serious because of unspecified "Soviet
:influences. A secret radio transmitter reportedly
was uncovered during related investigations in the
Serbian industrial town of Kraqujevac.
If the newspaper report is accurate, the ar-
rests could become a cause celebre. The report
says "a certain Stenovic," who was in the postwar
years a director of Tanjug, was implicated as a
leader of the Serb Cominformists. We have no record
of a Stenovic in this position, but Tihomir Stano-
jevic held the Tanjug post after the war and from
1945-1965 served as Tito's uersonal press attache.
September 23, 1975
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Yugoslav Party May Cut its Ballast
There are growing signs that the leadership in
Belgrade is discussing the use of administrative
measures to remove party members who avoid their
duties or who only halfheartedly back the federal
party's programs.
The Yugoslav party has more than a million mem-
bers--seven percent of the eligible adult population.
In the past, Tito has complained about its unwieldy
size and slipshod ideological standards, and has
on occasion threatened to thin the ranks by as many
as 200,000 members.
Perhaps in response to Tito's renewed attention
to potential enemies within the Yugoslav system,
Belgrade has reportedly ordered an exchange of party
cards as a means of paring away dead wood.
The card exchange may already be under way in
Serbia. Over the past week, regional and federal
officials there have been telling the local party
membership to get with the party program or get out.
On their list of sins are:
Idleness and passivism in party affairs,
Free interpretation of central committee
directives and resultant ideological con-
fusion, and
Careerism (using party membership to ac-
quire better jobs) and demagoguery under
the guise of party loyalty.
It has been over two years since the Yugoslav
party's last major purge, and some officials may
believe that this fact alone is reason enough for
September 23, 1975
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a housecleaning. Given Tito's reported determina-
tion to eliminate all sources of opposition and to
71 shore up party discipline, he may this time press
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September 23, 1975
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Zhivkov Accentuates the Positive
in Talks wit Deputy Secretary Ingersoll
In a conversation with Deputy Secretary Ingersoll
in Sofia last week, party and state leader Todor
Zhivkov said he would like to see an across-the-board
improvement in relations. Zhivkov has long been con-
cerned over the low priority that he believes the US
attaches to Bulgaria and was eager to assure US of-
ficials of his desire to move forward on several
bilateral issues. The most promising at this time
is a cultural-scientific exchange agreement. Zhiv-
kov seemed particularly interested in acquiring US
technology.
Zhivkov went out of his way to disclaim the
notion that Bulgaria was a puppet of the Soviet
Union. He stressed the "enormous differences" be-
tween the two countries, focusing on Sofia's decision
to abolish and replace collective farms with "agro-
industrial complexes." On a more realistic note,
however, he referred to a recent speech before the
ambassadorial corps in which he noted that if he
started criticizing the USSR, "i would be ousted,
and I am no fool."
Discussion of expanded trade, including the
granting of most-favored-nation status to Bulgaria,
pursued a familiar path, with the Secretary prodding
Zhivkov to remove irritants on the Bulgarian side
that have impeded progress.
Zhivkov appeared eager to minimize trouble spots,
including Sofia's press treatment of the US. Zhiv-
kov asserted that "we can agree even now" that if
articles appeared which hindered improved relations,
"we will eliminate them or reduce them to a minimum,
or modify them."
September 23, 1975
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On the humanitarian issue of "divided families,"
Zhivkov grandiosely announced that less that 100
individuals, "less than a planeload," are involved,
and "you could send an airplane for them right now."
The Bulgarian leader has in the past made similar
magnanimous comments on this issue, but has failed
to follow up his words with deeds.
Throughout the conversation with the highest-
ranking US official to visit Bulgaria to date, Zhiv-
kov was his usual ebullient and self-confident self.
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September 23, 1975
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