CONDITIONS IN THE CZECHOSLOVAK GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNIST PARTY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R010000090008-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 30, 1999
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: January 10, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

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Approved For Release 1999/0;-'/.L Gt-RDP82-00457R01000009008-7(
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CENTRAL INTECLIGENC AG I CI REPORT NO.
(FORMATION REPORT CD NO..
;OUNTRY Czechoslovakia
SUBJECT Conditions in the Czechoslovak Government NO, OF PAGES 3
and Communist Party
DATE OF
INFO.
EFE
DO NO T
To 27 November 1951
DATE DISTR.. 10 Jano 1952
NO. OF ENCLS..
JJFSTED BELOW
UEUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO. 25X1 X
1. Czechoslovak former Deputy Prime Minister Rudolf Slansky, Bedrich Geminder,
who was known as a Moscow agent, Gustav Bares, known as the ideologist
of the Czechoslovak Communist Partyr and Jiri Hendrych, Party youth leader,
were arrested on direct orders from the Kremlin and will be tried as enemies of
the stated The arrests have caused a sensation in Party circles. The Slansky
case is particularly embarrassing in view of his prominence at the Prague
celebration of July 1951, his much celebrated fiftieth birthday, his recent
promotion to the post of Deputy Prime Minister and his more recent publicized
contribution to Communist literature.
2. The Kremlin is asking why Slansky was promoted instead of being dismissed
at the time when his deviation was first publicized. President Klement
Gottwald now appears to be to blame. On 6 December 1951 either Gottwald
or Prime Minister Antonin Zapotocky will make an official announcement
concerning Slansky, probably to whitewash the Gottwald group and assure
the USSR of the fulfillment of its expectations from Czechoslovakian (1)
Liquidation on orders from the Kremlin of such "Moscow men" as Bedrich
reminder is explained on the basis of the Moscow agents' antagonism of
the Czech population and their failure to convert Czechoslovakia to a Soviet
arsenal.. It is reasoned that the armament program must go on and that a
purge was needed to conciliate Czech nationalist Communists who claimed
that they were better qualified to conduct the armament program than was
the Moscow faction of the Party?(2)
CLASSIFICATION
C0 IDi;NTIAL
To 3 December 1951
3. Josef Frank, a member of the Czechoslovak Communist Party Secretariat,
and Jarmila Taussig, who belonged to the Communist Party Control Staff and
was known as the discoverer of the Svermova conspiracy, have been arrested.
It is now clear that Gottwald personally received the order to conduct
the Slanslgr purge from Soviet Ambassador to Prague Anatol Lavrentiev,
Contrary to the usual procedure Minister of National Security Ladislav
Kopriva requested Gottwald's concurrence for the entire series of arrests
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which were made in connection with fhe purge, possibly indicating that
Kopriva is not secure in his i.tositiin,(3)
4. There are three possible counts on which Slansky may be tried: Titoism,
Zionism, and activity for the Wes". He will be condemned to death on the
last mentioned count. The S2,ans1rr purge means that the role of the Czechoslovak
Communist Party will be reduced '.o the fields of workers# morale and increased
production, Economic planning raid industrial management will be supervised
by the Czechoslovak government utder Moscow orders relayed totlottwald
and Zapotocky by Lavrentiev, Temporary leaders of the Party Secretariat
will be VaAlav David and J,,,sef Novotny, both former District Party Secre-
taries* The posi.tions of Gemind::r, Bares and Hendrych will remain open
for some timed Deputy 'rime Minister Zdenek Fierlinger is one of the few
high-ranking Communist] to survive the present purge, Deputy Prime Minister
General Ludvig Svobo'a was dropped from the Cabinet in September 1951,
At present he is st,.ll sitting in his ,ffice but gets no work,
50, By 1 January 19c'g the USSR will control 4-11 Czech industrial production
and will placr the emphasis on armaments, Gottwald's Soviet advisers have
already chan',ed plans without consulting tl.e Czechs; for example, this was
done when yroduction of the Poldi Steel Wor'rs in Kladno was switched to
an empha,~.fl on military output, In military production the Czechs have
been -dered to concentrate on jet fighter aircraft and anti-tank and anti-
i!
,,onnel mines, It is believed that tank and artillery deliveries will continue
t at a lower level than was expected,(4)
/, Czech officials hold the following views:
The USSR does not want war but is convinced that E'or internal reasons 'sic)
the United States must attack it, U.S. armaient .tnd its assembling (sic)
of allies indicate the inevitability of ware- The United States will not
be ready before late 1952 or 1953. In the meantime the Soviet Union must
strengthen its military defenses and its ties with the Satellites, and
will forego certain military advantages by agreeing to a unified Germany,
ostensibly a parliamentary democracy, but will unt'.ermine the new state
ebonomically and politically and thus temporarily .aacel the German military
potential,, The war may begin with a Western attack on the Czechoslovak.
Bavarian frontier.
To 18 December 1951
7,, Czechoslovak Minister of Informat:.on Vaclav Kopecky may be in trouble.
Kopecky's personal representative Nina was discharged from the Ministry,
and Hora, allegedly a high-ranking StB official, was arrested, Gustav
Bares is reported to have been released from prison, As a result of the
Slansky purge, Mikhail Silin, former Soviet Ambassador to Prague, was
disciplined; Troloff (sic) of the Czechoslovak section of the Soviet
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Judin (sic), a merber of the Central
Committee of the Soviet Communist Party and an acquaintance of Slansky,
were arrested,,(5)
(1)
(2)
as a st who was caught trying to flee to the West,
Comments Gottwald did make a speech on 6 December denouncing
Comment: The nationalise; group led by Gottwald and Zapotocky will
suffer the same fate as Slansky if they fail to: produce satisfactorily
for the USSR. It is believed teat the secondary stage of the Slansky purge
will remove Czech Ambassador V) the USSR Karel Kreibich and Party Cadre
Chief Bruno Koehler, Koe vulnerable because of his fai.lure to spot
the Slansky conspiracy, Comments It is believed that Koehler
was recently arrested; howeve?', the probable reason was that he was a supporter
of Slansky. )
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(3) Comments Kopriva may be removed for his failure a chief of the
lersonne Section of the Czechoslovak Communist Party to spot the Slansky
group's activities.
(4) "im Comments The USSR already c ntrols virtually all Czech production
as a rest of advisory commissions which have been placed in the more
important government offices and industrial management offices. It seems
improbable that Czechoslovakia will be ordered to concentrate on jet fighter
aircraft in view of its apparently very low production capacity for this
type of-avnament at this time. Czechoslovakia's production capacity in
the field of armored vehicles, artillery and ananun:ition, on the other hand,
is considerableo
t5)
to in this report, was Third Secretary of the Soviet Embassy in Prague
as of August 1949. A Pavel Alexandrovich Yudin w:.s Minister of the
Comments M.D. Frolov, believed to be the individual referred
Building Industry in the USSR in 1950; a P. Fe Yucin was a member of the
Soviet diplomatic staff in the United States. No Judin is known to hold
a high position in the Soviet government or Communist Party.
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