CASE OF THE MOUNTAIN CLIMBERS: II

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP88-01314R000100680013-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 4, 2004
• Sequence Number: 13
• Publication Date: March 24, 1970
• Content Type: MAGAZINE

STAT
Approved For R '4WW. CIA-RDP88-0131
24 Mar 1970
JAMES BURNHAM
' A fortnight ago I re-
THIRD ported the trial in
THE WORLD gWarsaw of five raduate students Polish
WAR "hostile and harmful
activity against Poland," "crimes
against the good name and the inter-
ests of Poland and of socialism," and
"work of diversion" as agents of the
magazine Kultura and its editor, Jerzy
Giedroyc, "financed by Radio Free
Europe and CIA" with an assist from.
"international Zionism." I explained
that the defendants were among the
young Poles who, sharing the ideas
and hopes of the Czech "Spring," had
spread those ideas in Poland and trav-
Bled between Poland and Czechoslo-
vakia to carry the news of what was
happening in each nation to the youth
of the other.
The trial of the five ended, it goes
without saying, with verdicts of guilty
and prison sentences. "The verdict con-
firms," commented Le Monde (Paris),
"that it was in truth M. Giedroyc, edi-
tor of Kultura, who was being tried
through stand-ins. This Is why the
maximum
ht th
i
e
es soug
Polish authorit
possible publicity for the trial through- not dead in those countries. This War- tion, terror, purging, bribes, imprison-
saw trial and the one (still more ment, repression and whatever are
out the West and especially in France. They want the French government to serious) that will no doubt be held- tried, the dissent keeps cropping up and
clamp down on Kultura's activities." soon in Prague serve only to con- . periodically erupts in mass displays.
Throughout the trial the European firm this." Everyone believed that after Hungary-
press, both East and West, continued The London Times. and Le Soir ?' 1956 there could not be another mass
the extensive coverage that I men-. (Brussels) go on to a subtler point: action. But then there was Czechoslo-
tioned. The leading papers of Prague, "With negotiations to improve rein- vukia-1968.
Sofia, East Berlin, Bratislava and Del- lions with Western Europe under way, 3) The role of Kultura in the Trial
grade daily featured reports, as did . the Polish authorities no doubt fear an of the Mountain Climbers proves what,
Moscow's Izvestia and Pravda. Alek- increase in the. influence of radical ... an astonishingly powerful effect a small
sander Tarnawski, chief commentator opinions from the West" (Times).. group of dedicated, intelligent and able
of Radio Warsaw, covered each day of . "The dialectic so much appreciated in persons ca{t produce with a minimum,
the trial in his regular evening broad- the Marxist camp is implacable: the of money. There could be this incom-
casts. He invariably centered his attack more relations with the West expand, mensuratc result, of course. only be-
on Kultura, "one of the links in the. the more the danger of 'ideological cause the potential is already present,
system of psychological warfare direct- . diversion' increases, the heavier lif-o waiting for catalysts. Who could predict
ed against the socialist camp." France- censorship becomes, the more restricted, what might happen if the resources
Soir (Paris), describing the trial as all civil liberties" (Le Soir). brought into play were raised. to. say.
"unprecedented ... involving all the' . Three further observations: n hundredth' of those spent on seeking
major problems of Communism," 1) These mountain climbers did not friendlier, relations with the Communist
stressed the multiple geographic aspect,. . see themselves as "cnemics of the regimes that jail young mountain climb-
with five nations directly concerned: staid"; what. they did was hardly ers? Cl
Approved For Release 2004/10/1'2': CIA-RbP88-01314R000100680Q13-7
Poland, Czechoslovakia - ("the main
focus of the affair"), France (because
of Kultura's location and because two
of the defendants had lived and studied
in Paris), Israel ("the roots stretch all
the way to TO Aviv," as the Polish
press put it) and Yugoslavia (where,
according to the indictment, defendant
Kozlowski, in conjunction with Kul.
tura, wanted to establish a radio sta-
tion). I was amused to find that the
brochure published by the Polish
propaganda agency entered my own
name in the record, as organizer on be-
half of Wall Street imperialism of the
notorious Berlin Congress for Cultural.
Freedom and co-conspirator of Kul-
furs.
CASE OF TIE ' MOUNTAIN ~ .CLIMBERS: II
enough to be classified as "dissidence"
in this country. "The defendants be-'
haved very courageously," remarks the
Times. "They accepted most of the
charges but refused to regard their acts
as criminal." Nevertheless the totali- ;
tarian Communist state defined and
punished their conduct as crime. Com-
munism can exist only while the Party
has a monopoly of organized political
power. It cannot permit the smallest de-
gree of political dissidence, above all if
shared by numbers of persons, because
dissidence would inevitably lead to op-
.position. "Born into socialism," de-
clared defendant Szymborski, "we ac-
cept its ideals, but the impossibility of
.entering into a dialogue with the Power
forced us into opposition."
Dialectic of Repression ?
Paris Presse draws one of the signifi-
How Much from Little
cant conclusions: "Warsaw and Prague, 2) Dissidence, however, continues
Tel Aviv, Belgrade, Paris.... It takes within the satellite nations. Whether or
a big circle to contain all the fears of not Tibor Szamuely (NR, March 10) is
the Polish authorities, Everyone realizes ."right about the stabilization of the So-
that in spite of 'normalization' in viet regime, the satellite regimes have
Czechoslovakia and the disciplining of not been fully stabilized, even after 25
the universities In Poland, liberalism is years. No matter-how much indoctrina-?