EVALUATION OF SOCIALIST INTERNATIONAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83M00914R001200120026-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Sequence Number: 26
• Content Type: MEMO

Approved For Release 2007/06/05: CIA-RDP83M00914R0012001
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.MEMORANDUM FOR: Director of Central Intelligence
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
Executive Director
Deputy Director for Operations
Chief, International Activities Division
SUBJECT: Evaluation of Socialist International
1. This memorandum is for your information.
2. Attachment is a 16 March 1982 DDT memorandum on the
Soci -it International (SI). It was prepared in response to
a reguest,by Vice President Bush and is, in our judgment, both
accurate and authoritative. We believe the memorandum, which
addresses the SI's organizational structure and the dynamics
that are likely to shape its posture on several current issue
areas, is responsive to your 5 March 1982 request (Subject:
Evaluation of Communist Parties and Activity) for an evaluation
of he SI.
3. We do not view the SI as a controlled instrument of
Soviet policy
The SI's political
impact, though, derives less from resolutions and organizational-
positions than from the adaptation of specific themes by member
parties to the policy positions of their respective countries
and declarations by influential individuals. This, of course,
is very much dependent on the relevance of a particular issue
to respective party interests and objectives.
4. In their memorandum, the DDI authors make one point
which we find to be of particular importance 25X1
They observe that: 25X1
together over time, SI members have developed considerable re-
spect for some of their colleagues, and are thereby particularly
 Approved For Release 2007/06/05: CIA-RDP83M00914R001200120026-2
open to influence from them." In point of fact, out of the
approximately 50 social and social democratic parties which
make up the SI, only about eight are significant.* It is the
leadership of these parties that exerts political leverage
within the SI, clout gained primarily because these leaders
have held, hold, or may be expected to hold key government
positions and political prestige in their respective countries.
 Approved For Release 2007/06/05: CIA-RDP83M00914R001200120026-2
Approved For Release 2007/06/05: CIA-RDP83M00914R001200120026-2