THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 21 OCTOBER 1974

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006007847
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: October 21, 1974

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The President's Daily Brief
October 21, 1974
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Exempt from general
declassification schedule of E.O. 11652
exemption category 513(15,12).(3)
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
October 21, 1974
Table of Contents
Meeting of European Communists: Soviets satisfied
with thin veneer of unity. (Page 1)
Japan:
(Page 2)
Canada: Defense cuts likely. (Page 3)
Notes: Fedayeen; China (Page 5)
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MEETING OF EUROPEAN COMMUNISTS
Moscow tolerated considerable diver-
sity of view at the meeting last week in
Warsaw in order to promote movement to-
ward a more formal conference of European
communist parties next year.
In the communique, the Warsaw participants ex-
pressed the desire that such a conference be held in
East Germany before mid-1975. There will be at least
one additional preparatory meeting in December or
January.
As expected, several key parties--the Italian,
Romanian, and Yugoslav, in particular--used the War-
saw meeting to demonstrate that the days of unques-
tioning subservience and cominformist unity are over.
They hammered home the necessity for equality among
parties, no matter how small--or big; they also
heaped scorn upon the old notion that there is one
established center of communist authority. Several
of the delegates stressed that each party has a right
to voice its position and to have its views taken
into account at any multilateral gathering.
The Soviet delegate held his peace, with hardly
a grimace. He also avoided criticizing the Chinese,
in deference to the several parties that had insisted
that absent parties not be attacked.
The Soviets seem to consider the Warsaw meeting
a success, if only because it produced some semblance
of unity among European communist parties. All but
three were represented. Moscow will probably be
satisfied if efforts to convene a more formal con-
ference next year go as smoothly. Even if such a
conference merely endorses Soviet detente policy to-
ward the West, it will, in Soviet eyes, have been
worth the effort.
The Kremlin leaders, to be sure, still nurture
the hope that regional meetings will culminate in
another international communist conference, but
formidable hurdles remain in the way. In any case,
the Warsaw meeting makes it clear that if Moscow
wants progress toward a world gathering, it will
have to put up with the disruptive behavior of maver-
ick parties and softpedal differences with China.
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JAPAN
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CANADA
Canada's plans to reduce further its
already minimal defense program have sur-
faced during the past week in parliament
and the press. Ottawa's commitments to
NATO, however, appear fairly safe for the
short run.
Canada's double-digit inflation has pushed de-
fense costs well beyond the 7 percent increase called
for in the five-year defense plan adopted last Octo-
ber.. Declining economic growth has added to the
problem by reducing tax revenues.
The planned capital improvements program for
the armed forces has been maintained only by cut-
ting personnel from an authorized strength of about
84,000 to just under 80,00.0. Further reductions
are now seen as inevitable.
(continued)
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Prime Minister Trudeau has never assigned de-
fense a high priority. He is seeking closer ties
with Western Europe, however, and will be reluctant
to irritate Europeans and lose an effective voice
at the North Atlantic Council through a substantial
reduction in Canada's NATO commitment,
If economic pressures on Canada's budget con-
tinue over the .longer term, it is doubtless only a.
matter of time. before .an erosion of Canada's.comMit-
ments to North:American defense and NATO also take
place.
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NOTES
Fedayeen:
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Top Secret
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