CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/03/11
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October 25, 2019
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Publication Date:
March 11, 1956
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CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO,
11 March 1956
Copy No. 03
NO CHANGE IN CLASS Si
0 DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S
NEXT REVIEW DATE: 2-01 0
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE:14-X;NAQ REVIEWER:
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
TOP-SECRET
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Nif
CONTENTS
1. GREEK REACTION TO CYPRUS DEVELOPMENTS
4(page 3),
2. NEW SOVIET FARM DECREE LOOKS TO ELIMINATION
OF ALL PRIVATE AGRICULTURE (page 4).
3. ARGENTINE ARMY OFFICERS MAY MOVE TO OUST
PRESIDENT (page 6).
4. ANTI-AMERICAN SLANT IN FRENCH PRESS
(page 7).
5. END OF MALAYAN TERRORIST CAMPAIGN HELD
POSSIBLE THIS YEAR (page 8).
11 Mar 56
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(page 9)
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 2
TOP S ECR ET
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A44 L/t1.41
1. GREEK REACTION TO CYPRUS DEVELOPMENTS
The government in Athens is vacil-
lating in its attempts to control the
violent and spontaneous reaction in
Greece to Britain's deportation of
Archbishop Makarios from Cyprus.
,This British move brought to a head
t.&07-Greek frustrations and resentments
over the Cyprus issue stemming from
the Anglo-Ureek-Turkish conference in London last Sep-
tember and the anti-Greek riots in Turkey immediately
thereafter.
Xhe cabinet, aware of the intensity oi
popular sentiment, 'approved a mass meeting in Athens on
12 March. However, it was "extremely worried" over
what might develop, and late on 11 March withdrew official
permission for the demonstration.
r1ieGrek king Aid queen, PrimeiMin-
ister Karamanlis and the top government advisers are all
reported as now doubting that Britain sincerely desires a
Cyprus settlement,
The Greek foreign midister,
fears the removal of Makarios
from the scene will permit Cypriot Communists gradually
to gain control of the Nationalist resistance movement. The
Communists, who control most of the Cypriot labor force,
apparently instigated the island-wide strike which virtually
paralyzed Cyprus after Makarios' deportation.
Any further popular demonstrations in
Greece are likely to be directed against Turkey and the
United States as well as against Britain, particularly since
Communist agitators will probably try to give them a gen-
erally anti-Western character. The government's anger at
London and its need to maintain popular support may lead
it to take only half-hearted measures to restrain the popu-
lace.
11 Mar 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 3
11-1 Ari
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2. NEW SOVIET FARM DECREE LOOKS TO ELIMINATION
OF ALL PRIVATE AGRICULTURE
The Soviet agricultural decree of
9 March appears to be a new attempt
by the Soviet government to complete
the 25-year effort to eliminate private
agricultural production and marketing.
This campaign will be undertaken at some risk of provok-
ing a fall in agricultural output.
Individual holdings of land and livestock
at present account for more than half of the peasant's income,
but they greatly hamper the collective farms because they
encourage the shirking of communal tasks. The decree calls
on collective farms to reduce the size of private plots of
those who fail to devote the required amount of labor to com-
munal tasks. It recommends a re-examination of personal
livestock holdings in a context which clearly implies that
they should be reduced. It seeks to make communal labor
more attractive by instituting numerous incentive measures,
including monthly advances to collective farmers in place
of annual lump-sum payments.
Collectivization in the early 1930's was de-
signed to make all property down to kitchenware owned in
common. Peasant resistance depressed food production and
Stalin retreated to the present system of the collective farm,
under which each household may supplement its income re-
ceived from communal labor with the output of a small per-
sonal plot (roughly from hall an acre to an acre) and a few
animals, which it is permitted to pasture on communal
lands. The campaign for complete socialization continued,
however, and was particularly intensified in the period from
11 Mar 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 4
CONFMENTIAL
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...VA V A ,I60 � ���� A Ia � I" �Asa
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1948 to 1952. Again it provoked a decline in production,
and Stalin's successors relaxed the pressures in 1953.
The new decree is cast entirely in terms
of "recommendations" to collective farms, but the burden
of executing it clearly rests on party members, large num-
bers of whom have been placed in agriculture in recent years.
The major tasks will fall on collective farm chairmen and
Machine Tractor Station directors. The formula of "recom-
mendations" leaves room for the party leadership to dis-
claim responsibility for any abuses these officials may com-
mit as the campaign accelerates in the next few months.
(Prepared by ORR)
11 Mar 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 5
CUNFITWIVTI A I
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3. ARGENTINE ARMY OFFICERS MAY MOVE TO
OUST PRESIDENT
The Argentine army chief of staff,
General Robert Dalton, plans to oust
President Aramburu and Vice Presi-
dent Rojas
His plans are supported by former
president Lonardi, the followers of General Leon Bengoa,
and Peronistas.
Generals
Dalton, Uranga, and Bengoa, and a group of other gen-
erals on 9 March presented Aramburu and Rojas with a
demand that the provisional government be turned over
to them. Aramburu reportedly made two concessions--to
postpone all National Consultative Council meetings until
further notice and to scrap the government's economic
plan.
Comment Speculation regarding imminent
changes among top government lead-
ers, including Aramburu and Rojas, increased with
Lonardi's return to Argentina on 2 March. Both Lonardi
and Bengoa favor a more conciliatory policy toward the
Peronistas. Bengoa has also been reported linked with
nationalist elements who have opposed the government's
economic plan, which calls for seeking large-scale for-
eign loans.
The present instability in Argentina
stems from lack of unity among the anti- Peronista politi-
cal parties and among the armed forces. Various promi-
nent members of the National Consultative Council have
sharply criticized new decree-laws, and there is sharp
rivalry among the armed forces, with the army trying to
counter the navy's increased political power.
11 Mar 56
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Aint
4. ANTI-AMERICAN SLANT IN FRENCH PRESS
The American embassy in Paris be-
lieves the French Ministry of Interior
may be largely responsible for press
stories of 8 and 9 March of arms thefts
from an American munitions depot in France. The French
press implied that the arms were smuggled into Algeria,
and also stressed the fact that Algerian workers on Amer-
ican bases in North Africa receive training in munitions
handling.
The embassy comments that while such
stories have appeared intermittently over the past year,
the present tenseness over Algeria has created a climate
of opinion which makes the French eager to find a scape-
goat.
Comment These press stories reflect the marked
increase in anti-Americanism among
the French, one manifestation of which was the French riot
in Tunis on 9 March. French officials in France and North
Africa have recently stepped up their charges that the United
States is interfering in French overseas areas.
11 Mar 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 7
CONFIDENTIAL
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Nre toe'
5. END OF MALAYAN TERRORIST CAMPAIGN HELD
POSSIBLE THIS YEAR
Organized terrorism in Malaya can
be ended this year if Chief Minister
Rahman uses his present high prestige
to win the co-operation of the Chinese
population, according to Lt. Gen.
ourne, the ri ish director of operations. He says there
as been a definite and favorable change of attitude among
the Chinese since Rahman% return from London last month
with the outline for Malaya's independence. Recent suc-
cesses by Bourne's security forces have been the direct
result of intelligence provided by Chinese noncombatants.
Comment There are some indications that the
Communists, in order to prepare a
role for themselves in an independent Malaya, may decide
to call off the war. In the past three or four years the
Malayan Communists have been putting greater stress on
subversion than on terrorism.
Even if the eight-year-old jungle war
is ended, the Communists' coercive capabilities, as well
as the emotional appeal of Communist China, will leave
them in position to exert considerable control over Malaya's
large Chinese population.
11 Mar 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 8
CONFIDENTIAL
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1 4..11 ILA
THE ARAB-ISRAELI SITUATION
(Information as of 1700, 11 March)
Border clashes and incidents continue to
be reported from the Egyptian and Jordanian sectors of the
Israeli frontier. (Press)
UN truce supervisor General
Burns, who has been in Cairo for consultation, "has made it
known that if the present tension became worse, he would have
to put the blame on Egyptian provocations:'
In Damascus
surface calm but a very tense situation. Israel
is reportedly placing 75 mm guns in the demilitarized zone near
the Jordan River, so placed that they can be used against Syrian
positions. Syrian troop move-
ments and construction work, including trenches and barbed wire
barricades near the Israeli frontier.
call-ups in Israel appear to have been
sharply curtailed. However, the Israeli defense forces are con-
tinuing to dispatch new or reconditioned vehicles to military units
and are maintaining a substantial number of civilian vehicles on
extended active duty. heavy air activity by
the Israeli air force, and he believes Israeli defense forces are
in strength to meet any contingency.
Egypt is gradually preparing a war footing and that
another air raid test for Cairo and Alexandria is scheduled to
take place soon. the Arabs now pos-
sibly consider they have strength to annihilate Israel and would
welcome a chance to do so.
the meeting of chiefs of state of Saudi Arabia, Syria and Egyp
in Cairo discussed whether in case of war the Arab states would
11 Mar 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 9
Prwh orporr
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call for Soviet troops if the Western powers attempted to
land troops to separate the Arab and Israeli forces.
King Hussain turned down an invitaU�IItbCaflO
to join the conference with Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia.
Hussain reportedly told Syrian prime minister Ghazzi, who
had brought the invitation, that he had no intention of "joining
either side." Hussain also reportedly rejected Egyptian, Saudi
and Syrian financial aid as a substitute for the British subsidy
now supporting Jordan's Arab Legion.
Foreign Minister Sharett told Ambassador
Lawson several days ago that Israel "could not live with" a re-
sumption of Egyptian-inspired commando activities within Israel.
Sharett left the impression with Lawson that he considers the re-
newal of guerrilla activities most likely. Lawson concludes on
the basis of recent conversations with Prime Minister Ben-Gurion
that the prime minister has once and for all ruled out preventive
war. The ambassador feels, however, that Ben-Gurion may re-
act with great force against any aggressive move by his neigh-
bors and that he is prepared to face the conseauences even if
they involve general area hostilities.
Israeli minister of development Bentov on
9 March told the American counselor in Tel Aviv that he was
not certain whether the Soviet Union would supply Israel with
arms but said that it was worth a try. If the USSR refused, at
least the cards would be on the table. The counselor felt that
Bentov had urged an approach to the Soviet Union upon the Israeli
cabinet. Bentov expressed the belief that Ben-Gurion might go
along with this recommendation. He added, however, that neither
the Soviet ambassador in Tel Aviv nor Foreign Minister Molotov
could be drawn out on the question of the Soviet attitude.
The American ambassactOr in Moscow, not-
ing particular Soviet press interest in recent Western moves in
the Near East, considers that some form of Soviet diplomatic ini-
tiative in the present situation should be anticipated--particularly
if it takes a turn for worse. The ambassador suggests that such
11 Mar 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 10
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AlIlk
an initiative might take place in the UN or in convocation of
a general Near East conference
Israeli diversion of the
Jordan River would be contrary to the Security Council's reso-
lution and that Israel would undoubtedly be punished by the
Security Council if it went ahead with its project,
in-
ability to find evidence that Glubb's dismissal was instigated
by Egypt or Saudi Arabia. It is becoming convinced that the
action was the result primarily of internal factors in Jordan.
Foreign Office decisions as to relations with Jordan are still
under consideration. King Hussain of Jordan may also be at-
tempting to formulate a policy decision as indicated by his re-
quest for a meeting with King Faisal of Iraq, presumably to
take place some time next week.
11 Mar 56
Current Intelligence Bulletin Page 11
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