REPORTS ON IDEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF SED

Document Type: 
Collection: 
Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 
05709154
Release Decision: 
RIPPUB
Original Classification: 
U
Document Page Count: 
3
Document Creation Date: 
March 16, 2022
Document Release Date: 
August 10, 2016
Sequence Number: 
Case Number: 
F-2016-00848
Publication Date: 
September 20, 1950
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PDF icon REPORTS ON IDEOLOGICAL PR[14909780].pdf149.37 KB
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Approved for Release: 2016/08/01 C05709154 1' CLASSIFICATION CONFED CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY � INF -,RMATION FROM FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS COUNTRY Soviet Zone Germany; Austria SUBJECT Political; Biographic HOW PUBLISHED Daily newspapers WHERE PUBLISHED Switzerland; Argentina DATE PUBLISHED 8 - 16 Aug 1950 LANGUAGE German THIS DOCUMENT CONTAIN. INFORMATION AFFECTINE TN' NATIONAL MINSK OF THE UNITED STATES �IT11111 THE MEANING OF ESPIONAGE ACT SO U. S. C.. 31 AND OS. AS AMENDED ITS TRANSMISSION OR THE TION OF ITS CONTENTS IN ANT NNNNNN TO AN UNAUT1101111110 PINION IS AT. POSITED ST LOU. 1111PR000CTION OF THIS FORM IS PROHIBITED. SOURCE Newspapers as indicated. ORT NO. CD NO. DATE OF INFORMATION 1950 DATE DIST.A0 Sep 1950 NO. OF PAGES 3 . SUPPLEMENT TO REPORT NO. THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION REPORTS ON IDEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF SE!) PARTY LEADER. SCORED AT CONFERENCE -- Zurich Neue Zuercher Zeitung, 9 Aug 50 Numerous SED functionaries whose achievements did not come up to the expectations of their superiors were obliged to justify themselves, on the basis of self-criticism, during the Third Party Conference. The main theme of these castigations is the recession of Communism in Germany. Various , reasons were given for this "embarrassing" state of affairs. Organizational mistakes and negligence on the part of certain Party members were cited. Reference was made also to "deviation from the party line," "objectivism," "sectarianism," and to "social democratise which mislead officials and made them a prey to the propaganda of the opposition even to the point of betraying Communist ideology. To incre-se the striking power of the SE!), intensified training of the ,Party functio Lries in Marxist-Leninist concepts has been introduced. There must be no fuxther excuses in connection with the Oder-Neisse boundary line; the disinattlinga and the withdrawals for reparations from Soviet Zone Ger- many must be upheld without reservations as just compensations for the de- vastation of the USSR by the German Army. The greatest hep(!s are centered in the peace campaign which is to mis- lead and at the same tine intimidate the elements suffering from a dread of war. Efforts are being made to undermine the prestige of the Western Powers by blaming them for the intensification of political opposition existing in the world today, however, opportunists are plainly warned to get on the "right" side while there is still time. Politburo member Franz Dahlem stated that it is necessary to do a "tremendous job of enlightenment" (1) so that the population will recognize the threatening danger of war and the real war- mongers,msne15 the imperialistic occupation powers, who are preparing for war under the very eyes of the people, and (2) so that the people may be convinced that the Soviet Union is the vanguard of peace and that she has always been a true friend of the German people. -1 _ CLASSIFICATION CONFIDENTIAL STATE ARMY NAVY NSRB DISTRIBUTION AIR FBI (b)(3) (b)(3) for Release: 2016/08/01 C0570915 Approved for Release: 2016/08/01 C05709154 CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL The more ii.telligent SED leaders realize the difficulty of their task only too well. Anton Ackermann, another member of the Poliburo, is of the opinion that it would take years to achieve the planned change of outlook. He claims that the proposed action can be carried out only by an entirely new corps of officials and that there is no other possibility of coping with the backwardness of the mass movement in the German Democratic Republic. Even the Communists, provided they have not lost their sense of reality completely, realize why their propaganda has been unsuccessful so far, al- though most of them take care to keep their opinions to themselves. The essential reason for all their setbacks is the fact that the Germans look on the USSR not as their "true and only friend" but as their archenemy. The Kremlin is continually hurting the feelings as well as the interests of the Germans. Since 1945, its Gs-man policy has been one unbroken chain of humiliations and challenges, from the excesses of the Red Army to the es- tablishment of the qED dictatorship. With the exception of the die-hard Stalinists, the German people will never accept the Oder-Neisse line, which the East German Government was obliged to acknowledge in all formality last spring, as the peace boundary with Poland. Even those Germans who admit the ineviability of loss of territory will never subscribe to the uncondi- tional surrender of the entire eastern provinces. The SED does everything in its power to stimulate nationalism, but it has nothing to offer it; hence the self-criticism expressed at the Party Conference is doomed to sterility. The overwhelming majority of the East German population is against the SED regime. The only reason why this re- gime has not collapsed is the fact that it rests on USSR bayonets. Neue Zuercher Zeitung's Berlin correspondent FORMER GERMAN RED ATTACKS USSR POLICY IN EAST GERMANY -- Zurich Neue Zuer- cher Zeitung, 16 Aug 50 One of the contributors to the first uumber of the semimonthly period- ical. World Political Review published by the Association of Yugoslav Journal- ists is Wolfgang Leonhard; a son of the German Communist writer Rudolf Leon- hard. Leonhard was the German commentator for Radio Moscow during the war. He has been a functionary of the SED and an instructor at the Party's school for advanced education in Berlin. In March 1949, he fled to Yugoslavia and at present is the director of German-language broadcasts of Radio Belgrade. In his article, Leonhard criticizes the increasing subjugation of East Germany to the Soviet occupation power and the forced "russification" of the country's public life. He also attacks the wholesale .aismantlings of German enterprises and the USSR's breach of promise with regard to the re- turn of all German prisoners of war by 31 December 1948. The National Front, with its unscrupulous recruitment of capitalists and former Nazi officers and generals, also comes in for criticism. According to Leonhard, all "enemies of democracy" are invited to join the National Front. AUSTRIAN INTELLECTUALS TURN AWYY FROLI COMMUNISM Zurich Neue Zuercher ZeitUng, 8 Aug 50 It is reported from Vienna that the potential crisis manifest in leftist radical intellectual circles as a result of disagreements over ,the peace treaty was aggravated by the Korean War and 'ed to an open break in the Austrian Peace Council. Despite its close association with the Commun- ist Party, the Peace Council continues its stubborn efforts to convince - 2 - CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL (b)(3) Approved for Release: 2016/08/01 C05709154 CONFIDENTIAL CONFIDENTIAL the public of its nonpolitical character. Following Professor Thirring's expulsion and Alexander Sacher-Masoch's resignation, Franz Theodor Cazokor, President of the Austrian Pen Club, also resigned from the Peace Council. 4 ENGINEERS GET STALIN PRIZE -- Buenos Aires Argentinisches Tageblatt, 11 Aug 50 Four East German engineers have been awarded the Stalin Prize by G. M. Pushkin, Soviet Ambassador to the East German Government, as an expression of the Soviet people's respect and friendship for the democratic forces in Germany. The Stalin Prize winners are: Ewald Eitge, engineer and technical director of the Krupp-Grusen Plant in Magdeburg; Willy Scheidt, chief engineer of the same plant; Albert Bellwinkel, director of the Polysius Plant in Dessau; and Erich Pfroetzschner, director of the people-owned Riess Steel and Rolling Mills. -END - - 3 - CONFIDENTIAL tOtilatillti roved for Release: 2016/08/01 C0570915 (b)(3)