REPORTS ON IDEOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF SED

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: FOIA 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
• Case Number: F-2016-00848
• Publication Date: September 20, 1950

Approved for Release: 2016/08/01 C05709154
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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.
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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
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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.
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