NID: EAST GERMANY: OPPOSITION GROUP PREPARES FOR ACTION

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: A 30-Year Legacy
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06826776
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: November 26, 2019
• Document Release Date: December 10, 2019
• Publication Date: October 21, 1989

Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826776
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EAST GERMANY: Opposition Group Prepares for Action
New Forum, the country's largest opposition group, is using grassroots
debates and an open recruitment of workers to build pressure for reform;
large demonstrations planned for nest week might force the new
leadership to choose between repression and fresh concessions.
A crowd of at least _
staged a peaceful protest in Dresden last night
Planning continues
for more demonstrations in coming weeks. including a large protest
in East Berlin on 19 November
Opposition members predict a rally today anc a demonstration and
wildcat strikes in East Herlii on I November.
Comment: A sustained grassroots campaign by New Forum to focus
public discontent will hinder the new leadership's efforts to defuse
unrest by cosmetic policy changes. New Forum's recruitment drive in
the factories�ostensibly a bastion of Communist party tiower�spdll.
more trouble for the new regime.
The leadership might try to restrict New Forum's activities by using
legal tactics but probably will shun a blanket prohibition on the group
for fear of causing more unrest. It presumably hopes New Forum's
intellectual orientation and loose organization will kee it from
getting a firm foothold among East German workers
The Leipzig demonstration on Monday. after the weekly church
service. may be a turning point. A large turnout would show popular
skepticism of Egon Krenz's promises of changes in media policy.
travel regulations, and consumer goods supplies. The regime is likely
to keep the police presence to a minimum as a show of good faith.
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TCS 2945/89
21 October 1989
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Approved for Release: 2019/10/29 C06826776