SOVIET UNION EASTERN EUROPE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00865A000200310001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 29, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: January 29, 1975
• Content Type: NOTES

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13
gul~~ Kgu~~ 13
Soviet Union
Eastern Europe
State Department review completed
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Top Secret
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January 29, 1975
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SOVIET UNION - EASTERN EUROPE
January 29, 1975
Shelepin Visit to FRG Could
Provoke Incident . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 2
Prague Moder
May End Di
ates, Hard-liners
spute . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 3
USSR: "Refo
rm" in the Industrial
Supply Sector . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . 5
Cardinal Wyszynski Resumes Offensive. . .
. . . 6
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Shelepin Visit to FRG
Could Provoke I'nci dent
Soviet trade union boss and Politburo member
Aleksandr Shelepin is expected to arrive in West
Germany on Thursday for talks with West German
trade union leaders.
The visit is part of a broader Soviet cam-
paign to strengthen ties with individual West Eu-
ropean trade union organizations and develop multi-
lateral East-West trade union contacts in an effort
to increase Soviet influence in labor matters.
Shelepin has been in East Germany on trade union
business since January 27.
Shelepin and his West German hosts are handling
the visit-gingerly to avoid stirring up the embers
of a 1959 Bavarian criminal case. Shelepin, later
head of the KGB, was implicated in the murder of
Ukrainian exile leader Stepan Bandera by Soviet
agents. There is no warrant for Shelepin's arrest
outstanding, but any West German citizen could
request one and prosecutors from individual West
German states could obtain one. At the least,
Shelepin's visit will. probably arouse some unfavor-
able publicity.
The West Germans have tried to keep the visit
quiet and short. West German trade union federa-
tion chairman Vetter, anticipating a negative pub-
lic reaction has declined to be Shelepin's offi-
cial ho
January 29, 1975
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Prague Moderates, Hard-liners May E.nd Dispute
The US embassy in Prague reports the city is
rife with rumors that imply moderates and hard-liners
in Czechoslovakia's top leadership are close to
resolving their prolonged, sharp differences over
management of the economy.
The moderate faction, led by party boss Husak,
has long recognized the need for better management
of the economy. The hard-liners have insisted that
ideological purity is more important than professional
expertise, particularly in staffing the middle and
top levels of the economic bureaucracy. During the
past year, they have been able to put up a particu-
larly stiff fight because of Moscow's demands that
ideological discipline be tightened in the face of
detente.
In response to the Soviet prodding, Prague
undertook a "comprehensive cadres review" of the
professional and ideological qualifications of its
bureaucrats. Many officials lost their jobs and
party memberships during the review. The regime
was thus deprived.of badly needed expertise--a
situation worsened by the adamant refusal of the
hard-liners to give jobs to persons ostracized for
their activities during the "Prague Spring."
By fall, the division in. the leadership had
become so sharp that Husak reportedly attempted to
outflank his opposition by taking his case for modera-
tion to the lower levels of the party. In November,
a Central Committee plenum adopted "cadres proposals"
that still have not been published. A spate of re-
gional party meetings devoted to "critical and frank"
discussions of the plenum's decisions, have fed the
rumors that changes are in the offing.
January 29, 1975
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We have seen no evidence to support the rumors
that the dispute has, in fact, been resolved. Indi-
cations are that Husak is very much in control and
enjoys the support of some powerful leaders who agree
that the country is chronically short of good mana-
gers. Some form of moderation may thus occur. What-
ever changes are made will be tempered by the need
to preserve the delicate balance between moderates
and conservati
January 29, 1975
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USSR: "Reform" in the
Inn ustria Supply Sector.
The current issue of Ekonomicheskaya Gazeta
reports that a new system of measuring the output
of enterprises in the Soviet industrial supply
sector has increased the efficiency of these organi-
zations substantially. According to an official of
the State Committee for Material and Technical
Supply, an experiment was conducted in which'supply
organizations were rewarded according to how com-
pletely they met their contracts to supply industrial
customers with raw materials, semifinished goods,
and other inputs. In the past, they have been
judged primarily on sales volume. Industrial cus-
tomers complained of late deliveries, of delivery
of products that did not meet specifications,
or of receiving items that were not ordered. The
result was that their own output plans were jeopar-
dized.
The change may appear to be a modest injection
of common sense, but immediate, wide-scale adoption
of it is unlikely. Determination of contract ful-
fillment must be done by hand calculation until a
computerized mathematical model now under develop-
ment is available.
January 29, 1975
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Poland's Cardinal Wyszynski Resumes Offensive*
Summary
Cardinal Wyszynski returned from the Synod of
Bishops in Rome in mid-November, apparently with
greater confidence and stature. Church sources and
Catholic intellectuals in Poland believe that his
influence was widely felt in Rome, and some signs
suggest that he is now stepping up the pressure on
the Gierek regime. Symbolizing this turn of events
is the recent publication by a Catholic weekly of
the Pope's message to the Synod, in which the Wyszyn-
ski imprint is widely perceived in Warsaw. Thus, at
year's end, the Cardinal seems to have regained some
of the initiative that he may have lost as a result of
the regime's more conciliatory stance and its active
diplomacy with the Vatican. The basic impasse in
church-state relations appears little changed, how-
ever, and the long-term outlook remains uncertain.
Episcopate Toughens Its Line
The Catholic weekly, Tygodnik Powszechny, pub-
lished the Pope's Message on Human Rights on Novem-
ber 24, two days before the convening of the 145th
Episcopate Conference. The Papal message had spe-
cial significance for the Polish reader, particu-
larly its observation that religious freedom today
is either "being refused or limited under various
political systems which are hindering the practice
of religion, religious education, and social work."
These sentiments and the Pope's admonition against
reducing believers to the status of "second-class
citizens" are echoed in the language of the communi-
que issued following the conference.
4- This item is an extensive excerpt from an Airgram
prepared by US Embassy Warsaw..
January 29, 1975
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The communique also takes strong positions on
issues heretofore treated only in veiled terms. It
stipulates that normalization of relations between
the government of Poland and the Vatican must have
substance, not merely "institutional-administrative
form," and can become "full and lasting" only if
preceded by normalized church-state ties at home.
The communique further emphasizes that, although
Polish bishops work in close concert with the Vati-
can, they are led by their Primate, and have "direct
responsibility" for the, Church in Poland.
Despite these signs of the Church's stiffening
attitude, it is unlikely to burn its bridges to the
regime. The Cardinal has long sought a meeting with
Premier Jaroszewicz, and according to currnet rumors
the encounter may be near at hand. The Cardinal is
also clearly anxious to safeguard his line of commu-
nication to the Vatican. He recently told a US of-
ficial that the Vatican would be in full agreement
with him if it better comprehended the realities of
the Church's plight in Poland. He probably hopes to
indoctrinate Archbishop Poggi along these lines dur-
ing the latter's talks with government officials in
Warsaw next month.
The future is in many respects beyond Wyszynski's
power to influence. He remains skeptical that detente
will produce the fundamental changes in the regime
that he insists the Church requires. The regime prob-
ably feels it can afford to go slowly and continue
maneuvering to undermine the Cardinal's position. The
regime may also take a long view of such issues as
filling vacant bishoprics, believing that if it can ef-
fect appointment of bishops amenable to its viewpoint,
then it could significantly influence the appointment
of an eventual successor to the Cardinal himself.
January 29, 1975
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The Episcopate also claims a basis for hope in
the future. Church officials express confidence in
their ability to maintain a position founded on the
continuing support of most Catholics who still com-
prise the "overwhelming majority of Poles."
Given such conditions, the Church is unlikely
either to collapse under regime pressures or to make
inroads against the regime, particularly in the face
of the latter's increasingly sophisticated approach.
Consequently, little basic change in church-state re-
lations is expected because each side will skirt the
fundamental questions dividing them.
The bottleneck is that each side wants the gen-
uine and sincere recognition that the other is unwill-
ing to grant. Minister Kakol recently told a foreign
correspondent that the regime seeks "recognition" from
the Church, but he frankly said that the regime is
willing to concede "nothing" in return. For his part,
the Cardinal still publicly withholds even token rec-
ognition of state authority by employing circumlocu-
tions such as "those who rule us." Thus barring ma-
jor change, such as an unlikely Vatican cave-in to
Warsaw diplomacy or an equally unlikely capitulation
by the regime to Church demands, there seems little
basis for expecting significant change other than ups
and downs in the atmospherics.
January 29, 1975
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