CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A010900120001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 19, 2002
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 16, 1968
• Content Type: REPORT

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DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
Central Intelligence Bulletin
Top Secret
c214
16 March 1968
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16 March 19 69
Central Intelligence Bulletin
CONTENTS
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Czechoslovakia: Liberals gaining upper hand on
conservatives in central leadership. (Page 3)
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Poland: Student demonstrations are not being sup-
ported by other elements of the population. (Page 6)
USSR: The Soviet leadership is moving to strengthen
discipline among Soviet citizens. (Page 7)
Greece: A constitutional referendum is to be held
in September. (Page 8)
Chile: President Frei's position endangered by res-
ignation of finance minister. (Page 9)
Philippines: Commitment in Vietnam (Page 10)
Congo -(Kinshasa): Mercenaries (Page 10)
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Czechoslovakia. The liberals around party leader
Dubcek are well on the way toward sweeping conserva-
tives out of the central leadership,
According to the Yugoslav news agency Tanjug,
President Novotny's resignation may be expected at
any hour. Quoting "well informed sources," the agency
maintains that only the form in which the resignation
is to be tendered remains to be resolved.
One of the candidates recently often mentioned as
a replacement for Novotny is Josef Smrkovsky, party
central committee member and government minister,
who in the early 1950s was sentenced to life imprison-
ment for political crimes.
The faltering President has already signed an order
removing from office two of his staunchest supporters,
Minister of Interior Josef Kudrna and Prosecutor
General. Jan Bartuskao Novotny's action came after
the presidium of the National Assembly had voiced its
lack of confidence in the two and suggests that his grasp
on political power has significantly weakened.
Other key Novotny supporters who have resigned
in the past few days include the premier of Slovakia and
the chief of the central council of trade unions. Two
other secretaries of the trade unions council also re-
signed and four more are under fire,
Defense Minister Lomsky, another Novotny man,
is under heavy fire, and his resignation could come at
any time. Presumably it has been held up by the desire
of the party leaders to assess Jomsky's role, if any,
in the suicide of Deputy Defense Minister Vladimir
Janko and the defection of Major General Jan Sejna.
Lomsky also appears to have Russian support,
Dubcek and the liberals are confronted, however,
with conservative opponents who still have seats on the
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party presidium and in the central committee, even
though some of them may have been ousted from their
government jobs. After a session of the party presidium
on 14-15 March, the liberals apparently forced through
a decision against postponing a central committee meet-
ing until next month. This meeting is to decide on per-
sonnel changes and the party "action program."
The liberals are increasing their hold on the power-
ful party central committee apparatus. During its
marathon meeting, the presidium decided to turn over
responsibility in the central committee for education,
science, and culture to Gestimir Cisar, an outspoken
Liberal who for years defended the interests of intel-
lectuals in the party and government.
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Poland: Student demonstrations are continuing in
various provincial cities, but active support from other
elements of the population is not materializing.
Violent clashes with the police again took place on
14-15 March in Poznan. Students in Warsaw and
Krakow reportedly are boycotting all classes.
Although student demands have. widened to include
free speech and freedom of assembly as guaranteed by
the constitution, most reportedly avoid "political"
questions. Students at provincial universities have
passed numerous resolutions seeking greater academic
freedoms and warn of further protests if the regime does
not comply soon.
The regime shows no signs of satisfying student
demands. Mass workers' meetings, which continue to
be staged by the party throughout the country, are avow-
ing loyalty to Gomulka and demanding punishment for
his opponents whatever their political stripe, from
"Zionist elements" to "revisionists and liberals."
This line was emotionally echoed on 14 March by
Edward Gierek, a politburo member and party chief of
the key industrial province of Katowice. Gierek is the
first, and so far the only, major regime leader to ad-
dress himself to the current crisis. At a rally of over
100,000 workers in Katowice, he called for the ouster
"once and for all" of Gomulka's domestic opponents.
A resolution passed by the workers included an unusually
strong pledge to support Gomulka's leadership "not only
with words, but with action."
Gierek's speech amounts to a major effort to rally
the workers in support of Gomulka's leadership. It
divests the rebellious students of hope that they might
receive some understanding from Gierek, who was
popularly believed to be responsive to new ideas and
change.
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USSR: Moscow is reinforcing its tough line toward
dissidence at home because of the turmoil in Poland and
Czechoslovakia.
A Pravda editorial of 14 March demanded more
than "passive loyalty" and identified the enemies of
"socialist patriotism" as "apathy, bourgeois ideology
and bourgeois nationalism." The editorial called for
a tighter rallying of the popular masses around the party,
usually a reliable indication of dissatisfaction with the
state of relations between the party and the public.
Neither this editorial nor any other Soviet press or
radio commentary mentions the demonstrations and
political changes that have occurred in Poland and
Czechoslovakia. Foreign radiobroadcasts have probably
brought knowledge of these events to a sizable Soviet
audience, however, and the editorial indicates a Soviet
determination to strengthen discipline among Soviet
citizens.
The Soviet leadership may fear that events in
Eastern Europe will become a matter of contention
within high party circles. The long-awaited meeting
of the party central committee reportedly has now been
further postponed, perhaps to dodge consideration of
Eastern European developments.
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Greece: The Papadopoulos government has pub-
licly set a timetable for the adoption of a new consti-
tution.
Prime Minister Papadopoulos yesterday released
the text of a new draft and announced that the long-
awaited constitutional referendum would be held on
1 September. Public comments on the draft will be
welcomed until the end of May, when presumably they
will be reconciled with the junta's own constitutional
aims.
In producing a final draft, the junta's ef-
forts are likely to be directed mainly toward reducing
the power of the monarchy in favor of a strengthened
executive, and to limiting the size of Parliament.
The announcement of the timetable gives the ap-
pearance of motion toward a return to democratic
processes while leaving a number of important issues
unresolved. These include questions related to the
possible return of King Constantine, a definite date for
parliamentary elections, and the means whereby the
military intends to preserve its power position under
an new Parliamentary system.
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Chile: The resignation yesterday of Finance Min-
ister Raul Saez places President Frei's economic
program and his party's political fortunes in danger.
Saez, one of Latin America's most respected
economists, accepted the finance portfolio just one
month ago on condition that Frei adopt a stringent anti-
inflation program. A wage readjustment bill, which
Saez considered to be an integral part of the program,
was opposed by political figures on all sides, including
some of Frei's Christian Democrats.
A deal, worked out this week with the Communist
Party, appeared to ensure congressional approval of
the bill. The compromise, however, so weakened the
legislation that Saez resigned. Saez's departure from
the cabinet will seriously weaken business confidence
in the government.
Failure to enact stabilization legislation now could
lead to high inflation and budgetary difficulties. Such
a development would greatly increase the electoral
prospects of the Communist-Socialist coalition in the
March 1969 congressional elections.
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NOTES
Philippines: The nature of the Philippine civic
action group in South Vietnam has been brought into
question by Senate opponents of President Marcos.
A coalition of Liberal and dissident Nacionalista
senators has proposed that the Philippine engineerin
unit be replaced by a medical assistance group. F
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Congo (Kinshasa): President Mobutu apparently
has agreed to the repatriation of the foreign mercenaries
in Rwanda if their countries of origin promise never to
allow them to return to Africa. The official Congolese
news agency reported that Mobutu intends to offer this
proposition to the commission on mercenaries set up by
the Organization of African Unity. The story is at-
tributed to unidentified sources, leaving Mobutu room to
renege if complications arise.
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(continued)
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