A COMMUNIST 'PEACE CORPS'?

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T01003A002300070001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 23, 2001
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 1, 1965
• Content Type: BRIEF

DISSEM
INTELLIGENCE BRIEF
DIRECTORATE OF INTELLIGENCE
Uttice of Kesearch and Reports
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This Document contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United States, within the mean-
ing of Title 18, Sections 793 and 794, of the U.S. Code, as
amended. Its transmission or revelation of Its contents
to or receipt by an unauthorized person Is prohibited
by law. The reproduction of this form Is prohibited.
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A COMMUNIST "PEACE CORPS"?
After years of attacking the US Peace Corps as another instrument
of neocolonialism, the Communist countries apparently have .launched.
similar programs of their own, drawing largely on domestic youth
groups to staff these organizations. Although there are indications that
these programs will soon become widespread, to date this activity
primarily has been concentrated in Algeria. In late April 1965, 118
Soviet student "volunteers" departed for Algeria to bring to more than
460 the number of volunteers from the USSR and. the Eastern European
Communist countries who have gone to Algeria since mid-1964 to
participate in the reconstruction of at least four villages in the Kabylie
region that were destroyed during the Algerian struggle for independence.
1. Focus on Algeria
The first evidence of a Communist undertaking similar to that: of
the US Peace Corps occurred in July 1964, when about 220 Soviet
Komsomol "volunteers, " accompanied by 12 Soviet engineers and
equipped with "compressors, pneumatic drills, tractors, trucks, and
1, 700 picks and shovels, 11 arrived in Algeria for a 6-month tour to
assist in a village rebuilding program, the construction of a number
of agricultural cooperative centers, and the reclamation of about
2, 500 acres of land. The Soviet labor brigades were soon followed
by nearly 100 Bulgarian, Czechoslovak, and East German youths who
were to contribute their skills as construction technicians, electri-
cians, masons, architects, and agricultural specialists for a period
of about 3 months. The Abbane Ramdane Volunteer Work Camp was
set up near Ouadhias, one of the villages to be rebuilt, to house the
youths from the Communist: countries as well as 2, 000 volunteers from
Algeria's own youth organizations. After completion of the rebuilding
of the first village in late December 1964, 112 Soviet youths returned
to the USSR. These volunteers were replaced late in .April. 1965 by
12 engineers and construction technicians and 1.18 students from
Construction Institutes in Moscow, Leningrad, and. a number of otter
Soviet cities.
Although the Soviet youth organizations have dominated Communist
activity in Algeria, the endeavor has taken on the appearance of an
effort of international Communist youth. In addition to the volunteers
from the USSR and the Eastern European Communist countries, about
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20 Yugoslavs and members of Communist-oriented youth organizations
in France, Mali, and Morocco also were sent as volunteers to work
at Ouadhias. Arrangements apparently are being made to permit
participants at the Communist-front World Youth Festival in Algiers
in June to remain to work in Algeria. For example, members of the
Union of Communist Students of France will spend about 8 weeks work-
ing at agricultural and industrial facilities near Constantine. The Soviet
delegation of 130 students will be employed in the Kabylie region's
rebuilding program after completion of the Festival.
The concentration of these undertakings in Algeria coincides with
the acceleration since 1963 of what appears to be a major Soviet
effort to establish a decisive physical presence in a country of increas-
ing importance and influence in Afro-Asian affairs. * Algeria was host
to the recent Afro-Asian economic seminar and the preparatory meeting
of the Afro-Asian Peoples Solidarity Organization and has been selected
as the site for the forthcoming meetings of the World Youth Festival and
the second Afro-Asian Conference (Bandung II'. In spite of Chinese
Communist efforts to bar the "white-European Russians, " Ben Bella
has been a staunch defender of Soviet participation in these councils.
2. Plans to Expand Communist "Peace Corps" Activities
Although Communist ' Peace Corps" activities thus far appear to be
concentrated in Algeria, there is evidence that the Communist countries
are planning to undertake similar programs throughout the less developed
world. One recent report, for example, indicates that the USSR has in
fact already organized a "Peace Corps" to counter the US initiative in
this field. About 100 Soviet youths reportedly are preparing to leave for
work in various Afro-Asian countries.
Although Algeria accounts for less than 5 percent of the total exten-
sion of economic development aid by the Communist countries and a
minute amount of drawings on this aid, during the last year Algeria was
host to the third largest contingent of Communist economic technicians
and ranked first among the recipients of nonproject aid personnel. Of
approximately- 1, 600 Communist economic technicians estimated to have
been present in Algeria during the last half of 1964 (not including Chinese),
only about 50 were engaged in project-type activity under economic aid
credits; the remainder represented medical personnel, teachers, eco-
nomic advisers, and voluntary labor brigades.
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A comparable organization reportedly exists in East Germany, com-
posed largely of members of the East German youth organization (Freie
Deutsche Jugend - - FDJ) and the central labor federation (Freier
Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund -- FDGB). In September 1964, several
such, groups were employed in a number of African countries and
Cyprus. and 60 more youths reportedly were receiving training for
service in Latin America.. After completing this program they were to
proceed to Havana for additional training prior to departure early in
1965 for employment as teachers, engineers, and doctors in Ch*J.e
Uruguay, and Mexico.
25X1A Analyst:
25X1A
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 Approved For Release 2001/05/17 CIAq
ffi~79J~,003A002300070001-8
NO FOR 1.:IGN DISSEM
NO FOREIGN DISSEM
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 Analyst: T / PO
roject .5250)
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CONTROL RECORD FOR SUPPLEMENTAL DISTRIBUTION
25X1A
SERIES NUMBER
CIA/RR CB 65-34
CLASSIFICATION OF REPORT
Secret/NO FOREIGN DISSE
DISTRIBUTION TO RC
50
DATE OF DOCUMENT
Ma 1965
NUMBER OF COPIES
NUMBE~.IN RC
280
COPY
NO.(S)
RECIPIENT
DATE
32
AD/RR
SENT
RETURNED
33
DAD/RR
28 May 65
s >s"'
25X1A
11
-
173
Ch/E
-
174
St/P
It
2 Jun 65
1
175
OCR
~~
176
CGS HR/ O
s
177
178
179-183
184
185
186-188
25X1C
189
190
'
191
1 2
193
194-19
lop CS
x~z, 2 2 , --2 3 "7/
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 Approved For Release 2001/05/17 : A-UMT01003A002300070001-8
SUBJECT: Distribution of Current Support Brief No.
34 &I
rrpl*ce ce $"? -- May 1$ IE Cam'
o FORZ G
Copy No. Recipient
1 O/DDI, Room 7E32, Hdgtrs.
2-3 NIC
4 - 12 OCI Internal
13 - 14 ONE 25X1 A
15 - 20 St/CS/RR
21 O/DDI -
22 - 30 NSA
31 NSAL
32 - 280 ORR Distribution, St/A/DS, Room GH0915, Hdgtrs.
(sue dbmwaft di r*ct to St/ A FDA - I Jugw 1965)
(Distributed by OCR)
Approved For Release 2001/05/17 : -~"El
 Approved For Release 2001/05/17: Cl kS3T01003A002300070001-8
St/A`/DS Distribution of Current Support Brief No. 65.34, A Co u j t
"Peace COMpll3r'? .r- May 1965 ISECRET/NO FOREIGN DISSEM _
Copy No.
ja
34
35
36
37 - 41
42 - 47
48 - 54
55
56 - 60
61 - 66
67
68 - 74
75 - 76
77 - 78
79
80 - 85
86
87
88
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90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99 - 100
101
102 - 104
105
106
107 - 108
109
110
1l1 -, 112
113 - 151
156 - 167
168 - 169
170 - 171
172 - 230
231 Approved
Recipient
SA/RR
Ch/E
St/PR
D/A (1 each branch)
D/I l (1 each branch)
MRA
D/P (I each branch)
D/F (1 each branch)
St/PS _
/.
D/GG
D/GC
D/GC/X
t EMW~~
St/FM
Room 1B4004, Hq.
Analyst/B ranc TIPO)
GR/CR
BR/CR
FIB/SR/CR, Room 1G27, Hq.
Library/CR
IPI/CR
ie , OCR FDD
CD/OO
OCI/SA/R, Room 5G19, Hq.
DDI/CGS, Room 7F35, Hq.
DDT/CGS/HR, Room 1G81, Hq.
DDI/RS, Room 4G39, Hq.
OSI
OBI
DD/S&T/SpINT
25X1A
25X1A
OTR/IS/IP, Room 532, /000 Glebe *I- IC)
NPIC/CSD/REF, Room 15518Commandant National War Collegees ie McNair, Attn:
Classified Records Section, Room 26, National War College
Building, Washington, D. C.
Assistant Secretary of Defense, ISA, Room 4D825, Pentagon
Defense Intelligence Agency, DIAAQ-3, A Building, Arlington
Hall Station
USIA, IRS/A, Room 1002, 1750 - Pennsylvania Avenue, N. W. ,
Attn: Warren Phelps
State, .1NR Communications Center, Room 6527, State Dept. Bldg.
Dr. Neilson Debevoise, NSC, Room 365, Executive Office Bldg.
Frank M. Charrette, Agency for International Development, Chief,
Statistics and Reports Division, Room A-204, State Annex #10
St/P/C /RR, Room 4F41, Hdqtrs. (Held in St/P/C - 1 Jun 65)
For I efease 2W75/17 : CIA-RDP79JT U aum-* 070001-8
C
Excluded from aatomatl4
dnrrngrading and
doclwiftcatlan
 Approved For Release 2001/05/17: CIMORA 03A002300070001-8
MEMORANDUM FOR: Chief, Dissemination Control Branch, DD/CR
FROM Chief, Publications Staff, ORR
SUBJECT Transmittal of Material
It is requested that the attached copies of CIA/RR C 65-34Y
A Co=ux st "Peace C,orges: may 1965, be forwarded as folllr ws
State, INR Communications Center,
Room 6527, State Dept. Bldg.
Suggested distribi1ti'on for
Embassies in Ankara, pttLeiis, Cairo,
Damascus, Nicosia, Tehran, Baghdad,
Tel Aviv, Beirut, Amman, Jidda,
Mexico, Guatemala, PWama, Rio de Janeiro,
Buenos Aires.. Bogota, Santiago, La. Paz,
Montevideo., Caracas, Asuncion,, San Jose,
San Salvador, Tegocigalpa.,, Managua,
Santo Domingo, Lime., Quito, Port-au-Prince,
Port of rain, Kingston, Yaounde,, Leopoldville,
Addis Ababa, Accra, Abidjan, Nairobi,
Monrovia,, Tripoli, Rabat, Lagos, Mogadiseio,
Khartoum, Tunis, Pretoria, Algiers, Cotoinou,
Dakar, and Bamako
25X1.A
Attachments:
Copies 1 - 205, 231 - 255 of CB 65-31
cc CGS/RB
tills n,eniurardurn has been Compkfed;
- n ~,
1F,a drsse,i,;ar.( or rc:; ,-si::d by
Date:
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S F^ R r g declassifiCai r,1