(SANITIZED)CURRENT POLITICAL SITUATION IN THE USSR(SANITIZED)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A036900150001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 19, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: August 29, 1957
• Content Type: REPORT

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i N FORMATION REPORT INFORMATION REPORT
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, A.S.O. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
DATE OF
INFO.
PLACE &
tour-page report
rumors of a military coup being planned in connection with the June crisis.
recent changes in top Soviet leadership and
?ROCESSMIG COPY
29 August 1957
NO. PAGES 1
REQUIREMENT
NO. RD
on the current political situation in the
reasons for, and implications of, the
STATE EV X ARMY EV NAVY X IAIR X FBI
(Nate: Washington distribution indicated by "X"j Field distribution by
001 EV X
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~ Mrushohev is of course a primitive
from n e dual point of eve, a demagogue and political
jobber, unreliable and dishonest, and without imagination. Such men are
often ruthless, ferocious and at the same time sentimental. A sidceniag
Concerning the political consequences of the June events in the
Krealin New times, new men. Everybody has had enough of the
old Bolsheviks. No one believes in them any more or puts faith in their,
promises. They play no role whether it be Khrushchev, Malenkov or Molotov.*
Of the old Bolsheviks only Mikoyan is fairly popular, but he is shrewd and
people know very little concerning what he really does. Among the new
members.of the Presidium, the majority are less well known, except perhaps
and Kclov, especially the last named. Men from Ieningrad are not
e men from Moscow, but in Leningrad the level is higher.
the Army now plays a large role behind all Party
ov s underre
is not at all a military aucra or isciplined professional man. Zhukov
has much political imagination, he is intelligent and youthful despite hips age.
The Army in general disposes of many first-class brains.
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Beriyt'a liquidation
the military had played a decisive role therein.
s is generally believed in the Soviet Union. Cer o ov
had a
a special acoount1mg to settle with Beria since
Concerning the so-called de-Stalinization program the
20th Congress in the Party history can be compared with events in church
history when Luther nailed his thesis to the cathedral door. After a week
it was as much a crime to be Stalinist as previously it had been a merit.
Such a miracle Khrushchev was able to achieve only because-the masses felt
that way. It was a blow for orthodox Communism which haen able to
stand up against the test of life. Concerning Molotov and the others,
one can say not that they are so much Stalinist now but that they are the
men who fear the consequences of de-Stalinization. The most important of
these consequences is that honest men are now gaining increasing influence
since Berg's terror disappeared. No State can any longer maintain itself
by villains as was the case in Stalin's time. Have these honest men also
more influence now even within the Party? Unfortunately, that cannot be
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lest a (the intelligentsia), all educated and qua
lified people, all respect-
able people in the usual sense of the word. There is no possibility of his
working with such people, because he hates them and fears them and at the
same time entertains tremendous contempt for them.
re are no many who believe in Khrushchev's future
en one attains such heights as Khrushchev, with such a-deh a past
means of such methods, it is probable that he will wind up directly
in Lu a's dungeon, and that will come with a crash. Will it be easy
to. replace him? -1 There are no irreplaceable men especially now in the Soviet
rumors coup had been planned in connection
with the June crisis. it was not at all impossible, that
something like that really happened. The Presidium usually meets in
Stalin's villa forty kilometers from Moscow. If Marshal Zhukov was there
it is clear that in his vicinity there must be some professional officers,
adjutants, etc. These had at their disposition associaticns and means to
enable them to influence the develot ent of the situation-
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is hardly likely that Molotov and his group stood up
against chew without assuring themselves support in the form of
real strength behind them. Such a is not usually began in the Party
without sufficient trumps in hand. 7 it is more likely
that it was Marshal Zhukov himself that provoked the Molotov group by
first promising them support and then betraying them to take Khrushchev's
side. Zhukov is a much better player and tactician then people in general
realize. Be had moreover, the accounts to settle up with Molotov
such thi s discussed dusts in every now after the 22nd Congress the atmosphere is such that one is
longer afraid to talk with people whom one knows well
conversation concerning the crisis in the Presidi
present wholly between four walls.
policy
Soviet foreign
has been for so long carried on by qualified profes-
sionals, specialists in their field, and whose orientation is determined
by the Communist doctrine. The Soviet Union's foreign policy is the work
of many qualified men and a personnel change in the Party Presidium cannot
mean very such under present circumstances. That was another thing in
Stalin's time. Concerning internal PoLicy, especially economics, it is
otherwise There are no
longer any reasonable people in the Soviet on o eve that living
standards can be raised without fundamental reforms in the whole system,
first and foremost in agriculture. "economy"means industry.)
Khrushchev took charge of the Industrial District Boards and furnished them
with his own supporters. Highly qualified technical people are badly treated
and appointed to unsuitable positions without respect to their practical
experience. Good engineers and industrial leaders are placed under incom-
petent, dilietante Party men. Such dilletantes are often very gifted,
energetic and active, and it is precisely activity which constitutes the
greatest virtue in Khrushchev's eyes. It'is not necessary oneself an
economic leader to understand how all this is going to end intelligentsia
understands that Khrushchev's policy betokens economic deter oration rather
than improvement.
Footnotes: *The Moscow garrison is commanded by Maj. Gen. I. S. Koleaftikov
**The correct term is National Economic Councils (Sovnar4hozy)
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when people
learned t ria t don the th of June, hoarding began immediately in
Kiev. people, at least in the Ukraine, have no
confidence in Khrushabov- the contrary, people believe in Zhukov,
and ossibly in Mikoyan despite the fact t1d he is Armenian
governaen can make .e not worth living for human beings in
another way, by diminishing broad loaves and aaeravatina working conditions
lit is absolutely true that the Russian people in their
entirety will not have war. In the event of war the present attitude is
worse than in 1939. It is not only the masses who will not listen to talk
of war but even the intelligentsia, and so widely spread is this attitude
it is even shared the hither officers' corps.
ambitious Party men can arrange a crisis ign
politics which can lead to war. Youth is more afraid of war than older
people. Youth, espedally educated students, etc., have already sufficiently,
formed a conception of atom and nuclear war despite the fact that such things
are never talked about from official circles.
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