LETTER TO GEORGE AGREE FROM LEOPOLD LABEDZ

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP83T00966R000100090024-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 7
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 5, 2007
• Sequence Number: 24
• Publication Date: October 8, 1982
• Content Type: LETTER

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 Ilford House
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133 Oxford Street
London, W1 R 1TD
tel: [phone]
George Agree,
President,
The American Political Foundation,
2100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.V.
Suite 716,
Washington D.C. 20037
v-Y
a journal East & West studies
published by Oxford University Press
October 8th 1982
Dear George,
This is a summary of the ideas which we can discuss in Washington
when we meet: -
1) The problem: how best to conduct a programme of activities
in Europe to counter the present trends and the climate of opinion
which favours neutralist and Soviet propaganda and, however
indirectly, facilitates Soviet policies of dividing the West, and
of exploiting US-European differences.
2) The Western focus: the situation in Westerr. Europe now differs
fundamentally from that of the 1950s when NATO could count on
European solidarity and the hope was for European unification.
Today there is insecurity in Western Europe and the cohesion of
NATO is undermined by fear and lack of solidarity. The prosPect
of unification has gone. There is little cooperation and a reluctance
to face the dangers arising out of the increasing Soviet might
and the increasing dangers which this implies. How can the resis-
tance posture be revitalized? The old principles of the defence
of freedom and Western civilization are of course as valid as
they always were, but we must be more specific in the context
of the European political struggles about not only what is
desirable but how to go about it in individual European countries.
We have to appeal to the new generation which has not had the
experience of the last war, which is more parochial, more ignorant,
and often concerned with issues which in a wider historical
perspective and with better comparative knowledge are simply
pseudo-issues. But this new generation must be reached tm secure
the basic continuity of Western policies for the survival of the
West.
3) The Eastern focus: there is an astonishing decline in
Western interest in what is happening in the Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe. This is clearly not true with regard to the news
coverage. The Western press is generally very vigorous in reporting
events there but it does so on a. very superficial level. It
focusses attention only on the dramatic and the moment the news is
no longer sensational it quickly forgets about the country in
-question. In short, there is hardly any attention given to the
ideological struggle, to the moral and political significance of
the events in a.wider context. But there is a difference between
a "story" and an intellectually serious analysis of the meaning
of the continuing East-West conflict underlying the events reported.
As a result of this intellectual and ideological vacU.um which is
created by such disregard for these deeper perspectives, the field
is left open to the shifting of the focus of Western attention
away from the communist' countries to Chile or Nicaragua. A sort
of spurious equivalence is created between the oppression and
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repression in countries to the-East and to the West of the Great
Divide. But in practical terms it means that, the indignation and
critical fire are increasingly concentrated Westward rather than
Eastward. This of course violates all the cannons of moral and
intellectual equity. It also ignores the historical experience
of communist countries and its lessons for the West. The moral,
political and economic bankruptcy of the utopian perspective
which used to be the justification for all the repressions and
sacrifices imposed. on these countries is now increasingly obvious
to their populations but also tends to be increasingly ignored in
the West as a factor in the "ideological struggle". There is a
curious discrepancy here. The West is not inclined to use the
most important weapon in its armoury. In the best case, if it is
not turning its head away from these problems it indulges in the
old anti-communist cliches without realising that we are now
facing the irony of the juxtaposition of, say, the continuing
resistance in Poland with the crumbling spirit of resistance in
Western Europe.
4) That is not to say that this observation applies to the
totality or even majority of the population of Western European
countries. But it is a question of the vigorous militant minorities
who play havoc, and the passivity of the .:olitical elites-and of
large sections of the populations of Western European countries.
Potentially there is quite a number of people in Europe who are
dissatisfied with this situation and who can be "mobilized". The
question is how best can we promote and stimulate cooperation
with people who are basically on our side both East and West.
There should be an interchange between people of ideas in order to
help create a new climate of opinion in Western Europe in gfr,er.+l,
rut taking into account the specific situation within individual
'Western European countries. It must be intellectually adequate
to the present situation in these countries, and must try to
influence the younger generation, some of whose activists are.
already undergoing the (usual) c cle of disillusionment with the
radical utopianism (of the 1960s). Ideally, such effort should
include all kinds of activities (articles, pamphlets, documentaries,
protest on the European scale about single events). Cultural
retrenchment in all the western European countries and the growing
inward-looking attitude there results in an increased parochialism
and ignorance about developments in Eastern European countries
and their attitude towards the US.
5) Specific operational ideas about what should be done: they
include shorter- and longer-lasting issues and the development of
methods and instruments of influence. Examples of the first
category are, for instance,
a) the forthcoming trial in Poland of the leaders of KOR. A
vigorous campaign of protest and a counter trial should be
launched in the West to compromise the perpetrators of
this new juridical farce in Eastern Europe;
b) the juxtaposition of the Russian submarines and of Swedish
neutralist illusions;
c) a proper effort to enlighten the public about the story of
terrorism, its character, links and purposes. There is
much sensational treatment of it but serious analyses of
its significance are few and far between;
d) the European public has been completely bamboozled about
the question of the Yamal gas-pipeline. The argument
against helping the Soviets to build it has hardly been
voiced or adequately presented in the European press. Nor
was there a proper analysis of the interests involved in.
the individual countries (USSR, Germany, France, Great
Britain, Italy), except in the most general terms;
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e) the issue of nuclear pacificism. The case against
unilateralism in Lurope has never been properly argued or
presented, although some poorly publicised attempts were
made. In the USA there was a more vigorous debate between
the advocates and the opponents of the "freeze", but in
both cases the "anti"-arguments suffer from a certain
degree of parochialism; for instance exposing the very
difference between the tactics of the European and the
American disarmers can indicate both the political sig-
nificance of these parallel movements and their essential
intellectual dishonesty. Because, although their essential
motivation is the same, their arguments are in fact
incompatible: a bona fide European unilateralist should
logically be against the American freeze (even as a stop-
gap) and a genuine American advocate of the freeze should
by all logic condemn the stand-point of European unilateral
disarmers. But it is not so. They go along together
fabulously because in fact they basically share a common
attitude which is tantamount to capitulation to the Soviet
Union, and the differences in tactics are adapted to local
political circumstances to facilitate and maximise their
local influence. As it happens, they also facilitate the
Soviet political exploitation of such movements. ---11
these tricks and stratagems should be properly exposed and
the systematic case against European nuclear pacificists
should be stated in a basic text and vublished in a pamphlet
of, say, 48 pages containing all the fundamental "anti"-
arguments. The essence of the pamphlet should be summarized
in the form of an article which can be placed in many
journals and provide the stimulus for a general public
debate on the subject in Europe;
f) a similar thing should be done about the connected topic
of European neutralism, exposing the fallacies of many
arguments which are swallowed whole by a lot of people in
Europe who are not genuinely neutralist at all.
These are examples of the current issues which should be handled.
One can of course mention more and anyway new ones will emerge with
the passage of time.
This leads me to the second specific operational category --
that of the development of methods and instruments of influence:
a) the pamphlets I mention in the last two points should be
made into a regular series of publications (called perhaps
"Searchlight Papers") which will deal with the issues of
the day in a systematic form providing basic arguments for
the case we are making which can be used by writers,
journalists, speakers etc. and which can anyway stimulate
further public discussion by placing summaries in7the press;
b) a slightly different form of doing the same thing, some=
times in conjunction and sometimes separately, would be to
commission articles, pamphlets and books in which the
authors could produce somewhat more in-depth analyses
than the usual ephemeral journalism, say forfinstance,
sending a person to Sweden to carry out an investigation in-
to Swedish -Soviet relations, Soviet submarines, and
Scandinavian neutralism in historical perspective so as to
neutralise Olaf Palme's neutralism. -.11 these
incidentally, may have wider repercussions as they tend to
have a spill-over effect and if one consciously tries to
maximise them by establishing a "multiplier effect"
mechanism, one can have "feed-backs" in various countries
(including the USA). Comissioning books and booklets of
more permanent value on subjects of current significance
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may often be money better spent than that on some of the
specialist conferences which usually leave-no trace.
This can be done in conjunction with publishers and
facilitated by a "fund for advanced. royalties" as has been
done in the past by the Philip Stern Foundation;
c) another variation on the theme of a) and b) would be
a series of what can be called "Truth Kits". As a concrete
implementation of the idea of "Operation Truth" these should
vary in length, but generally they would expose lies and
distortions in the Soviet propaganda, including methods
and tactics used by it, so that not only are separate
ca.ses.of such disinformation highlighted but the pattern
of bamboozlement is shown. They can range from a book
giving the historical expose of violations of international
agreements by the Soviet Union, to shorter pamphlets
dealing with, say, Soviet duplicity on the non-alignment
movement;
d) connected with it there should be a monthly bulletin
covering in a snappy form the treatment of current events
in the Soviet and communist press which would give an idea
of the twists and turns of the various Party lines, and
also point out their contradictions as well as conver-
gences with the attitudes and arguments employed by the
"liberal" and "progr.essive" press in the West and in the
Third World;
e) the next sphere is that of the press and the media in
Europe. Here one should regularly expose bias and diitor
tions, and sometimes even ommissions and lies which often
creep into them, but unlike in the context of the communist
rule-they can be exposed and nailed. For that one should
have a bulletin like Reed Irvin's "Accuracy in Media"
in individual European countries. It can have, however,
a greater impact here; we have better access to some of
the major European papers than Irvin can have vis-b.-vis
The Washington Post or The New York Times. Also no
major European jourr..al has such a commanding position as
these two. American papers and therefore one can always
approach their competitors if a.journal in question mis-
behaves through distortion of facts. Also to deal with
these matters one can have regular, special seminars
for journalists and broadcasters in various European
countries;
f) for the same purpose one should have groups of our friends
who would regularly write Letters to the Editor on matters
of current interest to different European newspapers --
a sort of "Committee of Correspondence". In doing this
they can benefit from the proposed publications (mentioned
above) but will react to issues, articles and editorials
immediately, and will basically rely on their own wit and
knowledge;
g) for all these activities, groups in individual European
countries should be established, carrying, out their own
analyses and investigations, and engaging in public debates.
These local committees should join the general European
and international protest campaigns and provide a mechanism
facilitating mobilisation for such protest. They would
also organise their own regular meetings, seminars and
conferences to which the would occasionally invite
participants from other kuropean countries and the US (one
such project, about which I will tell you when I see you,
is a meeting on US-European relations which the Italian
Social-Democrats want to organise /at their own expense/
and want some American and European participants to be
sent to it by us /at our expense/).
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5. .
h) for all these activities, autonomous in nature, a kind of
"federal" clearing-house is needed in London with its own
bulletin and facilities to coordinate to a certain extent
local efforts, and to use the existing outlets (such as the
magazines Encounter, Surve , Commentaire, and Tempo presente,
or journals such as 11 Uiornale Nuovo, Neue Frankfurter
and Neue Zurcher.Zeitung, etc. . It will also have
Zeitunp.,
to deal on a general European basis with campaigns and
occasional conferences. We are already organising, together
with Gerald Frost, the Director of the Institute for European
Defence and Strategic Studies, a regular meeting of our
local group (I will show you a list of tlu pars ici p,-nts
when we meet) which will gather every month for a discussion
on some topical subject (including those mentioned above)
as well as to exchange ideas about what can be done and how
best to do it,. It is meant to be a combination.of a "brain
trust" for the proposed clearing-house in London and a
"ginger group" to act on the British political-intellectual
scene. Apart from "ideological" activities (i.e. the
struggle of ideas) one must be involved with the general
issues of freedom and human rights and cooperate with various
existing organisations concerned with such questions as
censorship, political prisoners,etc.
These are some of the specific operational ideas which I have
discussed with Mel and which we would like to discuss with you,
'Walt Raymond and Mark Palmer. Of course not all of them can be
launched at the same time. One has to proceed step by step
according to the means available. but that is, we believe, what
should be aimed at, however modest the beginning. In any case,
one should begin somewhere and the sooner the better, because
political morale in Europe has been crumbling for a long time and
one should try to counterract it as effectively as possible.
I hope to see you soon.
Yours,.
Leopold Labedz.