STAFF NOTES: SOVIET UNION EASTERN EUROPE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP86T00608R000400070020-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 5, 2012
• Sequence Number: 20
• Publication Date: January 29, 1975
• Content Type: REPORT

 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/05: CIA-RDP86T00608R000400070020-0
LJ/' I
Soviet Union
Eastern Europe
Top Secret
Top Secret
January 29, 1975
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 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/05: CIA-RDP86T00608R000400070020-0
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/05: CIA-RDP86T00608R000400070020-0
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/07/05 :
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SOVIET UNION ? EASTERN EUROPE
This publication Is prepared for regional specialists In the Washington com-
munity by the USSR Eastern Europe Division, Office of Current Intel-
Iigonco, with occasional contributions from other offices within the
Directorate of Intelligence. Comments and queries are welcome.
January 29, 1975
Shelepin Visit to FRG Could
Provoke Incident. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Prague Moderates, Hard-liners
May End Dispute . 3
USSR: "Reform" in the Indur'trial
Supply Sector 5
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Shele inn Visit to FRG
Cou . Provoke ME'den
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
heat'. 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- 25X1
lic_reaction, has declined to be Shelepin's offi-
January 29, 1975
25X1
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25X1
Prague Moderates, Hard-liners May End Dispute
The US embassy in Prague reports the city is
rife with rumors that imply mode.catos and hard-liners
irk 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 oaso for modera-
tion to the lower levels of the part .
/ 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-
evor changes are made will-be tempered by the need
to preserve the delicate balance between moderates
and conservatives.
January 29, 1975
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USSR: "Reform" in the
Industrial Su p y Sector
The current issue of Ekonomioheokaya Gaeta
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 mct their contracts to supply industrial
customers with raw material,a, 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
of common sense, but
appear to be a modest
immediate, wide-scale
injection
adoption
of it is unlikely.
Determination of contract ful-
25X1
ment is available.
fillment must be done by hand calculation until a
computerized mathematical model now under develop-
January 29, 1975
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