ARGENTINE COMMUNISTS' FINANCIAL CAMPAIGN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00457R001900330002-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 16, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 13, 2000
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: September 30, 1948
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved Igor Re ENTRA 000 E CIA-RDP82-0045 WIP0003
INFORMATION REPORT
25X1A
COUNTRY Argentina (3Gj I ,_j ' +~ \ T DISTR 30 September 1.948
SUBJECT Argentine Communists' Financial Campaign ,!' Vv-~ NO. OF PAGES 2
Document No.
25X1A No CU4^7,10 t' class.
PLACE ~
ACQUIRED bECLAS."IIE
ss C 3ANCFU TO: =F
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
C
D _OF .lNZO August-September 1948.11' DDS VC 7:0, SUPPLEMENT TO
,oil
14
Auth:-.G'._,'ri_F~-'ORT NO.
w /1
25X1X
(The Communist Party of Argentina (CPA) officially opened its 1948 financial
campaign on 21 June 1948, advertising a goal of half a million pesos to be
collected by 1 September 1948. Orientacion, Communist newspaper, claimed on
15 August that receipts to that date had already exceeded the goal with a
total of 521,609.75 pesos. On 1 September, the closing date of the campaign,
the Communist daily, La Hora, announced that 852,046.93 pesos had been.col-
lected, while a later report in Orientacion, which included receipts from
the interior, claimed a total of 58 7,720.63 pesos.)
1. The official claim of the amount of money raised in the recent CPA financial
campaign ending on 1 Septmber is believed to be greatly exaggerated. It is
estimated that the total collection actually was less than 350,000 pesos, a
considerably smaller sum than that of last year. Current police restrictions
on CPA meetings., picnics, and benefits are held responsible.
2. One of the reasons why the CPA directors misrepresented the amount collected
may have been to conceal the fact that many former sympathizers who contributed
to previous campaigns have been converted to Peronismo and now refuse to con-
tribute to the party.
3. Americo Ghioldi, Socialist leader and brother of CPA leader Rodolfo Ghioldi,
stated in confidence that the CPA is now undergoing serious difficulties and
that the financial campaign with the accompanying propaganda was intended to
restore at least part of the CPA's lost prestige. Americo (,hioldi added
that, in spite of the current difficulties, the CPA will be in a position to
improve its position greatly if and when President Peron finds it impossible
to comply with the ever-increasing demands of labor.
4. Rodolfo Puiggros, Communist unign leader, is said to have informed his
brother that the published report of the CPA financial.campaign is an "arti-
ficial game" designed to disguise the fact that the CPA has been losing
ground. Another Communist opined that the published results of the campaign
tripled the actual amount collected in the 1948 campaign.
"'d -G NcT!CI?: T141S ATr~Pt~'~+r~ C.'STI 'G MUST Ear
LA IFICATION E EFORE PUBLIC RELEASE OF THIS DOCUMENT
NAVY
AIR
 Approved For Release 2000/05/16 : CIA-RDP82-00457R001900330002-7
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY 25X1 A
5. Following is a list of the various sources of income of the CPA.:
a. Artkino Pictures: This source has provided almost no income to the
Party during the past eight months because of a government restric-
tion on the release of Soviet films to local theaters,
ti
b. Periodicals: All publications under this category are currently produc-
inga deficit for the Party. La Hora alone has a monthly operational
deficit of 12,000 pesos in adds =on to occasional fines which it is
forced to pay for violation of local labor laws.
c. "Colectas": The most important of these is the annual financial cam-
paign. Money formerly obtained from picnics, raffles, and dances is
now negligible because of government restrictions against such Communist
activities. The total of dues collected is not sufficient to pay the
normal operating expenses of the Party, which include monthly salaries
of-000 pesos for the leaders, operation of party automobiles, and 250
pesos monthly for each chauffeur assigned to an automobile.
d. Publishing Houses: Editorial Anteo prints pamphlets and Communist
magazines and acts as a distributor for foreign Communist magazines.
Editorial Problemas prints both local and but
its production is extremely limited. Bot eon- ILLEGIB
stantly complaining of their financial situation. The high cost of
paper and labor makes the books too expensive to be purchased by the
rank and file of the CPAi,
e. fostenedores": This group is composed of Party sympathizers who make
regular monthly contributions (sometimes as high as 150 pesos or more)
either out of sympathy or fb "reasons of professional or political ex-
pediency.
f. Foreign Aid: Very little financial aid is received from the exterior.
However, local Slav Communism does receive occasional aid, usually in
the form of loans, from the Polish Bank.
r (1 T IDLJ
Approved For Release 2000/05/16 : CIA-RDP82-00457R001900330002-7