OPPORTUNITY FOR U.S. IN STIRRINGS OF INDEPENDENCE IN EAST EUROPE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00475R000102780002-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 19, 2013
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: May 31, 1964
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sl AT
Declassified in Part - Saned Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/19 : CIA-RDP73-00475R000102780002-8
? .
STAT
MAY 31 1964
POST-DISPATCH Need For Education--
, e..
most independent of the eastern
S TAT it must be accempateed, they
.;
Eurcpean nations. tinder 'Wlady
C Opportunity for U.S. in Stirrings,
Of independence in East Europe
?
' By JAMES DEAKIN
A Washington Correspondent
of the Post-Dispatch
; WASHINGTON, May 30?Stir-
rings of national independence in
the Communist nations of East-
ern Europe received fresh en-
couragement from the United
States in President Lyndon B.
Johnson's speech at Lexington,
, Va., last week.
Mr. Johnson's address at the
'dedication of the George C.
Marshall Research Library was
:the latest step in a quiet but
'continuing United States effort
?' ? to extend a helping band to the
fledgling spirit of autonomy in
? the eastern European nations,
!particularly ' Poland, Hungary,
Romania and Czechoslovakia.
It was more than coincidence
.? that, as the President was speak-
! ing of this country's intention
"to build bridges across the
gulf which has divided us from
Eastern Europe," a Romanian
C.. delegation headed by a deputy
prime minister was in Wash-
? ington .discussing a Wide range
of economic and political issues
with United States officials.
Opportunity For U.S.
Few, authorities believe that
the situation in eastern Europe
presages a significant realign-
ment of power on the continent
in the foreseeable future: Most
observers here agree, however,
that the ferment in some of the
satellite nations at least offers
the United States ?an opportunity
for a new foreign policy initia-
tive, set the plan in ;motion. the Can.-
The President's speech was munist government of Czchosee
viewed by some as a cautious vakia accepted an invitation to
move toward taking the initia- participate. Poland and Hun-
tive in Europe away ? fmm gary wanted :to take part also.
French President Charles de Order by Stalin
Gaulle. Others held a more limi- In one of 'the first portents of
ted view, pointing out that some the Iron Curtain, Soviet Premier
mention of eastern Europe, Joseph Stalin ordered the east-
which" many Americans trace tern European nations to stay
their origins, was to be expected away frcne.the Paris conference.
from a United States Chief Ex- In 1948, th Cominform, Commu-
ecutive in alt election year.
nist infocmation bureau, was
"Bearing in mind the diversity created for the express purpose
of the conditions 'of sooialist of thwarting the Marshall Plan.
construction, there are not and Officials here pointed out, th
how-
there can be no unique patterns ever, at there 'are signs that
and recipes; no one can decide some eastern EurOpean .nations ?
what is and what is not correct are taking a more independent
for other countries or parties. line and that these developments ;
It is up to every Marxist-Leninist coukl tel of great potential value
party it is a. sovereign right of to the .West. This, they said, .
'each socialist state, to elaborate, fully justifies Mr. Johnson's in- i
choose or change the forms and Creased attention to the area.- 1
methods of socialist Construc-
tion."
Observers in Washington have
derived wry satisfaction in com-
paring this with the 'American
Declaration of Independence,
with its assertion of "the right of
the people to alter or abolish
(government), and to institute
new government."
Economic Effort Resisted
Another encouraging develop-
ment, from the western view-
point, has been the failure of
COMECON, the Communist eco-
nomic council, which has been
unable to co-ordinate and direct
the economies of the eastern
European nations. Romania, in
particular, has resisted Russian
proposals that it concentrate on
oil, gas and agricultural products
to the exclusion of steel and
other heavy industry.
United States policy-makers
are encouraged also because Ro-
mania stopped jamming Voice of
America broadcasts last June.
Hungary stopped jamming ?the
broadcasts on Feb. I of this
year, Czechoslovakia on April 1.
Poland has not jaeriened them
since 1957, leaving East Ger-
Many and Bulgaria as the only
eastern European nations that
still, try to prevent the Voice
programs from getting through.
Russia stopped , jamming the
broadcasts last June.
In his speech at Lexington, Mr.
Johnson pointed out that the
Marshall Plan, as originally con-
ceived, would have covered all
of Europe. When the Paris meet-
ing of July 1947 was convened to
said, by an edueaeleeel ..eitipaignslaw Gomulka, Who came to
-
in the United States, aimed at;.
l'
making- Americans aware that power in 1956 despite' strong ob-
jectionsthe Communist bloc is no long- .? from Moscow, Poland
er as monolithic as it once was. has returned its farms to private .
These countries are different." ownership and has permitted a? ,
one official said. "They cannot t considerable degree of intellec-e:
..,
tual freedom, United States offi- ?
b treated alikeand when one 1
e
shows signs of breaking out of'l cials believe, h owe ve r, that
; Peland has reached a plateau ire
the mold, we want to encourage;
i zee ? 1 internal liberalization, and that
The educatierral campaign fig- i there has been some. retrogrese.
,
: "
skin recently. ?
Hungary ? Budapest has the
freest atmosphere of any bloc
capital except Warsaw. 'Farming ?
has not. been decollectivited, but..,
ured in last year's successful
effort to restore the President's
authority to grant nondiscrimina-
tory tariff treatment to Poland
and Yugoslavia. It will have to flier
be intensified if the Administra- e have 'been some reforms to.
' cn'courage individual initiative. ,
tion decides later to ,seek similar
authority for other eastern Eu-
ropean nations,.
? The Romanian delegation head-
ed by Deputy Prime Minister
Gheierghe ? Gaston-Marin was in-
terested in obtaining this. ar-
rangement, commonly but. er-
roneously known as "most fav-
ored nation" status, but did not
get it.
Romanian Declaration
Among the evidences of rest-
lessness behind the Iron Cur-
tain, the one that has caused
the greatest interest in western
capitals in recent months was a
policy statement adopted at the
Romanian Workers party ple-
num lest month. The staternent,
which is being referred to as
the "Romanian declaration of
independence," said in part:
Mr. Johnson's statement that
the United States would .seek to
carry out Marshall's original con-
cept reflected the changes that
have taken place in eastern Eu-
rope since 1947, officials said.
The pressure for autonomy in
some of the bloc nations is so
pronounced now that the State
Department, as a matter of pol-
icy, no longer refers to them as
satellites of Russia.
'In terms of internal liberaliza-
tion, United States officials con-
sider Hungary the most striking
recent example, with some signs_
of internal improvement noted in
. Czechoslovakia as well. In terms
of independence from Soviet pol:
;icy direction, the most encour-
aging recent' evidence has come
from Romania,
Coiii(ris' Evaluated
,'As evaluated in Washington,
tlie co intry-by-country situation
in eastern Europe is as .follows:
Yugoslavia?Broke eeemPletely
away from Moscow in 1948, Still
'a Communist country but strong-
ly oriented toward the West. Ac-
cepted United States economic,
and military ? ,assistance after
1World War IL and ? more than
three fourths of its trade now is
iWit.h the West, eee;
Last year, 150,000 Hungarians .
were permitted to travel to west-'
ern Europe and Yugoslavia. Most,
of the pelitical prisoners jailed .
after the unsuccessful revolution '
of 1956 have been freed:? .
li Romanie.? An intensive "de- ?
. ,
, russification" drive has begun
in Romania. The Russian lan-
guage no longer is obligatory in
Romanian schools, Russian street
names have been clanged to
Romanian names, and the Rus-
sian publication in Romania, New
Times, has been discontinued.
Over Soviet objections, Romania
has -started developing its own I , ? t
steel industry in the Galati re-.' '
gion near the Black Sea and ,
has ordered equipment from West .
Germany, Britain and France.
Romania recently began grant-
ing amnesty to thousands of pa;
laical prisoners.
Ceechnslovakia ? A little evi-
deife.e of 'internal liberalization,
manifesting itself chiefly in in-
creased Criticism of the govern-
ment and. United States officials
report, "a certain amount of in-
tellectual ferment." A limited
amount ,of travel outside the
country is permitted.
Bulgaria ? Virtually no prop-
eress toward independence from
Russia, although Bulgaria did re-
establish diploma tic relations
.with the United States in 1960.,
' The United States Minister in'
eSofia, Mrs. Eugenie ? Anderson,;
'is popular and has. appeared
i twice on Bulgarian national tele.;
vision.
; East Germany?No possibility
;of any relations' between the
:United States and East Germany
' in the foreseeable future. Offi-'
ciels say that East Germany is
"outside the whole framework
of the United States .approach
to eastern Europe," '? - !. : ,:: :
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release @ 50-Yr 2013/12/19 : CIA-RDP73-00475R000102780002-8