CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1955/02/05

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03003288
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: September 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: September 26, 2019
• Publication Date: February 5, 1955

Approved foIr : 2010211
C030cM,MM,
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
5 February 1955
Copy No.
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS 7e-,
0 DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: 91 0
AUTH: HR 70-2
DATE. -3140 CI REVIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
TOP
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03003288
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03003288
*ftio
NNW
SUMMARY
SOVIET UNION
1. Elements of Soviet Northern Fleet may move outside home waters
(page 3),
2. Comment on Khrushchev's speech at central committee plenum
(page 3),
3. Comment on the 1955 Soviet budget (page 4).
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Additional plotting against Vietnamese premier reported (page 5).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
5. Egypt may seek Indian support for area defense arrangement
(page 6).
WESTERN EUROPE
6. Communist-led walkout in Genoa fails to tie up port (page 6).
LATE ITEM
7. Comment on the overthrow of the Mendes-France government
(page 7).
* * * *
5 Feb 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 2
rr,-p.r,c,rr.r
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03003288
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03003288
*or
SOVIET UNION
1. Elements of Soviet Northern Fleet may move outside home waters:
elements 0/ tne Northern Fleet Will proceed to the BlaCK sea in
February for combined maneuvers. Possibly in preparation for
a movement, Northern Fleet elements recently staged maneuvers
similar to those which preceded the sortie of last August.
2. Comment on Khrushchev's speech at central committee plenum:
Party secretary Khrushchev's role as main
speaker at the recent central committee
plenum and the publication of his six-page
speech by the central press on the opening day of the Supreme
Soviet session constitute a striking addition to his stature as the
most publicized Soviet leader.
The introductory section of the speech
clearly identified Khrushchev with the current re-emphasis of heavy
Industry and the bitter criticism of officials who have overempha-
sized the role of light industry.
Khrushchev's speech and the central com-
mittee decree based on it provide an authoritative justification for
the renewed stress on development of heavy industry and defense
being effected at the Supreme Soviet session now in progress. His
5 Feb 55
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 3
ApproveTro�r r lier i. -
Release: 2079709/17 C03003288
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03003288
harsh criticism of "woebegone theoreticians" who disagree with
the continued emphasis on the development of heavy industry is
an ominous warning to any opposition elements.
The rest of the speech so far received was
devoted to agricultural themes. Khrushchev heavily underscored
the leading role of the party in agricultural affairs and appeared to
stress administrative measures rather than material incentives.
Such incentives were emphasized by Malenkov, and to a somewhat
lesser extent by Khrushchev himself, in the fall of 1953.
3. Comment on the 1955 Soviet budget:
Incomplete reports on the 1955 Soviet
budget, announced on 3 February, indi-
cate that the consumer welfare aspects
of the "new course" are to be slowed down in 1955 in order to in-
crease allocations to the defense and heavy industrial sectors of
the economy.
This year's budget allocates 112.1 bil-
lion rubles for military expenditures. The corresponding amounts
for earlier years were 100, 3 billion rubles in 1954, 110.2 billion
rubles in 1953, and 113.8 billion in 1952, the highest postwar year.
The amount officially announced each year is known not to cover
construction or modernization of defense plants, expenditures for
military research and development, or for atomic weapons.
If, as seems likely, the personnel
strength and administrative costs of the Soviet military estab-
lishment remain approximately the same this year as last, the
bulk of the larger allocation will be devoted to the increased pro-
curement of improved weapons and equipment. The rise in the
level of outlays is partly caused by the complexity of modern
weapons. Part of the rise, however, probably resulted from a
Soviet decision that the international situation required greater
military preparedness, and perhaps also from a decision to in-
crease assistance to the Satellites and China in their re-equipment
programs..
5 Feb 55
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 4
TOP ET
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03003288
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03003288
Allocations for for heavy industry are
scheduled to rise to 163.6 billion rubles, compared with 133� 2
billion rubles allotted for last year. Funds for light industry,
agriculture, and housing, however, are to drop slightly below
1954 allotments, but will still be well above 1953. This suggests
that the USSR has decided to maintain and improve the Soviet bloc
military establishment,
SOUTHEAST ASIA
4. Additional plotting against Vietnamese premier reported:
Diem's supporters may be initiating some
of the current rumors of antigovernment plots in order to dis-
credit the premier's enemies. The report that Huu is in direct
contact with Mendes-France appears extremely dubious,
Tran Van Huu's antigovernment intri-
guing and his willingness to head a government which would come
to terms with the Viet Minh are well established, He has appar-
ently lbeen abetted by certain French elements, and high French
officials have spoken of him as a likely candidate for the premier-
ship, These same officials, however, have more recently ex-
pressed the view that it was now too late to get rid of Diem. With-
out full French support, Huu's prospects are very slight�
5 Feb 55
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 5
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03003288
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03003288
'vale
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
5. Egypt may seek Indian support for area defense arrangement:
Comment: Nasr, frustrated by his
apparent failure to preveift-F�raciWom concluding an agreement
outside the Arab League, is likely now to attempt with Indian
encouragement to create a neutralist bloc of Arabs in an effort
to retain Egypt's position of leadership.
WESTERN EUROPE
6.
Communist-led walkout in Genoa fails to tie up port:
For the first time in several years, ship
repairs and cargo handling in Genoa were
not halted by walkouts called by metal-
workers and dockworkers affiliated with
the Communist-dominated Italian General Labor Confederation
(CGIL). The American embassy in Rome reports that effective
action by the seamen's union affiliated with the Christian Democratic
oriented labor federation, energetic police action and co-operation
from the government labor office contributea to the CGIL failure.
5 Feb 55
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 6
ApprovTd-fo-r-Relea;se.:2617/09/17 C03003288
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03003288
I I
/
�%sei Nee
Comment: This report suggests some
weakening of the Communists' hold on labor in Genoa, long a
center of CGIL strength. However, a CGIL-called strike in De-
cember on the same issue is reported to have been 100-percent
effective,
No important strike efforts have been
reported in recent months in other industrial centers, such as
Milan, where CGIL's hold on labor appears to continue strong,
LATE ITEM
7. Comment on the overthrow of the Mendes-France government:
Although the National Assembly deputies
who spearheaded the attack against Mendes-France in the North
Africa debate are confident that a new government can be formed
easily within a week, the American embassy in Paris regards this
as unrealistic and estimates a two-to-three-week cabinet crisis.
Such a delay might have serious consequences for North African
problems and might postpone action by the Council of the Republic
on the Paris accords.
The premier's opposition repoktedly has
laid plans for the succession and is apparently encouraged by the
recent constitutional revision permitting investiture by a simple
majority. However, the opposition may be overestimating its
ability to form a cabinet acceptable to the assembly, which is now
required to approve both premier-designate and cabinet simul-
taneously� An attempt may be made to present a skeleton cabinet
to be filled out later.
Foreign Minister Edgar Faure and former
premier Rene Mayer are the leading contenders for the premiership.
Two possible candidates from the center Popular Republicans long in
opposition to Mendes- France are Charles Barange and Pierre Pflimlin.
5 Feb 55 CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 7
rrno DPT
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03003288
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03003288
The independents, who have been forging a more cohesive rightist
bloc, may present ex-premier Pinay.
Council of the Republic action on the
Paris accords could be delayed if the crisis were prolonged. The
council is now expected to complete action before 11 March, but
a cabinet crisis lasting more than a week permits the council to
postpone its deadline for action by a corresponding period. The
American embassy speculates that assembly approval of a premier
more acceptable to the council than Mendes-France would improve
he chances of getting approval of the accords without amendments.
5 Feb 55
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN Page 8
Approved for Release: 2019/09/17 C03003288