CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00975A002800040001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 13
• Document Creation Date: December 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 21, 2002
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: October 24, 1956
• Content Type: REPORT

24 October 16;56
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CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
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OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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CONTENTS
i
1. HUNGARIAN PUBLIC DEMONSTRATIONS LEAD TO
POLITICAL :CRISIS
2. GOMULKA MAN IS NEW POLITICAL COMMISSAR
OF POLISH ARMYI
3. POLISH OFFICIAL COMMENTS ON SITUATION IN POLAND
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7. GREEK PRIME MINISTER TO HEAD DELEGATION TO UN
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10. AFGHANISTAN PROPOSES BUILDING RAILROAD WITH
AMERICAN AID
11. REACTION IN NORTH AFRICA TO SEIZURE OF ALGERIAN
LE ADE:
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1. HUNGARIAN PUBLIC DEMONSTRATIONS LEAD TO
POLITICAL CRISIS
Hungarian Communist leaders are
facing a major political crisis brought
on by demands of party moderates and,...
an aroused public that Hungary follow
Poland's lead in asserting greater indE-
pendence from the Kremlin. An emergency meeting of the
central committee of the party has been called to deal with
the situation.
Demonstrations by thousands of Hungarian
university students, workers and off-duty soldiers on 23
October, demanding a new government headed by Imre Nagy
and the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary,
ended in violence. Police fired on demonstrators attempting
to seize the Budapest radio station and to destroy a Stalin
monument. At least one person was reported killed. Tele-
phone communications with the West were cut off during
the evening of 23 October and normal radio broadcasts were
replaced by music programs.
The demonstrators, who throughout the
afternoon were apparently orderly, may have been sparked
to violence by a speech party leader Gero'made shortly
after his return from a visit to Belgrade.
Gero criticized the demonstrations as
"chauvinist incitement" and "nationalism" in an uncompro-
mising statement of continuing loyalty to the Soviet Union,
ironically using the terminology of the charges under whic:_i
Nagy had been expelled from office in 1955.
Gero, by his attempt to discredit the
demonstrations, stands in marked contrast to those in the
party leadership who actually endorsed such demonstrations
in order to illustrate the close solidarity of the Hungarian
party with the Polish party and its latest moves. Hungarian
party moderates--who now appear to be dominant in the
party--are presumably exerting great pressure on Gero to
resign, planning subsequently to declare, in effect, their
"independence" of the Soviet Union along the lines of the
Polish declaration last week end.
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2. GOMULKA MAN IS NEW POLITICAL COMMISSAR
OF POLISH ARMY
in the Polish armed forces. Spychalski was purged with
.Gomulka in 1949 and was returned with him to the central
committee on 19 October,
The Polish news agency has announced
that General Spychalski has replaced
General Witaszewski as deputy minister
of defense in charge of political affairs
Spychalski's appointment is probably
intended to limit the authority of Defense Minister
Rokossowski, who has already been dropped from the
politburo, and pave the way for his removal. Until 1949
Spychalski was a deputy defense minister and deputy
commander of the Polish armed forces.
Witaszewski is one.bf the "Stalinists"
within the Polish Communist Party and a strong supporter
of Marshal Rokossowski. He was instrumental in attempting
to foster a wave of anti-Semitism in Poland as an attack
on the intellectual liberals, many of whom are Jewish,
Student and worker rallies on 20-21 October called for
his replacement.
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3. POLISH OFFICIAL COMMENTS ON SITUATION IN POLAND
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that Poland was in a state o "second revolution" and that
there was no turning back unless the Kremlin decided to
use force. He stated that the bulk of the Polish army is
patriotic and will fight only one enemy, the Russians.
Hochfield said that Poland was facing
bankruptcy and advocated an American loan of $30,000,000
to $45,000,000. If such a loan were not provided soon, he
said, workers' riots would be likely, with the result that
the Russians might intervene "to restore order. "
Comment Hochfield, a former Socialist and a mem-
ber of the Polish politburo until the
Gomulka purge in .1949, is considered to be a member of
the liberal faction of . the Polish Communist Party.
Since early summer several Polish
officials and journalists have hinted to Westerners that
-Poland was interested in receiving extensive aid from the
United States.
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Julian Hochfield, a prominent member
of the Polish parliament currently visid
England, reportedly told
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7. GREEK PRIME MINISTER TO HEAD DELEGATION TO UN
The decision of Greek prime minister
Karamanlis to head his country's delega-
tion at the UN General Assembly next
month indicates his optimism that the
assembly's decision on the Cyprus issue
will be favorable. Ka.ramanlis told
mbassador Allen that he hoped to have
discussions with Washington officials
while in the United States
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10. AFGHANISTAN PROPOSES BUILDING RAILROAD WITH
AMERICAN AID
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American ai
a railway lin
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The Afghan government on 18 October
gave the American embassy assurances
it would co-operate in developing an
Afghan-Pakistani transit project with
d. Afghanistan, which has no railroads, said
e from Spin Baldak, on the Pakistani border,
64 Samarkand
72
U. S. S.
R.
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GHANISTAN
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23 OCTOBER :[956
SPIN BALDAK? Kaman
All weather road
Quetta
-+--F- Railroad (selected)
0 50 100 200
STATUTE MILES
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through Kandahar to Kabul would be preferable to highway
improvements in the eastern and southeastern parts of
the country. Foreign Minister Nairn also stated that a
railroad might in the long run prove more beneficial to
his country.
According to the American embassy in
Kabul, connecting Afghanistan by rail to the Indian
subcontinent would facilitate economic progress. The
Afghan.suggestion seems particularly signific my however,,
in that it follows recent reports that the USSR had discussed
the possibility of building a railroad from the Soviet
border post at Kushka throukl: Herat and Fara ':to Kandahar
and Kabul, while a German Krupp corporatio official
reportedly announced on 29 August that the Ir ian railway
being built from Tehran to Meshed (near Hera.) would be
completed within a year and that a link with Afghanistan
would follow.
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11. REACTION IN NORTH AFRICA TO SEIZURE OF ALGERIAN
LEADERS
Capture by the French of five Algerian
nationalists on 22 October has led
Tunisia to recall its ambassador from
Paris and to threaten a complete
rupture of relations and a renewal
of guerrilla activity against the
French. General strikes and violence
have occurred in both Tunisia and
Morocco, and the consul general :iii,.
Casablanca reports that a breakdown
of order must be expected. In vied
of the general situation, the sultan
of Morocco is breaking off his talks in Tunis and returning
to Morocco.
Both the sultan and the.premier of Tu-
nis}ah who have.favo.red moderation and a negotiated settle-
ment in Algeria, will now be forced to adopt more extreme
and anti- French roles.
On 23 October representatives of
the Arab states at the United Nations met to draft a protest
against the French action. Such a protest would probably
be supported in the UN by the Arab-Asian nations and the
Soviet bloc. F7 I
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