Memorandum, State Department Summary of Telegrams

NIT (Naved (Aide) 383 OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE DECLASSIFIED WASHINGTON E.O. 12065, Sec. 3-402 State Dept. Guidelines, March 6, 1982 By DEB NLT, Date 9-10-8 August 21, 1952 TOP SECRET SECURITY INFORMATTON SUMMARY OF TELEGRAMS USSR: Ambassador Kennan has submitted some preliminary comments on the Soviets' announcement that a congress of the Communist Party is to be convened. Kennan says that the announced organizational changes are undoubtedly of a most momentous nature and probably mark a turning point in Soviet domestic political affairs. Yet the evidence is still so scanty and undependable that for the time being the greatest caution and reserve must be observed in their interpretation, The only specific comments which Kennan feels can be made for the time being concerning the significance of the announced changes are the following: 1) The fact that the long-overdue Party congress (last held in 1939 and due to have been recon- vened not later than 1942) was not held immediately after the war could only have been the reflection of some special and weighty internal political reason, the nature of which has always been obscure; the decision to hold it now obviously means that this reason has been somehow overcome in these past months. 2) The deepest significance of these new developments lies in the projected abolition of the Politburo and its replacement by a praesidium, in which some individual will presumably have to assume formal responsibility for chairmanship. This strikes into the heart of the most vital and delicate question of central control of the Soviet Communist Party, the Soviet state and the entire world communist movement. 3) The announcement of a new five-year plan is apparently of secondary importance, since published five-year plans have always represented a propaganda facade and the genuine operational plans have generally been drawn up on a quarterly or annual basis, have been kept secret and revised sensibly or flexibly as the circumstances dictated. EUROPEAN Embassy The Hague reports that Dutch public DEFENSE: opinion has been considerably aroused over a New York Times article of last Sunday by Drew Middleton in Bonn which stated that "unless the British shield for the low countries could be strengthened, the Allied commanders would be committed inevitably to tactics of withdrawing into a French 'fortress Ambassador Chapin says that, apart from the TOP SECRET SECURITY IFORIATION