6 February 1990*, St 10/1

Posted on 20/03/2018 by

Secretariat. Subsidies from the Soviet Red Cross for Moscow-based correspondents of Party and “fraternal” newspapers in capitalist and developing countries  (4 pp). [R 6 Nov 90, St 10-1] Excerpt.

========================================================

The “living expenses” of Moscow-based correspondents for these fraternal publications also formed part of the bill.

From the late 1950s, to disguise its origins, this bill was footed by the Soviet Red Cross. As the crisis of the 1980s escalated, the unthinkable happened: the Red Cross rose up in arms and refused to pay, citing government cuts to its own budget as the reason (6 February 1990, St 10/1). When the expenses were totted up, the result was astonishing:

At present, there are 33 foreign correspondents in Moscow, who occupy 33 apartments, including 7 bureaus. Apart from their salaries, their postal, telegraph and telephone costs are paid, as are the renovation costs of apartments and offices, travel within the Soviet Union and abroad, access to medical treatment and the use of resort facilities. Practically every correspondent is assigned a secretarial assistant, whose salary is paid by the Executive Council of the Soviet Red Cross and Red Crescent Society. In 1989, the expenses arising from the presence of this category of foreign correspondent exceeded one million roubles.

It became necessary for the Central Committee to review this form of international solidarity, too.

Excerpt from Judgement in Moscow (Chapter One)

=======================================================

NOTES
General
1. Notes by translator and editor are bracketed, thus [ ];
2. text written by hand is indicated in italic script;
3. when a handwritten phrase, figure or word has been added
to a previously typed document this is indicated by underlined italic script.
Tr. AK
Posted in 1. CPSU, Ideology & Politics

Alternative sources (1968-1992)

Posted on 22/06/2017 by

The 63 published issues of the bi-monthly CHRONICLE OF CURRENT EVENTS (April 1968 to June 1982) can all be accessed in English translation.

The Russian original ХРОНИКА ТЕКУЩИХ СОБЫТИЙ is also available online; as is most of the Munich-based fortnightly ВЕСТИ ИЗ СССР (November 1978 to December 1992), which was translated into English as USSR News Brief.

============================================================

Posted in 2.1 pre-1975, 2.2 post-1975, 3.1 the 1960s, 3.2 the 1970s, 3.3 after 1980, 3.4 Andrei Sakharov, 3.5 Alexander Solzhenitsyn, 3.6 The abuse of psychiatry, 4. Perestroika

31 January 1938*, Pb 57/48

Posted on 17/06/2017 by

Dealing with “Anti-Soviet Elements”. Politburo accepts NKVD request to increase quotas for 1st category arrests (executions) and 2nd category arrests in 22 Republics and Regions across the USSR (2 pp). [R 31 January 1938, Pb 57-48]

=========================================================

[page one of two]

Return within 24 hours
to the Central Committee Special Sector

STRICTLY SECRET
(From Special File)

CENTRAL COMMITTEE
of the All-Union Communist Party (of Bolsheviks)

Pb 57/48

[?31 January] 1938

To Comrade Yezhov, all pages;
[individually] to the relevant Regional and
National Committees of Communist Parties

Abstract from the Minutes of meeting No 57 of the Politburo
of the VKP (b) Central Committee

 Resolution of 31 January 1938

48. Concerning Anti-Soviet elements

1. Adopt the proposal of the USSR NKVD to confirm additional acts of repression [1] against former kulaks, criminals and active anti-Soviet elements for the following Regions and Republics:

  1. Armenian SSR — 1,000 persons – 1st category & 1,000 – 2nd category
  2. Belorussian SSR — 1,500 – in 1st category [1]
  3. Ukrainian SSR — 6,000 – in 1st category [1]
  4. Georgian SSR — 1,500 – in 1st category
  5. Azerbaijani SSR — 2,000 – 1st category
  6. Turkmen SSR — 1,000 – 1st category
  7. Kirgiz SSR — 500 – 1st category
  8. Tadjik SSR — 1,000 – 1st category & 500 – 2nd category
  9. Uzbek SSR — 2,000 – 1st category & 500 – 2nd category
  10. Far East Region — 8,000 – 1st category & 2,000 – 2nd category
  11. Chita Region — 1,500 – 1st category & 500 – 2nd category
  12. Buryat-Mongol Region — 500 – 1st category
  13. Irkutsk Region — 3,000 – 1st category & 500 – 2nd category
  14. Krasnoyarsk Region — 1,500 – 1st category & 500 – 2nd category
  15. Novosibirsk Region — 1,000 – 1st category
  16. Omsk Region — 3,000 – 1st category [1]
  17. Altai Region — 2,000 – 1st category & 1,000 – 2nd category
  18. Leningrad Region — 3,000 – 1st category
  19. Karelian ASSR — 500 – 1st category & 200 – 2nd category
  20. Kalinin Region — 1,500 – 1st category & 500 – 2nd category
  21. Moscow Region — 1,000 – 1st category
  22. Sverdlovsk Region — 2,000 – 1st category

(see next page)

——————————————————————-

[page two]

Workers of All Lands, Unite!

STRICTLY SECRET
(Special File)
Must be returned

CENTRAL COMMITTEE of the All-Union Communist Party (of Bolsheviks)

page 2

Continued

Item No. [48] of [57th] meeting of the Politburo, dated [31 January] 19 [38]

RESOLVED

2. Propose that the USSR NKVD to carry out the entire operation, but that the above-mentioned Regions and Republics complete no later than 15 March 1938, and the Far Eastern Region no later than 1 April 1938.

3. In accordance with this Resolution prolong the work of troikas [2] examining the cases of former kulaks, criminals and anti-Soviet elements in the Regions and Republics listed in item 1.

In all other Regions and Republics the work of the troikas will end no later than 15 February 1938, having finished and examined all cases within the quotas established for these Regions and Republics.

CENTRAL COMMITTEE SECRETARY

======================================================================
NOTES
[1] Subsequently, the NKVD in the Republics, or the local Party bosses, would ask for yet further increases in their quotas, as other documents in this archive show — in the Gorky Region, in Ukraine, the Omsk Region and Belorussia. See, for example, 4 February 1938* (No 95/111), 17 February 1938* (Pb 58/57), 10 May 1938 (Pb 61) and 17 July 1938.
[2] The troika was a local extra-judicial, three-man tribunal (with representatives, typically, from the Party, the NKVD and the Procurator’s Office) that rubber-stamped lists of those already condemned to imprisonment or execution.
General
1. Notes and additions by translator and editor are bracketed, thus [ ];
2. Text added by hand is indicated in italic script;
3. when a handwritten phrase, figure or word has been inserted
in a previously typed document it is indicated by underlined italic script.
Translation, John Crowfoot

=========================================================

Posted in 2.1 pre-1975 | Tagged , | 1 Comment

29 December 1980*, Pb 230/34

Posted on 12/06/2017 by

Politburo decision. Financial assistance in 1981 (US $) to Communist Parties and movements (USA, 2 million; France, 2 million; Finland, 1.4 million; Portugal, 700,000), in total 57 recipients (5 pp). [R 1980, 29 December]

=========================================================

[page one of three]

Workers of all Lands, Unite!

[Text in top left hand corner of page]
Must be returned within three days
to CPSU Central Committee (General Department, sector 1)

COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET UNION. CENTRAL COMMITTEE

TOP SECRET
SPECIAL FILE

No. Pb 230 / 34

To Comrades Andropov and Ponomarev

Excerpt from Minutes No. 230, the Central Committee Politburo meeting
on 29 December 1980

A request from the International Department of the CPSU Central Committee

1. Provide financial aid in 1981 to:

  • The US Communist Party – 2,000,000 dollars
  • The French Communist Party – 2,000,000 dollars
  • The Finnish Communist Party – 1,400,000 dollars
  • The Portuguese Communist Party – 700,000 dollars
  • The Greek Communist Party – 700,000 dollars
  • The Chilean Communist Party – 500,000 dollars
  • The Indian Communist Party – 500,000 dollars
  • The Venezuelan Communist Party – 400,000 dollars
  • The Israeli Communist Party – 400,000 dollars
  • The Lebanese Communist Party – 400,000 dollars
  • The Danish Communist Party – 350,000 dollars
  • The People’s Party of Iran – 300,000 dollars
  • The Peruvian Communist Party – 300,000 dollars
  • The Swiss Labour Party – 300,000 dollars
  • The Progressive Party of Cyprus (AKEL) – 300,000 dollars
  • The Iraqi Communist Party – 300,000 dollars
  • The Colombian Communist Party – 260,000 dollars
  • The Austrian Communist Party – 250,000 dollars
  • The Syrian Communist Party – 250,000 dollars
  • The Uruguayan Communist Party – 250,000 dollars

—————————————————————-

[page two]                                                                                                  2.

  • The Luxemburg Communist Party – 200,000 dollars
  • The El Salvador Communist Party – 200,000 dollars
  • The Costa-Rican Party of the People’s Vanguard – 200,000 dollars
  • The Egyptian Communist Party – 200,000 dollars
  • The Canadian Communist Party – 200,000 dollars
  • The Guatemalan Labour Party – 150,000 dollars
  • The Dominican Communist Party – 150,000 dollars
  • The People’s Party of Panama – 120,000 dollars
  • The Honduras Communist Party – 120,000 dollars
  • The Sri Lankan Communist Party – 120,000 dollars
  • The Moroccan Party of Progress and Socialism – 100,000 dollars
  • The Swedish Communist-Workers’ Party – 100,000 dollars
  • The African National Congress (South Africa) – 100,000 dollars
  • The South-West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO) – 100,000 dollars
  • The Problems of Peace and Socialism periodical – 100,000 dollars
  • The Paraguayan Communist Party – 100,000 dollars
  • The Socialist Workers’ Party, Nigeria – 90,000 dollars
  • The Madagascan Congress of Independence – 90,000 dollars
  • The Socialist Party of Australia – 75,000 dollars
  • The Party of the Socialist Vanguard, Algeria – 75,000 dollars
  • The National People’s Party of Bangladesh – 60,000 dollars
  • The Bangladesh Communist Party – 50,000 dollars
  • The Martinique Communist Party – 50,000 dollars
  • The Irish Communist Party – 50,000 dollars
  • The Jordanian Communist Party – 50,000 dollars
  • The Norwegian Communist Party – 50,000 dollars

————————————————————

[page three]                                                                                                3.

  • The Turkish Communist Party – 50,000 dollars
  • The Chilean Socialist Party – 50,000 dollars
  • The Workers’ Party of Jamaica – 50,000 dollars
  • The Chilean Workers’ and Peasants’ Party (MAPU) – 40,000 dollars
  • The Maltese Communist Party – 40,000 dollars
  • The San Marino Communist Party – 40,000 dollars
  • the Guadaloupe Communist Party – 35,000 dollars
  • The Association of Egyptian Patriots Abroad – 30,000 dollars
  • The Tunisian Communist Party – 20,000 dollars
  • The Saudi Arabian Communist Party – 20,000 dollars
  • The Lesotho Communist Party – 10,000 dollars

2. Transfer of these funds is entrusted to the KGB.

SECRETARY OF THE CENTRAL COMMITTEE

[pages four and five are an Order issued by the USSR Council of Ministers in response to a request from Frelimo (the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique)]

==============================================================

NOTES
Comparison with a similar list compiled 12 years earlier (8 January 1969*, Pb 111/162) shows more recipients, a change in their ranking (e.g. Finland), and the disappearance of some.
In 1969, for instance, two Italian political parties were to receive at least 4-5 million dollars. A document from 1983 shows that direct subsidies to the PCI had been replaced by indirect subventions under the guise of trade.
General
1. Notes by translator and editor are bracketed, thus [ ];
2. text written by hand is indicated in italic script;
3. when a handwritten phrase, figure or word has been inserted
in a previously typed document this is indicated by underlined italic script.
Translation, John Crowfoot

===========================================================

Posted in 5. CPSU & Communist world, 7.1 in the West, 7.2 in the Middle East, 7.3 in Africa, 7.4 in Latin America | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment