WEEKLY SUMMARY - EASTERN EUROPE: COMMUNIST DICTATORSHIPS; SATELLITE ECONOMY

Created: 1/28/1949

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WEEKLY SUMMARY

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

EASTERN EUROPE

Communist Dictatorships The Kremlin apparently feels

Lhat tbe Communists ci Bulgaria, Rumania, and Hungary are strong enough to dispense wttb, the fiction that thest countries are democratic states.leaders in Uie three Satellites have recently declared that the Soviet-sponsored regimes are now "dictatorships of thetvaa Rakosi, Secretary General of tho BBMgagfcroirty, has also stated tbat these "dictatorsbins" MpCCAual one type of government necessary to the transition,apitalistocialist state.rank admission that thz Communist Party ia the controlling power in Hungary litdicu.es the early establishmentational Front govtrn-ntr-t. another basic tyoe of Soviet regime which, has already appeared in Bulgaria and Rumania.

Satellite Economy Th? formation of the Council of MMttl

Economic Assistance by the USSR at this time indicates that itefensive measure designed to offset the successes of the European recovery program. This Soviet-directed CooncU will attempt tn coordinate further the economies oi Poland, Hungary. Rumania, Citccho-slOvakfa, andajor step toward their eventual Integration with the economy oi the USSR. Although tub* latest Soviet move is uadcubtedly partoug -range plan, the Immediate Kremlin objectives are to counterbalance the adverse effects or. eastern European morale of the relatively rapid economic recoveryestern Europe and to prevent tlie spread oi nationalistic -economic heresies, such as Tito's. The Council's formation may have some propaganda value by renewbig hope within tho satellite countrier that mutual cooperation may Improve the low standard ofhe Council will result in some improvements in the Satellite economies by providinf! for more effective planning and more efficient distribution, tjespite the fiction of economic equality, the Council's formation vill inevitably result in tightened control of lie eastern European economies by the Kremlin.

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