" ORGANIZATIONS

Report "by the Chairman of the Committee on Information and Cultural Relations

In January, 1954, the Committee on Information and Cultural Relations submitted a report to the Council (1), the object of'which was to ensure insofar as possible that communist "front" organizations, a list of which was annexed to the report, should be compelled to hold their meetings in Iron Curtain countries

2.. The Council concluded its discussion of this report with a recommendation that member governments should "take all action that is open to them to make it impossible for international communist "front" organizations to hold their conferences in NATO

3. Despite the misgivings of some members of the Council who felt that this recommendation was not sufficiently far- reaching, it has in fact achieved its object. Despite persistent and determined efforts by "front" organizations to find "respectable" sites for their gatherings, the Committee knows of only one instance in the intervening two and a half years where a major "front" organization has been successful in arranging a full-scale conference in a NATO country.

4. The Council'also agreed "that member governments should ^ report to the Committee on Information and Cultural Relations with /- regard to any action they might take in connection with any proposal to hold in their territories communist "front" conferences" (3). As a consequence, there has been the broadest exchange of views on the activities of these organizations. Under the aegis of the Committee, governments have both.sought and received information. Thus, in late 1954, one delegation informed the Committee that a new technique had recently been evolved by the communists for dissimulating "front" activities. Briefly, the new technique was to set up "international initiating committees" ostensibly organized by individuals unconnected with any communist "front" organization. These

DECLASSIFIED - PUBLIC DISCLOSURE / DÉCLASSIFIÉ - MISE EN LECTURE PUBLIQUE LECTURE EN - MISE / DÉCLASSIFIÉ DISCLOSURE - PUBLIC DECLASSIFIED "committees" would then'invite persons of goodwill to attend seemingly straightforward meetings to discuss matters of particular concern to'them, in this way, the communists attempted to deceive

(1) C-M(54)6 j'2j C-Rp4j2, Item II -2- NATO CONFIDENTIAL C-M{ft)??

5. The growing importance of.these exchanges on communist "front" activities has led the Committee to decide that the first • item on its Agenda should henceforth he "Exchange of views on communist "front" organizations".

Since this decision was triton, it has "been brought to the attention of the Committee that local communist parties and their, "front" organizations are seeking to enhance their own position hy taking advantage of the détente and of the exchange of visits arranged "between countries of the Atlantic Community and those of the communist bloc. As a consequence of the new development, at least one government has stated publicly that'it will not grant visas to visitors from the.Soviet bloc who are sponsored by communists or communist "front" organizations, and has so informed the Soviet authorities.

6. While the weapon of exposure has been used with great effect in NATO and other Western countries, one government has observed that the "front" organizations are now paying increasing attention to Africa and Asia where public opinion is not as well informed about them as it is in the West. Undoubtedly, there is scope almost everywhere in the world for spreading knowledge about • the "front" organizations and ensuring that people are made aware of their tactics and are reminded of the danger they represent: e.g. "front" organizations are instruments of Soviet policy and slavishly follow the Soviet line; all "front" organizations try to conceal their real status behind a fringe of non-communist individuals and organizations; a great majority of other members are from Soviet bloc countries and Communist China, and their headquarters are in the main in these countries. It is therefore desirable that African and Asian countries should not be given a mistaken impression of the significance of communist "front" organizations by being able to observe that they are entitled to hold their meetings in a NATO country,

7. The attention of the Council is also drawn to the fact that the list of proscribed organizations attached to the 1954 Recommendation included the names of only major communist "front" organizations. The Committee has noted that these bodies also boast ancillaries and offshoots, the name and composition of which are liable to constant change. Most delegations consider that the revised and expanded list of Communist "front" organizations which appears at Annex A, should also include the World Congress of Doctors. It was pointed out, however, that as this organization may, in propaganda, be represented as serving humanitarian aims, its activities would need .careful handling.

DECLASSIFIED - PUBLIC DISCLOSURE / DÉCLASSIFIÉ - MISE EN LECTURE PUBLIQUE LECTURE EN - MISE / DÉCLASSIFIÉ DISCLOSURE - PUBLIC DECLASSIFIED 8. There is attached to-this .document (Annex B) a list Ofj' minor meetings of "front" organizations which are 'believed to have taken place in various NATO countries during the past'two years. It will be seen that they have mostly been minor meetings which do not normally have much impact on the public. It remains, however, undesirable in principle that such gatherings ...should take place on NATO soil. Moreover, to keep them out inconveniences the major "front" organizations, especially, when these are forced to change their plans at the last moment.

9. To sum up, the current shifts of Soviet policy and the apparent détente resulting from them make it more than ever desirable that communist "front" organizations and their ancillaries

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should continue to be prevented from holding their gatherings-on NATO soil. Any relaxation of the present attitude to such bodies which has been voluntarily adopted by member governments could only serve (a) to convince the Soviet leaders that the West had been misled by their tactics, and (b) to leave the impression with public opinion in the NATO countries that such organizations were now devoid of any power to harm.

10. The Committee now invites the Council, in taking note of this, report:

(a) to agree that the change in Soviet tactics provides no justification for any relaxation of the attitude of member governments in proscribing meetings of communist "front" organizations in their countries;

(b) to recommend that member governments pay particular attention to the expanded and revised list of "front" organizations set out in Annex A, and of their ancillaries, examples of whose meetings are set out in Annex B;

(c) to recommend that each member government should take such steps as it deems possible and desirable • to make known the true nature of these communist "front" organizations;

(d) further to recommend that every possible effort should be made to ensure that these groups are compelled, as a result of action by member, governments, to hold their meetings behind'the Iron Curtain, and

(e) to instruct the Committee on Information and Cultural.Relations to continue their exchange of views and to report further to the Council in one year's time.

(Signed) L.D. WILGRESS DECLASSIFIED - PUBLIC DISCLOSURE / DÉCLASSIFIÉ - MISE EN LECTURE PUBLIQUE LECTURE EN - MISE / DÉCLASSIFIÉ DISCLOSURE - PUBLIC DECLASSIFIED

Palais de Chaillot, Paris, XVIe.

NATO CONFIDENTIAL -4- NATO CONFIDENTIAL ' ANNEX A to C-M ( 56 ) 99~

REVISED AND EXPANDED LIST OF "FRONT" ORGANIZATIONS

Note: Additions to C-M(54)6 Annex are underscored

The World Peace Council (WPC) (including the Committee for the Peaceful Solution of the German Problem) (YJFTU)

The World Federation of Trade Unions (including Trade Departments)

The World Federation of Democratic Youth (OTDY)

The Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF) (including the World Congress of Mothers)

The International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL)

The World Federation of Scientific Workers (WFSW)

The International Union of Students (lUS)

The International Resistance Federation (FIR)*

The International Organization of Journalists (IOJ)

The International Committee for the promotion of Trade (ICPT) (formerly the Committee for the promotion of International Trade - CPIT)

The International Broadcasting Organization (OIR)* DECLASSIFIED - PUBLIC DISCLOSURE / DÉCLASSIFIÉ - MISE EN LECTURE PUBLIQUE LECTURE EN - MISE / DÉCLASSIFIÉ DISCLOSURE - PUBLIC DECLASSIFIED

* The abbreviations normally used are based on the French titles.

NATO CONFIDENTIAL -5- NATO CONFIDENTIAL ANNEX B to C-M(5fa)99~

MEETINGS OF "FRONT" ORGANIZATIONS BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN HELD IN NATO COUNTRIES SINCE • 2 6 TH JANUARY-, 1 95ÏÏ

Organization Type of Meeting

International Union of Students •Medical Students Seminar (IUS)

International Association of International Commission of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) Lawyers on Karlsruhe trial

International Resistance International Medico-Social Federation (FIR) Meeting

International "Study Days" on Legal Rights of Resistance Fighters

Executive Committee Meeting

International Association of Sixth Congress Democratic Lawyers (IADL)

World Peace Council Meeting of the Bureau DECLASSIFIED - PUBLIC DISCLOSURE / DÉCLASSIFIÉ - MISE EN LECTURE PUBLIQUE LECTURE EN - MISE / DÉCLASSIFIÉ DISCLOSURE - PUBLIC DECLASSIFIED

NATO CONFIDENTIAL