Digital Archive digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org International History Declassified December 10, 1964 From the Diary of V. Kh. Man'ko, Record of a Conversation with the Correspondent of the Swedish Communist Party Newspaper, 'Ny Dag,' Karl Shtaf, 28 November 1964 Citation: “From the Diary of V. Kh. Man'ko, Record of a Conversation with the Correspondent of the Swedish Communist Party Newspaper, 'Ny Dag,' Karl Shtaf, 28 November 1964,” December 10, 1964, History and Public Policy Program Digital Archive, TsKhSD, f. 5, op. 49, d. 758, l. 315, r. 9126. Translated for CWIHP by Gary Goldberg https://digitalarchive.wilsoncenter.org/document/117104 Summary: Shtaf mentions that he had a conversation with an Argentinian Communist Party leader in Prague, who reported about his trip to Cuba and meeting with Guevara. He also discusses the current situation of the Communist Party in Sweden. Credits: This document was made possible with support from the Leon Levy Foundation. Original Language: Russian Contents: English Translation Scan of Original Document [Stamp]: Declassified from the diary of Secret Copy No 2 Man’ko, V. Kh. 10 December 1964 No 437 RECORD OF A CONVERSATION with the correspondent of the Swedish Communist Party newspaper “Ny Dag” KARL SHTAF 28 November 1964 Today I met with Karl Shtaf and had a conversation with him. Shtaf said that he returned a week ago from Sweden where he spent his holiday. On the way to Sweden he had a stopover in Prague where he met with a member of the CC of the Argentinian Communist Party, Giudici, who in a conversation with him noted that during [his] visit to Cuba he had talked with Ernesto Guevara about various issues of Party-building, the international Communist movement, etc. Guevara, in Shtaf’s words, said to Giudici that as whole the leadership of the YePSRK supports the position of the USSR, but cannot say this aloud since there are individuals in the National Leadership of the Party who are closer to the position of the Chinese Communist Party. Guevara reportedly also said that if anyone in the leadership expressed open support of the CPSU there would be a split in the Party, as has taken place in other Communist parties, and the Cubans will not go that far. As regards the situation in the Swedish Communist Party, my interlocutor said that “they’re making a mess” in the Communist Party of Sweden (Shtaf speaks some Russian). The majority of members of the CC headed by the Chairman of the Communist Party, Hermansson, as far as he knows, are speaking in favor of following a so-called independent Party policy. The first step in this direction, said Shtaf, would be for the Party leadership not to plan to send Communists this year to socialist countries for study at higher Party schools. It has decided to train Party cadre in Sweden [u sebya], having organized a school near Stockholm for this purpose. In the opinion of my interlocutor Hermansson is talking right now about the independence of the Party, reportedly to show other parties, having earlier called the Swedish Communist Party “Moscow’s stooge,” their independent line. Ordinary members of the Communist Party, especially those in the workers’ ranks, Shtaf stressed, do not approve the position taken by the leadership. The rest of the conversation was not worth recording. Attache of the USSR Embassy in Cuba [signature] V. 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