861.00/7–1546
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Smith) to the Secretary of State
No. 234
[Received July 26.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that items which have appeared recently in the Soviet press indicate increasing sternness toward elements considered unreliable for the tasks assigned to the Soviet people by the leaders of the Communist Party. This impression has been strengthened by personal observations of members of the Embassy staff, which are reported herein.
The editorials in both of the May issues of Bolshevik, the chief theoretical journal of the Communist Party, emphasized the necessity for a struggle against “capitalist survivals” and the “influence of hostile ideology” among the Soviet people. Bolshevik, No. 10, for May, called for struggle against “penetration of alien influences among the youth.”
This campaign has now been carried into Pravda, the Party newspaper. Pravda for July 7, in a front page editorial on the publication of Stalin’s works, stated that to fulfill the gigantic tasks facing the Soviet Union it was necessary to intensify the struggle with the “survivals and the influences of hostile ideology.” The most menacing note yet struck was the statement in Pravda, for July 11, that the weakening of self-criticism in Party organizations leads to weakening of “Party vigilance” and facilitates the “activity of anti-State elements.” This statement was contained in an item criticizing the work of the Altai Krai Party organizations.
In practice, such a campaign tends to cause intensification of measures, both within and outside the Party, designed to remove the carriers of ideological contamination. The regime’s political disinfecting agency of course is the political police. Several instances of tightening of police controls have come to the Embassy’s attention within the past month.
Several Soviet citizens who have, or have had, contacts with members of the Embassy, have recently been shadowed by plain-clothes men and then called in for questioning by officers of the Ministry of State Security. In one of these cases, the person questioned was grilled regarding the attitude of an American acquaintance toward [Page 768] the Soviet regime. The persons called in have been warned that disclosure of this fact would be severely punished.
[Certain instances of what was rumored to have happened to individuals who had had association with Western influences are here omitted.]
It is rumored that as result of disagreement with high Soviet official, Zhukov asked to be relieved and reassigned where he could be of use. Three messages from Assistant Naval Attaché in Odessa appear to establish fact that Zhukov is in Odessa or will shortly arrive there to command Odessa Military District.18
Respectfully yours,
- Marshal Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov was suddenly demoted in June 1946 from being Deputy Minister of Armed Forces and Commander in Chief of Ground Forces to Commander of the Odessa Military District.↩