862.77/11–2249: Telegram
The United States High Commissioner for Germany (McCloy) to the Acting Secretary of State
Unnumbered. Herewith Berlin’s 259, November 21, 5 p. m. reference Berlin’s 1431 of October 11.1
“Following is text of letter addressed to General Kotikov by Berlin Commandants today. At desire of French, contents are not being made public.
‘Subject: violation by the Reichsbahndirektion of its agreements for the settlement of the Berlin railway strike.
The Western commandants have received the letter which you addressed to them individually on 10 October. They note with regret that you are still disinclined to issue the necessary instructions to comply with the original undertaking of General Kvashnin on which the railway strike was terminated and they cannot accept your unfounded suggestion that they are acting contrary to decisions reached at the Foreign Ministers’ Conference in Paris on 20 June 1949.
The violations of the agreement for ending the railway strike to which the Soviet authorities gave their guarantee were clearly set out in the joint letter from the Western commandants of 9 September2 addressed to General Kvashnin with a copy to yourself.
Your attention was again drawn to these violations in our letter of 28 September3 to which you now refer. You state in your letter that the Railway Administration, which is controlled by the Soviet authorities, had adhered to the original agreement, but this statement is at variance with the fact that the Soviet-controlled Railway Administration has omitted to make the Westmark payments to the West sector railway workers in accordance with its undertaking. Moreover, your statement that there have been and will be no reprisals, such as the [Page 432] dismissal of workers who took part in the strike, cannot be reconciled with the facts in our possession.
The situation with regard to the operation of the railways in Berlin was already serious at the time of the Conference of Foreign Ministers in Paris this year and the normalization of this situation was certainly among the foremost of the matters which the Foreign Ministers had in view when taking their decision stated in paragraph 3(c) of the communiqué issued at the end of the Conference. The failure of the Soviet authorities to implement their part of the agreement reached in this matter has frustrated the intention of the Foreign Ministers. Under these circumstances it is not possible for the Western commandants to proceed further with normalization discussions unless they have an assurance that any agreements reached will be translated into action.
The Western commandants must therefore adhere to their opinion that satisfactory implementation of the railway wages agreement by the Soviet-controlled Railway Administration is an essential preliminary to the discussion of any further steps towards normalization. You said in your letter of 10 October that any concrete facts which are causing us doubts might be considered in a peaceful spirit. The question of paying wages in Westmarks is a clear issue on which there is no room for any doubt. Until this is settled there appears to us to be no point in discussing matters. If the Soviet military administration will honor its undertaking on this point, and if you feel that a more detailed explanation of our complaints with regard to the treatment of railway workers in other respects desirable, we would then be prepared to have our experts hold discussions with General Kvashnin or any other Soviet official whom you may nominate.’ Taylor.”