Cominform Orders Action

Northern Advocate, 16 January 1948, Page 3

Cominform Orders Action

LONDON, Thu.—A secret Communist document giving detailed instructions for fomenting strikes in the Ruhr in order to “break the Marshall Plan,” has fallen into British hands in Western Germany, says the Berlin correspondent of the Dairy Telegraph. The document was issued by the Cominform Bureau in Belgrade, says the correspondent. Its full title is “Protocol M: Action Ruhr."

According to the correspondent, it was passed to the Communist cells in the British zone in November by members of the Socialist Unity Party in the Russian zone. It is a document of 1200 words, with an introduction which states:

“The coming winter will be the decisive period in the. history of the German working class. “The battle for startng positions in the final struggle for liberation of the world proletariat is imminent.”

KEY POSITION The document says the German Communist Party, although not a member of the Cominform, has a key position in the “winter battle,” the main object of which is "to break the attack of the monopoly capitalists launched through the so-called Marshall Plan.”

It adds: “The home of Socialism, the Soviet Union, can and will support this battle with every means at her disposal.” The Berlin correspondent of the Times says members of the Communist Party are mentioned in the document by name as having been given the functions of an executive committee. Dates are set for certain details of the plan, namely, the organisation of strike cadres by the end of February and the organisation of a general strike in the British zone by the be- 1 ginning of March. “SIMULTANEOUS RISINGS’ Tnere must, says the document, be simultaneous “risings of workers” in, transport ond in the productive indus- j tries.

According to the correspondent the document has been known to the British authorities for some time. It is considered genuine. The Daily Telegraph’s correspondent says the document states that the German Communists in the Ruhr have a key European production point for which to fight. The main objects for sabotage are, first, Ruhr production, then the northwest German transport system.

Food supplies have to be delayed and the military authorities transport and reserves must be interfered with.

The names of the coordinating committee for “Operation Ruhr” are: Comrades Homitzer, Drabe, Jablowski, Ludwig, Grossenheim, Korege and Pilz, who were to be allotted code numbers.

BACKED BY SOVIET The Dortmund correspondent of the French-licensed newspaper Der Kurier says the Cominform Bureau in Belgrade has been assigned the task of coordinating “the common fight of all the Socialist movements of Europe” against the Marshall Plan. The British United Press correspondent in Berlin says the plan claims the backing of the Soviet Government. It orders Communists to stay in the background and not take part in the strikes.’

This correspondent says the German trade unions have presented the British occupation authorities with the threat of a general strike by demanding that no coal shall be shipped from the Ruhr until food supplies are assured and that surplus coal shall be sold in Belgium for surplus food. The diplomatic correspondent of the Daily Telegraph says it is officially stated in London that there is no reason to doubt the- authenticity of Plan M.