The International Advisory Council
Minden’s PSPD semi-annual report for the period 1 January to 30 June 1970, the last report he submitted to Free europe’s new President William Durkee,171 was based on a survival budget of $419,985, 33% less than the $619,858 budgeted in the first half of 1969. This made it possible to distribute roughly 111,000 books and periodicals to approximately 39,000 persons and institutions in six countries of East Europe, 14% less than in the second half of 1969. There was a decrease in the number of books in each distribution method, with the exception of personalized mailings, which totaled 1,841. At the same time, the effectiveness of the program did not suffer, and the receipt of 36,594 copies of the 68,137 items mailed (72%) was acknowledged in writing, while a further 41,000 items were distributed person-to-person. In addition, two books in Polish and one in Hungarian were published, but no more commitments for future assistance were made.
The distribution of books and periodicals to the three small Baltic republics was practically abandoned, except for 331 gift books mailed to Latvia, and the acknowledgements of receipt of 70 books by Latvian libraries. However, future requests for books would still be met and book distributors would continue to hand out publications to Baltic visitors to the West. The Baltic area was considered
Sensitive from the start of the mailing project, but it was hoped that through careful planning and control the Lithuanian, Latvian, and Estonian sectors of the Iron Curtain could be pierced and that the Baltic people would at some point be free again. Launched in December 1956 with the mailing of 500 copies of a cross reporting on Poland to each Baltic republic, from the start the program ran into very rigid soviet postal censorship. in the first 13 months, 41 titles in roughly 14,500 copies were mailed to latvia, 38 titles in 10,300 copies to estonia, and 34 titles in 7,200 copies to lithuania. The responses amounted to a meager 14 acknowledgements from each of the three target countries, and two book requests from Lithuania.172 in the next two years, FEP mailed more titles in less copies, and closed the period 1958-1959 with roughly 26,000 books in 225 titles sent to Latvia, 21,000 books in 210 titles to Estonia, and 16,000 books in 175 titles to Lithuania. In all, it received 423 responses from Estonia, 127 from Latvia, and 53 from Lithuania, from both institutions and individuals.173 When the hopes for an increase in the number of acknowledgement and request letters failed to materialize, the number of publications and titles sent was gradually cut back between 1964 and 1970, from roughly 2,000 to 400 copies to Estonia (or 0.1% of all books sent), from 1,000 to 700 for Latvia (0.3%), and from 825 to 480 (0.2%) for Lithuania. In 1969, only 121 letters arrived for 1,250 books sent to the three Baltic countries, and 51 letters for 330 books sent in the first half of 1970.174 Radio Liberty, which was covertly sending books to the USSR, including a limited amount to the Baltic republics, most probably continued the Baltic 175 176
Minden correctly assumed that readership was undoubtedly higher than the simple number of recipients. Teachers wrote that they used the books they received in class, and reading circles passed them from hand to hand. Because many of the books sent were reviewed in newspapers and journals, some of the ideas they contained were certain to reach very wide circles. “8uch is the durable nature of books,” Minden wrote, “that they can be expected to last for years, and it is not too much to assume that our books come before the eyes of several million readers over the years.” Even with an actual expenditure of $226,460 on books and periodicals, PsPD managed to distribute 39% more copies than had been expected. It was able to minimize the effects of the reevaluation of the German Mark and the rising prices in France, the UK, and the U. S. with the help of higher discounts offered by book publishers, bulk purchasing, more purchases of paperback books, several gifts of books by West european publishers, and a USIA donation of 12,000 books. As in previous reports, Minden noted the average cost of each book and periodical sent, including all overhead— salaries and fees, rents, office supplies and maintenance, postage and telephones, as well as the actual cost of the books purchased—coming up with $3.78 as compared to $4.50 in the second half of 1969.178
This report reflected the financial vicissitudes of the book distribution project and the valiant efforts made by Minden to keep the project afloat and going despite its growing costs. All his reports included detailed budgetary figures, and he made eloquent budget presentations to the FE/RFE’s top managers and executive Board of Directors. Both RFE and RL were going through very difficult years after the leftist
5
Journal Ramparts revealed in 1967 that the CIA gave covert support to various american organizations, and the committee headed by Undersecretary of state Nicholas Katzenbach recommended the termination of all covert funding and support for american private organizations. These were years of uncertainty, made more difficult by vehement attacks from senators Clifford Case and William Fulbright. With the backing of President Richard nixon, Henry kissinger and the state Department, and the majority of the U. s. Congress, the radios were finally able in 1972 to secure a new financing arrangement through U. s. treasury funding, and to continue their broadcasts.179
This major change led to the elimination of FEC’s all non-radio activities in order to save money and jettison all covert operations. Following long and hard negotiations, the transfer of Minden’s PsPD to another location in New York became effective on July 1, 1970. there, he became President of the International advisory Council, Inc., an already existing fictitious CIa organization until then run by Ethel schroeder, who had served with the Office of strategic studies (Oss) and the U. s. Information Agency.180 In 1957, schroeder began writing letters to FEC’s management offering her cooperation, which was accepted by Walker and later by Richardson. In 1962, the extremely security-conscious Minden asked for a preliminary check on lAC’s 12-member Board of Directors, and the Lithuanian Committee in New York even suspected lAC of “communist front activity” after the former refused to divulge any information about itself.181
Throughout the 1960s, lAC acted as one of the main covert sponsors of the book project and as a buffer between the FEC and the american publishers. Bills incurred by PsPD would be paid by IAC, and everything went through schroeder, so the choice was not coincidental. the transfer from Free europe to IAC, whose funding now came from a company registered in Liberia, reduced the program’s visibility to the communist regimes. Many of the American and European publishers and sponsors must have been aware that the funds came either from Free Europe or some U. S. government agency, while many East European recipients suspected UNESCO was behind the book mailings. With all purchase orders, billings and payments, phone and letter correspondence going through IAC, this arrangement allowed publishers to maintain that they were unaware of Free Europe’s involvement. Throughout the 1970s, Minden also used many cover names for his mailings, such as International Book Center or International Literary Center, whose first mailing address was that of a Hungarian information analyst in Connecticut.182
The Hoover Institution Archives hold six semi-annual IAC reports prepared by Minden, starting with the second half of 1970, two reports for 1971, two for 1972, and one for the first half of 1973. This would indicate that the money for the book project was provided on a bi-yearly basis, based on the results achieved during the preceding half-year. Minden made regular trips to Washington to fight for his project, and he would return fairly exhausted to his New York office. Unfortunately, the remainder of his book distribution reports is missing, presumably kept in some U. S. government archive. Whether they were returned to Washington when, in 1991, Minden was asked to hand over his files to his government sponsor, or whether they were destroyed, does not really matter. to Minden’s very detailed semi-annual reports it is still possible to follow the achievements of the book distribution project until 30 June 1973. All these reports list the country-by-country results, the profession of the book recipients
And the names of the most prominent ones, the select titles scheduled and mailed according to book category, the select titles mailed to each country in response to requests, and quotes from the most interesting letters. In this chapter, only the most important features of these six lAC reports will be mentioned, with additional information in subsequent chapters.
The first report George Minden signed as IAC President and most probably sent directly to Washington covered the second half of 1970. With a budget of $882,073, 14.3% higher than in the preceding six months, he was able to distribute almost 110,000 books and periodicals, a figure comparable to that of the first half of the year. These books cost $254,924 or an average of $2.32 apiece, with the UsIA donating less than 9,000 books. students were the largest group to receive books (about one quarter of all recipients), persons in influential positions made up 7.5% of the recipients, and libraries and schools 15%. IAC had proof that 68.4% of the books distributed had been received (30,330 of the 65,065 books mailed), 43,586 distributed person-to-person, and 1,166 personalized mailings, or 75,082 out of the 109,817 publications distributed. Poland received 36,041 books (32.8%), Hungary 24,346 (22.2%), and Czechoslovakia 20,019 (18.2%).183
The report contained an interesting comment about book mailings to transylvania: “one area where in the past there was little response to our mailings was among the Magyars in transylvania, who seldom acknowledged Hungarian-language books. In the last twelve months or so, however, we have received acknowledgements of receipt for such emigre Hungarian works as Romai muzsika (Roman music) by Laszlo Cs. Szabo and Szabo Dezso by Gyula Gombos, and Hungarian translations like Korunk szellemi korkepe edited by Gaetan Picon. In contrast, there has never been the same unresponsiveness among Transylvania’s Saxons, among whom we have circulated books in German without
Difficulty.” Over the years, Western literature also reached Hungarian writers and professors through universities, faculties, and professional organizations, and periodicals such as Kortdrs in Romania and Uj Szo in slovakia. The names of the most important ethnic Hungarian recipients can be easily identified in the sections on those two countries.184
In the first half of 1971, lAC distributed a total of 116,000 books to roughly 35,000 individuals and institutions in its five target countries, plus 58 to the Baltic republics, 5% more than in either half of 1970. 43,375 books and periodicals, or 60.4% of the total, were distributed person-to-person, and written acknowledgements were received for 29,465 of the 71,076 books mailed, providing reliable evidence that 74,415 or 64.5% of the total 116,026 books and periodicals distributed were received. Poland received 31% of the books distributed, Czechoslovakia 23.4%, and Hungary 23%. A total of 7,270 UsIA books, as compared to 10,100 in the second half of 1970, and close to 12,000 newspapers and periodicals were distributed. Students were again the largest single group of recipients, comprising more than 20% of the acknowledgements of receipt for books mailed and more than 20% of the East European visitors who received books in the West. Minden was confident that most of the books whose receipt was not acknowledged had reached their destination or the flourishing black market mentioned in the July 5, 1971 issue of Newsweek. More senior party and government leaders, such as the vice-president of the Council of State, the governor of the National Bank, the chairman of the academy of Social and Political Sciences, and many members and alternate members of the Central Committee of the romanian Communist Party, wrote to IAC from romania than from any other target country. In addition, the report listed the titles of several works written by Hungarian emigre authors mailed to Hungary in response to requests.185
In the second half of 1971, lAC distributed nearly 118,000 books and periodicals to its five East European target countries (with nine to the Baltic countries), 1.5% more than in the previous six months. of these, 53,142 or 45% were distributed person-to-person and 2,177 through personalized mailings. Poland continued to lead with 44,464 books and periodicals (37,7%), while Hungary moved up to second place (21.3%), followed by Czechoslovakia (19.5%), Romania (16.2%), and Bulgaria (5.3%). Poland registered an 81% increase in the number of books mailed in response to requests. Expenditures were $589,236, 6.4% more than in the first half of the year, and the average cost of delivering each book rose to $5.10 from $4.77 in the first half of 1971, partly because of the devaluation of the U. s. dollar. IAC also distributed 7,250 books it received free of charge from the UsIA. As usual, the largest group of recipients were students, who accounted for some 44% of all requests received, followed by teachers, writers, critics, philosophers, and artists. Based on the number of mailed books acknowledged plus the number of books handed out to East European visitors to the West, Minden could report that 77% of the books distributed were known to have reached their targets. Many of those not acknowledged may have found their way into second-hand bookshops or the black market, as relatively few books were intercepted by the authorities or confiscated altogether.186
During the first half of 1972, a total of approximately 110,000 books and periodicals were distributed, 7,800 or 6.7% less than in the previous six months, at a total cost of $570,989 and an average cost of $5.56 per book—a 9.2% increase due to higher postage and handling charges and the reevaluation of european currencies. 7,250 gift books were received from the UsIA. Close to 36,000 books (32.6%) went to Poland. Political titles accounted for 51.6% of all scheduled mailings and 72.8% of all person-to-person distribution, and 40% of
The books requested by Poles were political. Publications in Polish (2,800) accounted for about one-tenth of all distribution to Poland. Hungary received roughly 23,000 books or 21% of the total, versus a population percentage of 12.1%. The share of books distributed to Czechoslovakia (with a population percentage of 16.9%) continued to decline as a result of the hardline policies of the Gustav Husak regime. After dropping to third place behind Hungary in the second half of 1971, it now yielded third place to Romania. 37,281 books were given out directly through the person-to-person program, a decrease of 29.9% as compared to the second half of 1971. There was no slackening in responsiveness, and written acknowledgements were received for 26,884 of the 70,595 books mailed. Students continued to be the largest group of recipients, followed by teachers. The USIA donated some 8,000 books distributed, and roughly 2,100 books were distributed by personalized mailings, many of them hand-delivered by American scholars and specialists who requested them. 85% of the mostly political periodicals taken by Hungarian visitors to the West were in Hungarian, and more were scheduled to meet the demand. Romania had the largest increase in total distribution of any target country, and requests from that country accounted for 62.5% of all requests from all the target countries. As a result of Bulgaria’s tight censorship, more than half of all requests received came from institutions, more than from any other country. Bulgarian book distributors in Munich and Frankfurt ceased their operations in early 1972. Select and personalized mailings included 16 books in Russian by authors such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Boris Pasternak, Nikolai Berdyaev, Mikhail Bulgakov, Zhores A. Medvedev, Andrei Amalrik, Pyotr G. Grigorenko, and Mikhail Zoshcheno, and two Czech books by Jaroslav Brodsky and Josef Skvovecky.187
The report for the second half of 1972 listed a total of 120,325 books and periodicals distributed, 9.3% more than in the previous halfyear, and noted an increase in distribution to Hungary and Bulgaria and a marked decrease to Czechoslovakia. Total expenditures rose 7.3% to $612,985, and the average cost of distribution was reduced through lower mailing charges, with the virtual elimination of registration, a measure expected to negatively affect the rate of acknowledgements. Roughly 11,400 books were received free of charge from the UsIA and the U. s. publisher simon & schuster. 55,918 books were distributed person-to-person, a 50% increase over the first half of 1972. The number of books mailed in response to requests decreased by 17.3% and that of unscheduled books by 14.2%. students remained the largest single group of book recipients (25.5), followed by teachers (18.2%). 28,747 of the 63,109 books mailed, or 45.6%, had been acknowledged. By adding the books directly given out person-to-person, Minden was certain that at least 71% of everything distributed reached the hands of its targets. Poland’s share was 37.5%, Hungary’s 22.8%, and Czechoslovakia’s and Romania’s 16% each. Bulgaria’s share rose slightly to 7.6%, and during the entire year 1972, there were twice as many scheduled mailings (roughly 4,000 books and periodicals) to that country than in 1971. 80% of the acknowledgements received from Bulgaria came from a few main libraries in sofia, as well as from the libraries of various research institutes. 59 East European government and party officials took a total of 159 books and periodicals, far more per head than any other group. The report noted that proportionally, Hungarians requested twice as many books on religion as any other East European nationality. Requests from Romania accounted to 47.5% of requests received from all target countries, one third of them for books on literature and another third on language and education. A larger proportion of the person-to-person distribution was in East European languages: one-third in Polish, about 15% in Hungarian, Czech, and slovak, and 1.1% in Russian.188
The last lAC report available covers the first half of 1973 and listed a total of 105,605 books and periodicals distributed, 12.2% less than in the previous half year. the total included 9,671 books donated by the UsIA. the report noted a decrease for Czechoslovakia and Romania, and very little change in the case of Hungary and Poland. Expenditures were listed as $649,189, a 5.6% increase over the second half of 1972 due to higher distribution costs. With 42,415 books distributed to East european visitors, person-to-person was IAC’s most important method of distribution. More than half of these books and periodicals were in east european languages (roughly 24.5% in Hungarian, 18% in Czech, 10% in Polish, 1% in slovak, and a handful in russian). 23,085 books were mailed in response to requests, 3,497 were mailed individually on IAC initiative, and 1,719 were distributed as personalized mailings. out of a total of 105,605 books mailed and distributed, Poland received 35,344 (33.5%), Hungary 22,936 (21.7%), romania 19,756 (18.7%), Czechoslovakia 19,220 (18.2%), and Bulgaria 8,349 (7.9%). For the first time since 1970, there was a drop in the letters of acknowledgement from Poland, due to a decrease in the number of books sent there. More than half of the books requested from Poland were political. receipt of 57% of the books mailed to Hungary was acknowledged, while the number of Hungarian request letters declined. romanians were sending twice as many letters of request as letters of acknowledgement. the report listed the names of 44 prominent Poles, among them Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, Mieczyslaw Rakowski, Antoni Slonimski, and Gerard Labuda, 29 prominent Czechs and Slovaks, including Vaclav Havel and Frantisek Tomasek, 44 Hungarians, among them Janos Kornai, J6zsef Bognar, Miklds Szabolcsi, and Gyorgy Ranki, 37 Romanians, and 51 Bulgarians, along with the names of the most important institutions and periodicals that received books in all five target countries. Of the 22 periodicals distributed on a regular basis, 11 were American, three British, two French, two Czech, two Hungarian, one Polish, and one Swiss.189
to the lAC reports for the period July 1, 1971 until June 30, 1973, it is possible to name the most important western and emigre books and authors mailed and/or distributed to East Europeans: Theodor Adorno, Andrei Amalrik, Hannah Arendt, Raymond Aron, Max Beloff, Isaiah Berlin, Heinrich Boll, Charles Bohlen, Willy Brandt, Zbigniew Brezinski, Adam Bromke, Alastair Buchan, Robert Conquest, Robert Dahl, Ralf Dahrendorf, Yuli Daniel, Norman Davies, Milovan Djilas, Maurice Duverger, Amitai Etzioni, John Galbraith, Roger Garaudy, Witold Gombrowicz, Walter Hallstein, Robert Havemann, Friedrich Hayek, Robert Heilbroner, Marek Hlasko, Aldous Huxley, Alex Inkeles, Karl Jaspers, George F. Kennan, Robert F. Kennedy, Karl Kerenyi, Henry Kissinger, Arthur Koestler, Pavel Kohout, Leszek Kolakowski, Leopold Labedz, Walter Laqueur, Paul Lendvai, George Lichtheim, Richard Lowenthal, Konrad Lorenz, Nadezhda Mandelstam, Jacques Maritain, Zhores and Roy Medvedev, Ladislav Mnacko, Lewis Mumford, Reinhold Niebuhr, Margaret Mead, George Orwell, Boris Pasternak, Jifi Pelikan, Gaetan Picon, Jean Piaget, Karl Polanyi, Lucian Pye, Jean-Frangois Revel, Eugene W. Rostow, Bertrand Russell, Marshall Shulman, Ota Sik, Andrei Sin-yavsky, Marc Slonim, Altiero Spinelli, Michel Tatu, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Lionel Trilling, Walt Rostow, Alexander Solzhenytsin, Arnold Toynbee, Adam Ulam, Max Weber, Rene Wellek, and many, many more. In one short sentence: the best the West could offer.
World History
