Evening star., 1945-10-16
Berlin RedRuIe
LacksSupport,
Eisenhower SAYS
Fair Election Would
Not Back Dominance,
Report Declares
b the Associated Press.

81 tne ASsoclatec PRESS.
Gen. Eisenhower said today
informal reports indicate fair
and impartially supervised elec-
ton in Berlin would not support
the present Communist party
dominance" of the city'S gov
ernment.
The general put into his second
monthly report on military govern
ment in the American zone of occu-
patton a critique on politics in Ger
many-including those in the Rus
sian zone.
Gen. Eisenhower declared one of
the political devices fostered by the
Communists in Berlin-a bloc of
parties-would have no welcome in
the American zone.
Here is what he had to say about
Berlin, where the Allied control au-
thority has its headquarters and
where the four Allied powers have
four zones:
-Four organized parties exist
there. They were granted permis-
sion by the Soviet military authori-
ties to organize and so were func-
tioning when United States forces
occupied the U. S. section of Berlin.
The four parties are the Communist
party, the Social Democratic party,
the Christian Democratic Union and
the Liberal Democratic party.
Two New Parties.
"The first two are well organized,
active and have a basis of former
members on which to build. The
latter two groups are new parties,
though drawing support from mid
die class, conservative bourgeois
elements formerly associated with
the Centrum, the German Demo-
cratic party, and the German Peo-
pies party. They are less well Or
ganized and less active than the
Marxist parties. This is especially
true of the Liberal Democratic
party.
The Communist party of Ger
many holds a majority of the
strategic posts in the Berlin magis-
trat and in the administrations of
the Berlin municipalities. Informal
reports indicate that fair and i'm
partially supervised election in Ber-
lin would not support the present
Communist party dominance of.
posts but would reveal relatively
strong support going to the Social
Democrats and the Christian-Demo-
cratic union. in that order.
The four parties in Berlin joined,
on the initiative of the Communist
party. in a united front political
bloc intended to unity their pol
icies on all important matters. This
Joint political organization con-
tinued throughout the month under
review (August) and succeeded in
formulating surface uniformity on
major questions, with some evidence
of dissident dissatisfaction, especial
ly on the part of the two conserva-
tive parties. The device of a polit-
ical bloc will not be encouraged in
the United States zone, as it runs
counter to traditional American
concepts of political activity and
vigorous political life in demo-
cratic sense"
Communist Paper Favored.
All four Berlin parties publish
newspapers. Said Gen. Eisenhower,
adding:
1.-THE newspapers of each party
are allocated sufficient newsprint by
the Soviet authorities to print 100,-
900 copies each, except that the
Communist paper is permitted to
print 100000 All papers are sub
ject to Soviet censorship"
In the introduction of his report
made public by the War Depart
ment, Gen. Eisenhower noted that
he served as chairman and 1t. Gen.
Lucius D. Clay, his deputy, as secre-
tary of the Control Council during
August. They received the cordial
cooperation of the other powers,
said Gen. Eisenhower. land the CO.
operative and friendly spirit of the
Soviet delegation was particularly
marked"