42. Editorial Note
On April 18, a statement was published in Pravda (Moscow) in the name of the members of the Cominform announcing the dissolution of the organization and the discontinuance of its journal, For a Lasting Peace, For a People’s Democracy. An English translation of the statement is in Documents (R.I.I.A.) for 1956, pages 377–378.
At the 282d meeting of the National Security Council on April 26, Allen Dulles, as part of his briefing on significant world developments affecting United States security, briefly commented on the dissolution of the Cominform. According to the memorandum of discussion at this meeting, “Mr. Dulles expressed the judgment that this event had no practical significance, but could have important [Page 96] propaganda value and would certainly be pleasing to Marshal Tito.” (Eisenhower Library, Whitman File, NSC Records)
The Division of Research for USSR and Eastern Europe, Office of Intelligence Research, Department of State, analyzed in detail the decision to dissolve the Cominform in the May issue of Soviet Affairs and concluded that it “marked one more gesture in Moscow’s campaign to prove its respectability and lack of hostile intentions toward the outside world. The announcement of the move, which Italian Communist leader Togliatti said was decided at the Soviet Party Congress in February, appeared timed with the arrival in Britain of Khrushchev and Bulganin and was a logical culmination of the Soviet effort to woo Tito and evolve new means to attract support from Socialist and neutral groups.” (Department of State, INR/Files, Soviet Affairs)