Ext 6116/46(S) 'Secret Weekly Political Intelligence Summaries, nos 356-416, August 1946-November 1947' [‎131r] (263/978)

legal studies, may be gauged from Acade
mician A. Y. Vyshinsky’s new book “ The
Theory of Legal Evidence in Soviet Law,”
Which discusses the subject on a broad com
parative basis, while emphasising the
superiority of Soviet to “bourgeois”
Jl^ctice. The training of large new legal
cadres is regarded as among the most
important tasks of Soviet education over
the next few years. It may well be that the
reintroduction of Latin is connected with
the drive to man the professions with
recruits who have received a liberal edu
cation comparable with that of the older
generation to which Vyshinsky, for
instance, belongs.
SCANDINAVIA
Denmark
The question of forming a coalition
Government in Denmark has become
topical, as the time when the Rigsdag will
re-convene after the summer recess is
approaching. In view of the increasingly
difficult economic position it is generally
felt that the present minority Govern
ment—-made up from the Venstre Party—
are unequal to the situation and that,
therefore, a broadening of the administra
tion is desirable. Feelers have In fact
already been put out in order to ascertain
the conditions on which Conservatives and
Radicals would be prepared to participate
in the Government. Although the former
would probably be quite willing to go in,
it is questionable whether the Radicals
would agree to hold office under M.
Kristensen. Hitherto the Govern
ment has enjoyed the parliamentary sup
port of both these parties, but not long ago
(see Summary No. 397) the Radicals were
seriously considering joining forces with
the Social Democrats and the Communists.
The two last-named parties are of course
strongly in favour of writs being issued
for an election, and much will depend upon
the attitude which the Radicals will adopt..
During the last days of August the
Foreign Ministers of Norway, Sweden,
Denmark and Iceland met in Copenhagen.
The conference, it is understood, was to a
great extent concerned with trying to find
a common policy for the forthcoming
meeting of the General Assembly of the
United Nations, and it was agreed to back
Denmark’s candidature for the seat on the
Economic and Social Council which will
be vacated by Norway. The question of a
Scandinavian customs union, embracing
Denmark, Norway and Sweden, was also
discussed, but, judging by the communique
issued after the conference, the prospects
of turning the project into a reality
appear to be—for the present, at any
rate—remote.
Denmark has been granted a rehabilita
tion loan of 40 million dollars by the
International Bank on very favourable
terms, though the Bank does reserve the
right of supervising the manner in which
the loan is spent. Expenditure, according
to Danish reports, will be mainly on
agricultural equipment, machinery, and
motor transport, and most of the orders
will doubtless be placed in the United
States.
The Anglo-Danish food talks (see last
week’s Summary) are to open in Copen
hagen on the 9th September, and about the
same time a Danish delegation, headed by
Minister Waerum, will arrive in London
for financial negotiations with the
Treasury. The negotiations in London
are in no way concerned with British
deliveries to Denmark during next year.
But, in order to satisfy the Danes, the
Commercial Department of H.M. Embassy
in Copenhagen will participate in the food
discussions, and this will give the Danish
negotiators the opportunity of raising cer
tain matters which, strictly speaking, lie
beyond the scope of these discussions.
Finland
Totuuden Torv ^—“ the Trumpet of
Truth ”—which is the personal organ of
a certain M. Hentunen, leader of the
Radical People’s Party, was suspended at
the middle of August for printing what
was considered to be an anti-Soviet article
in connexion with the Porkkala transit
traffic (which, incidentally, has as yet not
been inaugurated). This in turn led to
disturbances in Helsinki on the 22nd of
August at a meeting which was to have
been addressed by M. Hentunen. Clashes
between the police and demonstrators
occurred, and later M. Huntunen was
arrested by the State Police. This indi
vidual has, however, for a good many years
been regarded as something of a crank in
Finland, and it can therefore only be
assumed that the crowd grasped this
opportunity of demonstrating against the
police—and the Minister of the Interior—
without feeling any sympathy with the
political aims of M. Huntunen. The
possibility of the latter being an agent
provocateur working for the Communists
should not be overlooked.
A Finnish delegation headed b)
M. Tuomioja, Governor of the Bank of
Finland, has been invited to come to
London for discussions in connexion with