TheAmerican Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (ACLPR, AMCOMLIB), also known as theAmerican Committee for Liberation from Bolshevism, was an Americananti-communist organization founded in 1950[1] which worked for the abolition of the Soviet government, primarily by "organizing [Soviet] émigrés into an effective political warfare force and equipping them with a radio station capable of reaching listeners behind the Iron Curtain."[2]: 41
The committee was a joint project of theState Department and theCIA via theOffice of Policy Coordination. It was developed byGeorge Kennan andFrank Wisner in 1950 and incorporated as a non-profit in 1951.[3] The first committee members wereEugene Lyons,William Henry Chamberlin,Time Inc. Vice-President Allen Grover,William L. White, andWilliam Yandell Elliott,[3] with Lyons serving as chair.[4][5] It was a part ofCIA project QKACTIVE.[6]
Mikola Abramchyk was the representative of a coordinating committee of organizations representing six non-Russian ethnic minorities (Ukrainians,Georgians,Azeris,North Caucasians,Armenians, andBelarusians), which was founded in Europe to represent non-Russian refugees willing to associate their activities with AMCOMLIB.[6]
ALCPR founded in 1953 the anti-communist broadcasterRadio Liberation, later known asRadio Liberty.[2]: 44 It was based inLampertheim inHesse,Germany, and broadcastRussian-language programmes into the USSR while receiving funding from theU.S. Congress. Meanwhile,Soviet authorities attempted tojam their broadcasts. In 1973–1976, Radio Liberty was merged withRadio Free Europe, based in theEnglish Garden inMunich. Following theVelvet Revolution in 1995, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) moved toWenceslas Square inPrague.
It published its own quarterlyProblems of the Peoples of the USSR (Munich; 1958–1966).