Külpolitika - A Magyar Külügyi Intézet elméleti-politikai folyóirata - 1990 (17. évfolyam)
1990 / 2. szám - H. Fekete Attila: A második világháború utáni Albánia
Kálmán Mizsei: The Political history of Poland The metamorphosis of the Soviet-type Stalinist political system may be tailed perhaps in the best way on the example of Poland. The peace-system established after the Second World War created a „schizophenic” situation for the Poles: their new Western frontiers looked upon by them as legitim had been guaranteed by the very Soviet Union against which they had farreaching political reservations of priciple and with they were in conflict over the question of the Eastern borders. But while the demands on the Eastern frontiers couldn’t have been supported by any of the great powers the Polish claims concerning the German—Polish frontiers had a political reality at least. As a consequence of the forced alliance determined by the political geography of the region the country had to accept the determining role of the home-allies of the Soviet Union, namely of the Polish Communist Parly. The Polish society had- to suffer less under the Stalinist period than the greater part of the Eastern-European peoples. In spite of this, in the middle of the 50s the formerly suppressed national and self-organizing aspirations erupted with an elementary force. With the bringing to power of Gomulka the Polish United Workers’ Party (LEMP) still succeeded in preserving its positions of power though the political price was the relatively open manifestation of the competitive force inside the party, the strengthening of the institutional forces of the Catholic Church and the authorization of the peasant’s private land-ownership. Gomulka. celebreted as a hero in 1956, was forced to quit in an inglorious way in 1970 as a result of having become a captive of his own persuasion and of the organisation itself. Gierek, the new leader of the party tried hardly, in a paradoxical manner, to uphold the power of an outlived system alien to the society. After several years of delay the result was an even deeper crisis that brought to surface the greatest people’s movement in Eastern- Europe’s history of socialism, namely the Solidarity. The bold attempt to transform society in 1980—81 failed mainly because of the unfavourable international conditions. Because of the Gorbatchowian perestroyka and the unsolvable inner problems the Polish communist system was forced to retreat at the end of the 80s. Thereafter the apparatus at power which was accustomed to the position of monopoly couldn’t bear the competition conditions created by the legalization of the Solidarity and collapsed in 1989 in a rather spectacular manner. The new political elite led by the Solidarity-establishment is now confronted with the task to shape Poland’s place in international co-operation and to begin — continuing the faltered modernization — with the joining up of the country to Europe’s developed nations, dealing in the meanwhile without any ideological preconceptions with the realities of political geography born after 1945. Gyula Horváth — Tamás Réti: Czechoslovakia Between 1945 and 1989 The study is looking over the development of Czechoslovakia’s political history after the Second World War. It deals with the coalition period between 1945 and 1948, the Stalinist epoch, the reform endeavours of the 60s. the so- called „getting back to normal” period of the 70s and 80s and it dwells on the „silent revolution” of November 1989. The study lays stress on the circumstances under which the country having developed and strong democratic traditions in an East—Central—European meaning suffered the introduction of the Soviet model and on the ways society reacted to the oppressive measures of the power. At the end of the 80s it seems that the Czechoslovak society has been able to revitalize itself and has freed itself quickly from the control of the totalitarian state. Of course it’s still an open question whether the political pluralism would be able to liquidate entirely the economic and poll
