Fraternity-Testvériség, 1964 (42. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

1964-01-01 / 1. szám

8

FRATERNITY

So long as the local Communist bigwigs maintain control over their people, Khrushchev seems inclined to give them their head.

The Poles set a high-water mark of "independence" in 1956. Since then, they have retreated somewhat, but still defy Communist strictures on farm collectivization, and permit considerable freedom of speech and artistic expression.

The Hungarians are slowly but steadily catching up to the Poles, the ice has begun to thaw in Czechoslovakia and there are even small signs of internal liberalization in Romania and Bulgaria.

There are, of course, limits beyond which the Eastern European

countries still cannot go. But there are also limits to Khrushchev’s ability to reel his restless satellites back in.

Many doubt that home-grown soldiers and militia would shoot their

fellow countrymen. And it would be a terrible blow to Khrushchev to

have to use his ultimate weapons, the Soviet Army, as he did in 1956.

The Romanians, once among the most dutiful followers of the Moscow line, are ostentatiously playing up to Yugoslavia’s Marshal Tito, who showed how to make defiance of the Kremlin pay.

They even are preparing alternate sources of supply of vitally

needed coal and iron ore, in Brazil and India, in case Khrushchev tries to crack down.

THE SOVIET BLOC?

Looked at from the outside, the Eastern European nations still form a “bloc”. Their common attitudes and policies outweigh their differences.

But from within, this picture of unity begins to blur.

The Poles and Hungarians still dislike the Czechs. The Czechs resent the Romanians. The Romanians scorn the Bulgarians.

Romania recently voted out-of-step with the rest of the Soviet bloc in the United Nations. She has refused to go along with her assigned role in the Eastern European equivalent of the Common Market.

COMMUNIST SATELLITES?

Though nominally Communist, the Eastern Europeans are not really so.

Their governors, without exception, profess the Marxist faith.

But the Communists are still a tiny minority, propped up on their thrones only by the alien might of Soviet Russia. After 18 years, their people remain, in the mass, either disinterested or hostile.

And even the rulers are more pragmatic than Communist. When theory stands in the way of practice, they ignore it.