Book Review: U.S.S.R. and Eastern Europe: The New Eastern Europe
| Published date | 01 March 1967 |
| Date | 01 March 1967 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206702200150 |
| Author | J. A. Boucek |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BooK REVIEWS
141
THE
NEw
EASTERN
EUROPE.
The Khrushchev
Era
and
After.
By
J. F
Brown.
1966.
(New
York:
Frederick
A.
Praeger.
Toronto:
Burns
&
MacEachern.
vi,
306pp.
$8.50)
This
book,
written
in
a
clear
journalistic
style,
without footnotes,
is
a worthy
attempt
to
describe
and
analyze
the
impact
of
Khrush-
chev's
policies
on
the
unlucky
nations
of
East
Central
Europe-East
Germany,
Poland,
Czechoslovakia,
Hungary,
Rumania,
Bulgaria
and
Albania. The
author
is
a
Deputy
Director
of
Research
and
Analysis
of Radio
Free
Europe
and
therefore
has
access
to its
unique sources
of
current
information.
The
research
work
of
R.F.E.
has
been
a
valuable
help
to
many
a
sovietologist,
even
if
for
reasons
of
"scientific"
objec-
tivity
he
would
be
reluctant
to
acknowledge
it.
The
first and
probably
best
chapter
covers
political developments
in
Eastern
Europe
since
Khrushchev
took
over
the
reins
of
power
and
inaugurated
the
strikingly
new
look
at
home
and
among
the
Soviet
satellites.
Two
other
chapters
try
to
depict
the
vagaries
of
Communist
economies
while avoiding dull
statistics.
Severe dislocations
and
loss
of
personal
initiative
caused by
dilettante
planning
and
management
called
for
penetrating
economic
reforms.
These
are
being
currently
inaugurated
under the
fancy name
of
"new
economic
models"
If
fully
carried out,
the
reforms must
lead to
far-reaching
changes
in
the
political
regimes introducing them.
The
chapter
on
relations with
Khrushchev's
Russia
also includes Yugoslavia, which
is
not
otherwise
dealt
with
in
the
book.
A
brief
study
of
two
nationalist
deviatiomsts,
Albania
and
Rumania,
illustrates
the
implications
of
the
Sino-Soviet
split
weakening
the
Soviet Union's
leadership
in
Europe.
Improved
relations with
the
West,
be
it
in
trade,
tourist or
cultural
exchanges,
could
strengthen
the
vested
interests
in
the
preservation
of
peace
on
both
sides;
they
also may
be
used
to
gain
political
or
economic
advan-
tage
by
probing
the
weakness
of
the
opposite
side.
The
author's
portraits
of
the
two
main
protagonists
of
1956-
Gomulka and
Kadar-are
worthwhile
mentioning.
Gomulka
is
neither
the
idealized
Marxist
of
the
European
social
democracy
nor
a
Polish
patriot.
Swept
into
power
by
forces
over
which
he
had
little
control,
his
benevolent
image
was
wiped
out
completely
by
1962.
In
inter
national
politics
he manifested himself
a
strong
and
orthodox
com-
mumst,
an
authoritarian.
Poland's
"own
road
to
socialism"
was
never
for
him
a
liberal
and
a
revisionist
one.
The
perplexing behaviour
of
Kadar,
who
with
Soviet help
completed
the
work
of
repression
in
Hungary
and
then
rebuilt
the
socialist
state,
can
hardly
be
compared
with
that
of
Gomulka.
Kadar's
"new course"
since
1962,
emphasizing
the
well-being
of
all
Hungarians
through
a
strong
socialist
economy
has
been
heralded
by
the
slogan
"He
is
who
is
not
against
us,
is
with
us.
The
transformation
of
Kadar,
the
traitor
of
1956,
into
a
grudgingly
acknowledged
leader
of
1965,
contrasts
strangely
with
Gomulka's
decline
in
popularity.
Mr.
Brown hopes
that
the relaxation
in
the
Communist
countries
will
continue,
even
if
perhaps
at
a
slower
pace
than
desired
by
the
East
Europeans,
who
realize
too
well
the
difference between
what
they
want
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