Book Review: Western Europe: History of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia
| Author | J. Donald Wilson |
| Published date | 01 December 1965 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070206502000435 |
| Date | 01 December 1965 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
564
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
from
which serious
negotiations
can
begin,
unless
a
relaxation
of
tension
is
to
be
based
on
the
fanciful assumption
that
the
other
side
will
capitulate"
(p.
236).
The review
of
relations
between
Poland
and West Germany
repre-
sents another
tour
de
force
of
the
author.
Much
new
light
is
thrown
on
Bonn's
refusal
to
enter
into
diplomatic
relations with
Warsaw,
its
adamant
opposition
to
the
Rapacki
Plan,
and
above
all,
its
intransi-
gence
over
the
issue of
the
Polish western
boundary.
Dr.
Stehle
does
not
conceal
that
he
is
critical
of
these
policies
of
his
government.
He
favours
German-Polish reconciliation,
for
he
believes
that
it
would
be
in
the
interests
of
both
countries.
It
would
facilitate the
reunification
of
Germany
and
widen
Poland's
independence
from
Russia.
Such
a
reconciliation,
in
the
author's
opinion
". ..
calls,
in
the
first
place,
for
an
effort
to make the
Polish
people
believe
that
the
use
of
force has
been renounced
as
a
means
of
revising
the
territorial
consequences
of
the
second
world
war."
To
accomplish
this
". ..
the
major
political
parties
in
the
Federal
Republic
should
give
a
public
assurance
that,
if
a
peace
treaty
should
be
signed
with
Germany
at
any
time
in
the
future,
they
would
favour the
recognition
of
the
Oder-Neisse
frontier
and
guarantee
the
present
living
space
of
the
Polish
people
as
con-
stituting
the
Polish
State"
(pp.
290,
291).
Two
minor
defects
of
the
book need
to
be
pointed
out.
First
of
all
the
subtitle
of
the
English
version
is
misleading.
The
volume
deals
almost
exclusively
with
the
post-1956
events
and
not,
as
the
subtitle
suggests,
with
the
entire
post-war
period. Secondly,
the
documentation
is
sloppy.
The
notes
at
times
refer
to
the
date
of
publication
and
at
other
times
to
the
issue
of
a
periodical;
indeed,
many
quotations
are
not
footnoted
at
all.
Also
virtually
no
attention
is
paid
to
the
extensive
literature
existing
in
English,
both
in
the form
of
books
and articles
in
the
specialized
journals,
on
Gomulka's
Poland.
These
omissions
reduce
the
value
of
an
otherwise most
informative
and
stimulating
book
as
a
possible
text
to
be
used
in
teaching
courses
on
Eastern
Europe.
Carleton
University
ADAM
BROMKE
HISTORY
OF
THE
COMMUNIST
PARTY
OF
YUcOsLAVIA.
Volume
I.
By
Ivan
Avakumovic.
1964.
(Aberdeen:
Aberdeen
University Press.
xii,
207pp.
60/-)
Since
the first
Soviet-Yugoslav
dispute
in
1948,
many
books
have
been
published
about
Yugoslavia. They
have
all
tended
to
concentrate
either
on
the
evolution
of
the
distinct
Yugoslav
brand
of
communism
known
as
Titoism
or
else
on
the
direction
of
Yugoslav
foreign
policy
which,
operating
free
of
dictation
from
Moscow,
has
served
to place
Yugoslavia
in
the
limelight
among
non-aligned
nations. In
spite
of
the
widespread
interest
in
Yugoslav
affairs,
little
or
nothing
else
has
been
written
about
the
directing
force
behind
these
developments,
namely
the
Communist
Party
of
Yugoslavia,
formally
known
since
1952
as
the
League
of
Communists
of Yugoslavia.
With
infinite pains,
Professor
Avakumovic
has
sought to
fill
this
gap
with
the
publication
of
the
only
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