Book Reviews : Documents on British Foreign Policy 1919-1939. Edited by W. N. Medli cott, Douglas Dakin assisted by Gillian Bennett. Second Series Vol. XVII. HMSO £26.00
| Date | 01 October 1979 |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711787900600417 |
| Published date | 01 October 1979 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
722
The
Kremlin’s
Dilemma:
The
Struggle
for
Human
Rights
in
Eastern
Europe
by
Tufton
Beamish
and
Guy
Hadley.
Collins
&
Harvill
Press
£5.95.
In
his
foreword
Edward
Crankshaw
emphasises
the
deep-rooted
differences
dividing
Soviet
Russia
from
its
East
European
satellites
and
the
satellites
from
each
other.
He
stresses,
as
do
the
authors,
that
to
re-
gard
the
so-called
&dquo;Soviet
empire&dquo;
as
a
monolithic
communist
bloc,
is
the
worst
mistake
the
West
can
make
since,
in
fact,
the
Kremlin
is
faced
with
growing
dissidence
in
the
majority
of
its
satellites
with
which
it
is
finding
it
increasingly
difficult
to
deal
without
at
the
same
time
revealing
the
growing
threat
to
its
overlordship.
The
particular
aspect
of
the
problem
upon
which
the
authors
con-
centrate
is
that
of
the
struggle
for
human
rights
and
self-determination
following
the
Russian
signature
of
the
Helsinki
Agreement.
After
setting
the
scene
by
an
examination
of
the
UN
Charter
of
Human
Rights
and
the
two
supporting
Covenants
covering
economic,
social
and
cultural
rights
as
supported
by
the
Communist
states,
and
civil
and
political
rights
upheld
by
the
West,
and
the
Helsinki
Agreement,
the
authors
examine
successively
the
recent
developments
in
Poland,
Czechoslovakia,
Hungary,
Romania,
East
Germany
and
Bulgaria.
Their
account
is
detailed
with
a
wealth
of
supporting
evidence,
largely
in
the
form
of
well
documented
individual
cases.
The
growing
tension
between
the
Communist
governments
and
the
population
emerges
clearly
in
nearly
all
cases
save
that
of
Bulgaria
which
is
much
closer
to
Russia
in
culture
and
ethnic
derivation
than
arc
the
rest.
In
Poland
and
Hungary
the
governments
have
made
a
determined
effort
to
achieve
a
viable,
if
somewhat
precarious,
balance
as
between
themselves
and
the
population,
retaining
the
Communist
faith
while
allow-
ing
a
considerable
amount
of
personal
liberty,
also
in
the
economic
field,
to
individuals.
Romania,
as
is
well
known,
flouts
the
Soviet
Union
abroad
while
applying
the
most
severe
restrictions
at
home.
East
Germany
is,
to
all
intents
and
purposes,
an
occupied
country
as,
to
a
certain
extent,
is
Czechoslovakia
since
the
failure
of
the
Prague
Spring.
But
in
neither
country
has
all
opposition
been
stamped
out,
it
persists
underground.
The
authors
stress
the
continued,
indeed
growing,
importance
of
broadcasting
to
these
countries
which
are
deprived
of
any
freedom
of
information
and
subjected
to
relentless
propaganda
by
the
indigenous
media.
They
particularly
prize
America’s
&dquo;Radio
Free
Europe&dquo;
as
a
much
valued
source
of
information
of
the
outside
world.
They
point
out
that
the
first
signs
of
internal
Party
dissension
have
already
appeared
iu
Eastern
Europe
and
this
is
bound
to
grow
as
the
economic
plight
of
the Soviet
Union
becomes
both
worse
and
more
evident
to
its
satellites.
They
also
stress
the
very
great
influence
of
the
churches,
above
all
of
course
in
Poland,
and
also
in
Hungary
and
to
a
rather
less
extent
elsewhere.
This
is
a
most
valuable
book
on
a
subject
which
has
rarely
been
surveyed
overall
and
should
be
widely
read.
The
authors
are
to
be
congratulated
on
the
immense
amount
of
careful
research
which
has
gone
into
its
preparation.
Documents
on
British
Foreign
Policy
1919-1939.
Edited
by
W.
N.
Medli-
cott,
Douglas
Dakin
assisted
by
Gillian
Bennett.
Second
Series
Vol.
XVII.
HMSO
£26.00.
This
volume
covers
the
years
June
1936-January
1937
which
were
mainly
occupied
with
the
Western
Pact
negotiations
concerning
a
general
European
settlement.
The
salient
points
of
these
negotiations
were
&dquo;(1)
the
search
for
agreement
with
Germany
on
the
basis
of
a
revised
’Locarno’
treat;
(2)
the
attempt,
which
at
the
cnd
of
the
year
appeared
to
have
largely
succeeded,
to
remove
Anglo-Italian
tensions
following
the
end
of
the
Italo-Ethiopian
war;
and
(3)
efforts
which
largely
failed,
to
localize
the
Spanish
civil
war
by
agreement
on
non-intervention.
Each
of
the
four
continental
great
powers
found
it
necessary
to
intervene
in
some
measure
in
the
war,
in
forms
hardly
conducive
to
progress
towards
the
general
settlement
on
which
the
British
Government
set
so
much
store&dquo;.
Unfortunately,
as
everyone
now
knows,
most
of
the
members
of
H.M.
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