Pravda, Europe and the Helsinki Act
| Date | 01 October 1979 |
| Published date | 01 October 1979 |
| Author | Alan Wood |
| DOI | 10.1177/004711787900600402 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
645
PRAVDA,
EUROPE
AND
THE
HELSINKI
ACT :
A
Survey
ALAN
WOOD
SHORTLY
after
the
signing
of
the Final
Act
on
the
Conference
on
Security
and
Co-operation
in
Europe
(CSCE)’
in
Helsinki
on
1
August
1975,
the Soviet
Communist
Party
newspaper
Pravda,
began
publishing
a
series
of
occasional
articles
under
the
general
caption
&dquo;Europe
after
Helsinki&dquo;
(Evropa
posle
Khel’sinki).
The
first
article
in
the
series,
written
in
December
1975
by
its
then
London
correspondent,
V.
Ovchinnikov,2
was
preceded
by
a
piece
in
November
entitled
&dquo;On
the
Rhine
after
Helsinki&dquo;3
and
another
in
September
called
&dquo;America
after
Helsinki&dquo;.4
Taken
together
with
a
few
intervening
articles
without
the
caption,
there
have
appeared
spasmodically
during
the
four
years
since
the
Act
was
signed
seventy
articles
directly
concerned
with
an
appraisal
of
East-West
relations
on
the
continent
of
Europe
in
the
light
of
and
in
the
aftermath
of
the
Helsinki
accords.
The
Soviet
authorities
have
always,
publicly
at
any
rate,
appeared
to
be
more
conscious
of
the
Helsinki
agreement,
and
invoked
the
provisions
of
the
Final
Act
as
a
guide
to
policy-
making,
in
particular
in
international
relations,
than
has
generally
been
the
practice
in
the
West.
This
being
so,
it
seems
both
useful
and
informative
to
examine
just
how
the
Soviet
Union’s
most
influential
and
authoritative
newspaper
has
covered
the
topic
of
Western
Europe’s
and
her
own
attempts
to
implement
both
the
spirit
and
the
letter
of
the
various
&dquo;baskets&dquo;
contained
in
the
Conference
document:
i
useful,
in
so
far
as
an
analysis
of
the
articles’
contents
gives
further
evidence
as
to
where
the
Soviet
Union’s
priorities
lie,
and
what
are
her
major
preoccupations
in
this
area;
informative,
in
the
sense
that
one
can
garner
details
of
particular
topics
and
events
which
are
not
necessarily
given
wide
publicity
in
the
Western
media
and
yet
which
seem
important
to
the
Soviet
journalists
and
editors,
and
which
may
thereby
acquire
’
Conference
on
Security
and
Co-operation
in
Europe.
Final
Act,
Com-
mand
Paper
6198,
HMSO,
August
1975.
2
Prizyv
nakhodit
otklik,
Pravda,
23
Dec.
1975,
p.4.
Hereafter,
all
footnote
references
to
individual
Pravda
articles
will
omit
the
title,
indicating
merely
the
date
of
issue.
Unless
otherwise
indicated,
all
articles
appear
on
p.4
of
the
relevant
issue.
3
6
Nov.
1975.
4
11
Sept.
1975.
646
a
particular
significance
for
the
paper’s
readership.
The
style
and
presentation
of
the
articles,
too,
sheds
some
light
on
Soviet
journalistic
practices.
The
articles
under
consideration
all
fall
into
two
broad
cate-
gories :
reports
by
Pravda’s
foreign
correspondents
in
various
West
European
capitals
or
provincial
towns;
and
political
com-
mentaries
on
different
aspects
of
the
Helsinki
agreement,
ranging
from
tank-production
to
tourism,
written
either
by
the
paper’s
permanent
political
correspondents
or
specialist
contributors
and
academics.
Up
to
the
end
of
July
1979,
of
the
seventy
articles
here
under
review,
twenty
are
of
the
political
commentary
or
leader
variety,
and
fifty
are
filed
by
foreign
correspondents
from
European
centres.5
Of
the
latter,
the
coverage
is
as
follows :
from
Italy-ten
articles;6
from
the
Federal
German
Republic-nine;’
7
Austria-eight
(one
shared
with
Switzerland);8
Switzerland-five;9
United
Kingdom-four;’°
°
France-four;&dquo;
J
Belgium-two;’2
2
and
one
from
each
of
Finland,
Norway,
Denmark,
Sweden,
Holland
and
Luxembourg.’
Another
combines
short
reports
from
Cyprus,
Austria
and
France. 14
The
only
contribution
from
Eastern
Europe
is
an
article
by
the
then
newly-appointed
Polish
Foreign
Minister,
E.
Wojtaszek,
headlined
&dquo;By
Peace
and
Co-operation&dquo;,
which
represents
little
more
than
a
ritual
panegyric
to
Polish-Soviet
togetherness.’
S
The
reports
from
London,
Bonn,
Rome
and
elsewhere,
however,
pursue
a
different
tack,
though
all
are
united
in
a
common
purpose
-to
demonstrate
the
fact
that
CSCE
was
a
worthwhile
enterprise
and
that,
difficulties
notwithstanding,
the
Helsinki
accords
have
undeniably
opened
up
the
way
for
further
co-operation
between
5
Sixty-three
articles
carry
the
label
"Europe
after
Helsinki",
but
the
re-
maining
seven,
both
in
style,
title
and
content
can
clearly
be
bracketed
within
the
series;
e.g.
"One
Year
After
Helsinki—the
Undoubted
Success
of
Détente",
6
Aug.
1976;
"For
the
Fulfilment
of
the
Helsinki
Agree-
ments",
12
Dec.
1976;
"What’s
Really
in
the
Final
Act?",
6
Mar.
1977
etc.
6
30
Jan.
1976;
21
Oct.
1976;
16
Mar.
1977;
5
Apr.
1977;
18
Oct.
1977;
26
Aug.
1978,
p.5;
27
Dec.
1978;
2
June
1979;
30
June
1979;
11
July
1979.
7
6
Nov.
1975;
5
Mar.
1977;
22
July 1977;
1
Jan.
1978,
p.5;
19
Jan.
1978;
8
Apr.
1978,
p.5;
4
Jan.
1979;
16
Apr.
1979;
18
May
1979.
8
29
Dec.
1975,
p.3;
14
Apr.
1976;
17
July
1977;
26
Oct.
1977;
25
Jan.
1978;
7
Aug.
1978;
9
Mar.
1979;
8
Apr.
1979,
p.5
9
12
Sept.
1976;
29
May
1977;
7
Jan.
1978;
25
Jan.
1978;
17
Feb.
1979.
10
23
Dec.
1975;
8
Mar.
1977;
23
May
1977,
p.3;
18
Feb.
1978.
11
12
Dec.
1976;
2
Mar.
1977;
14
Aug.
1978;
15
Apr.
1979,
p.5.
12
29
June
1977;
24
Feb.
1979.
13
Respectively:
12
May
1976;
7
July
1977;
30
July
1977;
6
June
1978;
24
Nov.
1976;
15
June
1978.
14 6
Aug.
1976.
15
11
May
1977.
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