The Nation's Pulse/A New Plan for Eastern Europe
Puddington, Arch
A NEW PLAN FOR EASTERN EUROPE by Arch Puddington A his past fall an event took place that was unique in the annals of recent American foreign policy. Under the official auspices of the State...
...The conference was unique because, conventional assumptions to the contrary, the question of precisely what strategies might influence liberal change within the Soviet Empire has not been seriously considered by our government for many years...
...These ideas are radical, in that they would require drastic shifts in recent policy, including that of the current Administration...
...A hose who support a more activist American policy are realistic in recognizing the West's limitations in promoting change in the Communist world...
...As a French official put it, Czechoslovakia was a mere "traffic accident" on the road to detente...
...In return, the people would refrain from questioning the Communists' monopoly of political, police, and"economic power...
...the Americans were enlivened only by the issue of cultural exchanges...
...They also had to contend with an atmosphere in the foreign policy fraternity decidedly unfriendly to the raising of pointed questions about the wisdom of prevailing policies...
...Although many interpreted the election of Ronald Reagan as signaling the death knell for detente, subsequent events, most recently the response among Soviet specialist* to the elevation of Yuri Andropov, suggest that this is not at all the case...
...The East European regimes, in turn, would evolve in a more humanistic direction if for no other reason than to guarantee the uninterrupted flow of detente's economic fruits in the form of credits and advanced technology...
...The attitudes enshrined in the Budapest Syndrome dominated the thoughts of our policymakers during the next East European outburst, the 1968 Prague Spring...
...Not that some decent ideas didn't emerge...
...Simply to employ phrases like "captive nations," "liberation" (when applied to the Communist world), or "totalitarianism" was to risk being treated with amused condescension as one mired in the discredited dogmas of the past...
...Neither the Johnson Administration nor, for that matter, human-rights organizations gave much in the way of support to the reformist forces around Alexander Dubcek...
...Unfortunately, the voices proposing the most original or worthwhile ideas usually had a distinctly foreign accent...
...Yet the theories which provided the A NEW PLAN FOR EASTERN EUROPE by Arch Puddington A his past fall an event took place that was unique in the annals of recent American foreign policy...
...In return, the people would refrain from questioning the Communists' monopoly of political, police, and"economic power...
...Compounding the feelings of American shame was the fact that several irresponsible broadcasts over Radio Free Europe led the Hungarians to the mistaken belief that American troops were being dispatched to ensure the rebellion's success...
...Finally, and above all else, a consensus was reached among the assembled academics that a form of sacrosanct status be given to East-West exchange programs, whereby these programs would proceed uninterrupted no matter what obscenity the Soviets (or the Czechs or Poles, for that matter) were perpetrating at ¦ the time...
...To the notion that the United States could do nothing to stimulate reform through strategies predicated on unrelenting hostility to Communism was added a theoretical justification for a policy amounting to benign neglect...
...Announcement of the donation was accompanied by press commentaries on the sorry state of Soviet studies in the United States...
...According to this thesis, the traditional image of Communism as a failed and despised system was badly flawed, and deserved to be jettisoned along with other relics from Cold War mythology...
...To the notion that the United States could do nothing to stimulate reform through strategies predicated on unrelenting hostility to Communism was added a theoretical justification for a policy amounting to benign neglect...
...It is true that the American people were preoccupied with various domestic traumas, one of which, the tumultuous Democratic convention, coincided with the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops...
...A form of social contract had been forged between the Communist rulers and their subjects: no longer would total ideological conformity be demanded...
...Simply to employ phrases like "captive nations," "liberation" (when applied to the Communist world), or "totalitarianism" was to risk being treated with amused condescension as one mired in the discredited dogmas of the past...
...Bukovsky thus urged that tourism and cultural exchanges be expanded, but only if the following conditions were met: (1) the numbers should be "too big [for the Soviets] to control...
...To be specific, the goal of encouraging democratization in countries within the Soviet orbit was virtually abandoned after the failure of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956...
...As many here saw it, the uprising might not have come to so tragic an end had not the freedom fighters taken to heart the bold statements about roll-back and liberation enunciated by Secretary of State Dulles...
...Yet whether Andropov is seen as a putative liberal or as a cultured yet tough pragmatist, the policy prescription isjthe same: now is the time for the U.S...
...Two recent developments indicate that the task ahead may well be a formidable one...
...Arch Puddington is executive director of the League for Industrial Democracy and editor of Workers Under Communism...
...The conference was unique because, conventional assumptions to the contrary, the question of precisely what strategies might influence liberal change within the Soviet Empire has not been seriously considered by our government for many years...
...As a French official put it, Czechoslovakia was a mere "traffic accident" on the road to detente...
...If these views did not command a consensus among academics and policymakers, they nonetheless were embraced by a large and influential group within the foreign policy establishment...
...Under the official auspices of the State Department, sixty or so academics, government officials, journalists, human rights advocates, and trade unionists were brought together at a' conference designed, in the words of its sponsor, "to identify and develop means to promote democratic development under communist regimes...
...Meanwhile, those who might have been inclined to question detenteism's tortured logic found themselves in a state of demoralized retreat, shaken by the collapse of Vietnam and the general weakening of America's position throughout the world...
...In the crunch, no military aid was forthcoming from the democratic world...
...The first is the reaction by many Soviet experts to the ascension to power of Yuri Andropov...
...He noted that "we live in an era of ideological war and no war can be won by defensive means alone," that a limited, defensive strategy cannot stop the "ideological expansion of a system built for that purpose,'' that it would be dangerous to leave "the initiative in the hands of the aggressor who is then free to create 'realities,' while the defender . . . will be obliged to recognize them," and that "the myth of the irreversible character of communist expansion exists because no one ever.challenged it seriously...
...Others suggested that additional support be provided for such traditional undertakings as foreign-radio broadcasts and translations of political literature...
...more common was the evaluation that Andropov had certain Westernized tastes, but was nevertheless committed to the Soviet system, including the system of repression and control in which he played no small role refining...
...Yet Bukovsky is not an embittered exile, reflexively opposed to contacts with the East...
...Several stressed that it would be futile (and dangerous) to pursue the goal of complete democratization in the satellites...
...As Harriman put it: "There is so much misinformation, beginning with those in the highest authority in government...
...In this way, a Soviet Union less suspicious of Western intentions would feel more inclined to permit the satellite regimes to initiate measures of cautious change...
...adopt policies that might encourage the "destabilization" of the East European regimes...
...Moreover, so the detenteist perspective had it, if we were really interested in accelerating the pace of liberalization, the best thing we could do was to strengthen detente itself...
...Short of a policy which sought the outright collapse of the Soviet Empire, the Western role is threefold: first, to provide an alternative source of information to those entrapped by Communism, mainly through foreign broadcast services like Radio Free Europe...
...To base policy on ignorance and illusion is very dangerous...
...This unhappy experience gave rise to what has been called the Budapest Syndrome—a conviction that open American support for East European liberation movements will inevitably provoke massive Soviet retaliation...
...A strange debate ensued over a suggestion to encourage sending to the Eastern bloc cassette recordings with political messages...
...To be specific, the goal of encouraging democratization in countries within the Soviet orbit was virtually abandoned after the failure of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956...
...He is, rather, a strategic thinker, who insists on applying a strict profit-and-loss standard to the most vaunted assumptions of detente...
...Nevertheless, it is useful to recall, especially for those harboring lingering nostalgia for the sixties, that Eugene McCarthy explained his refusal to issue a forthright condemnation of Soviet aggression on the grounds that the Johnson Administration "had responded to the invasion as though it was a great international crisis" with an eye toward exploiting the Czech developments to consolidate support for its Vietnam policies...
...Under the official auspices of the State Department, sixty or so academics, government officials, journalists, human rights advocates, and trade unionists were brought together at a' conference designed, in the words of its sponsor, "to identify and develop means to promote democratic development under communist regimes...
...The people of Eastern Europe (and the Soviet Union), by and large and with the exception of a handful of intellectual malcontents, had come to accept their "socialist" system...
...and (5) "any attempts by :he Soviets to operate phony ex-:hanges should be persistently rejected with the maximum publicity...
...As many here saw it, the uprising might not have come to so tragic an end had not the freedom fighters taken to heart the bold statements about roll-back and liberation enunciated by Secretary of State Dulles...
...Whether support for such objectives can be mustered among the scholars, policy analysts, and State Department officials who play a more-or-less permanent role in developing foreign policy remains open to question...
...There were, to be sure, a number of individuals on hand with distinguished records as critics of Communism, writers like Robert Conquest, Leopold Labedz, and Melvin Lasky, and dissident emigres like Valery Chalidze, Jifi Pelikan, and Ludmilla Alexeyeva...
...Others worried lest the U.S...
...the objective should be a moderate degree of liberalization...
...only expressions of sympathy, futile protestations in the United Nations, and sanctuary for refugees...
...It isn't too difficult to glean from Harriman's elliptical pronouncements just what's bothering him...
...Bukovsky then proceeded to spell out a long series of proposed actions which the United States could adopt to conduct an ideological offensive...
...Nevertheless, it is useful to recall, especially for those harboring lingering nostalgia for the sixties, that Eugene McCarthy explained his refusal to issue a forthright condemnation of Soviet aggression on the grounds that the Johnson Administration "had responded to the invasion as though it was a great international crisis" with an eye toward exploiting the Czech developments to consolidate support for its Vietnam policies...
...workplace regimentation would be eased...
...Although Jowett's position may have been extreme, many participants were clearly more comfortable with an approach emphasizing the limitations of what the West could accomplish than the more aggressive stance urged by Bukovsky...
...They also had to contend with an atmosphere in the foreign policy fraternity decidedly unfriendly to the raising of pointed questions about the wisdom of prevailing policies...
...and third, to provide a measure of protection and encouragement for those directly engaged in the struggle for democratic rights...
...economic growth and the improvement of living standards would be the chief goals of the regime...
...second, to put the leadership of Communist countries on notice that economic, diplomatic, and cultural relations will depend in part on internal policies...
...Arch Puddington is executive director of the League for Industrial Democracy and editor of Workers Under Communism...
...A form of social contract had been forged between the Communist rulers and their subjects: no longer would total ideological conformity be demanded...
...Compounding the feelings of American shame was the fact that several irresponsible broadcasts over Radio Free Europe led the Hungarians to the mistaken belief that American troops were being dispatched to ensure the rebellion's success...
...In the crunch, no military aid was forthcoming from the democratic world...
...In a workshop devoted to democratic possibilities in Eastern Europe, much concern was expressed that recommendations avoid the taint of Cold Warriorism...
...The attitudes enshrined in the Budapest Syndrome dominated the thoughts of our policymakers during the next East European outburst, the 1968 Prague Spring...
...4) those host-ng cultural or scientific exchanges should be free to invite whomever :hey want...
...I mention the issue of exchanges oecause it so vividly exemplifies the illusions of detenteism, illusions which, as subsequent events demonstrated, are far from having been dispelled...
...The East European regimes, in turn, would evolve in a more humanistic direction if for no other reason than to guarantee the uninterrupted flow of detente's economic fruits in the form of credits and advanced technology...
...According to this thesis, the traditional image of Communism as a failed and despised system was badly flawed, and deserved to be jettisoned along with other relics from Cold War mythology...
...J_yeterite brought a new dimension to the debate over our relationship with the Communist world...
...This idea seemed especially dangerous to several participants on the grounds that the respective regimes might look on the enterprise as "provocative...
...The initial commentaries took two lines: some claimed that the former secret police chief was in reality a "closet liberal" with an admiration for Western society...
...economic growth and the improvement of living standards would be the chief goals of the regime...
...3) Western visitors should be free to set :heir own itineraries...
...If these views did not command a consensus among academics and policymakers, they nonetheless were embraced by a large and influential group within the foreign policy establishment...
...Although many interpreted the election of Ronald Reagan as signaling the death knell for detente, subsequent events, most recently the response among Soviet specialist* to the elevation of Yuri Andropov, suggest that this is not at all the case...
...His major recommendation: if the United States withdrew its troops from Western Europe the Soviets might be persuaded to allow a mild degree of liberalization in the satellites...
...Indeed, it is Bukovsky's conviction that expanded contacts can materially change the Soviet system, but only if those contacts involve ordinary Soviet citizens whose impressions of the West are otherwise limited to what they are told by the propaganda organs of the official media...
...He, with others, is concerned that an intellectual case to justify past detente polices was not effectively made...
...2) visitors to the USSR should be permit-:ed to stay long enough to "prevent iny falsification of impressions...
...Jiri Pelikan proposed that a special fund be set up to provide opportunities for persecuted scholars to pursue their research or creative work...
...workplace regimentation would be eased...
...only expressions of sympathy, futile protestations in the United Nations, and sanctuary for refugees...
...The second development of note is the announcement of an $11.5 million grant by Averell Harriman to Columbia University for the purpose of promoting Soviet studies...
...Moreover, so the detenteist perspective had it, if we were really interested in accelerating the pace of liberalization, the best thing we could do was to strengthen detente itself...
...For McCarthy, then the champion of enhanced democracy at home, Soviet military action in its "sphere of influence" did not constitute a particularly noteworthy event...
...Meanwhile, those who might have been inclined to question detenteism's tortured logic found themselves in a state of demoralized retreat, shaken by the collapse of Vietnam and the general weakening of America's position throughout the world...
...to make a gesture toward the reinstitution of de*tente...
...religious, cultural, and artistic restrictions cautiously relaxed...
...religious, cultural, and artistic restrictions cautiously relaxed...
...The largest single group, however, consisted of American academics who specialize in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, or Communist regimes in the Third World...
...This unhappy experience gave rise to what has been called the Budapest Syndrome—a conviction that open American support for East European liberation movements will inevitably provoke massive Soviet retaliation...
...Yet the theories which provided the a few observations about the nature of the Soviet system and the necessity of ideological struggle...
...The people of Eastern Europe (and the Soviet Union), by and large and with the exception of a handful of intellectual malcontents, had come to accept their "socialist" system...
...It should be based on knowledge and understanding...
...One of their number, Kenneth Jowett of the University of California, Berkeley, delivered one of the major papers on the prospects for democratization in Eastern Europe...
...A Czech emigre* related that many of the items on display at a recent exhibit of police hardware in Prague had been manufactured in France (Bukovsky had earlier repeated how as a political prisoner he had been bound with American-made handcuffs), and there was general agreement that efforts be made to stop the export of goods which strengthen the police state apparatus...
...In this way, a Soviet Union less suspicious of Western intentions would feel more inclined to permit the satellite regimes to initiate measures of cautious change...
...J_yeterite brought a new dimension to the debate over our relationship with the Communist world...
...For McCarthy, then the champion of enhanced democracy at home, Soviet military action in its "sphere of influence" did not constitute a particularly noteworthy event...
...It is true that the American people were preoccupied with various domestic traumas, one of which, the tumultuous Democratic convention, coincided with the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops...
...Neither the Johnson Administration nor, for that matter, human-rights organizations gave much in the way of support to the reformist forces around Alexander Dubcek...
...And he wants to make sure that the next time around the job is done properly.xt time around the job is done properly...
Vol. 16 • March 1983 • No. 3
