A Realistic Policy for Eastern Europe
BOJIC, MIRKO
Western governments have little time to lose in adopting A Realistic Policy for Eastern Europe By Mirko Bojic After the fall of 1956, nothing will ever be the same in Eastern Europe. History is...
...Yet they led the struggle against dictatorship...
...De-satellization...
...Needless to say, the peasants would refuse to surrender the farms they now own to the big landowners...
...Who can pretend to know, a priori, that democracy will lose in such a contest...
...the relation between agricultural and industrial prices...
...Political democracy...
...The impoverished East European bourgeoisie—or foreign capitalists...
...Tito since 1948 and now Gomulka (to a lesser extent) are manifestations of this stage...
...2) genuine neutrality for the countries of Eastern Europe...
...Titoism brought the first cracks in the Stalinist "monolith," and the Hungarian and Polish revolutions have deepened the fissures...
...It was only when democracy seemed triumphant that the Petofi Circle writers thought of forming a new political party...
...Should not the same be tried with a socialist economy—under conditions of freedom...
...But it is worth recalling the observation of Milovan Djilas in the November 19 New Leader...
...The USSR is no longer the unique model, and the Soviet Party Presidium is no longer the infallible Pope of Leninism...
...but the first signs of ideological disarray...
...Indeed, who could affirm categorically that the United States would remain a peaceful bystander if a Communist, anti-American regime were established in Canada...
...After errors and hesitations, correctives appeared...
...Neutralization of the satellites alone may not be enough to induce the Soviets to retreat...
...The Communist parties are necessarily the starting points of opposition movements because they are the unique possessors of political power, the only organized political force (except, perhaps, the Catholic Church in Poland...
...Today's great task is to elaborate a policy which can help the new possibilities along...
...Democrats, too, should proclaim that, though they are for world peace, they are sure that the future in history belongs to freedom, and that they are doing everything in their power to "help'' history...
...Such a united party could not easily be compelled to share its power and establish political democracy...
...Non-Communists would not merely be permitted to participate in the operation of the socialist economy created under Communist rule...
...Certainly, many Communists in Eastern Europe would more readily accept a neutral democracy than an anti-Soviet one...
...The workers of Eastern Europe today would hardly countenance the denationalization of the mines, banks, railways and newly-built heavy industries...
...the proportion of national income for investment, etc...
...The Hungarian Revolution did not find it necessary to call on any exile representative body, party or personality to defend it or to represent it...
...2. The Communist regimes in the satellites were compelled to give ground when faced with popular pressure...
...We should be stronger than the Communists on these grounds...
...Few dared believe, however, that the overwhelming majority of workers and students were so hostile...
...A multitude of issues arise: the relative priority for heavy industries and consumer-goods production...
...This is a matter for careful calculation and negotiation...
...Even if pressure is exercised by unorganized masses, even if a literary circle acts as chief catalyst of the opposition (as in Hungary), only through the Communist party can this pressure acquire a political form, at least at the start...
...Any future evolution in Poland, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia or Yugoslavia is bound to start with conflicts between tendencies within their Communist parties...
...An anti-Nazi fighter under General Mikhailovich from 1942 to 1945, Mr...
...Meanwhile, Moscow keeps proclaiming that the principle of equality between Communist parties is still valid and that every "socialist" country has the right to "choose its own way to socialism...
...Agriculture is privately owned to a large extent, as are small sectors of commerce...
...And even "national" capitalism would not be a winning horse in a free East European election in 1957...
...6. The revolutionary movements in Hungary and Poland had as their initial bases the Communist parties in those countries...
...History is in motion once more...
...For those responsible for Western policy, and for East European exiles, then, the question is: What kind of political attitudes can most effectively assist both popular pressures and the potential anti-dictatorial tendencies within the Communist parties...
...It was assumed that peasants in the satellite nations, as in the USSR, were permanent foes of Communist dictatorship...
...Here Mirko Bojic, a 34-year-old Yugoslav, seeks a possible common denominator...
...Is public ownership of the banks, mines and railroads an absolute obstacle to a healthy economy...
...Would the acceptance of a social and economic revolution brought about by the Communists be a recognition that they were right...
...If recent Hungarian and Polish events can answer this question, one may expect three stages: • De-Stalinization...
...Those who have had an opportunity to speak with the new Hungarian refugees were impressed by their fierce disillusionment at the failure of the free world...
...Would it be an error to accept a socialist economy which has proved such a failure...
...These objections do indicate possible future points of danger—but is any established society perfectly sure of its future...
...Such a policy must take into account both the irreversible developments of the past and the necessity of preserving world peace in the future...
...It should not be forgotten that, if there were positive elements in the balance-sheet of the Communist experiment which would remain, there were also negative ones...
...In Hungary, this movement then went further and became general...
...The latter left bitter memories in most Eastern European countries, and would find few public advocates...
...A third essential is a clear declaration from the Western governments, as well as from exiles, that they accept the basic social and economic structures now existing in Eastern Europe...
...Djilas declared: "Had the Hungarian Revolution not only brought political democracy but also preserved social control of heavy industry and banking, it would have exercised enormous influence on all Communist countries, including the USSR...
...The different explanations given by different Communist parties as to the nature of those revolts are If the West is to make contact with East Europe's freedom-fighters, it must concern itself with the postwar generation...
...Where it will end is impossible to say, but the evolution no longer depends solely on the Communists—freedom and democracy again have a chance...
...Such a policy would destroy the false dilemma, constantly stressed by the Communists, that the only choice left to East European countries is between the present regimes and a return to the pre-1939 regimes—which nobody wants...
...The West has, in fact, to some extent understood this...
...Finally, this perspective of politically neutral border states with democratic regimes and socialist economies is one of "active peace," in which time and work would ultimately justify the cause of freedom...
...On the other hand, it does have certain indisputable advantages—one of them the adjustment of the exiles' policies with those of their countries...
...This is of incalculable importance: The peoples of Eastern Europe no longer need feel powerless...
...Furthermore, acceptance of socialist changes would doubtless reflect the aspirations of the majority of people in Eastern Europe, for economic and social processes after a point become irrevocable...
...It allows Western Communist parties to break their isolation, and might also create an atmosphere of false security which would tempt Moscow to adventures...
...and (3) acceptance of the essential social and economic structures of these countries...
...It is up to them to save this society which the Communists were making economically, politically and humanly insupportable...
...This last lesson seems to me most important...
...But even in a strictly planned economic system, all economic problems are not automatically solved—far from it...
...Something more should be offered...
...It is difficult, however, to see the third stage being realized against a really compact Communist party—especially one backed by Soviet troops...
...We can say that this proposed policy has a real chance of success—no more...
...Bojic edited a newspaper for displaced persons in Italy for two years after the war, then worked in England as a coal miner for three years...
...Why should it be impossible to conceive of intelligent economic policies under a socialist economy...
...Who would buy back the socialized mines and banks in any case...
...At the beginning, their political program was de-Stalinization, with Imre Nagy, an old Communist, at the head of the Government...
...Surely Soviet tanks could smash any open democratic movement (although Moscow might find another such operation "inelegant," with Africa and Asia watching...
...In other words, to assure the peaceful passage from Communist dictatorship to democracy, the cooperation of part of the Communist party seems necessary...
...Today, democracy is still only a possibility, but it appears to be a "normal" conclusion to present developments...
...And if they are, should they not be allowed to complete the task they started—most often in total opposition to those now willing to join in it...
...Cold war prevents the West from doing much of anything inside the Soviet bloc (although it does not stop Communists from conjuring up every kind of trouble for the West...
...This is a most controversial point for some exiles...
...neutralized democracies in the West, on the other hand, would surely stay democratic...
...How, indeed, can the people's democracies evolve...
...A regime openly hostile to the USSR is unacceptable to her...
...International detente...
...In 1951, he won a scholarship at the Free Europe University in Exile at Strasbourg, where he has studied law and political science...
...The first two of these stages are necessarily prepared through the Communist parties...
...One need only say this: Neutral nations in Eastern Europe would surely become democratic ones...
...What kind of attitudes might, at the same time, induce Soviet acceptance of de-satellization and political democracy in the people's democracies...
...Can liberals successfully operate a socialist society...
...the choice between economic autarchy or competition in international trade...
...The policy of detente does entail certain risks...
...Could long-term planning be coordinated with changes in the government from one party to another...
...To avoid these dangers, it is necessary, first of all, to maintain military preparedness—it is the military stalemate which makes detente possible...
...The policy outlined here would give support to all those within the Communist parties who consider dictatorship no longer desirable (like Djilas), as well as to those who may find themselves in the dilemma faced by Nagy and Kadar—compelled to choose between democratization and bloody repression...
...5. In spite of the magnificent elan of the Hungarian political emigration (Hungarian exiles living in Western Europe left en masse for Hungary to fight), this emigration played no significant political role...
...The first Nagy experiment in Hungary (July 1953-April 1955) and the Gomulka movement of October 1956 are examples of this stage...
...Last year, this stage might be considered in the realm of wishful thinking...
...the choice of industrial sectors to be developed...
...It seems to me there are six main lessons: 1. The people's democracies exist with no genuine support from the people...
...Untiringly, Khrushchev emphasizes that, though he stands for peaceful coexistence, he believes in and is working for the final victory of Communism...
...And political freedom would certainly impart a strikingly different role to trade unions and voluntary cooperatives...
...Why should it give something for nothing...
...Why should the Soviet Union permit such neutralization...
...A neutral and unified Germany...
...By this we mean the disappearance of the more brutal aspects of Communist dictatorships —without, however, endangering either the power monopoly of the local Communist party, or its satellite position with relation to Moscow...
...The liberal economy of the 19th century was not completely satisfying either...
...4. The Hungarian Revolution in particular has highlighted the tragic absence in the West of political ideas which might effectively accelerate the emancipation of the satellite countries...
...Objections of this type are insufficient to condemn a priori a political approach based on political democracy, socialized economy, and military neutrality...
...Second, peaceful coexistence should never be confused with approval of the political status quo...
...would non-Communists therefore be at a permanent disadvantage...
...Neutrality...
...Has not socialism demonstrated its inability to assure harmonious economic development and raise the standard of living of the working classes...
...Throughout the Hungarian Revolution, it was discreetly made known that the West didn't wish a Hungary unfriendly toward Moscow, that a Hungary as neutral as Austria or Finland was perfectly acceptable...
...All these economic questions can, in fact, give real meaning to political democracy...
...Well, it is fair to say that Eastern Europe has had the experience of only one type of socialist economy...
...The practical application of those principles, even if temporarily abated, not only will give rise to new divergences among the Communist nations, but must also stimulate the rise of divergent tendencies within each party...
...Therefore, for this stage to be brought about, strong popular pressure would have to be linked with some degree of support from within the Communist party or a faction of it...
...It is precisely because these negative aspects (which need not be enumerated here) became unbearable that the Communists were forced to make concessions...
...Is it possible to reconcile a completely socialized and planned economy with political democracy...
...It is hardly the type to be found, say, in Scandinavia...
...Only by contacts as frequent, varied and sustained as possible with the Communist world can the democracies hope to influence life within the Soviet orbit, to open new horizons in thousands of minds, to stimulate debates and the appearance of new tendencies within the Communist parties...
...What are the lessons of the revolutionary developments of 1956, and how can we use them to assist the liberation of the satellite peoples...
...They are necessary vehicles for the first steps to freedom...
...It should, on the other hand, permit democracy to fight the challenge of Communism on political, economic, ideological and human grounds...
...What would be the substance of political freedom if the traditional great economic debate were excluded from discussion...
...To begin with, the economy in Eastern Europe is not 100 per cent nationalized...
...Detente should not mean Western political anemia or abdication...
...In my opinion, three points are indispensable: (1) an international policy of "detente...
...Detente could also, to a certain degree, discourage opposition within the satellite countries by giving the impression that the West "accepts" Communism...
...Socialist economy...
...If peasants, workers and intellectuals are against the regime, who is for it...
...It would have demonstrated not only that totalitarianism is unnecessary as a means of protecting the workers from exploitation [i.e., in the 'building of socialism'), but also that this is a mere excuse for the exploitation of the workers by bureaucracy and a new ruling class...
...Without such alignment, contact with the emigration would be distinctly harmful to a popular internal movement, for the Communists could easily label it "reactionary" and "in the service of foreign imperialism...
...This consists of political independence from Moscow, and the right of each people's democracy to choose its own path...
...3. The psychological and ideological unity of the Communist movement has been badly shaken...
...Genuine neutrality for the satellites would facilitate Moscow's acceptance of the inevitable disintegration of its colonial empire...
Vol. 40 • January 1957 • No. 4
