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Liberating the Soviet Bloc
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13694 |
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Section : |
CURRENT ISSUES
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8 / 1988 |
2,929 Words |
| Author
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Janusz Bugajski
Janusz Bugajski is a research associate at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. He is
coauthoring a forthcoming book, East European Fault Lines:
Dissent, Opposition, and Social Activism. |
The communist states of Eastern Europe are beset by growing political and economic problems that the West can exploit to hasten the eventual emergence of democratic and independent nations. Escalating crises in the post-Brezhnev era revolve around the fundamental contradiction between a continuing Leninist dictatorship and any sustained economic growth through market-oriented reform. The indecisive reforms enacted thus far in some states have principally accentuated this built-in antagonism. Moreover, Mikhail Gorbachev's reformist rhetoric and pressures for improved economic performance and tighter integration within the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) have simply heightened domestic tensions.
Given the volatile mixture of deteriorating economic conditions, falling living standards, mounting public frustration, an entrenched and immovable communist bureaucracy, unyielding and fearful party elites, and the urgent need for innovation and modernization, severe emergencies could occur in the perilous years ahead. The 1990s threaten to become a decade of trauma and turmoil throughout Eastern Europe, which will severely test the traditional ability of communist leaders to somehow muddle through. The West should not be caught unprepared by the depth and breadth of Soviet bloc convulsions. On the contrary, while cognizant of its own limitations, it should actively engage in a political version of jujutsu that turns the weaknesses of one's adversaries (the party autocracies) into the strength of one's potential allies (independent social forces in Eastern Europe).
Historical lessons
Since the late 1950s, the West has pursued a
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