Eastern Europe and Communist Rule [antikvár]

Foreword In this book I take a retrospective look at Eastern Europe over roughly the four decades of its communist histoiy, with special reference to the past quarter centuiy. 1 have not attempted a histoiy of Eastern Europe over these years, Rather I analyze what seem to me the most important events, developments, and underlying trends. The book is based on more than a quarter century of discussing Eastern Europe, writing, ruminating, arguing, and worrying about it. All this may not have made me much the wiser; but it has made me aware of how much there is to know. It has also given me some idea of the region's complexities based on diffei-ent and quite contrasting histories. This book covers Yugoslavia and Albania as well as "the Six." Including these two bloc-free countries involves difficulties of analysis and organization. It certainly inhibits generalization, although this, in itself, may not be a bad thing because writers ignore the big differences among all the East European countries at their peril. But it is best that Yugoslavia and Albania be included. For one thing, they look like they are becoming—each in its own way—"newsworthy" countries. And Yugoslavia, at least, though its political relevance for them may have declined, still provides scope for instructive comparison and contrast with the states of the Soviet alliance. There is no overriding theme to this book. To have imposed one would have meant dallying with the schematic. But there are several intertwined motifs running through it. They include: 1. The distinctiveness of the East European countries despite the standardizing tendencies of their governing systems. 2. Nationalism and the power of the historical legacy. 3. "Spontaneity" in all walks of public life and its threat to the system.