Archive Report
Archive Report
Ferment and Unrest in Eastern Europe
Recent developments in Soviet satellite states have directed world attention to the ferment that seems to have been spreading through the Communist-controlled lands of Central and Eastern Europe since the death of Premier Stalin. Local Red regimes, now allowed somewhat greater leeway than during the Stalin era, have been reacting in surprising ways to political and economic pressures; in some instances they have shown considerably more independence than can be palatable to Moscow.
Communist Party chiefs in most of the European satellites have been admitting past mistakes, confessing their own shortcomings, sanctioning certain kinds of criticism in the controlled press, allowing greater freedom in parliamentary debates. In several countries public demands for correction of errors have resulted in political shake-ups ...