SHUMEN

 

WAYS OF EXPRESSING FREEDOM OF THOUGHT, SPEECH AND INFORMATION IN THE PERIOD OF 1949-1989 IN THE COUNTRIES FROM THE EASTERN BLOCK

 

The facts from history that we have selected refer mainly to the history of the Eastern European countries and as normative documents they regulate the lack of freedom or the existence of fake freedom.

From the point of view of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights voted in 1948 the freedom which the documents we chose suggest is a state of no freedom.

However, as far as for a period of 40 years this order regulated the life of millions of citizens in the Eastern European countries we are convinced that it is a subject of examination and analysis.

            Here we examine in chronological order international documents and pacts which determine the economic and political relations between countries from the Communist Block, and these documents are of great significance for the rights of the citizens in these countries.

Comecon- Council for Mutual Economic Assistance   - founded in 1949 by six countries – the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania. It seems that the main reason for establishing Comecon is Stalin’s wish to extend the Soviet Union’s influence on the smaller countries from central Europe and to comfort a part of these countries, which could be interested in the Marshall Plan because they more often broke their traditional relations with markets and suppliers from Western Europe.

            Czechoslovak, Hungary and Poland continued being interested in the help provided by the Marshall Plan despite the requirements of convertible currency and market economics. These requirements were absolutely unacceptable for Stalin because they could lead to stronger economics relations with the western European countries than with the Soviet Union and in 1947 he directed the governments of these counties (dominated by communists) to leave the Paris convention of “Program of European Restoration”- this moment of  history is called “the moment of truth ”. The market economics was replaced by planned economics; private property was substituted with state property, all political parties were forbidden, except for the communist ones, and they were liable to persecution. 

         The Warsaw Pact was a peculiar phenomenon. It united countries, which were not completely aware what they had in common– against the threat from outside, which did  not exist. The Warsaw Pact consolidated the participants and kept them under fear of the unreal enemy. It closed the door to contacts with the western democracies, stopped the progress of free exchange and sharply raised the provincial suspiciousness.

That way it provided conditions for high dependence on USSR, and partial realization of the Lenin-Stalin’s idea for a world socialist revolution of  Soviet kind.

Through the CMEA (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) in 1949 and trough the Warsaw Pact in 1955 the Soviet Union provided itself conditions for large and unimpeded “sovietization” of the Eastern European countries, i.e. their reorganization on Soviet model – state political system, economy, culture, education and etc.

It is true, that by 1988 (before the start of the changes in Eastern Europe) there were  differences in the mechanism and the  organization of the socialist countries, for example, in Poland about 50% of the land was still  private property, there were small private shops and workshops in Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania too. However, same things could not be ascertained and as far as these things were a certain fact they did not owe to some kind of doctrinal pluralism but to an unfinished process of sovietization, i.e. in the countries, where the democratic tradition has longer history the sovietization is imposed more difficult.

Signing the treaty the Warsaw Pact countries agreed to mutual defense in response to an attack against one or more of them. It was pointed as well, that the relationships between the countries were based on mutual non-interference in the internal affairs and respect to the state sovereignty and independence.

This clause was broken twice during the existence of the Warsaw Pact, by the invasion of Hungary in 1956 (at the time of the Hungarian Revolution) and in 1968 at the time of the Prague Spring.  

The Warsaw Pact was turned into an instrument of keeping the dependence of the Eastern European countries of the USSR.

 That can be clearly seen in the Brezhnev Doctrine or the doctrine of limited sovereignty. It accurately expressed the Soviet policy regarding the east European countries and it was presented by Leonid Brezhnev at the Fifth Congress of the Polish United Workers’ Party on November 13, 1968. It stated, “When forces that are hostile to socialism try to turn the development of some socialist country towards capitalism, it becomes not only a problem of the country concerned, but a common problem and concern of all socialist countries.”

What becomes clear from the statement is that USSR retains for itself the right to define what socialism is, what kind it is, and what capitalism is. In fact, this means that none of the countries belonging to the Communist Block is allowed to leave the Warsaw Pact or its people and to try to change the political system in favour of freedom and democracy.

The enumerated international documents regulate such “rights and freedoms” of citizens. The citizens of the Eastern European countries were deprived of the main human rights that are grounded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948. Under these conditions, where there was a lack of human rights throughout two generations, in society were formed a distinct type of views, behaviour and needs within what the party-country allowed.

In 1962 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn wrote the narrative “One day in the life of Ivan Denisovich, a story of a day in the life of a prisoner in The Gulag Archipelago. After publishing “Cancer Ward” abroad, 1969 and receiving the Nobel Prize, 1970, he was expelled from the Soviet Writers’ Union. In 1974 Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was stripped of his Soviet citizenship and deported to West Germany.

In the same year by a special declaration Bulgarian Writers’ Union deprecated Solzhenitsyn actions as destroying the foundations of socialism.

What does this fact suggest?

The so-called socialist society as a political system in USSR and the Eastern European countries (in the second half of the 20th century) stands on:

1. The Warsaw Pact;

2. The lack of information about the situation within the country and out of it;

3. Propaganda which often uses untrue information concerning the big economic success and high standard of living in the socialist countries; the deep economic, social and political crisis that can be seen by limited circle of heads of state and diplomats at that time (usually hereditary communists).

As silent evidence of the thesis on p.2, nowadays round bigger cities in Bulgaria stick up antennas put on suitable places in order to muffle and prevent citizens’ access to radio programmes like “Deutsche Welle”, “Freedom”, “Free Europe”,” BBC”, “ The Voice of America”, which broadcasted news in the national languages of the socialist countries.

Actually by revealing information to the world, especially to the citizens of the socialist countries, that in USSR still existed concentration camps where people were sent because of political, writing or organization actions- different from what was allowed, made pointless all efforts and actions of the giant propaganda machine- huge parades, slick conferences and congresses of the communist party, festive demonstrations and celebrations, at which as a rule long reports containing untrue information were presented.

An extremely heavy setback for the main construction of the political system is the appearance of the book “The Gulag Archipelago” which was distressingly suffered by its political leaders.

            For a large part of the citizens in the socialist countries it is clear that there is a problem, not anywhere but in USSR- the model of the system represented by the official authorities as a pattern of freely organized country. The anthem of USSR contains “…I don’t know another country, in which man can breathe so freely…” In the society the problem was being talked over, as well as alternatives were being secretly discussed.

            Since this political system was built on untruth, it is necessity to clarify the relationship between freedom and truth.

            The truth of freedom makes possible every other truth, which concerns the human existence. Therefore in the freedom, as truth about human existence, is hidden the answer to all the other truths, which man hardly can live without.

            The ontological and the authentic human existence is nothing else but existence of freedom. This means that out of freedom we exist unauthentically, and for uunauthetically living people, freedom really does not exist. They are not aware of it, they don’t know it and that is why they don’t accept it.

            This is one of the basic moments in the ideology of the totalitarian system, people do not have to know and recognize freedom.

            This is the reason for hiding the truth in every possible way. It allows molding human way of thinking in direction comfortable for those who have power. And living their unauthentic life, people think that another freedom doesn’t exist.

They are absolutely sincere in their beliefs and they can’t think otherwise.

            The elevated hypothesis gives answer to the question why part of the Bulgarian citizens, especially those who live in less populated villages didn’t feel the change, feel nostalgia for the past, and being active voters, they give chance to ultimate fascist -like political subjects to appear on the political scene.

“The Sinatra Doctrine” is a term, used for defining the new foreign-political course, announced by USSR in the autumn of 1989. The doctrine characterizes the refusal of the Soviet Union to keep at any price its influence over the Eastern block countries.

            On 25 October, 1989 the representative of the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs Genadi Gerasimov – a guest in the popular American show “Good Morning, America!”, announced in front of the world the Soviet Union’s intention for non interference in the internal affairs, including the Warsaw Pact countries. This was the end of the Warsaw Pact and the beginning of the break-up of the socialist society.

The name alluded to the Frank Sinatra song "My Way"— the Soviet Union was allowing these nations to go their own way.

           

 

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