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BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS Stephen Fischer-Galati, Editor. the Communist Parties of Eastern Europe. New York

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BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS Stephen Fischer-Galati, Editor. the Communist Parties of Eastern Europe. New York BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS Stephen Fischer-Galati, editor. The Communist Parties of Eastern Europe. New York: Columbia University Press, 1979. 393 pp. $22.50. This volume contains eight chapters by different authors on the communist parties of Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia.The editor has allowed the contributors wide latitude in selecting and arrang- ing their material, and so the chapters vary considerably in both content and organiza- tion. Since the authors have been allowed to choose their own format, the individual sec- tions are generally of high quality. However, the volume does not, as its jacket claims, "encompass... the historical and political evolution of the communist parties of Eastern Europe." The chapter on Romania by Trond Gilberg, for example, concentrates on the Ceausescu era, describing (quite effectively, to be sure) the major features of his leader- ship in the last fifteen years, but making no attempt to survey the history of the Roman- ian party. M. K. Dziewanowski, in his essay on Poland, provides a fascinating portrait of Gomulka over the years, and deals extensively with Polish-Jewishrelations; his contribu- is a series of observations on the Polish rather than a tion, however, thoughtful' party concise history. The'editor's decision to permit the authors such freedom has produced some excellent surveysof the evolution of certain parties. Paul Shoup, for example, clearly and succinctly describes the complexity and uniqueness of Yugoslvaia.In addition, his essay is compara- tive : he not only gives an overviewof the history, organization, and operation of the Yu- goslavparty (LCY),but also contrasts Yugoslavia'sexperience with the "norm" in Eastern Europe. Shoup describes the membership and composition of the LCY, the evolution of party organs, and the party's relations with other groups in society (such as the military). Peter Prifti also stresses uniqueness in his study of the Albanian experience. Indeed, he deals extensively with the sources of Albania's "lonely path" before proceeding to dis- cuss the domestic experience of tne party, its "internal life," its relations with society (particularly economic groups, the army, and confrontations with youth and intellec- tuals), and finally foreign policy. Either of these chapters could serve as organizational models for other surveys. Bulgaria, of course, presents a different problem for analysts. After describing the past and present of the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP), L. A. D. Dellin therefore concen- trates in his conclusions on reasons for the conformity of BCP leadership and its "subser- vience" to Moscow. He denies the importance of any "national affinity" or "fraternal feelings" toward Russia on the part of the Bulgarian masses, and instead searches for the source of this "special relationship ... in the motives and perceptions of the Bulgarian Communist leadership" (p. 79). After discussing "national interest" and "international interest" (the unity of world communism) as possible motives, he rejects both, and con- cludes that Bulgarian leaders have been subservient for "opportunistic" reasons, in order "to protect their partisan rule" (p. 81). The contribution on the Czechoslovak Communist Party (KSC) is very well done. Peter Toma covers the historical evolution of communism in Czechoslovakia,the present role and organization of the KSC, the national environment (economic, nationality, and religious issues), and the political culture in an effective and comprehensivefashion. He makes a number of thoughtful comparisons with the rest of Eastern Europe. For Toma. the main factor distinguishing Czechoslovakia from other states in the socialist bloc is "the presence of a semielitistCommunist party which, until August 1968, drew substan- tial support from the working class." Since then, however, Czech workers have become "antisocialist elements" (p. 155). Although the KSC "has faced no strong counterforce" 215 such as the church in Poland or the nationality groups in Yugoslavia,Czechoslovakia has had "a very lively intellectual community which developed within the party itself' (pp. 156-5 7).The combination of these last two features led to the reform movement of 1968, and to the subsequent paralysis. Toma's chapter is an exemplary survey: clear, complete, and yet provocative. The chapter by Manfred Grote provides a competent summary of the Socialist Unity Party (SED) of East Germany. Grote covers the party's foundation and development, its organizational structure, and its leadership, and concludes with a brief section on the SED and society. He sees the SED today as strong and self-confident, with no potential threat to its unity or influence short of another ideological crisis similar to the 1956 de-Stalini- zation process. MiklosMolnar draws less optimistic conclusions about the strength of the Hungarian Communist Party (HCP). Although he finds that "the Kadar regime enjoys a certain popularity," this popularity "rests, in fact, on the fear of something worse" (p. 240). Molnar demonstrates the present weaknessof the HCP and the party's vulnerability to Soviet pressure over the years. This collection would be useful reading for a course on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, or possibly for the contemporary segment of an East European history course. The chapters assume some knowledge of communist politics and Eastern Europe, but they are quite suitable for undergraduates. The present publication format, however, would preclude such use, so it is not clear to what audience the book is directed. For teaching purposes, it would also be more effective if the contributions were somewhat similar in organization: not a straitjacket imposed by the editor, not necessarilya com- mon "model," but a very general sequence followed by all the authors, and a number of topics or policy areas common to all (or most) of the essays. This would facilitate com- parisons of the variousparties in class discussions. The overall quality of the contributions does, however, largely compensate for the lack of uniformity. Mary Ellen Fischer Skidmore College Rita Petrovna Grishina. Vozniknoveniefashizma v Bolgarii, 1919-1925 g. Sofia: Izda- telstvo na BAN, 1976, 344 pp. 3 Leva. After the intensive discussionon the phenomenon of Bulgarianfascism in the journal Istoricheski pregled during 1968, outstanding Bulgarian historians like Ilcho Dimitrov, Velichko Georgievand Vladimir Migevpublished a number of monographs on the period of monarcho-fascismafter the coup d'etat of May 1934 up to 1939. With few exceptions the initial period of Bulgarianfascism remained still unexplored. The reasons for this are to be sought in the problems of classifying the various governments after the fall of the Bulgarian Agrarian National Union's rule. Consensus was only reached in the fact that the character of Prof. Aleksandur government c 1923 to 1 926.w.as "mihta<;'- fascist". More problematic was the characterization of Andrei Liapchev's (1926-31), Aleksandur Malinov'sand Nikola Mushanov's(1931-34) governments,and that of "Zveno" under Kimon Georgiev (1934-35). So it seems natural that after the investigation of the immediate pre-war period the focus is on Tsankov's regime. Rita P. Grishina is a Soviet historian and so has an advantage over other foreign and even Bulgarian scholars concerning approach to Bulgarian archival materials. Moreover, her book was written under the tutelage of Dimitur Kosev, the doyen of Bulgarianhis- torical science. He also supplied the book with an interesting and critical foreword. Before turning to the real subject of her study, Grishina surveys some theories on fascism represented in Soviet, East European and Western literature. Unfortunately the cited works in Western languages are somewhat out of date and arbitrarily summarized. .
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