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: Resistance and Rebellion in
Eastern Europe (1968)
: Jon Hale, Matthew Lummel,
Cristina Radu
: World History
: Cold War (European History)
: High School
: One 50-minute lesson (homework
extension)
Students will be able to understand the the
extent of political independence Sovietinfluenced Eastern Europe following World
War II by…
 Analyzing a series of primary
documents concerning Hungary,
Czechoslovakia, and Poland, and
 Creating a political cartoon and
newspaper editorial
: “The Warsaw Security Pact” (14 May 1955)
The Contracting Parties, reaffirming their desire for the establishment of a system of
European collective security based on the participation of all European states
irrespective of their social and political systems, which would make it possible to
unite their efforts in safeguarding the peace of Europe; mindful, at the same time, of
the situation created in Europe by the ratification of the Paris agreements, which
envisage the formation of a new military alignment in the shape of "Western
European Union," with the participation of a remilitarized Western Germany and the
integration of the latter in the North-Atlantic bloc, which increased the danger of
another war and constitutes a threat to the national security of the peaceable states;
[…] being desirous of further promoting and developing friendship, cooperation and
mutual assistance in accordance with the principles of respect for the independence
and sovereignty of states and of noninterference in their internal affairs, have
decided to conclude the present Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual
Assistance and have for that purpose appointed as their plenipotentiaries
(diplomats): who, having presented their full powers, found in good and due form,
have agreed as follows: [...]
Article 8
The Contracting Parties declare that they will act in a spirit of friendship and
cooperation with a view to further developing and fostering economic and
cultural intercourse with one another, each adhering to the principle of respect
for the independence and sovereignty of the others and non-interference in their
internal affairs.
1. What values are expressed in this document?
: Kovalev, S. “Sovereignty and the International Obligations
of Socialist Countries” (26 September 1968)
… Without question, the peoples of the socialist countries
and the communist parties have and must have freedom to
determine their country’s path of development. Any decision
they make, however, must not be harmful either to socialism
in their own country or to the fundamental interests of other
socialist countries… Whoever forgets this in giving exclusive
emphasis to the autonomy and independence of communist
parties is guilty of a one-sided approach and of shirking
[ignoring] their internationalist duties. [...]
V.I. Lenin wrote that a person living in a society cannot be
free of that society, and it is equally true that a socialist state
in a system of other states that make up the socialist
commonwealth cannot be free of the common interests of that
commonwealth.
The sovereignty of individual socialist
countries cannot be set against the interests of world socialist
and the world revolutionary movement.
2. How are the values in
different from
those expressed in
?
Consider: What may have caused this change?
Eye-Witness Account:
In late summer 1956 I was transferred to Warsaw. I worked in Trybuna Ludu [a daily published in Warsaw in
1948-1990, organ of the Central Committee of the PZPR] and in Zycie Warsawy [a popular Warsaw daily], and
published articles in Polityka [a socio-political weekly, which expressed the views of moderately reformist groups
within the PZPR]. In Warsaw I put into practice my idea that as a student of German culture I should specialize in the
‘Storm and Stress’ period, the era of the German Enlightenment and German Romanticism, and over several years, that
is between 1958 and 1961, I lectured in the German Studies department. In February 1960, I successfully defended
my Ph.D. thesis. I am the author of four film scripts, including three written jointly with my friend Ryszard Pietruski [a
popular Polish actor]. One of those screenplays served as the basis for a movie entitled Wilczy bilet [Outcast], which
was shown for the first time in 1964. In the years 1965–1970 I taught German drama at the Drama School in Warsaw.
During the March events of 1968 [see Gomulka Campaign], a sort of proscription list was in circulation, which
included the names of all the Jews. My name was added at the bottom. That fact shows that they had a problem with
my case because of my service with the Home Army and because I wasn’t an old-guard communist, but in the end they
added my name as well. Later I was barred from the meetings of the editorial team and subjected to all possible
harassments. My salary was also cut. I was very good friends with Michal Lucki, a very talented reporter, who couldn’t
bear the situation any more and decided to emigrate. The editor-in-chief of Trybuna Ludu called me in and asked
whether or not I intended to go. I said: ‘No, I can tell you right away that the only crime I will commit in Poland is that
if you throw me out, I will slip back over the border illegally.’
Eye-Witness Account:
My relationship with the Communist regime was unambiguous and supported by many facts. But I had never
been interrogated due to my relatives in the West. They probably checked our correspondence, but of course we wrote
very carefully. We also tried to listen to Radio Free Europe and so on, but it was very difficult, because it was jammed a
lot in Prague. Outside of Prague it was easier. And once in a while I also got to a samizdat [see Samizdat literature in
Czechoslovakia].
Luckily at work we were this good group, there weren’t any Communists there. Though in 1968 [see Prague
Spring] the director of our institute emigrated, I had and still have – I hope that he’s still alive – a very good friendly
relationship with him. I even went to visit him in England in 1992. However, I also was friendly with the new director.
But in 1974 they put a radical end to all that: a new ‘comrade’ director came, and hard times were upon us. For
example, he suspected, or perhaps someone informed him, that the library is actually gathering all information, that
therefore we know everything. He asked me into his office and wanted me to inform on people. I refused. And from
that time on I had the lowest salary and the lowest bonuses. But he didn’t have any way of getting rid of me, because I
was protected by ‘255,’ that is, by statute 255/46 regarding privileges of people that had returned from concentration
camps. So he couldn’t fire me.
Political Cartoon: Create a political cartoon
showcasing the difference between the
promise of self-determination that was
described in the Warsaw Pact with the
response governments to political
protests following World War II.
Editorial: Students will write an editorial from the perspective of a
government official, in the official Russian newspaper, or the
high school student, in an underground newspaper. The official
editorial must justify the release of the Brezhnev Doctrine. The
student editorial must critique the release of the Brezhnev
Doctrine. The editorials should be incorporate information from
the Warsaw Pact, the Brezhnev Doctrine, and the photos of the
Eastern European revolutions from the post-war period.