Differences in the Communist Parties

Historically and at their inception the East European Communist parties differed greatly from one another. Whereas those of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland were workers' parties, those of Bulgaria and Rumania were essentially parties of revolutionary intellectuals. From 1945 to 1948 the Com munist parties, strongly supported by Soviet military power, established their one-party dictatorships. There followed a period of intensive economic pres sures in order to create the maximum in heavy industry and general mobiliza tion. Though the pattern was the same in all these countries, some were more severely affected than others. Where revolutions did occur—as in Poland and Hungary—a definite cleavage of opinion at the highest level of the party existed as did a surviving Communist leader of great prestige who symbolized all the desire for reform and freedom which had accumulated over the years. In the remainder of Eastern Europe the parties, internally unstable though they are, have changed very little. It will, nonetheless, be well to watch here for differ ences in personalities, policies, and tactics, for in changed international circum stances these may prove politically decisive.—Ed.