The Other Satellites

The rest of the East bloc watched last week's turbulence in Poland with understandable unease. News accounts of the strikes were guarded at first, tending to emphasize the Warsaw government's calls for order and the seriousness of the economic situation. Poland's basic problems have their counterparts, to some degree, nearly everywhere that Moscow's writ runs. Low productivity, heavy indebtedness and cumbersome bureaucracies plague all the Soviet satellites in Eastern Europe. Thirty-five years after the end of World War II, shortages of food and consumer goods are endemic. The gap continues to widen between worker expectations and reality; intellectuals still bridle under repressive regimes. An economic failure, the Communist system poses special challenges for each of the satellite countries.

East Germany leads the Warsaw Pact in per capita meat consumption (86.2 kg), a revealing economic indicator in the Communist world. Thought to have the strongest economy in the bloc, East Germany is the only member to set a higher growth target for this year (4.8%) than last (4.3%). Economic planning has loosened a bit, helping to compensate for capital deficiencies, limited natural resources and a small labor force. Slavish in its devotion to Soviet aims, East Germany billets some 285,000 Soviet troops. The archconservative regime of Party Chief Erich Honecker tolerates little dissent, though a few minor work stoppages have been reported this year. East Germans are rarely allowed to travel westward and defect at a rate of 200 every year.

Hungary is probably the most attractive and livable country in the East bloc. After Poland, it is also the most liberal: the press is relatively lively, repression is seldom visible, travel is more freely allowed than elsewhere in the East bloc. Janos Kadar's government has no peer in public relations among its Eastern European friends; a recent round of price hikes was announced a year ahead of time to soften the reaction. An economic plan put into effect last year looks suspiciously like capitalism, with financial incentives and broad leeway for managers to hire, fire and set production goals. The government also winks at a booming underground economy. Although his economic growth record was lowest in the region last year, Kadar is one of the most popular rulers in the bloc. The 60,000 Soviet troops in the country try to stay out of sight and mind.

While most Eastern Europeans regard the Soviets with scorn or even hatred, Bulgarians have been unwavering Russophiles for a century. Bulgaria is one of two Warsaw Pact countries without Soviet troops on its soil, and its state security apparatus keeps a low profile. Says one diplomat: "The obvious signs of repression aren't there." Economic growth was 6.5% in 1979, highest among the satellites. A new system of wage incentives and decentralized planning was also introduced. President Todor Zhivkov, 68, tolerated by an apathetic people, heard little more than a grumble when he hiked prices sharply last year.

Its spirit broken by the Soviet invasion in 1968, Czechoslovakia's government is abjectly loyal to its eastern master. "Today is the anniversary [of the 'Prague Spring'], but nobody gives a damn," a resident of the capital said last week. "We've learned our lesson." Dissidents are treated harshly by the Gustav Husak regime--many prominent intellectuals belonging to the Charter 77 Movement were imprisoned last fall--and alienation is widespread. Some 80,000 Soviet troops are on hand in case anyone steps out of line. Czechoslovakia has a stagnating economy that will probably fall short of its 1980 planned growth of 3.7%. Mindful that economic reforms led to the overthrow of the liberal Dubcek government almost twelve years ago, Husak has shown little inclination to make changes.

In Rumania, troops with automatic weapons give the capital of Bucharest a grim, neo-Stalinist air. None of the soldiers are Soviet, a point of pride with President Nicolae Ceausescu, who steers an independent course in foreign policy but a fiercely repressive one at home. Strikes by mineworkers in the Jiu Valley in 1977 were put down by force; there are reports, denied by the government, of strikes in July at the industrial complex of Tirgoviste. Rumania's rate of economic growth was the highest in the bloc for most of the 1970s, but the country still has the lowest standard of living. For the time being, Rumanians will have to find sustenance in a Ceausescu personality cult that rivals that of Mao or Stalin in their heydays.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.