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317 Annals Am. Acad. Pol. & Soc. Sci. ix (1958)

handle is hein.cow/anamacp0317 and id is 1 raw text is: FOREWORD

The present issue of THE ANNALS has been planned as a sequel to the issue
of September 1950, Moscow's European Satellites, edited by Joseph S. Roucek.
Whereas the first set of studies was centrally concerned with the Communist
seizure of power in East Central Europe in the 1940's and with the initial Sovieti-
zation, the essays that follow deal with the vicissitudes of the 1950's, a period of
mingled hope and despair for the hard-pressed peoples of the area. The pivotal
point in these years was the death of Stalin, in March 1953; the climax, the dra-
matic and tragic events of October and November 1956. And yet, as we look back
from our present vantage point in 1958, it becomes clear that 1953, while a turn-
ing point, by no means implied a rupture with the past; and that 1956, a year of
such high achievements and crushing disasters, was no terminus, either for good or
for ill. The end of the story is not in sight.
The organization and arrangement of these essays attempt to suggest both the
dramatic and the problematic quality of the last eight years in East Central Eu-
rope: following an introductory section to set the stage and to trace the transition
from the final years of the Stalin era to the beginnings of the New Course and
the thaw, attention is devoted to the broader economic, social, and cultural prob-
lems and prospects of the People's Democracies. From this the studies turn to
the crisis of the Stalinist system, a crisis that differed widely in intensity and
manifestation from one country to another. Finally, Eastern Europe is placed in
its international setting as one of the most important and refractory problems of
the contemporary world.
For an area so complex and variegated, despite the leveling impact of commu-
nism, it has, unfortunately, been impossible to provide equal treatment for every
nation. Some countries, Poland and Hungary, have been singled out for obvious
reasons. Others have been selected as illustrative-though perhaps not wholly
representative-of certain general trends. This combination of topical and na-
tional studies will, it is hoped, achieve a reasonably well-balanced portrait of
Eastern Europe as it is today.
Inevitably, in a series of essays devoted to such closely related topics the reader
will encounter a number of overlapping discussions. More than that, he will find
that on several very important issues-the nature of the thaw, the reasons why
revolts broke out in some countries and not in others-the authors present quite
diverse, perhaps conflicting, interpretations. But this is as it should be. We
are here confronted with some enormously complex, and unprecedented, historical
events, the full meaning of which we will spend many years seeking to understand.
At this stage what is needed, on the part of writers but also on the part of readers,
is sensitivity, imagination, and alertness: not only for purposes of comprehension
but also to meet the enduring challenge of finding some way to raise the dark if
rift-torn cloud that hangs over Eastern Europe and over the world.
HENRY L. ROBERTS
Henry L. Roberts, Ph.D., New York City, is Professor of History and Director of the
Russian Institute and the Program on East Central Europe, Columbia University. He is
the author of Rumania (1951) and Russia and America (1956).
ix

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