LESSON INFORMATION•Lesson Title: Resistance and

Rebellion in Eastern Europe (1968)

•Authors: Jon Hale, Matthew Lummel, Cristina Radu

•Subject: World History

•Unit: Cold War (European History)

•Grade Level: High School

•Time: One 50-minute lesson (homework extension)

RESISTANCE AND REBELLION IN

EASTERN EUROPE

TODAY’S OBJECTIVESStudents will be able to understand the the extent of political independence Soviet-influenced Eastern Europe following World War II by… Examining how the

Warsaw Pact and “Brezhnev Doctrine” framed international relationships,

Analyzing a series of primary documents concerning Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, and

Creating a political cartoon and newspaper editorial

1. What values are expressed in this document?

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 8The 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.

Doc A: “The Warsaw Security Pact” (14 May 1955)

“INDEPENDENCE” IN THE SOVIET MODEL

2. How are the values in Document A different from those expressed in Document B?

Consider: What may have caused this change?

… 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.

Doc B: Kovalev, S. “Sovereignty and the International Obligations of Socialist Countries” (26 September 1968)

“INDEPENDENCE” IN THE SOVIET MODEL

HUNGARY (1956)

POLAND (1968)

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.’

CZECHOSLOVAKIA (1968)

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.

ASSESSING STUDENT UNDERSTANDING

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.

ASSESSING STUDENT UNDERSTANDINGEditorial: 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.