Opposition in Eastern Europe

Abstract

This volume owes its origins to fortuitous circumstances and events that contributed to the decision to prepare a volume of original studies on the subject of political opposition in Eastern Europe in the 1970s. As the editor of another and, on the whole well-received, work, Dissent in the USSR (1975), and the recipient of much helpful advice from readers and reviewers, I became persuaded that the post-1968 record of dissident and open oppositionist politics of Eastern Europe warranted closer scrutiny and perhaps a book-length treatment as well. These initial thoughts became compelling concerns thanks to an intellectually rewarding six-month sojourn in 1976-7 as a Senior Associate Member of St Antony's College, Oxford, where I greatly benefited from stimulating discussions about communist politics with A. H. Brown, W. Bros, M. Kaser, R. Kindersley and other distinguished members of that University. While in England I also had the opportunity to read papers on questions of political dissidence and systemic stability at faculty seminars at Cambridge University, the London School of Economics, the University of Manchester and the Institute for Soviet and East European Studies, the University of Glasgow. I am indebted to friends and colleagues in those institutions for their searching critique and thoughtful advice about these matters. Aided by these preparations, I served as convenor of a panel on political opposition in Eastern Europe at the Ninth National Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic and East Europe Studies in October, 1977 in Washington, D.C. Contributions from members of the panel (F. C. Barghoorn, V. V. Kosin, G. Schöpflin, H. G. Skilling and S. Staron) and offers of assistance from several colleagues, some of whom have subsequently contributed chapters for this volume, finally made it possible to develop a conceptual framework for a book of original studies on this subject. (...)