The Changing Face Of Eastern Europe (1969)

[Music] photog. Photography sees with the eye of a camera. It makes records of places, people, and events. Photography lets you see the world about you without ever leaving your classroom. It's your window on the world. Photography shows shows how and why things happen. And now through photography, Kodak brings you this edition of Scream News Digest. [Music] [Music] Oh, this flame I rub so deep. And if you cannot play it, you bring it. You [Music] can't you are you are you are [Music] behind the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe. A new look, a changed and changing face. It is seen and heard in modern sites and contemporary sounds the rhythm and beat of communism [Music] today. The countries of Eastern Europe are far advanced from the satellite nations that fell after World War II into the orbit and under the domination of the Soviet Union. Much has changed and yet all is not new. There still remains a rigid degree of Russian control that demands and enforces allegiance to Moscow. That allegiance and control trace their roots to the defeat of Nazi Germany a quarter of a century ago. From the Baltic to the Adriatic, a communist tide swept over Eastern Europe, engulfing Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Albania. Straddling the heart of the continent, the satellite nations became the strategic buffer zone between the Soviet Union and Western Europe that Russia had coveted since the days of Peter the Great. The occupied countries were integrated into the common form politically, industrially, and militarily to serve the wants and needs of mother [Music] Russia. As production lagged, disillusionment set in. Nationalism came into conflict with Russian communism. People with a choice chose freedom. Immediately after World War II, thousands of refugees fled the harsh life. Reacting to the mass exodus to freedom, the Soviet Union slammed down an iron curtain across the western border of the buffer zone, triggering the so-called cold war. These were the twilight years of the Stalin era, and Russia stood alone as the capital of world communism. Joseph Stalin ruled the common form with an iron hand, but it was an artificial alliance of peoples from different backgrounds, cultures, faiths. And in 1948, Marshall Tito defied Stalin and led Yugoslavia out of the Soviet orbit. The Kremlin denounced the move, but significantly Russia did not intervene politically or militarily. [Music] In 1953, Joseph Stalin was dead. Three years later, Nikita Kushchoff was firmly entrenched as a successor to Stalin and was proclaiming a new policy of peaceful coexistence with the West. But the new Soviet leader was careful to explain that communism was still committed to ultimate victory over capitalism. [Applause] All communist governments, said Krushche, must speed this final triumph by every means short of [Applause] war. Peaceful coexistence opened a new economic era. Historically, Eastern Europe had traded with the West. With Soviet imposed barriers relaxed, that natural flow [Music] resumed in department stores. Shelves were stocked, counters filled with goods manufactured in Western nations, and shoppers in the satellite countries came to look more and more like bargain hunters in free world stores. English became the second language in many an iron curtain classroom. The boys are playing in the water. Do you like to swim in the river? Yes, I do. I like swimming very much. We do like to go to the wood. I like to go to the wood in summer. Children are going to the river. Learning the language provided future citizens with the key to studying the scientific papers and progress of the United States. The crash program paid off in a decade of Soviet technological achievements. Travel restrictions were eased. American farmers came to Poland to see and study, listen and learn. But the exchange programs were two-way streets. The Polish farmers and their families also benefited from the visits and tours, the give and [Applause] take. Militarily, Russia continued to guard jealously her strategic buffer zone. She established the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance that included Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. Peaceful coexistence had its limits and the Soviet Union was determined to enforce those limits. Economically, a modern supermarket in Warsaw provided striking proof that living standards were moving up behind the Iron Curtain. The goods, skills, and ideas of the free world were having a dramatic effect on the everyday lives of the people in the satellite countries. A laundromat came to Czechoslovakia and the people of Prague came to the laundromat to take advantage of the new enterprise. More and better trade bridges and tourist programs were established between the Soviet block and the free world. The trade was more beneficial, the tourism more natural between Eastern and Western Europe. And so they grew and their growth was mirrored in the changing face of the satellite [Music] countries. Music also became an effective means of bridging the Iron Curtain. It spoke a universal language and Van Kurn thrilled a Polish audience at a concert in Warsaw. [Music] [Applause] politically behind the iron curtain. There were changes too. A feeling was growing that there could and should be many roads to [Music] socialism. Nikolai Chisescu, Romania's president and communist party chief, launched a series of internal reforms that provided for a degree of political freedom and a limited amount of criticism of the government. In 1967, the United Nations took note of the new look behind the Iron Curtain by electing Cornelio Manescu of Romania as General Assembly President. It was the first time in the history of the General Assembly that its president had come from a communist country. In Czechoslovakia, Premier Novatne was forced to resign in 1968 and Alexander Dubek, leader of the liberal forces, replaced him. Dubek promised his countrymen a government that would guarantee free speech and the secret ballot. Democratic socialism found a quick and positive response from the majority of the Czech people. The fashion and fabric of their lives took on a new and western [Music] look. But Czechoslovakia had gone too far. In July 1968, Russia reacted. Party secretary Breanfier Kosikin met in Chenna with Alexander Dubek and other Czech leaders. In a tense face-to-face confrontation, Dubek defended his program of liberalization, and Russia promised not to intervene. The word went out. Czechoslovakia was free to continue its experiment in democratic socialism. The agreement at Cherna was ratified by four other Warsaw packed nations, Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary, and Poland. Little David apparently had defied mighty Goliath. Three weeks later, tanks and troops streamed into Prague to put an end to democratic socialism in Czechoslovakia. Russian military units were joined by troops from Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary, and Poland. Significantly, Romania did not join in the invasion, an invasion that stirred worldwide condemnation. [Music] [Applause] Romania further demonstrated her independent new look when Communist Party chief Chazescu welcome President Nixon on a goodwill visit to Bucharest in 1969. More than half a million people lined the streets of Romania's capital city to wave American flags and to cheer the first United States president to visit a communist country in peace time. During his tour and talks, President Nixon emphasized that the United States was ready to join firmly and positively in efforts to reduce East West tensions. The warmth and informality of the visit underscored Chisescu's pledge to work for peace and cooperation among all nations, regardless of their social systems. The historic visit behind the Iron Curtain marked still another milestone in the growing cooperation between the countries of Eastern Europe and the free [Music] world. To define again the limits of such cooperation, Leonid Brefv issued his so-called Bref doctrine. The Russian leader spoke of the qualified sovereignty of socialist countries and of the Kremlin's obligation to intervene whenever and wherever socialism is threatened. The Brev doctrine created new concern among the satellite states for party chief Brev was careful to leave the limits of qualified sovereignty deliberately vague. Today in Eastern Europe, the search for greater freedom and self-determination goes on, stalked by the spectre of Soviet intervention whenever such intervention is considered essential to Russia's own self-interest. Is then the face of communist Europe changing? The answer is yes and no. Liberalization is allowed, but only to a point. There is a change in attitude, but not in fundamental philosophy. The new look must serve as always the political goals and military objectives of mother Russia. [Music]