Scattering Seed in Eastern Europe

The sweeping changes taking place today in Eastern Europe are the most important political developments on the European continent in 40 years.

In Poland, representatives of the Communist regime and Solidarity have just completed an agreement to bring about a more democratic political system, legal and free trade unions, and broad access to the mass media. In Hungary, a new election law will give groups other than the Communist Party the right to compete for political power.

The chief motive for political reform in both Poland and Hungary is economic failure, and the reforms are unlikely to last unless they are followed by economic recovery. The United States thus has a critical interest in the economic health of these two countries.

One suggestion for achieving it is a new Marshall Plan for Eastern Europe. Unfortunately, such a program is not feasible. The United States cannot afford it. Moreover, these countries received the rough equivalent of a Marshall Plan in the 1970s in the form of major loans from Western commercial banks and governments.

The regimes wasted the money and are now unable to repay the loans. Both Poland and Hungary are burdened by heavy foreign debt. So, as they implement not only political changes but also economic reforms that give greater scope to private ownership and initiative, market forces and trade with the West, the United States should encourage debt relief for them.

As a practical political matter, it will not be possible to treat Poland’s and Hungary’s debts differently from those of the major Latin American debtors. Nor should there be such a differentiation. Eastern Europe and Latin America are similar in several important ways. In the 1970s undemocratic and often corrupt governments in both regions conducted disastrous economic policies. At the end of the 1980s, to the extent that these governments have become markedly more democratic and are carrying out more sensible--and often painful--economic policies, they deserve American help.

Help for Poland and Hungary cannot, however, come only from the United States. Western European, especially West German, participation is critical. Indeed, economic aid to the reforming countries of Eastern Europe ought to be taken up in a multinational forum, such as the annual economic summit meetings of the Western nations and Japan. This would signify that the future of Poland and Hungary is not simply a Soviet-American issue, and that it stands apart from security questions.

In both Poland and Hungary, finally, the ruling Communist parties have abandoned the traditional claim to control all aspects of economic, cultural and social as well as political life. A lively independent sector is emerging in both countries. It ought to be the business of the United States to help that sector grow and prosper.

For example, the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland’s oldest and one of the most ancient universities in all of Europe, has started a campaign to raise private funds. Such funding not only would help the university maintain its high standards, but also afford it greater freedom from the Polish government. An American-sponsored private school of management has been established in Budapest, which will attract students from throughout Eastern Europe. The Rockefeller Brothers Fund has helped launch the Foundation for the Development of Polish Agriculture, which provides technical assistance to private farmers. The Sabre Foundation, whose principal interest has been philosophical studies, plans to ship hundreds of thousands of medical and other books, provided at low cost by their publishers, to several countries in the region.

The opportunities for similar projects, at which Americans excel, are enormous. And such initiatives play an important political role, strengthening what Communist countries have always lacked--thriving institutions that are independent of the state.

The various political, economic, social and cultural measures proposed here have a common theme. Together they would put Poland and Hungary where they and the other countries of Eastern Europe have almost never been: at the top of the American foreign-policy agenda. That is where they belong. No developments anywhere are more important for the values and the security of the United States.

The 1980s began as a decade of danger for the United States, with the Soviet Union spreading its influence by force in the Third World. In response, the American government devised the Reagan Doctrine to help peoples resisting the imposition of Communist rule. This decade ends with great opportunities in Europe. The challenge is to devise the equivalent of the Reagan Doctrine for countries like Poland and Hungary that are beginning to escape Communist rule peacefully.