Regional Outlook / East Europe : Tough Times : * The rapid pace of change in the wake of communism’s collapse has fueled fear, anger and disappointment.

It is known in Brussels and Washington as “adjustment fatigue,” though millions of Eastern Europeans suffering the debilitating and dangerous malady could not put a name to what ails them.

They know only that they are exhausted by the runaway pace of change in the post-Communist era. They have been incessantly clobbered with unemployment, inflation, rising crime rates, divisive nationalism, revolving-door leadership and a gnawing fear that the West has abandoned them in turmoil.

They are tired of living in a whirlwind that has swept away every familiar structure, from free day care and health services to modest but secure pensions.

They are helpless to undo the damage industry has inflicted on the environment and disappointed to discover that the first fruits of capitalism have enriched the few, not the masses.

They are also fearful that the worldwide recession and demands for aid to the former Soviet Union are depleting foreign assistance and investment funds that might have come their way.

In short, they are angry at the disorder they have brought on themselves, that they have lost control of their revolutions and that there is no relief in sight.

Most troubling among the symptoms afflicting the determined anti-Communist warriors of 1989 is a tendency to put the brakes on reform in an attempt to relieve the hardships.

Opinion surveys suggest Eastern Europeans are deeply resentful of the current difficulties, and economists warn of growing sentiment for slowing down the process to ease the pain.

“We were lacking a lot of luxuries under communism, but at least we had security. We didn’t have to worry about how we would buy food to feed our children,” lamented Maria Popova, a 40-year-old Bulgarian laid off from a factory job last year who now sells yarn and cheap cosmetics on the streets of Sofia.

“Now I have to work twice as many hours to make the same living,” she complained, voicing doubts shared by millions in the region about capitalism. “It’s the same for all honest people. The only ones benefiting from our so-called democracy are bandits and tricksters.”

Although the burdened peoples lament the agony and disruption of the transition, the majority seem to have concluded there is no choice but to plod on.

A recent study of 8,000 Eastern European households concluded that most people in the region want to slow the transition, not stop it. The five-nation survey by Britain’s Center for the Study of Public Policy indicated that Eastern Europeans are unhappy with their lives but remain hopeful that time will correct the chaos.

“Support for democracy is still strong among at least two-thirds of the populations, but the other third seems to be reconsidering whether it is worth the price to be paid,” said Richard Rose, director of the research center in Glasgow, Scotland.

Poles and Hungarians gave the lowest approval ratings for their political systems, although they are regarded as the most successful in breaking with the past. A third of the Poles questioned said they would welcome an authoritarian takeover.

Among the respondents in Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Romania, 62% claimed that their wages are too little to make ends meet. But in an indication of faith in their nascent capitalist systems, 73% said they expected more favorable conditions within five years.

Economists with expertise in the region say the public’s ambivalent attitude toward reform is due to “adjustment fatigue.”

They warn that reform is at risk if the battered societies are not provided with some midterm rewards, but they, too, tend to believe that the majority remains committed to the goals of a market economy and democratic society.

“The liberalization is irreversible, both politically and economically,” said Eugenio Lari, a senior adviser at the World Bank who has been tracking Eastern European economies for more than a decade.

What appears to be backsliding in some countries is more an effort at addressing immediate needs of the public, he said, noting that lenders and investors may have to accept a slower transition than idealistic leaders initially forecast.

Many in Eastern Europe also worry that Western attention has shifted from their plight to that of the former Soviet Union.

“This concern (of the West) is natural, as the stakes in the ex-Soviet Union are enormous,” Lari said. “Success there, or failure, would have broad, worldwide implications.”

But he described the region’s fears as exaggerated, as foreign investment in Eastern Europe continues to outpace that in the former Soviet republics. He also noted that Third World countries have more reason than the former Communist states to worry about unfair diversion of development funds.

The dramatic nature of the 1989 anti-Communist revolutions put Eastern Europe in the investment limelight, spurring private and government campaigns to draw money and expertise to the region.

One such effort is being spearheaded by the U.S. ambassador to Austria, Roy Huffington, who is trying to pair off private American investors with promising entrepreneurs in the East. A successful Texas oilman before his appointment to Vienna in 1990, Huffington argued that Eastern Europe has the advantage over the former Soviet republics because most of the countries threw off communism two years earlier and have laid down at least a secure political foundation.

“The No. 1 thing the business community needs is political stability. If you don’t have that, no one is going to put money in there,” said the ambassador, one of the Bush Administration’s point men in drawing the private sector into the process of redeveloping Eastern Europe.

While all of Eastern Europe is embarked on the same process of changing from centrally planned to market-driven economies, the pace and success of the transition vary widely from country to country.

Here is a brief assessment of the progress and pitfalls in each country:

Poland

The disastrous effects of sacrifice without immediate reward are most visible in Poland, where the nation’s 38 million people are largely abandoning economic “shock therapy.”

Public impatience with 2 million jobless and falling industrial output prompted President Lech Walesa and the Polish Parliament to reject a government austerity program last month. Despite warnings from Western lenders, Polish politicians are now trying to protect bankrupt state industries from closure to stave off social unrest that could be spawned by further rises in the numbers of unemployed.

Hungary

Although Hungary is the regional leader in disentangling its economy from the mire of socialism, Hungarians bemoan the erosion of living standards caused by inflation still over 30% and unemployment that has idled about one in 15 workers.

“What is very much irritating public opinion is that certain people are accumulating a lot of capital, while the majority of the population is not as well off as it was before,” said Alajos Dornbach, a prominent Budapest lawyer and vice president of the Hungarian Parliament.

Despite persistent complaints, Hungarians have seen a stellar rise of their private sector, which now accounts for more than one-third of the economy.

The country’s stable if uncharismatic leadership has created an atmosphere of confidence for Western investors, drawing more than half of all new foreign business development in the region. The resulting export boom has allowed Budapest to keep up payments on the $20 billion it owes foreign creditors--the largest per capita debt in the region.

Czechoslovakia

Czechoslovakia’s steadily adjusting economy could be viewed in the same hopeful light as Hungary’s, if not for the divisive issue of Slovak separatism threatening the federation’s future.

Opinion polls show most voters in the poorer eastern region of Slovakia prefer continued unity with the Czech lands to going it alone. But Slovak nationalists are pushing for broader autonomy from Prague, vowing to declare independence if their demands are not met.

Meanwhile, the country is engrossed in an ambitious mass privatization program that seeks to restore individual property seized by the Communists more than 40 years ago and to parcel out ownership of state enterprises through sale of shares to the federation’s 15.6 million people. Western investors have largely had to wait for the property transfers to be completed before delving into new joint ventures.

President Vaclav Havel faces a tough reelection campaign this spring. If the former dissident and human rights champion fails to win another term, the political changeover could further slow investment and recovery.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria has lately won praise for ousting Communist rulers, writing a new constitution and enacting laws that will encourage foreign investment. U.S. Undersecretary of State Lawrence S. Eagleburger last month claimed Bulgaria had joined Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia in the newly democratic vanguard.

The country labors under a $12-billion foreign debt on which it hasn’t made a payment for two years. That has discouraged new investment and undermined Bulgaria’s fiscal credibility--facts that some lenders, like Germany’s Deutsche Bank, are unwilling to ignore despite Sofia’s recent moves toward reform.

Romania

Romania, although still politically volatile, has recently shown signs of a turnaround. Local elections in February ceded control of most major cities to opposition forces, although the National Salvation Front that emerged from Romania’s revolutionary confusion still dominates in the countryside and the national Parliament.

The front, which has split into neo-Communist and reform factions, could see its grip on power loosened or removed in national elections expected in June. But it remains unclear whether opposition rule will provide a stabilizing influence. The Democratic Convention, uniting more than a dozen anti-Communist forces, is an alliance with little government experience.

Romania suffers inflation of over 300%, and voters are deeply divided over how to transform their beleaguered economy. Little Western investment has come Romania’s way because of political turmoil, even though the country is a good credit risk by virtue of having no foreign debt.

Yugoslavia

Nowhere is the post-Communist vista as bleak as in the remnants of the Yugoslav federation. Feverish nationalism has spawned recurring waves of violence, which have scuttled an economy that was the region’s most developed and promising only two years ago.

The dominant Serbian republic has repeatedly printed money to finance the federal army’s war against secessionist republics, producing hyperinflation expected to reach an unprecedented annual rate of 100,000% by the end of this month.

Croatia suffered an estimated 65% loss of its gross national product during the last nine months of a war that has claimed 10,000 lives. Slovenia, which turned back a federal onslaught in a matter of days after declaring independence last June, is slowly recovering but suffered more than $2 billion in war damage and saw its economy shrink last year by about 10%.

The Serbian-backed federal army’s wrath has now been turned against Bosnia-Herzegovina, the third former Yugoslav republic to be recognized by the West as independent.

With no end to the conflict in sight, the future of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia remains uncertain as they teeter on the brink of economic collapse.

Albania

A predominantly agrarian country of 3 million, Albania is now entirely dependent on foreign aid for its food and survival.

But elections last month ended 48 years of repressive Communist rule and saw a charismatic, pro-Western politician--Democratic Party leader Sali Berisha--installed as president. The country appears set on a long path toward reform and recovery.

Western aid and investment may be forthcoming now that the Communists have been displaced. But Albania’s new leadership will be running against the clock to relieve widespread hunger and hardship in Europe’s poorest country, where 70% are unemployed and antiquated industry has ground to a halt.

Economic Change: A High Price to Pay Annual shift in consumer prices in percent. Scale varies from country to country.

Bulgaria 1989: 9.2 ‘90: 65 ‘91: 600* Czechoslovakia: 1989: 3.4 ‘90: 11 ‘91: 60* Hungary: 1989: 17.5 ‘90: 29 ‘91: 34* Poland: 1989: 237.9 ‘90: 684.3 ‘91: 85* Romania: 1989: 1.1 ‘90: 75 ‘91: 300* Yugoslavia: 1989: 1258 ‘90: 588 ‘91: 2500*

* Figures are projected based on the first three quarters of 1991.