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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, SEPTEMBER 7, 1984
PAGE 7
Making matters even worse for the East German leader is that East Bloc col
leagues such as Nicolae Ceausescu of Romania, Todor Zhivkov of Bulgaria and
even Leonid Konstandov of the Soviet Central Committee have all announced
that they will be visiting West Germany in coming weeks. It all confirms
once again the very deep concerns the u.s.s.R. has about any hint of German
togetherness. The East Germans as yet cannot get away with as much as their
"fraternal brothers" elsewhere in the Bloc.
Still, despite the sudden chill, there remains considerable movement in the
"empire" to cause Moscow to worry about the future. Here are excerpts of an
article by Dan Cook which appeared in the September 2 LOS ANGELES TIMES:
When Carl Lewis dashed 100 meters in 10.05 seconds in a Budapest
stadium last week to add a Hungarian medal to his four Olympic
golds, there was a lot more to it than just athletic entertain
ment for Hungary, which had reluctantly joined the Soviets in
boycotting the Los Angeles Garnes. The invitation to Lewis and
other Western participants in Los Angeles to come to Budapest
while Moscow was staging its Friendship
1
84 games in Lenin Sta
dium was yet another example of the tough time the Soviet Union
is having with its Eastern European allies in trying to impose
some kind of Cold War freeze on East-West relations••••
The Hungarians have always been firm loyalists to the Soviet
Union on foreign-policy questions, while at the same time the
most active economic reformers of their Communist system at home
--a stance that is directly the reverse of the Romanians. But
now they are showing an independent line in a variety of ways--of
which Lewis' Budapest appearance was symbolic.
The week before the Budapest track meet, they concluded a new 10-
year trade agreement with West Germany, currently on Moscow's en
emies list. Then, last Monday, Hungarian Vice Premier Jozsef
Marjai arrived in Peking to talk about improving trade and
friendly relations. He was the first senior Hungarian minister
to visit the People's Republic of China in 20 years. And the Hun
garians have just announced that they .!!.! going to reintroduce
private banking into the economy on� small scale••••
East German Communist leader Eric Honecker•••turned up in Bucha
rest to stand on the platform with President Nicolae Ceausescu at
a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of the overthrow of Nazi
rule in Romania, on Aug. 24. But no other East Bloc leader was
there, and Moscow sent only a Soviet Politburo member. Why? Be
cause the Nazis were deposed by King Michael, long before the Red
Army arrived to "liberate" Romania, and this was not one of the
anniversaries that the Kremlin observes. Yet Chinese President
Li Xiannian was there along with Honecker••••
Even Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski's Poland is getting out of step,
letting all of its political prisoners out of jail to huddle with
Lech Walesa, leader of the still-smoldering Solidarity. And Po
land is about to take up membership in the International Monetary
Fund along with Hungary and Romania. All of this is going on
while Moscow is clamping new harsh disciplines on its� citi
zens who, . legall'[, cannot � talk to a foreigner about the
w'eather without risking arrest....
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