SUMMARY

In his article, Dietrich Beyrau explores the impact of the socialist hegemony imposed by the Soviet Union on the social and political regimes in Soviet-dominated Eastern Europe and the reverse impact of the periphery on the Soviet Union. The author relies in his account on published research literature and suggests his own frames of interpretation of these relations by creatively adapting the theory of Totalitarianism, postcolonial theory, the Marxist theory of monocapitalism, and Fordism. The article focuses on the period of restructuring of hegemonic and asymmetrical relations from 1953 through 1985, thus making a point about historical dynamics in the history of the Soviet Union and the “world system of socialism.” The article starts with the period of the establishment of Communist control in Eastern Europe. The author claims that the consolidation of Soviet control in postwar Eastern Europe was aided by internal dynamics in these countries and by the double-edged appeal of Soviet-style modernity and nation-building. He also points out the very important factor of persistent (through the late 1960s) fear of the German threat. In the post-Stalinist period, relations between the Soviet Union and the East European periphery remained asymmetrical, but they ceased to be based on direct intervention and control. The party elites of the region gained some space for maneuver and dissent within the constraining framework of “friendship” between socialist countries, enshrined in constitutions adopted in the 1970s. If one shifts attention to the army and political policy, one, however, finds the retention and deepening of Moscow’s direct control over its East European satellites. Another aspect of the history of socialism involved party life beyond the sphere of the party elite responsible for the political course. The relations between the party and the state and economic apparatus varied in the countries of Eastern Europe, the general trend being the gradual emancipation of the state apparatus from control of the Communist Party. The author claims that study of the sociology of East European socialist societies beyond the model of totalitarian atomization still awaits researchers. Finally, the article treats the question of the economic efficiency of the planned economy, and East European debates on the partial introduction of market mechanisms and the welfare state, which influenced economic debates in the Soviet Union.