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Gorbachev's proposals for the "democratization" of the Soviet electoral system. Practices in Poland and Hungary.

Stavrou reviews 'The Legacy of the Soviet Bloc' edited by Jane Shapiro Zacek and Ilpyong J. Kim.

Based on papers presented at the McMaster Conference on Slavic Nationalism, held at the McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Oct. 17-18, 1986. Retrospective of modern nationalism, with the focus on the 20th century; 8 articles. Contents are grouped under the headings: Language and literature; Politics, economics, and ethnic problems.

Based on a survey of official government literature in Eastern Europe, it is contended that control over information has not been lifted in the era of glasnost, but simply reshaped & refined to achieve certain objectives. Glasnost has become a watchword for gaining public support & combating bureaucratic inertia, while attempting to resolve pressing domestic problems. On the international arena, glasnost has proven useful in jockeying with the West to attain leading positions in international technology. On the home front, glasnost is a useful addition to the state's propaganda repertoire for improving socialism & exhorting the population to discard various negative phenomena while increasing productivity. Each East European party-state appropriates, adapts, & applies several elements of Mikhail Gorbachev's current campaign in the USSR, & employs "glasnostian" terminology to influence the public mood, while keeping a watchful eye on Moscow. AA

Despite the opposition that presumably exists between empirical & authoritarian thinking, there has been in recent yrs some development of soc sci res, including PO surveys, in the USSR, & a striking development of it in Poland. The Polish work shows internal evidence of honest reporting & a genuinely empirical spirit. The Russian work, however, exemplified by 9 recent PO surveys by Komsomolskaya Pravda, is marred by an apparent obliviousness to the self-selection bias in mail surveys, & a complete ignoring of the problem of response bias, which in an authoritarian society might be expected to be acute. Frankness cannot be taken for granted. The generally practical, instrumental character of Communist res raises a question as to whether it may merely make totalitarism a more efficient & formidable enemy. But there are grounds for hope in the thought that an invigoration of the empirical spirit may in the long run tend to erode the mythological elements in Communism. AA.