eastern european studies in the west as seen from eastern europe

Canadian Slavonic Papers

Eastern European Studies in the West as Seen from Eastern EuropeAuthor(s): JAN SZCZEPANSKISource: Canadian Slavonic Papers / Revue Canadienne des Slavistes, Vol. 16, No. 4(Winter/Hiver, 1974), pp. 530-538Published by: Canadian Association of SlavistsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40866795 .

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Eastern European Studies in the West as Seen from Eastern Europe

JAN SZCZEPAÑSKI

Mr. Chairman

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I appreciate greatly the opportunity to address this Conference attended by several hundred Slavists and specialists on the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. It is a rare honour to speak to so many distin- guished Western scholars who by virtue of their intellect, vigour and determination have secured for themselves a prominent place in their own countries and who now have wide international recognition.

I am, of course, not a specialist in your field. I presume that by inviting me here you are interested, even at the risk of distortions stem- ming from my ignorance, to have the opinion of an outsider. I take it that this is my task, to present to you a critical evaluation of your work, precisely because I am not a member of your community and as such I am less likely to accept your assumptions and follow your methodologies.

I am addressing you as a scholar from Eastern Europe. I have to emphasize that I am using this term as meaning exclusively the socialist countries. For Eastern Europe, as defined in the West, is a political and not a geographical concept. It includes Poland which is located at the very centre of the European continent as well as the German Democratic Republic which, until 1945, was culturally very much a part of Western Europe. At the same time I have to stress that I am addressing you strictly as a private person. I have no authority to speak on behalf of anybody.

What I have to say is based exclusively on my own experience as a person familiar with the development of social sciences on both sides of the ideological line, dividing East and West, including the work which is being carried on at the Canadian universities where I have taught and where I have numerous friends. I speak to you primarily as a sociologist interested in trying to discover the universal rules of societal life and human behaviour.



EASTERN EUROPEAN STUDIES 531

In the publicity materials describing your Conference I found an encouraging statement. It said that "Banff marks a new international spirit of scholarly cooperation." It is in this context that I am submitting to you my remarks. I would like to hope that your Conference will pave the way for expanded scholarly cooperation on an international scale, and in this way contribute to the joint resolution of the urgent problems facing all of the inhabitants of our "global village."

* * *

Is such a spirit of scholarly cooperation feasible? There are various fields where collaboration between scholars across the East-West ideological line is not only possible, but in fact is already well advanced. In the recent years numerous international agreements have been concluded promoting cooperation in the pure sciences and technology. Similar cooperation exists in the humanities, and particularly those aspects of Slavistics which are free from ideological connotations. The Warsaw Congress of Slavists last year was the best evidence of this. Many such topics are included in the program of your Conference. For example the discourse on "The Distributive po in Contemporary Russian" is an academic paper par excellence.

Let us have no illusions, however. To achieve cooperation in all fields is not going to be easy. It is no secret that in the past a good deal of research in the social sciences stemmed not from a spirit of cooperation but of confrontation. It was by no means accidental that the rapid growth of Soviet and East European Studies in the West took place during the years of the "cold war." Indeed, the special issue of Survey (January, 1964) devoted to the review of the progress of your studies, explicitly posed the question as to whether further development is going to be impeded by the termination of the East-West conflict.

There are many topics in the social sciences, including various papers presented at this Conference, where political and ideological differences inevitably enter the picture. For example, the discussion of "Religious Dissent: Bridge to the Intellectuals?" which deals with the domestic political affairs of the various East European states, is bound to provoke complex reactions. The arguments here are naturally affected by the ideological and political values held by their exponents. The implications of this fact must not be overlooked. In such a situation the debate is likely to go beyond the purely factual aspects of the subject, and may well lead to a questioning of the basic beliefs of the participants.



532 REVUE CANADIENNE DES SLAVISTES

Legitimate ideological differences, moreover, are often transformed into deep-seated personal prejudices. Efforts to bridge this gap often run into a barrier of widely held stereotypes. This is also very much true of western scholarship. Let me give you a personal example. When, in 1970, I published in the United States my book Polish Society (in which I tried to explain to western readers as impartially as I could the changes in my country) it was abruptly dismissed by a reviewer in the Canadian Slavonic Papers as an effort by a prominent member of the Communist establishment to pose as a dispassionate social scientist.

One could argue, of course, like Georg Simmel, that conflict and war are more conducive to making opponents know each other better than are friendship and cooperation. Yet, conflict; also produces so many negative effects that this is hardly the best way to advance knowledge. The new spirit which we need should stem from cooperation and not confrontation. Better knowledge should be used to promote common, and not antagonistic, objectives.

This does not mean that we should overlook the persistence of genuine ideological differences. On the contrary, the first step towards achieving a new spirit of cooperation should be precisely the acceptance of this fact. Efforts by scholars on either side to demolish the ideology of the other are bound to be futile. In Eastern Europe ideology will continue to play a significant role and international scholarly cooperation will be possible only if this basic reality is respected.

The existence of opposing ideologies, however, should not preclude broad cooperation in studying and trying to find solutions to the many problems which we share in our global village. Youir Conference meets at a time when the gravity of various world crises has been vividly im- pressed upon us. We are faced today with the ecological perils, the demographic explosion, the energy shortage, galloping inflation, declin- ing food supplies, the instability of the international monetary system, and political difficulties in many countries resulting in military takeovers. In such circumstances broad comparative studies, conducted without any prejudice and aimed at the discovery of the basic forces operating in the different societies, regardless of their systems, are more important than ever.

Viewed in this context it would appear that East European studies are at present approaching a new turn; an even more dramatic turn than that at the end of the cold war. It is no longer the change from conflict to peaceful coexistence, but the transition from peaceful co-




existence into constructive cooperation. Will the social sciences be able to keep up with the political changes and fulfill the role which is expected of them in the new period?

My answer is yes. I think that we have the worst experiences behind us. The pseudo-scholarly writings of the past era, well known to the participants in this Conference, today only evoke sarcastic smiles. The continued adherence to different ideological views should not lead to the intellectual servility so strongly criticized by Lenin. The remaining stereotypes should be abandoned, and the sooner the better. I would like to endorse strongly the opinion voiced by Professor Adam Bromke, that East European studies ought to flourish not only in a time of conflict, but also, that there is ample room for them in a period of détente. Indeed, they could play an important role in helping to overcome the barriers in East-West relations.

* * * It would seem to me, that the most important problem before the

Banff Conference is to examine the role which Slavic and East European Studies should play in the new period. In order to do so at this critical juncture, an appraisal of your past activities must be undertaken. I presume that you are interested in hearing my views precisely in order to try to help you in this task. It is in this vein that I submit a few critical comments of your past work.

I have not been able, of course, to evaluate systematically the hun- dreds of books and thousands of articles published in the West on Eastern Europe. However, I have looked at a good many of your more important studies in the social sciences, especially those published in recent years after the end of the cold war. In doing so I have repeatedly asked myself, what do they contribute to an understanding of the Soviet and the various East European societies? What are their political over- tones and what assumptions are tacitly accepted as obvious? What is the image of the socialist countries and are these countries portrayed as enemies or partners? How many of the books are aimed at opposing Communism in Eastern Europe, and how many strive to provide for accommodation and detente? Finally, what practical recommendations do they contain for expanded East-West cooperation. I do not intend to answer these questions in a comprehensive fashion. I would rather like to encourage my North American and West European colleagues, who know the existing literature better than I do, to try to pose these queries to themselves.



534 CANADIAN SLAVONIC PAPERS

I have to admit, however, that my overall impressions of Western literature on Eastern Europe are not too encouraging. I would question the validity of a good many of your findings in the social sciences, and especially in the fields of sociology and politics. It is in those disci- plines, as Herbert Spencer observed a hundred years ago, that research is often affected by the political views, interests and ambitions of indi- vidual scholars. I think that you should strive to avoid these pitfalls. To do so, you should empirically verify your description of the existing reality and the various theories derived from it, constantly test their ability to project future events, and check their usefulness as the basis for practical policies. This is not an easy task; methodologically it is very complex, and yet it is necessary if one is to distinguish between truth and falsehood.

It would seem to me that the Marxist thesis of conditioning the social sciences by social interests has been more than amply demonstrated by the Western research on Eastern Europe. In most works the assumption is accepted, either implicitly or explicitly, that Communism, and indeed anything which is different from the Western political system, is in some way "abnormal." In other words, a good number of the works that I have seen are basically negative, and strive to provide arguments for the policies opposing Communism. This, of course, was natural during the period of the cold "war. Such was the need of the day, and may I add that the funds supporting these studies often came from sources more interested in fighting Communism than seeking an accommodation with it. It is important today, and perhaps your Con- ference may be able to provide at least partial answers to this question, whether it is possible to overcome this old attitude? Is it feasible on your side simply to try to understand foreign countries without at the same time trying to convert them to your own system? Without such re- orientation on your part there v/ill be no new spirit of cooperation. Once social scientists accept the role of conscious tools in the fight against Communism they are at once caught up in a vicious descending spiral. The attacks on one side provoke similar response from the other, and vice versa. Is it possible to overcome this vicious circle? It would seem to me that at a time when politicians are seeking new means of relaxing international tension there is a strong need for scholarly works aimed at facilitating international cooperation. Thus, the social scientists on both sides should have new opportunities ahead of them.

A good many years have passed since Professor Daniel Bell formu-




lated his "ten theories in search of reality." Since that time the theories have changed and so has the reality which they tried to explain. I am afraid, or at least it seems to me, that what has not changed are the oversimplified explanations of the situation in Eastern Europe. I am refer- ring here, above all, to the totalitarian model as opposed to the model of the so-called free society. The totalitarian model assumes that each society which is governed by a Communist party is a Communist society. It implies that the Communist party (and this is precisely what I argued against in Polish Society) imposes its values on the society and that it invariably is successful in subordinating into itself all spheres of societal life and all individuals. This model, however, has not taken into account those aspects of societal life over which the party has had a minimal or indeed no influence at all, i.e., the entire micro-sphere of societal life. The entire model obviously is a mere intellectual construction and is not supported by empirical evidence.

There were some other schemata, such as the theory of convergence, the theory of national Communism, the theory of ideological erosion in Eastern Europe, and the schema of the organizational dynamics of the Communist parties, which were also popular in the West at one time or another. It can be demonstrated by empirical (and by now already historical) data, that these theories have been disproved by actual developments in Eastern Europe. I must say that as a sociologist, interested in knowing the reality, and not just the perception of reality, I have always been apprehensive of the oversimplified, one-factor type of analysis. In Polish sociology we have always tried very hard to study social changes in a purely empirical fashion.

I would like to give you one concrete example. In the 1950's, under pressure of the then prevailing opinions, we concentrated our attention on the transformation of traditional social classes; assuming that within a few decades they were bound to disappear. We presupposed that in place of social classes there would emerge professional groups which would become the basic elements of a new social structure. Yet these theories have not been confirmed by reality. The empirical evidence has demonstrated that the old social classes have proved to be stronger than we had expected. Consequently, we have abandoned our old models. It would seem to me that in the same fashion, the various obsolete Western theories should be discarded. They no longer help in understanding reality; indeed, they confuse it and thus hinder the perception of future developments.



536 REVUE CANADIENNE DES SL AVISTES

In a critical evaluation of your work one should not omit the questions of methodology, as well as the problem of access to the relevant data. The times are past when American sociologists looked with scep- ticism, if not amusement, at the efforts of the East European sociologists to create an empirical Marxist sociology. They considered it an impos- sible task, but such a sociology is now very much in existence, and you should take advantage of it in your own work. First of all, you ought to question the value of indirect information - the data passed to you by émigrés from Eastern Europe, who are interested in presenting their illusions, or simply prejudices, as reality. It is necessary to remember that social scientists in Eastern Europe study, understand and compre- hend these societies more thoroughly, and that cooperation with them is the most promising way of advancing sound research on Eastern Europe in the West.

As a scholar who has spent considerable time in the research centres and at the Universities of the United States and Canada, it seems to me that your methodologies and techniques are familiar to us. At the same time, we can better appreciate all the imponderables of the traditional values of our own societies. I would like to add that Polish sociologists are very much concerned about the progress of their nation and are well aware that the only way this can be achieved is through research which is based on sound methodology and which strives for optimum objectivity. You ought, then, to revise your assumption that the involvement of East European social scientists in practical policy necessarily implies our resignation from scholarly objectivity. We expect the same from you. If you want to be useful in developing the new pat- tern of East-West relations and in helping to resolve common global problems, you cannot at the same time regard your profession as a political crusade.

♦ * *

Finally let me advance a few suggestions for research which, in the literature that I am familiar with, is not now sufficiently treated or is even totally ignored. It would appear to me that in sociology not enough attention is paid in the West to the transformation of the East European societies (with the possible exception of the Soviet Union) into socialist societies. It is assumed that any country governed by a Marxist-Leninist party is by definition a socialist society. However, the actual dynamics of the transformation, and the various social forces involved in this

process are virtually unknown.




It would also seem to me that there are insufficient studies of the elements of continuity and change in the East European societies. A discussion of the patterns of behaviour, values, traditions - in short the entire micro-structure of society, is almost completely absent in western literature. The omission of these extremely important aspects of life in these societies greatly impoverishes the picture of them presented in your works.

Likewise in political science; not enough attention has been paid to political processes. Due to the impact of the totalitarian model, the functioning of the political systems is presented in an oversimplified fashion. On the one hand the influence of the Communist parties is exaggerated. On the other hand, those areas where the Communist governments enjoy the full support of the population are usually ignored. The broad acceptance of Communist social and educationl reforms by the East European societies is not given enough attention. In the case of my own country, the unifying role found in the common effort by the government and by the people in maintaining the present Polish western boundary is not sufficiently appreciated.

One way of overcoming the shortcomings and at the same time advancing international cooperation would be to promote more joint pro- jects. We have already had some experience in joint research by social scientists from both the East and the West. We could considerably expand such ventures for our mutual benefit and to the advantage of the entire global village.

A new climate of international scholarly cooperation is possible, and in fact, is badly needed. I am convinced that in this respect many East European scholars share my views. I would like to reiterate, however, that such cooperation will be possible only if our political and ideological differences are mutually accepted and respected. There is no longer a place for ideological crusades. Instead we should focus our attention on improving our methodological tools and our scientific results. This is the way to contribute to the better knowledge of the contemporary world and its urgent problems.

I have been active in various international scholarly organizations for some twenty years. From this perspective it is apparent to me that international cooperation is easier today than ever in the past. I also think there is a greater awareness of the urgent need for it. Different nations and even civilizations increasingly discover that they have various problems in common, more important than those which have traditionally



538 CANADIAN SLAVONIC PAPERS

divided them. The resolution of many of these problems requires effec- tive international scientific cooperation. This imposes heavy obligations on us, but also presents us with unique opportunities. We must not miss these opportunities.



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