NEW TWISTS IN EAST EUROPEAN OPPOSITION MOVEMENTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP87R00529R000100080023-1
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 5, 2011
• Sequence Number: 23
• Publication Date: November 10, 1986
• Content Type: MISC

Approved For Release 2011/07/07: CIA-RDP87R00529R000100080023-1
NIO/EUR
10 November 1986
NEW TWISTS IN EAST EUROPEAN OPPOSITION MOVEMENTS
A recent Washington Post article on the "Freedom and Peace" dissident
group in Poland highlighted the bolder initiatives of anew, mainly
younger "wave" of anti-regime dissidents there.
-- The article charted the rise of the group since 1985 to its
recent campaign of sit-ins, boycotts and fasts to support
members jailed for refusing to take the military oath of
allegiance to the USSR.
One important aspect of the phenomenon -- unmentioned by the Post -- is
that it is widerspread in East Europe and growing in scope and impact.
Developments in dissident communities in Hungary, Yugoslavia, East
Germany and Czechoslovakia show some similar tendencies to those described
in Poland.
-- P1 any younger dissidents tend to take bold thematic whacks at
the power structure -- directly challenging the Soviet Union
or the local military/internal security complex.
-- They prefer to affiliate only on projects of choice and avoid
organizational/ideological straightjackets in favor of
nebulous goals -- such as the "civil society" idea energizing
Slovene dissidents.
-- They distrust charismatic leaders, eschew contacts with the
authorities and foreswear any intent to share power in the
system.
Many of these characteristics show the influence of the "Greens" in
West Europe and, like the Greens, the new dissidents in the East seem to
have only a limited base of popular support on specific issues. But as
"wooly" as they may sound, they are having an impact beyond their numbers
which suggests they can claim substantial broad sympathy -- at least among
the youth.
-- In Hungary, much of the environmental "Blue movement," which
for years impeded the massive new dam on the Danube, and the
anti-draft effort is of this stripe.
-- Our Consulate in Zagreb credits the small Slovene "alternative
movements" with forcing key issues like defense spending and
the morality of Yugoslavia's arms sales into the national
limelight. They also opened a debate on military service
which recently culminated in the reduction of the draft from
eighteen to twelve months.
Approved For Release 2011/07/07: CIA-RDP87R00529R000100080023-1
 Approved For Release 2011/07/07: CIA-RDP87R00529R000100080023-1
The vigor of this new dissident strategy in part stems from the
younger generation's deepening frustrations with the system and the
compromises necessary to "get by". Their actions are a sharp break with
existing movements like Solidarity and Charter 77, which practice measured
pursuit of long-term goals.
The outlook for this new dissidence should not be all that bright
given the regimes' demonstrated ability to keep such a polyglot opposition
off-ballance, divided and isolated. But so far, the power centers have
not come up with a formula for containing these movements without making
martyrs and further alienating their youth. And the USSR also has a
dilemma -- how to stifle these pacifists without undercutting the
credibility of its peace campaigns in West Europe.
Approved For Release 2011/07/07: CIA-RDP87R00529R000100080023-1