of 1956 and 1968.nEast Germany, outwardly the mostnloyal and docile of all the satellites, isnparticularly unreliable. Here is a countrynwhose inhabitants refer to the currencynof neighboring West Germany asnWirkliches GeW—Real Money. “Whatnis that in real money.”” they ask whennthe price of some scarce and costly itemnis quoted in East German marks. It isnoften claimed that no one in Europe,nnot even the Germans themselves, reallvnwhile, new successes were scored on thenpolitical front. In Spain there was anpeaceful transition from rightist dictatorshipnto parliamentary democracy. InnPortugal, democratization followed anviolent revolution and the failure of ancommunist attempt to seize power.nThe Soviets could not hide these developmentsnfrom the subjects of theirnEast European empire. It proved impossiblento block the flow of news from thenWest by radio and. in the border dis-n”Sterling’s book adds up to little more than a brash popularization of the views ofnthe rightwing think tanks that spawned current New Right ideology.”n— Village Voicendesires the reunification of Germany.nThose who assert this forget, or deliberatelynoverlook, one not-unimportantnpopulation group—the inhabitants ofnEast Germany—who are kept from joiningntheir fellow Germans in the Westnby high walls, barbed wire, electrifiednfences and minefields. That is what thenSoviet leaders see in their own empire.nLooking westward, on the other side ofnthe Elbe River, they see stable, prosperousndemocracies.nWh en the Marshall Plan was announcednin 1947. Soviet propagandanclaimed that it would result in the dominationnof Europe by American corporations,nbringing unemployment and pauperization.nInstead, “Marshallization.”nas Soviet propaganda termed it, provednto be a boon beyond all expectations tonthose on whom it was “inflicted.” WestemnEurope developed into an economicnsuperpower. For two decades the rate ofngrowth in Western Europe surpassednthat of the most prosperous decades ofnthe 19th century. Living standards rosento approximate, and in some cases tonsurpass, those in the United States. Thisntook place in peace and democracy, undernthe rule of law, with freedom of speechnand full respect for human rights. Thenemergence of OPEC in 1973 slowedndown, but did not stop, the growth ofnthe Western European economy. Mean-ntricts. by television. Gift parcels sent bynrelatives had to be allowed in order tonalleviate the chronic shortage of consumerngoods. Finally, the need of thencommunist regimes for Western currenciesneven forced them to open theirncountries to tourism.nThe inhabitants of Eastern Europenhave thus been able to observe that, fornthree decades, the gap between theirnliving standard and that of West Europeanncountries has not narrowed butnwidened. This means that Western Europe,nprosperous and democratic, is annattraction, a magnet to the East Europeans,nhence a destabilizer of the Sovietnempire, for a stable Western Europenconstitutes a tangible threat to the SovietnUnion.nOo our analysts and policy-makersnare not so hard-nosed and realistic afternall. Their assumption that the Sovietsnand the Western powers have a mutualninterest in stability is an illusion. Fornthe Soviets, stability in East and Westnare contradictory, not complementary.nBecause our Soviet analysts and ournpolicy-makers fail to see this, they alsonfail to recognize that destabilizationnthrough terrorism constitutes an integralncomponent of Soviet foreign policy.nThe traditional instruments of Sovietnforeign policy in the West, the CommunistnParties, can no longer be used asnnndestabilizers. Gone are the days whennMoscow could order them to conduct ancampaign of disruptive strikes and riots,nas they did in Italy and France in 1947-n48. These parties have had to choosenbetween revolutionary politics and playingnthe electoral game. In order to retainntheir working-class electorate, theynhad to opt for the latter; this constitutesna little-noticed triumph of Western,ncapitalist democracy which hasnmanaged to tame and integrate into thensystem even the Communist Parties,nonce denounced by the French socialistnLeon Blum as ”foreign nationalistnparties.”—traitors to their countries.nUnable to use the West EuropeannCommunist Parties as instruments ofndestabilization. Moscow logically turnednto the terrorist groups. Soviet supportnof Third World terrorism had alreadynbegun in the early 1960’s as part of anpolicy to woo the Arabs. As is madenclear in Miss Sterling’s book, the deci-nA SPECIAL PUBLICATIONnOF THE ROCKFORD INSTITUTEnThe AlternativenMedia: DismantlingnTwo Centuriesnof Progressntakes an in-depthnlook at the originsnand developmentnof the alternativenpress, a largelyunrecognizednbutninfluential forcenin our culture.nUse the following coupon to order.nTo: The Rockfotxl Instituten934 N. Main StreetnRocl