Show Tb n nnrvi 5uLsii JLflglHU Salt Lake Tribune August 2 1987 All 7tn Urmn 17--1 ! JS Snnday Cynicism Throughout Europe Patricia By Koza United Press International VIENNA Austria — In Poland they wrote a song for him In Czechoslovakia his name popped up overnight on city walls -and was just as auickly whitewashed away by police In East Berlin Intellectuals flocked to the Soviet cultural center to study his speeches Few of the 100 million people living in Eastern Europe remain untouched by Mikhail Gorbachev and the reform campaign he unleashed in the Soviet Union two years ago interviews by UP1 correspondents throughout Eastern and Western Europe showed "He is the first Russian who is really popular In Eastern Europe" said a Hungarian emigre who keeps careful tabs on events in his homeland "Everyone thinks he will allow great changes" If the East-Weconflict is a battle for hearts and minds the Soviet leader is also winning in Western Europe A recent West German government survey found Gorbachev was ahead of President Reagan 49 percent to 46 percent among people who were asked which leader was “really striving for peace” In an opinion poll conducted in nine st Western European nations last spring developments in the Soviet Union elicited “positive” responses Gorbachev’s positions on peace and disarmament were seen as "positive” by 56 percent of those polled "negative” by 10 percent In Holland 71 percent approved in Britain 68 percent the low reading came in France where 32 percent approved But it is in Eastern Europe where Gorbachev’s personal magnetism and the pressure of his policy of “gla3nost” the Russian word for openness is likely to have the greater effect There is an increasing belief that Gorbachev will eventually nudge even the hardline Warsaw Pact leaders of Czechoslovakia East Germany and Romania to adopt economic and political reforms The prospects for change were bolstered in June when Gorbachev succeeded in pushing through the Soviet Communist Party Central Committee a broad outline of reforms based on less central control of the economy and more emphasis on the market forces of supply and demand "1 cannot remember a better and more sober man as head of a country" said Ljubodrag Jovanovic 52 a post office department head in Belgrade Yugoslavia “He got the support of the inner Soviet leadership at the plenum in June That means they will let him implement reforms which should be good for both the Soviet Union and the whole world” A new song sweeping across Eastern Europe symbolizes the hopes raised by Gorbachev and his policies A catchy tune based on a Russian folk melody and written by popular Polish singer Andrzej Rosiewicz it begins: "Spring is coming from the East ” It is coming here for good Then the refrain: "Mikhail Mikhail this song’s for ” you "So you can carry out the new reforms to the end" “Mikhail Mikhail you will build a new world" “ Not a French not an English but a Russian hero you are" " Maybe you will have enough strength” "And Mikhail will win in his new revolution" ' Authorities allowed a broadcast of the song on all Eastern European television systems as part of a Russian music festival The last time Poles wrote songs about Soviet leaders they were for Stalin on orders from party apparatchiks "Gorbachev is a tremendously brave man" said Dragan Radic an economist In Yugoslavia which is communist but not aligned with the Warsaw Pact "He has admitted the capitalist system of managing the economy is the only efficient one It would be wise of Western governments to help Gorbachev reach disarmament agreements and give up unnecessary pressure on the Soviet - bloc " Many Western Europeans agree with that assessment “All the Italian political parties and public opinion certainly regard Gorbachev as the hero figure In attempts to reduce nuclear missiles in Europe" said one observer in Rome "To a large degree the Reagan administration is regarded as recalcitrant" “It is hard to imagine any other time in the past 30 years when Soviet actions in this area would have been viewed so sympathetically" said London's Independent newspaper Not everyone in the West however is enamored of the Soviet leader "He is only a dictator of a totalitarian country just like Franco was" said Madrid pharmacist Jesus Alvarez 56 "Gorbachev cannot be compared at all with Ronald Reagan who is the leader of a democracy" West German commercial artist Peter-WaltHavenith so he celebrates the Fourth of July called the Soviet leader “the most dangerous one the Russians have come up with yet” In Eastern Europe there is a pervading sense of pessimism about the enormity of Gorbachev's task of making structural changes that will take decades to bear fruit in rigidly planned economies and easing restrictions on individual liberties The gloom seems deepest in Hungary and Czechoslovakia where attempts to break out of the rigid communist mold in 1956 and 1968 er respectively were brutally Hu-sa- UbL 'OWJili k V V sup- pressed by Russian tanks Under Moscow-installe- d Janos Ka-dHungary began cautious experiments in 1968 with limited private enterprise and decentralization and the country had one of the best standards of living in the East Bloc But analysts say the Hungarian experiment has now reached its limits and central planning still prohibits the economy from improving its efficiency As a result Hungary has been losing vital international markets since the early 1980s the standard of living has dropped and the country’s leaders are paralyzed by indecision as they patiently wait for Kadar 75 to step aside “Gorbachev is weakening the center This is his real gift to Eastern retired Europe” said a Budapest worker jailed in the Hungarian uprising “But our leaders don’t seem to realize this new freedom of movement We need new leaders here who would seize this opportunity before it is too late" The euphoria that infected many young Czech intellectuals when the Soviet leader visited Prague and Bratislava in April evaporated once it bek came clear he supported Gustav the man who crushed similar reforms initiated by Alexander Dub-ce- k in the “Prague spring” of 1968 "It seems the wave of enthusiasm has vanished" said a truck driver in Prague where Gorbachev's name was scrawled on walls in anticipation of his visit "The train is still rolling on old tracks” "I my sell expected nothing at all but I am still disappointed" said prominent dissident Jiri Dienstbier a Journalist until 1968 who now works as a stoker 1 Such thinking explains why some Prague residents derisively refer to Gorbachev’s "perestroika" or reconstruction as prestrojenl” the Czech word for a masquerade Nevertheless there is widespread interest in what is happening in Mosi cow The Soviet Communist Party newspaper Pravda which these days is filled with exposes of ineffiency and incompetence is snapped up in East European capitals where it once was j ignored Pravda vw has an imitator in the Czech party daily Rude Pravo which recently increased its daily print run from 800000 to 1 million copies to satisfy public demand for its coverage of Moscow Eastern Europe and the West It was Rude Pravo not official news agencies that revealed to Czechs that a West German pilot evaded Soviet air defenses and landed his plane in Red Square in May Even in Romania which under Nicolai Ceausescu is one of the most repressive states in the East Bloc intellectuals are beginning to pay close attention to Soviet developments "Gorbachev hit a receptive note when he was here in May but not among the leadership” said a Western diplomat in Bucharest "It’s clear Ceausescu is determined to follow his own course” In East Germany another country resistant to change officials have played down and even censored Gorbachev's more strident calls for reform including a key January speech that criticized the era of Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev “Why should we publish all his speeches? They don’t publish every word our leader Erich Honecker) says" huffed Foreign Ministry spokesman Wolfgang Meyer Many East German students and intellectuals look to Gorbachev to foster change in their repressive society a feeling that broke into the open last month when rock music fans demonstrating on the famed Unter der Linden avenue chanted "Gorbachev Gorbachev” East Germans have also flocked to the Soviet cultural centfcr in East Berlin to read uncut versions of Gorbachev’s speeches A conversation among a Westell reporter a West German and an East German indicated that for Eastern Europeans Gorbachev's appeal Is personal During a train ride from Cologne to Munich the West German brought up the Soviet leader's name saying she trusted him more than Western lead- rent ers "Yes he seems to be sincere about peace” said the East German a -aged electrician from Erfurt in the southwestern part of the country "But for us he represents more — middle- change Here it’s a much more complicated question” In Poland which decades ago implemented some of the changes Gorbachev now talks of there is a general distrust of anything Soviet “This is only the beginning a mere budge” said Solidarity founder Lech Walesa WWUUO final 12 mm cmyc 12 to Half of Half Whether it's before the show or after a movie don’t let the good times end Just stroll down to Bourbon Street where the warm and friendly people will keep you smiling and the good food will keep Off or (lore! CharlaaR-Walta- r Digital Planoa Drum machlnoa you rolling Rocordara Rolano Stanaa OrlndUttM c 78 West 4th South Salt lake City Utah 84101 9 (801) i 521-058- Fashion Place Mall 2648718 MUSIC For Members Only e j Mm jxA |