Volume 8, Number 4 · March 9, 1967
"Progress, Not Politics"
By Neal Ascherson
The Muted Revolution: East Germany's Challenge to Russia and the West
by Welles Hangen
Knopf, 231 pp., $5.95
Today's copy of Neues Deutschland, punctually delivered across the Wall to a foreigner in West Berlin, contains as usual all the news dull enough to print. 'Trades Unions: competition for final products. Fifteenth Party Congress of Fraternal Icelandic Party: Greetings Telegram from the Central Committee. Convince by Teaching: Teach Convincingly.' The main story describes the final day of the Writers' Congress ('Writers: Co-moulders of Socialist Life') and the closing speech by Professor Hager, member of the Politburo and secretary of the Central Committee. He spoke of the writer's role as planner and manager in the building of socialism, 'as co-moulder, not as mere observer or visionary warner. It can be no part of the function of the socialist writer only to ask questions of society and uncover contradictions and problems without hinting at the path of development in the spirit of the decisions of the Party and the government…' He ended with a quotation from Johannes Becher: 'our political freedom is to be seen in the degree of agreement we bring to the great historical demands of our time. Freedom is agreement. Only through agreement to such recognized historical necessities can we become profound and genuine personalities and win true freedom of the personality.'
Review, 1892 words
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