UCSB Hist 133C, L 14:
East and West in the 1960s
by Laurence Christian, Feb. 6, 2004

How did the East try to build socialism during the 1960s, and how did the West try to prevent it? Sixth Congress of the East German SED (Socialist Unity Party ), 1963

Prague Spring, 1968

Map of Germany in 1990, with E. German borders marked
Tanks in Prague, August 1968
Tanks from several Eastern bloc countries, including East Germany, were used to put down the "Prague Spring" in August 1968.

Comment Following the Prague Revolution

Leonid Brezhnev, Communist Party President:
"From a Marxist point of view, the norms of law, including the norms of mutual relations of the socialist countries, cannot be interpreted narrowly, formally, and in isolation from the general context of class struggle in the modern world. The socialist countries resolutely come out against the exporting and importing of counterrevolution."

JFK and Willy Brandt, 1963Western Responses

Question 5
page by H. Marcuse, prepared for web Feb. 7, 2004
back to top, to UCSB Hist 133c homepage