Soviet Perceptions of Western European Integration: Ideological Distortion or Realistic Assessment?

IMEMO stands for Instiut mirovoi ekonomik i mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii (Institute for World Economy and International Relations). MGIMO is the acronym for Moskovskii gosudarstvennyi institute mezhdunarodnykh otnoshenii. The argument of relatively greater access of specialists to decision-making bodies in the Soviet Union and of the professionalisation of the foreign policy establishment at the middle echelons is made by Jerry F. Hough , " The Coming Generational Change in the Soviet Foreign Policy-Making Elite," Paper presented to the National Convention of AAASS, Washington, D.C., October 14, 1977.

For the 17 theses see " O sozdanii 'obshchego rynka' i Evratoma (Tezisy)," MEiMO, No. 1 (July 1957), pp. 83-96, and Kommunist, No. 9 (1957), pp. 88-102. For the 32 theses see "Ob imperialisticheskoi 'integratsii' v zapadnoi Evrope ('Obschii Rynok') (Tezisy)," MEiMO, No. 9 (1962), Supplement, and Pravda, 26 August, 1962.

To name but one of the conferences, there is the conference of the scientific and research institutes and centres of the socialist countries, held in Prague in 1973. The proceedings of the conference are published in Problemy mira i sotsielizma, No. 7 ( 1973).

The articles referred to in footnotes 4-7 bear all the attributes of a commissioned study on the current state of affairs and future prospects of the European Community in all its important aspects-economic, political and military. The most extensive contribution is made by the foremost specialist on Western integration at the U.S.S.R. Academy of Sciences, M. Maksimova , in her two-part series, " Kapitalisticheskaya integratsiya i mirovoe razvitie," MEiMO, Nos. 3 and 4 (1978). pp. 12-23 and pp. 14-24 respectively, hereafter referred to as Maksimova , " Kapitalisticheskaya integratsiya," Parts I and II respectively.

For the political aspects, see D. Mel'nikov , "Zapadnoevropeiskii tsentr: aspekt politicheskii," ibid. No. 5 (1978), pp. 19-29. Mel'nikov is a senior analyst of Western European politics, German politics in particular. For the military aspects see S. Madzoevskii and S. Skladkevich , "Zapadnoevro-peiskii tsentr: tendentsii v razvitii voennykh vzaimosvyazei ,' ibid. I (January 1978), pp. 91-100.

V. Lavrenov , "O nekotorykh aspektakh vozmozhnogo rasshireniya EES," ibid. No. 6 ( 1978), pp. 53-63.

A. Arzumanyan , the then Director of IMEMO, at an international conference in Prague in 1959, see MEiMO, No. 10 (1959), pp. 36 and 48. The 32 Theses speak of the EEC as " an economic and political reality ."

Christopher A. P. Binns , "From USE to EEC: The Soviet Analysis of European Integration under Capitalism," Soviet Studies, XXX, 2 (April 1978), pp. 237-61, esp. pp. 252-253. Binn's analysis of the evolution of Soviet attitudes to the EEC is probably the best available in English. A more detailed counterpart in the German language is that by Eberhard Schulz, Moskau und die europäische Integration. Schriften des Forschungsinstituts der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik (Munich and Vienna: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1975).

Thesis 7 of the 17 Theses.

Thesis 2 of the 32 Theses.

The rejection of the idea of the EEC as a potential new " power centre " can be found in Thesis 7 of the 17 Theses, and the acceptance of this idea in Thesis 12 of the 32 Theses.

Problemi mira i sotsializma, No. 7 ( 1973), p. 16.

This idea is developed by M. Senin , the Director of the International Institute for the Study of Economic Problems of the Socialist World System at Comecon, who refers to Jean-Jacques Servan Schreiber's book. Le défi américain (Paris, 1963). Senin considers Schreiber's study as an expression " of the objectively proceeding internationalisation of economic life, formulated in a bourgeois way." M. Senin , Socialist Integration (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1973), p. 21.

Ibid.

D. Mel'nikov , "Zapadnoevropeiskii tsentr: aspekt politicheskii," op. cit, pp. 20 and 27.

The distinctions of micro-integration and macro-integration are explained in some detail by Yu. Shishkov in several of his writings, e.g., in his book, Obshchii rynok: nadezhdy i deistvitel'nost' (Moscow 1972) and in articles in MEiMO, No.1( 1973) and No. 10 (1975). Maksimova (see fn. 4) distinguishes integration at the level of " monopolist groups " and integration at the " statemonopoly " level in her book Osnovye problemy imperialisticheskoi integratsii (Moscow, 1971). The line of argument and referencing on this point follows Binns, op. cit., pp. 258-59, and Schulz, op. cit., p. 96.

Maksimova , " Kapitalisticheskaya integratsiya," Part I, pp. 17-18. See also the summary of her Osnovye problemy imperialisticheskoi integratsii (see fn. 16), pp. 140-141.

Ibid., "Kapitalisticheskaya integratsiya ," Part I, p. 18 and Part II, esp. p. 16.

For instance, M. Senin , op. cit, p. 26, writes that " Even though the level and structure of the productive forces (including new power sources and equipment-electronics, computers, television, automation, nuclear power, etc.) are similar, the social essence of socialist integration differs fundamentally from that of capitalist integration"

This is a point belaboured by A.M. Alekseev , et. al., Sotsialisticheskaya integratsiya: ee preimushchestvo pered kapitalisticheskom ( Moscow, 1975).

Senin , op. cit, p. 178. Italics mine.

More detail is provided by Binns, op. cit, pp. 238-245.

Maksimova , " Kapitalisticheskaya integratsiya," Part II, p. 19.

Ibid., p. 17.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Yu. P. Davydov. "SShA-Zapadnaya Europa: predeli kompromissa " SShA, No. 6 (1975 ), pp. 32-33. Davydov quotes Mondale's article in Foreign Affairs (October 1974), p.6; his (Mondale's) view on the " total crisis " has been retranslated here from the Russian.

Quotes here taken from an English language edition, V.I. Lenin , Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (New York: International Publishers, 1939, new ed. 1969 ), p. 9.

Ibid., p. 13. Concerning the general problem of the usefulness of Leninist and/or Marxist theories of imperialism as an analytical tool, see Hannes Adomeit , " Neo-Marxist Theories of Imperialism: Clarification or Confusion of a Concept in International Relations Theory?," Co-existence, XII (1975), pp. 126-148.

Maksimova , " Kapitalisticheskaya integratsiya ," Part II, p. 19.

Senin , Socialist Integration, op. cit (see fn. 13), p. 25.

Ibid., p. 26.

Pravda, February 25, 1976.

Maksimova , " Kapitalisticheskaya integratsiya," Part II, p. 19.

Ibid., p. 18; similarly ibid., p. 33.

V.S. Shein , "SShA—NATO—EES," SShA, No. 8 (1974), p. 44. Shein balances this by the observation that contradictions are likely to grow between the member countries of the EEC and the USA, as well as within the EEC and NATO; ibid ., p. 43.

A.I. Utkin. "'Atlantizm" protiv' Europeizma ': bor'ba kontseptsii," SShA, No. 4 (1974), p. 38.

Shein , op. cit (see fn. 36), p. 41.

Yu. P. Davydov , "SShA—Zapadnaya Europa: predely kompromissa ," SShA, No. 6 ( 1975), p. 41.

Ibid., p. 36.

V. I. Lenin, Pol . Sobr Soch., Vol. XXVI, p. 332, as quoted by Davydov (see preceding footnote), p. 41.

Maksimova , "Kapitalisticheskaya integratsiya," Part II, p. 14.

Ibid. Maksimova provides figures to the effect that intra-EC exports in current prices in the period 1958-77 rose by a factor of 15·5; EC exports to non-EC countries by a factor of 8-1; and exports within the capitalist world as a whole by a factor of 9.

Ibid., p. 16. Concerning the role of the multinationals see also G. Kumanin , "Vnutrifirmennye otnosheniya mezhdunarodnykh monopolii i mirovoi tsikl," MEiMO , No. 2 (1978), pp. 101-109.

Mel'nikov , " Zapadnoevropeiskii tsentr ...," op. cit (see fn. 5), p. 22.

These figures are reproduced from International Financial Statistics (various issues) in S.V. Gorbunov , " Protivorechiya kapitalisticheskoi valyutnoi sistemy: positsiya SShA," SShA, No. 2 (1978), p. 49 (Table 3).

The first figure is that of the International Bank for Settlements, the second that of Morgan Guaranty Trust. For the figures as well as the evaluation of their significance see Gunter Dufey and Ian H. Giddy , The International Money Market (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1978), pp. 22 and 264.

Maksimova , " Kapitalisticheskaya integratsiya," Part II, p. 16.

Mel'nikov , "Zapadnoevropeiskii tsentr ...," op. cit, pp. 25-26.

The Tindemans report, published in 1976, is named after the former Belgium Prime Minister. Its main points are: (1) political integration constitutes the precondition for making progress towards economic and monetary union, and (2) it makes no sense to exclude military integration from the agenda of the 'Community.

Ibid., p. 25.

The new tendencies are recognised, among others, by Yu. Davydov in his "'Atlantizm' bez illyutsii" in MEiMO, No. 9 (1977), pp. 136-138; book review of Atlantis Lost: US-European Relations and the Cold War (New York: NYU Press, 1976).

Mel'nikov , "Zapadnoevropeiskii tsentr ... ," op. cit, p. 23.

Ibid., p. 25.

Ibid.

Ibid., pp. 26-27.

Ibid., pp. 20 and 21.

V. Lavrenov , " O nekotorykh aspektakh vozmozhnogo rasshireniya EES," op. cit (see fn. 6), p. 53-68, ibid.

Ibid., pp. 55-57.

Ibid., p. 58.

Ibid., pp. 58-59, Lavrenov paraphrasing and quoting a number of Western sources.

Ibid., pp. 60-61; 58; 63; 93; 94.

Ibid., p. 58.

Ibid., p. 63.

Ibid., p. 93.

Ibid.

Ibid., p. 94.

Ibid., p. 93.

S. Madzoevskii and S. Skladkevich , "Zapadnoevropeiskii tsentr: tendentsii " razvitie voennykh vzaimosvyazei," op. cit (see fn. 5), p. 95.

Ibid., p. 96 for discussion of the role of the WEU see also G. Kolosov , "Zapadnoevropeiskii soyuz: funktsii i perspektivi," MEiMO, No. 3 (1975), pp. 139-41; for a discussion of the Eurogroup, exaggerating this organisation's significance, see B. Khalosha , "Evrogruppa i gonka vooruzhenii," ibid., No. 10 (1976), pp. 98-102.

Madzoevskii and Skladkevich , "Zapadnoevropeiskii tsentr ... ," op. cit, p. 97.

Ibid., p. 95.

Ibid., p. 99.

Ibid., p. 98.