ABSTRACT
The Politbureau and Secretariat of a ruling Communist Party decide not only the broad priorities and very often the details of foreign and economic strategy, but also external propaganda and internal indoctrination strategy. The enormous apparatus has to carry out the general party line, elaborated in detail by the Central Committee Secretariat and transmitted in the form of instructions by the senior officials who are themselves often secretaries of the Central Committee. Behaviour was most unusual at a party congress and according to Communist protocol would have been more appropriate to a closed session of the Central Committee or the Politbureau. The Communist leader in Europe most intimately involved in personal supervision of the media may well be Romania’s Nicolae Ceausescu. History has provided ample proof that freedom to attack basic policies, to question ideological legitimacy or criticise leading personalities is incompatible with the Communist system of government.
