ABSTRACT
East German party leaders have not forgotten the June 1953 working-class uprising against Stalinist exploitation (imposition of unattainable production norms and underpayment of those who could not meet them). Instead of loosening the party's hold over society, the SED elite has promoted a techno-bureaucratic model of socialism based on accelerated economic growth, tight political controls, and uncompromising ideological conformity. As a consequence, deStalinization has never occurred as a far-reaching political process in the GDR. It is thus worth noting that Walter Ulbricht, Honecker's predecessor and political mentor, was particularly instrumental in persuading the Soviet Politburo to adopt the decision to invade Czechoslovakia in August 1968. At the same time, East German Communists must come to terms with another peculiar feature of their political culture: the continuous flow of information ensured by the exposure of GDR citizens to Western media and ongoing contact with relatives from the Federal Republic. It is quite common for SED functionaries to complain about the presence of the "enemy," i.e., sources of uncensored information like Western TV broadcasting, in virtually every East German house.
