ABSTRACT
There can scarcely be any doubt, even two years after the events, that 1989 was equal to 1789 in its world historic dimensions. Cynics and sophisticates alike recognize that the ubiquitous and oft-maligned "people" have spoken. In operational terms legitimacy entails a recognition of the mixed pattern involved with the slow introduction of the rule of law and parliamentary norms into the lives of ordinary people throughout the ex-communist world, rather than armed struggle or counter-revolution. Decades of mythology and layers of ideology come unglued. Accepting responsibility for the Katyn Forest massacres involves a revision of Soviet history and a re-evaluation of the ethics of the Soviet armed forces vis-a-vis the Nazi Wehrmacht. This is a unique moment within the history of twentieth century socialist and communist life; one that Western democracies can ill afford to miss. Speculative sketch of past events and present prospects in the Eastern bloc is not intended to replace careful study on a nation-by-nation basis.
