ABSTRACT
The Soviet reaction to the emergence of reformism within the CPCS prompted a general tightening of party reins in eastern Europe which persisted until the mid-1970s. At the same time most east European parties announced that they had moved from the stage of socialist construction into ‘real existing’, ‘developed’ or ‘mature socialism’. Party programmes and state constitutions appropriate to this new stage of historical development were adopted. The socialist stage was in theory one in which material provision would increase rapidly; consumer goods and services would become ever cheaper and more widely available. But if the years 1956-68 ended with the bankruptcy of ideological communism, the years 1968-80 ended with the failure of consumer communism.
