Social and Cultural Campaigns

In the Soviet bloc, official social and cultural policies aim above all at preserving Party-state control over the population. A network of Party-sponsored organs channels social behavior and interaction so as to neutralize potentially disruptive activity and minimize spontaneous self-expression or public self-organization. The emergence of independent peace activists in the Soviet bloc is chiefly a phenomenon of the 1980s, when the cause of nuclear disarmament also attracted millions of campaigners throughout Western Europe and North America. The emergence of independent peace activists in the Soviet bloc is chiefly a phenomenon of the 1980s, when the cause of nuclear disarmament also attracted millions of campaigners throughout Western Europe and North America. The multiplicity of national and ethnic minorities in Eastern Europe has given rise to a limited range of activists campaigning for minority rights and the preservation of minority cultures.