GERMANY: A Serious Estrangement

A Serious Estrangement Communist East Germany boasts a Five-Year Plan, supposed like its Soviet prototype to bring heaven on earth. At the end of its first year, on Jan. 1, the Communists proclaimed an "unheard-of excelling of norms." But last week, in response to an invitation to subject the plan to "remorseless criticism," hundreds of German Communists wrote letters to their newspaper editors. Consensus: the Five-Year Plan—Pfui!

The bitterest complaint was that East German machinery, consumer goods, medicines and food are being shipped off to Russia. All that is left for the Germans is shoddy garments and ill-tasting food. "There...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!