SPECTATORS FOR EASTERN EUROPE
VISITING Warsaw these days can be a surprising experience. Along streets where once there were empty state shops, now there are full private shops; in the building where the Communist Party once held its plenary sessions, now there are meetings of the booming stock exchange; on bedside tables, where thoughtful Poles once had Moscow News, or perhaps out-of-date copies of Newsweek (smuggled in by the American Embassy), now they have The Spectator.
And not ordy in Warsaw. From Bucharest, a subscriber writes in that he has been 'a permanent reader of your most interesting articles even when I did not share the opinion of those articles — or, rather, when I strongly disapproved of them'. From Odessa, another subscriber writes that your magazine is the only intel- ligent publication available not only for me but also for other people'. Each one of his issues was shared with the English Speak- ing Literary Club of Odessa, he explained, while back issues are now stored in the information department of a newly estab- lished independent radio station in Odessa, Radio GLAS. A local politician from Bydgoszcz in western Poland reports that he saves The Spectator to read on his frequent train journeys, because it 'takes my mind off of our pessimistic politics and makes me think about the outside world'.
It was 1988 when we first attempted to relieve the pessimism in Eastern Europe and bring in the outside world, by launch- ing a campaign to send half-price subscrip- tions of The Spectator to Poland. Later, as walls felt and magazine delivery grew more reliable, we broadened the campaign to include Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania and the ex-Soviet Union. Since then, thousands of copies of The Spectator, donated by our unusually generous and far-sighted readers, have flowed from Landon to Warsaw, Bucharest, Odessa and even Samara on the Volga, the home of a particularly fervent fan.
Oddly enough, The Spectator is probably appreciated far more now in these coun- tries than it was during the early years of the transformation away from commu- nism, when people still felt optimistic and confident about political change. In the last two years, with their institutions reel- ing from the shock of transformation, with the public fear of economic change growing, many people who support democracy and capitalism have begun to doubt themselves; politicians advocating a return to the good old communist days have begun returning to power.
Despite economic change — and some- times because of it — western magazines arc prohibitively expensive in Eastern Europe. A subscription to The Spectator could cost a Rumanian professor more than a quarter of his annual wage; it would bankrupt a Russian with a family to sup- port But this is not the time for the West to desert its friends in the East, and not the moment to cut off the flow of western ideas and information. After all, these are countries where gifts of ideas and informa- tion are far more important than gifts of money: stable democracy does not require
cash nearly as much as it requires confi- dence, as well as knowledge of western business and political culture. East Euro- peans need to feel that somewhere out there democracy and capitalism are work- ing. They even need to feel that somewhere out there people are simply telling jokes about politicians_ We need our readers to help us keep up the subscriptions, so that we can keep sending news, ideas and jokes about politi- cians to people who would otherwise remain cut off from western culture and political debate. From the many letters we receive, we know that these magazines are truly appreciated by those who receive them_ Takis column has been discussed in English conversation classes; a concerned English professor from Gdansk recently wrote and asked us to tell Jeffrey Bernard that his class enjoys his writing, is very wor- ried about his health, and very much hopes that he will recover soon.
As in previous years, The Spectator will make no profit from these gift subscrip- tions, which will be sold at the specially reduced rate of £46 per year. Names of recipients — including East European writ- ers, publishers, lawyers, architects, small businessmen., politicians and many teachers of English — will be supplied from our now very extensive list of Spectator readers in Eastern Europe_
We are also happy to send subscriptions to other people in Eastern Europe and the ex-Soviet Union, so long as the gift-givers supply us with their full names and addresses.
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR EASTERN EUROPE.
I would like to give subscriptionis to an individual or institution in Eastern Europe at the subsidised rate of £46 per annual subscription_ Name ..... ... ..............
If you wish to give the name and address of a particular individual please enclose it with your payment_ PAYMENT OPTIONS: (Equivalent US$ and Eurocheques accepted) 0 I enclose my cheque/money order made payable to The Spectator for fiS 0 Please charge my credit card for Please tick: VISA 0 ACCESS 0 DINERS CLUB CI Card No:....._....._.._... Expiry Date
Signature- Date Please return this form to The Spectator, 'Eastern Europe', 56 Doughty Street, London WC1N 2LL
Previous page
