Problems of Eastern Europe is an independent quarterly journal whose purpose is to foster readers' acquaintance with the political and economic thinking and political experience of the nations of Eastern Europe and the USSR. The peoples and states of the region are distinct from one another, a fact conditioned by their historical development. At the same time there exist analogous political and economic structures in all of the countries, as a result of which analogous problems emerge as well. Contradictions and conflicts exist in the region, many of which are cultivated on the basis of various nations' lack of information about one another, as well as insufficient communication between representatives of these peoples and the countries. Our aim is to make up for these deficiencies as much as possible. We are grateful to the editors of journals issued in the West in the languages of the nations of Eastern Europe, as well as to the authors and publishers for permission to use their material.