National separation,controlled co-operation: how state-socialist elites communicated economic openings

This article describes how official journalists in the state-socialist dictatorships communicated economic co-operation with the West to the domestic audience. It discusses the hypothesis of West–East transfers causing a structural differentiation of the official spheres of state socialism regarding the issue of European co-operation and integration. Both a legacy of Stalinist narratives and rigid media control hampered a consistent explanation of East–West co-operation. Ultimately, growing ambivalence in the official public sphere undermined the legitimacy of state-socialist rule.