The official newspaper voice of Soviet communism launched a new section Thursday to monitor the transformations in Eastern Europe and "give unbiased coverage" of changes sweeping the socialist world.
Pravda, the organ of the Soviet Communist Party, devoted a full page to the debut section with five articles published under the banner, "Socialism: Paths of Renewal.""Deep changes are sweeping the socialist world," Pravda said. "They should be given unbiased coverage and carefully studied."
The lead article, demonstrating the candor that has become typical under Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's "glasnost" policy of greater freedom of expression, got right to the point.
"Hamlet's question - to be or not to be - faces (Communist) parties," it said. "Will they be the vanguard of their societies, or will they be pushed aside by alternative forces?"
Another article summarized opinion polls in East Germany, where it said a majority of those surveyed oppose reunification with West Germany, and in Poland, where only 3 percent of the respondents favored a completely capitalistic system in their country but 52 percent wanted a mixed economy.
"Multiparty systems are becoming a reality," Pravda said. "In some countries communists are now in the minority in government."
The Pravda initiative was the most recent attempt by the state-run Soviet media to stay ahead of the curve of change in what was once called the Soviet bloc.
The "Vremya" television news program, a fixture at 9 p.m. for 11 years, began broadcasting three times a day Tuesday with two anchor newsmen in a Western-style format that senior editor Ivan Ilyoshin said was necessary "because of the increased flow of information."