The pace of political change in Europe has been outracing the ability of threatened governments and the leaders driving reforms to control it. Even the most ardent opponents of authoritarian communism and state-run economies are beginning to see an amber light and are applying the brakes to a process that now appears inevitable, but which is complex and inherently destabilizing.

Lithuania’s has put in abeyance its declaration of independence, a direct response to Soviet pressure that it back off in its pursuit of autonomy. Vilnius eventually will be severed from the U.S.S.R., but for the moment is caught in the intricate web of Soviet politics, a structure that may defy shredding, even by the far stronger arm of Russia’s Boris Yeltsin.

But for Lithuania, the other Balkan states and even for the East Germans, who surprised everyone this weekend with a dramatic debate on immediate reunification, the mitigating element is the knowledge that it no longer is a matter of “if” independence, autonomy or reunion is accomplished, but when these events will occur.

Enthusiasm and uninhibited political passion were needed to build the momentum for change, but the most forceful voices for a new order have begun to encourage pragmatism even as they advocate revolution. The potential exists for the control of nearly a dozen governments in Eastern Europe to shift to different hands to pursue dramatically altered agendas. Those who will receive that power can make the transition with their countries, their people and their economies intact, if they are patient.