The Downfall of Communism in Eastern and Central Europe
The shocking fall of communism in Eastern and Central Europe in the
late eighties was remarkable for both its rapidity and its scope. The
specifics of communism's demise varied among nations, but similarities in
both the causes and the effects of these revolutions were quite similar.
As well, all of the nations involved shared the common goals of
implementing democratic systems of government and moving to market
economies. In each of these nations, the communist regimes in power were
forced to transfer that power to radically different institutions than they
were accustomed to. Democracy had been spreading throughout the world for
the preceding two decades, but with a very important difference. While
previous political transitions had seen similar circumstances, the actual
events in question had generally occurred individually. In Europe, on the
other hand, the shift from communism was taking place in a different
context altogether. The peoples involved were not looking to affect a
narrow set of policy reforms; indeed, what was at stake was a hyper-radical
shift from the long-held communist ideology to a western blueprint for
governmental and economic policy development. The problem inherent in this
type of monumental change is that, according to Ulrich K. Preuss, "In
almost all the East and Central European countries, the collapse of
authoritarian communist rule has released national, ethnic, religious and
cultural conflicts which can not be solved by purely economic policies"
(47). While tremendous changes are evident in both the governmental and
economic arenas in Europe, these changes cannot be assumed to always be
"mutually reinforcing" (Preuss 47). Generally it has been theorized that
the most successful manner of addressing these many difficulties is the
drafting of a constitution. But what is clear is the unsatisfactory
ability of a constitution to remedy the problems of nationalism and ethnic
differences. Preuss notes that when the constitutional state gained favor
in North America, it was founded on the principle of the unitary state; it
was not designed to address the lack of national identity which is found
throughout Europe - and which is counter to the concept of the
constitutional state (48). "Measured in terms of socioeconomic
modernization," writes Helga A. Welsh, "Central and Eastern European
countries had reached a level that was considered conducive to the
emergence of pluralistic policies" (19). It seemed that the sole reason
the downfall of communism, as it were, took so long was the veto power of
the Soviet Union. According to theories of modernization, the higher the
One of the biggest fears of the American people is that the concept of communism contrasts drastically from the concept of capitalism, which the United States was essentially founded upon. The United States, as the public believed, was not a land of perfect communal equality, but rather a land of equal opportunity. However, what made communism so dangerous can be succinctly described by Eisenhower who compared the spread of communism as the domino effect. As his secretary of state, Dulles, put it, the propagation of communism “would constitute a threat to the sovereignty and independence” of America (Doc B). In addition, the Cold War also planted the seeds of rational fear of a global nuclear war. As Russia caught up to the United States in terms of technological advancements, they successfully developed the atomic bomb as well as the hydrogen bomb, which caused Americans to believe that the USSR would use these weapons of mass destruction to forcefully extend their ideologies to the USA. In fact, Americans were so frantic about a potential nuclear disaster that it...
Isaacs J (2008). ‘Cold War: For Forty-five Years the World Held its Breath’. Published by Abacus, 2008.
Under a backdrop of systematic fear and terror, the Stalinist juggernaut flourished. Stalin’s purges, otherwise known as the “Great Terror”, grew from his obsession and desire for sole dictatorship, marking a period of extreme persecution and oppression in the Soviet Union during the late 1930s. “The purges did not merely remove potential enemies. They also raised up a new ruling elite which Stalin had reason to think he would find more dependable.” (Historian David Christian, 1994). While Stalin purged virtually all his potential enemies, he not only profited from removing his long-term opponents, but in doing so, also caused fear in future ones. This created a party that had virtually no opposition, a new ruling elite that would be unstoppable, and in turn negatively impacted a range of sections such as the Communist Party, the people of Russia and the progress in the Soviet community, as well as the military in late 1930 Soviet society.
The Eastern European country chosen for discussion is Belarus. This paper will first discuss the transition from communism based on the experience of living under communist rule. Second, the significant historical factors from 1920-1991 that led to the fall of communism will be given and traced as to how they affected the process of the transition. Finally, the choices made by Belarus during and after the transition period will be traced back to historical and transitional factors that influenced them. Inarguable evidence will be noted throughout the paper to prove the need for transition from communism and the problems with the transition. The country of Belarus is still in transition. How do they compare? Most if not all of the other former Soviet Republics have reached a post-transition status.
‘The provisional government was brought down with barely a shot fired.... ... middle of paper ... ... It was hugely significant as Trotsky’s failure to pursue the leadership of the communist party with any great intent saw Stalin rise to power and ‘old bolshevism’ fall and was the dawn of a new era for the communist party in Russia.
of the beginning of the fall of Communism in Poland. The Communist government saw that the
Communism was the ideology followed by the Soviet Union. Originally founded by Karl Marx, it said that everything should be owned by the government and then divided up equally among the people who would then all work for it. For the communist party in Russia, their political system was always in danger. From the start of the Russian Revolution there have been dangers to communism. Before World War II most of the western nations ignored Russia simply because it was a communist state and the western nations actually supported Hitler because they believed that Germany would provided a buffer against Communism. The permanent threat against Russia gave the incentive to expand and spread communist influence as much as possible to keep their way of life intact, it was very much Russia against the world. However not only was the Soviet Union communist, they were totalitarian, meaning all the power was with the rulers. While this was effective for keeping the standard average of living the same for everyone and preventing poverty, it also led to a poor work ethic among the working population...
Arbitrary coercion and terror existed in varying degrees in the Soviet Union. Lenin’s sense of responsibility to guide the world to a socialist future combined with the people’s dissatisfaction with the recent years of war and temporary government allowed him to step in as a leader. The party under Lenin was taciturn with regards to its inner workings. While the discretion allowed communism to establish itself, such opacity could not have gone without moments of distrust from the Russian public about the agendas of this new covert government.
By 1928, Stalin had ousted Trotsky and the rest of the Left opposition. In four years, Stalin had single handedly taken major steps away from Lenin’s collective leadership and free inter party debate and replaced them with his autocratic dictatorship. Stalin began to secure predominant power over the communist party and the state by destroying passive opposition from the peasantry and former Lenin supporters. He won growing support from the working class who were impressed with the initial five-year plan. As it promised increased industrialization, which would lead to socialism in one country within their lifetime.
During the 20th century, the rise of communism sparked rage in people throughout the world. More towards the end of the 1900's the fall of communism and dictatorships was just the beginning of what would eventually be a large democratic change for several countries. 1989: Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War's End, speaks about the change brought to several different countries from the 1980's-1990's and plans to show "the global transformations that marked the end of the cold war and shaped the era in which we live"(Pg V). During the cold war, communist had power and control over a large area and spread communism throughout several continents. This book specifically hits on six different studies of where communism and dictatorship affected these areas and what they did to stop it. Poland, Philippines, Chile, South Africa, Ukraine, and China throughout the end of the 20th century created revolutionary movements which brought them all one step closer to freeing themselves and creating democratic change.
to assume the role of dictator. This was a phenomenon which was to become a
The Soviet Union, which was once a world superpower in the 19th century saw itself in chaos going into the 20th century. These chaoses were marked by the new ideas brought in by the new leaders who had emerged eventually into power. Almost every aspect of the Soviet Union was crumbling at this period both politically and socially, as well as the economy. There were underlying reasons for the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and eventually Eastern Europe. The economy is the most significant aspect of every government. The soviet economy was highly centralized with a “command economy” (p.1. fsmitha.com), which had been broken down due to its complexity and centrally controlled with corruption involved in it. A strong government needs a strong economy to maintain its power and influence, but in this case the economic planning of the Soviet Union was just not working, which had an influence in other communist nations in Eastern Europe as they declined to collapse.
There were many events that lead up to the Bolshevik Revolution. First off, in 1848, Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels published a thought-provoking book. The Communist Manifesto expressed their support of a world in which there was no difference in class. A world in which the workers and commoners ran the show and there was no high and supreme ruler. Many intellectual Russians began to become aware of this pamphlet as well as the advanced state of the world compared to Russia. Other countries were going through an industrial revolution, while the Czars had made it clear that no industrial surge was about to happen in Russia. The popularity of the Czars further went down hill as Nicolas II’s poor military and political decisions caused mass losses in World War I. Eventually, the citizens could take no more and began a riot in St. Petersburg that led to the first Russian Revolution of 1917.
The alliance that had formed between two super powers, U.S and USSR during World War II was not strong enough to overcome the past decades of suspicion and unease between the two nations. Unwilling to compromise because of paranoia about their postwar national security created high tension atmosphere in U.S- Soviet Union’s relationship. This unstable partnership finally cracked due to the defeat of Nazi German: An unnatural alliance that was bound to fall apart after the defeat of the common enemy can be considered the origin of the Cold War.The Cold War had an enormous impact on the United States politically, socially, and economically including Red hunts, unconditionally fear of Communism and McCarthyism in the period 1940s-1950s, also shaped U.S.’s political agendas. This war ended as the reform programs introduced by Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, which unexpectedly led to the collapse of Soviet Union. The...
As with many important historical events throughout history the dissolution of the Soviet Union had many contributing forces. However, most historians agree that the main contributor was Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and the many radical reforms he implemented during the six years he was the leader of the USSR. Even though the official dissolution took place in December 1991, the Soviet Union’s demise began to take form in the 1980s. In order to understand why the Soviet Union dissolved it is important to have a clear picture of its history and political climate.