Chapter 28 Brave New World: Communism

The States of Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

The States of Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

1. Poland achieved stability in the l960s but by 1971 economic problems became unsettling. An effort in 1980 to pay off its foreign debt by increasing food prices resulted in worker protests that gave birth to a labor movement called Solidarity. Concessions were wrung from the government until December 1981 when leaders of Solidarity were arrested. The union was outlawed and the military assumed rule. In 1988 demonstrations broke out and the regime had to concede free parliamentary elections. In April 1990 it was decided that a new president would be freely elected. In December Lech Walesa was chosen president.

2. After the Soviet Union crushed the Hungarian revolution in 1956, it imposed Janos Kadar on the nation. A reformist1 he maintained many of the revolution's economic reforms. In the 1980s, he legalized small private enterprise and slowly moved Hungary away from strict Soviet dominance. Multi-candidate elections were permitted in 1985. Nevertheless, economic difficulties led to Kadar's ouster in 1988. The communist government faced growing dissatisfaction from the populace and began initiating reforms. In 1990 elections brought a coalition government to power which committed Hungary to democracy and a free economy.

3. Although the Czechoslovakian Communist government repressed opposition after the 1968 revolution, dissident movements grew in the 1970s and especially the 1980s. Attempts to suppress demonstrations in 1988 and 1989 led to more demonstrations. Continuing public pressure resulted in the collapse of the Communist government in December 1989. The Czechs and Slovaks could not agree on the makeup of the new state and therefore peacefully agreed to divide the country between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This was accomplished on January 1, 1993.

4. The iron grip of Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania was broken in 1989 when his plan for rapid urbanization in conjunction with a poor economy and food shortages led to the loss of support from the people and the army. He was executed on Christmas Day, 1989. The new government has shown little commitment to democracy. In nearby Bulgaria the Communist party succumbed to anti-government demonstrations in 1989 and in 1990 free elections were held with the old Communist party under the name of the Bulgarian socialist won the election. Likewise, the movement to democracy reached Albania in 1989 when reforms brought free elections in 1991. In Yugoslavia, the death of Josip Tito in 1980 left a vacuum and when the people were caught up in the reform movements the government ended authoritarian socialism in 1990. Serbian (Yugoslavia) objectives in forming a Greater Serbian state have led to war.

Question:1. How did the democratic movements of the 1980's destroy communism?

The States of Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

1. Poland achieved stability in the l960s but by 1971 economic problems became unsettling. An effort in 1980 to pay off its foreign debt by increasing food prices resulted in worker protests that gave birth to a labor movement called Solidarity. Concessions were wrung from the government until December 1981 when leaders of Solidarity were arrested. The union was outlawed and the military assumed rule. In 1988 demonstrations broke out and the regime had to concede free parliamentary elections. In April 1990 it was decided that a new president would be freely elected. In December Lech Walesa was chosen president.

2. After the Soviet Union crushed the Hungarian revolution in 1956, it imposed Janos Kadar on the nation. A reformist1 he maintained many of the revolution's economic reforms. In the 1980s, he legalized small private enterprise and slowly moved Hungary away from strict Soviet dominance. Multi-candidate elections were permitted in 1985. Nevertheless, economic difficulties led to Kadar's ouster in 1988. The communist government faced growing dissatisfaction from the populace and began initiating reforms. In 1990 elections brought a coalition government to power which committed Hungary to democracy and a free economy.

3. Although the Czechoslovakian Communist government repressed opposition after the 1968 revolution, dissident movements grew in the 1970s and especially the 1980s. Attempts to suppress demonstrations in 1988 and 1989 led to more demonstrations. Continuing public pressure resulted in the collapse of the Communist government in December 1989. The Czechs and Slovaks could not agree on the makeup of the new state and therefore peacefully agreed to divide the country between the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This was accomplished on January 1, 1993.

4. The iron grip of Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania was broken in 1989 when his plan for rapid urbanization in conjunction with a poor economy and food shortages led to the loss of support from the people and the army. He was executed on Christmas Day, 1989. The new government has shown little commitment to democracy. In nearby Bulgaria the Communist party succumbed to anti-government demonstrations in 1989 and in 1990 free elections were held with the old Communist party under the name of the Bulgarian socialist won the election. Likewise, the movement to democracy reached Albania in 1989 when reforms brought free elections in 1991. In Yugoslavia, the death of Josip Tito in 1980 left a vacuum and when the people were caught up in the reform movements the government ended authoritarian socialism in 1990. Serbian (Yugoslavia) objectives in forming a Greater Serbian state have led to war.

Question:1. How did the democratic movements of the 1980's destroy communism?

The Soviet Union and Its Eastern European Satellites, 1945-1970 Economic recovery

New five year plan, 1946 Paranoia of Stalin contributes to repression Stalin dies in 1953 and succeeded by Georgy Malenkov

who quickly fell to rival Nikita Khruschev (1894-1971) Economic reform De-Stalinization Greater freedom Anger of the party bureaucracy Foreign policy failures, Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962 Forced to retire due to “deteriorating health”, 1964

The Brezhnev Years, 1964-1982 Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982)

Stability over reformRevival of Stalin’s reputationNew state constitution, 1977Stagnant industrial and agricultural economy

Shortage of consumer goods Inadequate civilian technology Inefficient use of energy

Inadequate leadership, 1982-1985

Culture in the Soviet Bloc Followed the party line No criticism Eastern European states varied from country to country

Charter 77TourismSports

Social changes in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe Successful transition in most states from agriculture to

industry Changes in education Women

Disintegration of the Soviet Union Gorbachev Era

Perestroika (restructuring)GlasnostPolitical reformsCall for a new Soviet parliament, 1988

Congress of People’s Deputies elected 19891988-1990 nationalist movements erupt

Lithuania declares independence, 1990; rejected by the Congress

Gorbachev arrested, August 19, 1991; coup failsUkraine votes for independence, December 1991,

others follow December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigns and turns

power over to Boris Yeltsin, president of Russia

Eastern Europe: From Soviet Satellites to Sovereign Nations Poland

SolidarityGeneral Wojciech Jaruzelski outlaws Solidarity,

December 1981Free parliamentary elections, 1988President freely elected by the populace, April 1990

HungaryElections, March 1990

CzechoslovakiaCharter 77Communist government collapses, December 1989Czechoslovakia splits into the Czeh Republic and

Slovakia, January 1, 1993

Unification of GermanyEconomic problems and unrestCommunist government falls, November 1989West and East German economies united, July 1,

1990Politically unified, October 2, 1990

YugoslaviaDeath of Tito in 1980Non-communists win elections in Slovenia, Coatia,

Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia and call for federalist structure, 1990

Slbodan Milosevic rejects these efforts without new border arrangements to accommodate

Serb minorities

Slovenia and Croatia declare independence, 1991Yugoslav army sent into Sovenia and Croatia

Use of Serbian irregular forces Ethnic cleansing of Bosnia Muslims Dayton Accords, 1995

Consequences of the fall of Communist governmentsIll prepared for democracyPainful conversion to a market economyFormer communists often able to retain important

positions

The People’s Republic of China

The People’s Republic of China

1. By 1948 the demoralized Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek were disintegrating. In 1949 Chiang and one million mainland Chinese fled to Taiwan. In victory, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China. Within three years the Communists succeeded in consolidating their rule. It was not accomplished without cost. In 1957 Mao admitted 800,000 "enemies' had been liquidated.

2. With a large army at its disposal, China sought to re-establish its jurisdiction over the important areas lost with the decline of the Manchus. Mongolia became a separate republic with ties to the Soviet Union, but China retained Xinjiang. China also sent its forces into Tibet.

3. Mao and Joseph Stalin established a close relationship in the early 1950s and China followed Russia's lead in world affairs. In 1950 a thirty-year treaty of friendship was signed. China began to go its own way, however, as it initiated the Great Leap Forward in 1958 to achieve accelerated development. When Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union criticized Chinese policy, Mao reacted angrily in 1960 and relations between the two states deteriorated. Russian economic aid was abruptly cut off and scientists helping to build a Chinese atomic bomb were withdrawn. In 1969 fighting between China and Russia occurred along the northern border of Xinjiang and over an island in the Ussuri River in the northeast. Both deployed about a million troops along their 5000 mile mutual border.

4. Sino-Indian relations took a tumble when Chinese troops suppressed a revolt in Tibet in 1959 and India gave asylum to the Dalai Lama. When it was learned the Chinese were building a road in a region of Tibet claimed by India, troops were sent to the area in the summer of 1962. A brief border war was fought in which Indian troops were routed when Chinese forces crossed the border.

5. In 1975 a unified Vietnam became an ally of the Soviet Union and thus an enemy of China. The Soviets gave economic and military aid in return for a naval base at Cam Ranh Bay. Relations with China deteriorated in the late 1970s in part due to ill treatment of ethnic Chinese in the country and belief that Vietnam was not sufficiently grateful for the aid it had given during the war. In 1979 China sought to teach Vietnam a lesson by invading its four northern provinces. Vietnam repulsed the invaders but with heavy losses for both sides.

6. In 1997 Hong Kong was returned to China.

Questions:1. What problems existed between China and Russia?2. What were the sources of conflict between China and India?

The People’s Republic of China

1. By 1948 the demoralized Nationalist forces of Chiang Kai-shek were disintegrating. In 1949 Chiang and one million mainland Chinese fled to Taiwan. In victory, Mao Zedong proclaimed the People's Republic of China. Within three years the Communists succeeded in consolidating their rule. It was not accomplished without cost. In 1957 Mao admitted 800,000 "enemies' had been liquidated.

2. With a large army at its disposal, China sought to re-establish its jurisdiction over the important areas lost with the decline of the Manchus. Mongolia became a separate republic with ties to the Soviet Union, but China retained Xinjiang. China also sent its forces into Tibet.

3. Mao and Joseph Stalin established a close relationship in the early 1950s and China followed Russia's lead in world affairs. In 1950 a thirty-year treaty of friendship was signed. China began to go its own way, however, as it initiated the Great Leap Forward in 1958 to achieve accelerated development. When Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union criticized Chinese policy, Mao reacted angrily in 1960 and relations between the two states deteriorated. Russian economic aid was abruptly cut off and scientists helping to build a Chinese atomic bomb were withdrawn. In 1969 fighting between China and Russia occurred along the northern border of Xinjiang and over an island in the Ussuri River in the northeast. Both deployed about a million troops along their 5000 mile mutual border.

4. Sino-Indian relations took a tumble when Chinese troops suppressed a revolt in Tibet in 1959 and India gave asylum to the Dalai Lama. When it was learned the Chinese were building a road in a region of Tibet claimed by India, troops were sent to the area in the summer of 1962. A brief border war was fought in which Indian troops were routed when Chinese forces crossed the border.

5. In 1975 a unified Vietnam became an ally of the Soviet Union and thus an enemy of China. The Soviets gave economic and military aid in return for a naval base at Cam Ranh Bay. Relations with China deteriorated in the late 1970s in part due to ill treatment of ethnic Chinese in the country and belief that Vietnam was not sufficiently grateful for the aid it had given during the war. In 1979 China sought to teach Vietnam a lesson by invading its four northern provinces. Vietnam repulsed the invaders but with heavy losses for both sides.

6. In 1997 Hong Kong was returned to China.

Questions:1. What problems existed between China and Russia?2. What were the sources of conflict between China and India?

China under Communist New Democracy

Patterned after Lenin’s New Economic PolicyTwo-thirds of peasant households received land

People’s tribunals against landlords and rich farmers

Collectivization initiated, 1955 Commerce and industry nationalized Great Leap Forward, 1958-1960

Collectives combined to form people’s communesA failure; 15 million died of starvation

Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, 1966-1976Power struggle, Mao’s supporters now in powerDestroy all vestiges of traditional society

Red Guard, Mao’s Little Red Book Anarchy and uncertainty Death of Mao in September 1976 brought a

struggle for succession and the end of the Cultural Revolution

Leadership of Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) Trial of the Gang of Four Four modernizations – industry, agriculture,

technology, defense Criticism of Fang Lizhi (Fang Li-chih) Tiananmen Square, 1989

Chinese Society under Communism Use of mass organizations Alienation of the youth from job opportunities contributed

to the growth of the Red Guard and the Cultural Revolution

Mausoleum of Mao Zedong

Four Cardinal Principles Use of the army to protect against counterrevolutionary

elements Control of the economy

More control to local managersSmall private sectorForeign investment and technologyEducationAgricultural reformInflation controlled and increased consumer goods

Are Marxism and Affluence Compatible in Communist China? Weakness of the 1950s policies Post-Maoism shift away from revolutionary utopianism Dress, religion, social change, socialist realism, literature,

and art