Eastern Europe

Political Transformation

1989 in context

• Momentous events: – Fall of the Berlin Wall– collapse or transformation of Communist regimes in

east-central Europe• Hungary• DDR (German Democratic Republic)• Poland• Czechoslovakia• Bulgaria• Romania

• Followed by – Re-unification of Germany, 1990– break up of the Soviet Union, 1990-91

Soviet and East European regimes

• Ostensibly regimes in which a ruling Communist party was overseeing transition from socialism to communism

• Party-state systems in which – The state owns means of production– Ruling party interpenetrates state apparatus– State plans and directs the economy through

5 year plans

Functions of ruling Communist parties

• Typically the only legal party: – Restricted membership– Purges – especially in Stalin period

• Constitutionally the “leading and guiding force”• Party is vast bureaucratic structure, paralleling

and shadowing state structures -- functions as vast employment agency (nomenklature)– recruiting and socializing loyal members– Deploying them through state apparatus

• Ideological orthodoxy enforced in varying degrees

The USSR

• Stalin and Stalinism– Purges and show trials in 1930s– Collectivization of agriculture– Rapid industrialization

• Following death of Stalin in 1953– Relaxation of totalitarian features– Denunciation of Stalin at 20th Party Congress (1956)– Continuation of central planning – but some shift

toward consumer goods– Some (limited) space for dissent within an

authoritarian party-state

Communism in Eastern Europe

• Soviet-style systems established after WW II

• Ruling Communist parties purged

• Similar attempts at central planning

• Uprisings and rebellions suppressed– East Germany – 1953– Hungary – 1956– Czechoslovakia (“Prague Spring”) 1968

Variations in “Actually Existing Socialism”

• Hungary– Gradual relaxation following 1956 repression – Managerial autonomy

• Poland– Inability to establish complete control– Worker’s resistance to price increases– Formation of Solidarity Trade Union in 1981– Independent position of the Roman Catholic Church

• Yugoslavia – Wartime partisan movement comes to power– independent of Soviet control from 1948– Experiments with workplace democracy

More orthodox regimes

• German Democratic Republic (DDR)– Repression of revolt in 1953– Construction of Berlin Wall, 1961– Maintenance of vast spy apparatus – Stasi

• Czechoslovakia– Strong domestic communist party comes to

power after WW II– Repression continues after 1968

Problems in the 1970s and 1980s

• Limits of central planning– Difficulty of targeting – All thumbs and no fingers

• Growing problems of corruption: party and the nomenklature as new elite

• Ability to improve living conditions to a certain extent but not beyond

• Growing stagnation, especially in the USSR

Reform and transformation in the USSR

• 1970s – rule by aging gerontocracy• Andropov (1981-83) Gorbachev (1985-91)

– Growing awareness of stagnation– Diminishing ability to compete militarily with West– Attempts to reform the system from within –

• First, try to discipline the party – tighten up• Then, encourage competition within party• Loosen grip of party on state

• Consequences: – Internal turmoil in USSR– Party looses grip on state– USSR loosens grip on Eastern Europe

Transformation in Eastern Europe

• DDR– Massive demonstrations– Increased exit (via Hungary)– Regime attempts transformation – loses grip and will

to repress –opens Berlin Wall

• Poland– Military had assumed power following 1981– Cat and mouse game with Solidarity– Negotiated transition in 1989 – with seats guaranteed

for Communists

Transformation– cont’d

• Czechoslovakia– Comes alive in late 1989– Demonstrations– Regime collapses

• Hungary– Communist Party surrenders monopoly, permits

competition• Bulgaria

– Elections permitted• Romania

– Rebellion from within regime