Transcript Reform & Collapse in Eastern Europe and the USSR

Reform & Collapse in
Eastern Europe and the USSR
Kevin Benoy
Reform in the USSR
• Gorbachev inherited a
mess.
• The Afghan war was
bleeding military and
economic resources.
• The economy was
stagnating and corruption
made it impossible to
realistically evaluate its
true state.
Reform in the USSR
• Domestically, Gorbachev
sought to address the
problem of a no-growth
economy.
• He formulated a policy
of Perestroika –
restructuring. This
would have 3 phases.
Perestroika
• First, he would restore order to
the work place – this was to
happen between 1985-87.
• An anti-alcoholism campaign
was launched.
• Corrupt officials were to be
disciplined – requiring a policy
of Glasnost – openness –
allowing public criticism of
government officials.
• More scope was allowed for
private enterprises.
• Investment in modern
machinery was stepped up.
Perestroika
• Between 1988 and 1990
Large enterprises were to
get more independence.
• Managers were to become
responsible for the success
or failure of their
enterprises.
• Failing or unprofitable
enterprises would not be
propped up.
• Prices were to reflect market
forces more realistically.
• State bureaucracies were to
be trimmed.
Perestroika
• By 1991 the whole
economy should
have been on the
new system, with
growth accelerating
as motivation
increased and
investment came
on stream.
Perestroika
• Reform did not go
unchallenged.
• Hard-line communists said
Gorbachev was destroying
socialism.
• Liberals claimed he wasn’t
moving fast enough.
• Managers did not know how
to work in an open market
and many did not care to
learn.
• The system was geared to
monopolies, so no real
competition existed anyway.
Perestroika
• Workers also
resisted change
as job security
was threatened.
• Prices rose
faster than
wages.
Perestroika
• Boris Yeltsin, a long time
supporter of Gorbachev,
broke with him, calling
for faster reform.
• Gorbachev himself
seemed to draw back as
reform brought not
increased, but decreased
production and labour
disputes grew.
Effects of Glasnost
• Glasnost opened up old
wounds.
• New questions were asked
about the role of the
Communist Party in Stalin’s
crimes.
• Nationalities also took
advantage of the new
openness to call for radical
reforms.
• If reform was possible in the
Soviet Union, what about in
Soviet satellite states?
Poland
• In 1956 Poland caused the Soviets
almost as much grief as the
Czechs, but Gomulka knew when
to draw back.
• In 1970 he was forced to resign
after riots in Gydnia.
• 1979 saw the wildly popular visit
of Polish Pope John Paul II.
• In 1980 trouble occurred after
food shortages and industrial
unrest erupted – particularly at
the huge Gdansk Shipyard.
Poland
• The troubles forced the
Polish leader, Gierek, to
recognize the right to
strike and to legalize the
new independent trade
union, Solidarity.
• Led by electrician Lech
Walesa, the union won
significant concessions.
Poland
• Soon after, Gierek was
replaced by Kania, who
was, in turn, replaced by
General Wojceich
Jaruzelski.
• Jaruzelski introduced
martial law and tried to
break the union. Walesa
was imprisoned.
Poland
• Try as he might, the General could
not break the union.
• Key to its survival was the support
of the union by the Catholic
church.
• Church leaders cooperated with
the underground union,
distributing its literature, providing
communications and hiding
equipment and activists.
• Eventually the Polish government
decided to negotiate.
Poland
• Talks between the
government and Solidarity
union-led opposition
resulted in semi-free
elections in the country
and a transitional
government created.
• Soon a Solidarity based
coalition came to power
and Lech Walesa became
the first non-Communist
leader since the War.
Poland
• August 19, 1989 marked
the date of the first
non-Communist
government in Poland
since 1945.
• It was only possible
because Soviet leader
Mikhael Gorbachev
refused to invoke the
Brezhnev Doctrine.
Hungary
• The Hungarian road to greater
freedom was less calamitous.
• The lessons of 1956 taught that
only small steps to reform
were possible (until the
Gorbachev years),
consequently Hungarian
governments stayed clear of
political change and focussed
on greater consumerism –
what came to be known as
Goulash Communism.
Hungary
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Events in Poland triggered change that
even Hungary’s goulash communists
could not survive.
In January, 1989 a Polish Communist
leader announced that the events of 1956
were a “people’s uprising.” This was not
approved by the politburo.
Hungary’s communist leaders were
divided, but radical reformers prevailed.
On October 7, the Hungarian Socialist
Worker Party dissolved itself and was
refounded as the Hungarian Socialist
Party – a western style social democratic
party.
Hard-line communists split off as the
Hungarian Communist Worker’s Party.
Romania
• In the 1960’s Romania
seemed to prosper, based
on oil and wheat production.
• At the same time, its leader,
Ceaucescu, tried to distance
himself from the Soviet
Union.
– Russian was dropped as a
compulsory school subject
in 1962.
– Ties with the West and
China were increased.
Romania
• Ceaucescu’s gamble did
not pay off.
• Borrowed western money
was frittered away
through corruption and
incompetence.
• Ceaucescu’s regime
became increasingly
repressive, as other
Eastern Bloc regimes
opened up.
Romania
• Ethnic Hungarians were a
particular target.
• Many fled to nearby Hungary.
• Others risked all to protest in
the streets of their
Transylvanian cities, most
notably in Timisoara.
• Enraged by Securitate murders
of demonstrators, peaceful
demonstrations turned into
riots.
Romania
• Riots turned to revolution as
army forces joined the
demonstrators.
• Ceaucescu was shouted down as
he attempted to make a speech
before a crowd of supposed
supporters.
• Booing and whistling was
followed by chants of “Ti-misoa-ra.”
• He retreated from the podium.
Romania
• Media announced the death of
Defense Minister Vasile Milea.
• Milea had committed suicide, but
the military believed him
murdered for refusing orders to
fire on civilians.
• Military support of the revolution
went from spotty to general.
• Another attempt to speak to the
people was turned back by stones
and other missiles.
Romania
• The crowd now stormed the
palace.
• Ceacescu, his wife and a few
close supporters narrowly
escaped by helicopter from
the roof.
• Their escape was foiled
when they were forced
down by the army.
• Taken into custody, they
were placed on trial on
December 25.
Romania
• The result was as expected –
condemnation and death by public
execution.
• It was to have been televised, but the
eager volunteers carried out the act
too quickly for the television
cameramen to film it. However, other
film exists – see left.
• Ion Iliescu, a former communist,
headed a government calling itself the
National Salvation Front.
• Romania’s Communist Party simply
dissolved.
Albania
• Originally willing to follow
the Stalinist line despite not
relying on Soviet troops to
liberate it in WW2, the
Albanians later chose to split
from the Soviets.
• Albanian leader Enver Hoxha
resented Khrushchev’s break
from the Stalinist line. He
severed relations with the
USSR in 1968.
Albania
• Albania did stay in the Warsaw Pact
until 1968 – but then achieved an
alliance with China.
• This collapsed when China too went
on a revisionist path under Deng
Xiaoping.
• The Albanians were left alone – and
were the last European Communist
country to reject Socialism.
• Hoxha died in 1985 and some reform
was introduced. Even hermitic Albania
could not escape the calamitous
events of 1989. Fearing the same fate
as Ceacescu, Communist chief Ramiz
Alia allowed free elections
Albania
• The transition to a free
market was particularly
difficult for Albania.
• The government collapsed in
1997 with the inevitable
collapse of pyramid selling
schemes.
• When the army attempted to
put down rebellion, this too
failed – due to corruption in
the military.
• Eventually order was
restored.
East Germany
• Germans lived with, but
were not reconciled to a
divided country.
• Families were separated
by a barbed wire and
landmine filled border.
• It was increasingly clear
that the West was
prospering and the East
stagnating.
East Germany
• The failure of the Soviets
to push the West out of
Berlin made the contrast
apparent to all in the
East.
• For years, many in the
East wanted out and
some were desperate
enough to risk
everything in daring
breaks.
• 70 people lost their lives
in the attempt
East Germany
• In the 1980s the Cold War
began to that – largely
through the efforts of
Gorbachev.
• Reform in the Soviet Union
had side-effects in the Soviet
satellites as it was clear that
Gorbachev was less and less
inclined to enforce the
Brezhnev Doctrine.
• In 1988 Gorbachev declared
that the Brezhnev Doctrine
was dead.
East Germany
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Goulash Communism in Hungary
brought increasingly open borders
between it and the West as
Hungarian leaders saw travel as a
safety valve.
Many East Germans saw Hungary
as a back daw to the West.
West German television, watched
in the East, announced Hungary
allowed free movement between it
and Austria.
East Germans flooded into
Hungary only to find that travel
was not open for them. Many
found themselves stranded there
or in Czechoslovakia – another
possible exit point.
East Germany
• On October 6, 1989
East Germans were
to celebrate their
40th anniversary as
a country – with
Mikhail Gorbachev
in attendance.
East Germany
• Gorbachev embarrassed
his hosts when he noted
that STASI agents
seemed to outnumber
the public at official
ceremonies.
• Gorbachev pushed E.
German leader Honecker
to initiate reforms, saying
“life punishes those who
lag behind.”
East Germany
• On October 8 a protest
was staged in Leipzig
with thousands
attending.
• Similar protests
elsewhere brought
hundreds of thousands
into the streets.
• The East German
government was taken
aback, not knowing what
to do.
East Germany
• As a gesture, many E.
Germans in Czechoslovakia
were allowed to go on to the
West.
• On November 9, East
German television
announced: “The citizens of
the GDR are as from now
free to move wherever and
whenever they want.”
• This surprised everyone and
so many E. Germans rushed
out that cartoons
encouraged the last to leave
to turn out the lights.
East Germany
• West Germany
announced that
DM100 would be
given to every E.
German arrival.
• Numbers grew larger
as exhilarated
“Ossies” celebrated
their new freedom.
East Germany
• Crowds of Ossies and
Wessies congregated around
the Berlin Wall.
• On November 11 the first
concrete slab was removed
as the mob cheered.
• More and more openings
were made to facilitate
travel and the crowd helped
tear away more with picks
and sledgehammers.
• E. German border guards
stood aside, not knowing
what to do and waiting for
directions that never came.
East Germany
• With the East German government
in complete disarray and no
support from the Soviet Union
forthcoming, the GDR leadership
simply gave up.
• On November 28, West German
Chancellor Helmut Kohl presented
a bill before the Bundestag
establishing a framework for the
integration of the GDR into the
Federal Republic.
• On August 31, 1990 German
Reunification was agreed.
• October 3, 1990 was declared
Unity Day.
• The real work of unifying two into
one would be more difficult.
The Soviet Collapse
• The Soviet leadership found independent thinking hard
to limit at home.
• Economic problems and disasters like Chernobyl and
the Aral Sea meant many questioned authority.
The Soviet Collapse
• Nationalist discontent
boiled over in the Soviet
Baltic states as the 3
republics seemed to favour
breaking away from the
USSR.
• In the Caucasus Armenians
and Azeris were locked in a
bloody civil war.
• Gorbachev’s answer was to
work toward creating a
new union treaty for the
USSR.
The Soviet Collapse
• Many Soviet leaders felt
Gorbachev was letting
everything spin out of
control.
• Hard-liners finaly had
enough when on August
18, 1991 the Soviet
President was placed
under house arrest at his
dacha on the Black Sea –
just as Khrushchev had
been a quarter of a
century earlier.
The Soviet Collapse
• The Coup leaders sought to
assert control, but were
not up to the task.
• They were inept and out of
touch with the population.
• Worse, they faced a
formidable opponent when
Boris Yeltsin, President of
the Russian Republic, stood
up to them – with support
from some of the Soviet
military in Moscow.
The Soviet Collapse
• Yeltsin bravely called on
the people of Moscow to
resist the coup and to
surround the Russian
Federation headquarters,
the so-called “white
house,” with a human
shield.
• Hundreds of thousands,
perhaps more than a
million, did so.
The Soviet Collapse
• Coup leaders ordered Soviet
military forces to seize the
white house and capture or
kill Yeltsin.
• Instead, many hoisted
Russian ensigns as a sign of
their new allegiance,
turning their gun barrels
outward.
• It is claimed that two
generals even threatened to
bomb the Kremlin, where
the coup leaders were
located, if the white house
were stormed.
The Soviet Collapse
• Yeltsin also
garnered the
support of foreign
leaders.
• The coup fizzled
and its leaders
were all arrested or
committed suicide.
The Soviet Collapse
• Gorbachev was freed
and returned to
Moscow – but the
events of 1991 had
marginalized him.
• The entire fabric of
the USSR began to
unravel.
The Soviet Collapse
• Gorbachev tried to put
together a new union
treaty, but it came to
nothing.
• Yeltsin and Ukrainian
President Krawchuck
sought a looser
federation – the
Commonwealth of
Independent States.
• They got what they
wanted.
The Soviet Collapse
• A new federation existed in
name, but in reality it was
largely a fiction.
• Nationalism was triumphant
– leading to trouble
between successor states.
• The future of the Soviet
Black Sea fleet hung in the
balance – along with its high
tech nuclear arsenal.
• Territorial boundaries were
disputed between many
newly independent
republics.
Conclusions
• Soviet Communism and its
Eastern European
derivatives proved unable to
adapt to much needed
reforms.
• Overly bureaucratic in
politics and economics, it
simply could not overcome
inertia without toppling
completely.
• At its heart, the foremost
members of the CPSU had
lost faith in their own
ideology as it was practiced.
Conclusions
• New technologies made it
impossible to keep out
information.
• Satellites and photocopiers,
fax machines and modems
rendered censorship nearly
impossible.
• Magnitizdat replaced
Samizdat.
• Reformers promised the
world; hard-liners promised
only more of the same stale
menu.
Conclusions
• When the coup leaders –
Yanayev, Yazov, Pugo and
others tried to restore
Stalinism, they lacked the
resolve of the long dead
Georgian. Yanaev spent most
of the coup days in a fear
induced alcoholic stupor.
• Besides, Gorbachev’s changes
had affected the Soviet Union
more than any of them could
understand.
• Even the KGB refused to shed
blood in their name.
Conclusions
• Centrifugal forces, long
suppressed under
communism, resurfaced
and the Communist Party
of the Soviet Union was
no longer strong enough
to contain them.
• The result was collapse.
What would replace it?
finis