Cross-National Studies: Interdisciplinary Research and Training Program (CONSIRT)

Lectures in Eastern Europe

From Communism To Post-Communism

Where When What OutcomeHungary Autumn, 1956 Small revolution against

Stalinist-like authorityIntervention by Soviet troops, roll-back of reforms, repression

Czechoslovakia Spring-Summer 1968

Liberalization of society and political system, non-violent public demonstrations

Intervention by Soviet troops, roll-back of reforms, repression

Poland December 1970 (also 1976)

Strikes and demonstrations against rise in food prices

Polish authorities use violence to end the uprising

Romania August 1977 Miners in Jiu Valley protest low (and non-existent) pay and poor working conditions

Romanian authorities use Securitate agents to identify and arrest the leaders of the opposition, many workers were fired, and promised reforms reneged

Poland August 1980 Strikes against proposed raise in food prices and poor work conditions start in Gdansk shipyards, spread throughout country, creation of Solidarinosc

Polish authorities declare Martial Law until 1983

Major Mass Eastern European Bloc Uprisings 1945 - 1988

Themes from Mass Uprisings Against the Communist System

-- Working class protest and the desire of workers to form trade unions independent of the Communist Party,

-- Liberalization and proposed political reforms met with harsh resistance by authorities within the country and by the Soviet Union,

-- The constant threat of Soviet military intervention.

“history of resistance”

The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe 1989: A Timeline

January

FebruaryPoland: roundtable talks

March

April

May

JunePoland: Elections

July

August

SeptemberPoland: non-Communist government

OctoberHungary: Communist party re-names itself as Socialist Party, becomes non-CommunistCzechoslovakia: Velvet Revolution begins

NovemberEast Germany: Fall of Berlin WallBulgaria: Protests (Communist government falls in January 1990)

DecemberRomania: Violent revolution, Ceasescu „arrested” and executed on Christmas Day.

Theories of the Social Change of 1989

Reagan Won Cold War

Gorbachev Effect/Liberalization Theory

Failure of Socialist Economy

What does the fall of communism in 1989 mean geographically?

Dissolution of states means that they disappear from current maps:

-The Soviet Union does not exist anymore; Russia is the only formal successor of the USSR.

-Czechoslovakia no longer is a political entity; we have the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

-Yugoslavia divided into Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia

- The German Democratic Republic was incorporated into the Federal Republic of Germany, and on the map we have simply Germany.

"People here feel a real schizophrenia... No one wants to go back to the days of dictatorship, but at the same time we're not really happy with the new system. It's full of challenges for which we were totally unprepared... From a purely economic standpoint things are definitely better than before, although far too many of our people have lost their jobs. But even those who have jobs and have cars and take nice vacations are worried about what is happening to our society. Brutal competition and the lust for money are destroying our sense of community. Almost everyone feels a level of fear or depression or insecurity.„ -- Rev. Christian Fuhrer of Germany, 1994

"No one on either side of the wall had any idea how far apart we had grown in 40 years...Only now are we beginning to understand it. I can tell you that if West Germany had absorbed Italy or France, the problems would have been far less than they are with the absorption of East Germany... Imagine if the United States, overnight, had to adopt the entire Chinese bureaucratic, legal, political and economic system... That gives you an idea of how traumatic the change has been over here." -- Heinrich Lehmann-Grube, Mayor of Leipzig, Germany, 1994