Overthrow of Communism in Hungary and Czechoslovakia - Essay Example

Overthrow of Communism in Hungary and Czechoslovakia The cold war between America and Soviet Union was intensified after the Second World War. Both of them tried immensely to expand their territories and influences across the world. Soviet Union succeeded in controlling Eastern Europe whereas America succeeded in controlling Western Europe. In most of the Eastern European countries, people were against communism; however, the superior military power and influence of Soviet Union prevented them from fighting against communism. In fact, Soviet Union was the invisible ruler in eastern European communist countries and the domestic administrations functioned as toy governments of Soviet Union. Hungary and Czechoslovakia are two eastern European countries which suffered a lot under the communist administration. People in these countries are highly religious and communist teachings were unacceptable to them. Moreover, the totalitarian administrative style of communism was unacceptable to the people in these countries. The destruction of communism in Soviet Union brought a golden opportunity to people in these countries to expel communism from their territories. This paper analyses major reasons for the overthrow of communism in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. The defeat of Hungary in the Second World War resulted in Soviet occupation in Hungary. Hungary never favored communism even though they forced to become a communist state under the influence of Soviet Union. Hungarians tried to expel communism from their soil many times; however, the Soviet controlled communist administration in Hungary succeeded in suppressing such agitations using iron fist. The most important revolt against the communist administration happened in 1956. In fact Soviet Union initially thought about withdrawing its troops from Hungary after watching the strength of the agitation; however they changed their minds later and crushed the revolution with the help of armed forces. It is believed that more than 20,000 Hungarian agitators were killed by the Soviet troops during this encounter. “An estimated 200000 people- over 2 percent of the population- fled Hungary in the aftermath of Soviet occupation” (Judit, p.314). Other rebels who opted to stay in Hungary forced to suffer death from the hands of the Soviet troops. The mascaras of Soviet troops during this revolt created immense displeasure against communism in the minds of Hungarians. In other words the support for communism started to decrease after the bloody revolt in 1956. Even though Hungarians, disliked communism from the beginning itself, the case of Czechoslovakia was slightly different. Many of the Czechs welcomed Russians as liberators (Judit, p.125). The administration in Czechoslovakia before the arrival of Russians was not so good which forced Czechs to welcome Russians as their saviors. In fact Czechoslovakia was the closest ally of Soviet Union in Eastern Europe after the Second World War. However, Czechs gradually realized the dangers of communism gradually. Hungary and Czechoslovakia were the biggest trading partners of Soviet Union after WW 2. However, it was Moscow which set the prices for the finished industrial products exported from these countries to Soviet Union (Judit, p.159). In other words, Moscow tried to exploit the resources of Hungary and Czechoslovakia using their superior political, economic and military power. These exploitations resulted in underdevelopments in these countries and normal life became extremely difficult. While most of the other democratic countries in Europe started to develop immensely after WW2, communist Hungary and Czechoslovakia failed miserably in catching up with those countries. In short, the living standards of the people in Hungary and Czechoslovakia started to decline under the communist administration and the dissatisfaction against the communist administrations started to grow. The thought about freedom in Czechoslovakia was intensified in 1960’s as many of the intellectuals and scholars expressed their wish for freedom through their artistic works and literature during this period. Communism argued for socialist economic principles in which private capital or wealth was disallowed. However, these principles were often remained in papers alone. For example, “In Soviet Union, as in Poland or in Hungary, socialism depended for its survival upon the illicit capitalist economy” (Judit, p.419). In other words, most of the economic policies and principles put forward by communism were good on papers alone, but in practice, these principles failed miserably. Even in Soviet Union, the gap between the rich and poor increased a lot under the communist administration. Even after decades of communist rule, the communist administration failed to bring true socialism either in Hungary or in Czechoslovakia. In fact corruption, biases and prejudices were more in these countries than in other democratic countries. In democratic countries, people can at least question or fight against corruption. However, such rights were denied to Hungarians and Czechs since they forced to lead a life just like slaves. It is difficult for human to live like slaves for longer periods. The thoughts about freedom, dignity, liberty etc are inherited in human blood. Hungarians and Czechoslovakians were also not different. The humiliations suffered from the hands of communism converted majority of the Hungarians and Czechs as anticommunists. The attitude of communism towards religions and Gods were not positive which is another reason for the ouster of communism from Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Majority of the people in Hungary and Czechoslovakia were Christians and they were not ready to sacrifice their religious beliefs even though they forced to lead their life under communist administration. Communism and religions can never go in parallel direction because of some core differences in their teachings. Communists were atheists and they discard the existence of life after death or God. On the other hand, it is difficult for laymen to accept these teachings because of the uncertainties prevailing about life after death. No science or technology succeeded in unveiling the miseries around life after death. In other words, the uncertainties about life after death motivated ordinary people to believe in God and religions. It was unacceptable to the people in these countries to accept the communist doctrines with respect to religion and beliefs. According to communist principles, religion is a tool used by the ruling class to cement their upper hand over the working class. Karl Marx argued that religion is a drug which prevent human from identifying the truth and realities of human life. Communism never allowed Hungarians or Czechs to demonstrate their religious beliefs. The elimination of churches from the mainstreams of Hungarian and Czechoslovakian social life caused displeasure in the minds of religious people against communism. The Czechs realized before the Second World War that Soviet Union was more interested in safeguarding their interests rather than that of other communist countries. This was evident when Sudetenland crisis developed before Second World War. After attaining economic and military power, Germany started its territorial expansion efforts by putting forward their claim for a Czechoslovakian territory, Sudetenland, populated mostly by ethnic Germans. Soviet Union remained silent and never come forward for the rescue of the Czechs. The British Prime Minister Chamberlain flew to Germany and signed an agreement with Hitler to accept the demands of Hitler in order to avoid a possible war. Czechoslovakia was forced to surrender its disputed land to Germany mainly because of Soviet Union’s reluctance in supporting Czechoslovakia on that crisis situation. Thus the feeling against communism and Soviet Union was inherited in the bloods of Czechs even before the WW 2. “In Czechoslovakia, it is estimated that there were 100000 political prisoners in a population of 13 million people in early 1950’s” (Judit, p.180). Those who raised any protest against communist administration were imprisoned even without a fair trial. Judiciary had no power in Hungary or Czechoslovakia during the communist administration periods. In fact communists have no respect towards judiciary or criminal justice system since they know that no written codes of judicial systems support communist principles. Man is a social animal who like to express his views and opinion freely. However, communism never grants such freedom to human. Communism always likes to provide controlled freedom to people whereas people always like to enjoy absolute freedom. In communist Hungary and Czechoslovakia, neither absolute freedom nor controlled freedom was allowed to the public. Judit (2005) has argued that “If the citizens in Soviet Union were powerless after the face of post Stalinist dictatorship, the inhabitants of Hungary and Czechoslovakia were doubly helpless” (Judit, p.422). “As in Hungary, so in Czechoslovakia, communist rule rested uneasily upon the silent memories of a stolen past” (Judit, p.620). The communist rule in Hungary and Czechoslovakia was lasted for around 50 years; however, it failed to penetrate deep into the hearts of the normal people. As mentioned earlier, Russians had not only stolen or exploited the resources of Hungary and Czechoslovakia, but also enforced strong restrictions upon the freedom and liberties of the people. People in these countries started to compare the communist administration with the administrations in the past and they realized that communism was inferior to other forms of administrations The entry of Gorbachev in Soviet Union’s politics brought revolutionary changes not only in Soviet Union, but also in Eastern European countries like Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Gorbachev succeeded in giving a humanitarian face to communism. He has implemented tow revolutionary policies; perestroika and glasnost in Soviet politics which brought dividends to the people in other communist countries also. He has diluted the adamant communist principles and brought transparency and accountability to the administrative procedures. He has respected the people’s right to enjoy freedom and liberties. Gorbachev’s policies helped people in Soviet Union to breathe the air of freedom after a long period. Since Hungary and Czechoslovakia were heavily dependent on Soviet Union, the changes happened in Soviet Union was quickly transferred to these countries as well and finally resulted in the ouster communist administrations. To conclude, communism in Hungary and Czechoslovakia were overthrown because of the failure of communist administrators to respect human dignity, thoughts, freedom, liberty etc. Communism failed to cater the basic necessities of human being and majority of its principles were impractical and these facts were realized by the people in Hungary and Czechoslovakia quite late. Under communist administration, both Hungary and Czechoslovakia failed to develop properly and ordinary life became extremely difficult in these countries during this period. Moreover, communism in Hungary and Czechoslovakia tried to restrict the freedom of people to believe in religions. However, it failed to convince the people that communist principles are superior to religious beliefs. In short, antihuman policies and totalitarian approaches of communist administrations in Hungary and Czechoslovakia finally resulted in the overthrow of communism from these countries. Works Cited 1. Judit, Tony. “Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945”. 2005. Publisher: Penguin Press; 1st edition (October 6, 2005) Read More