Factors that Triggered the Collapse of the Communist States in Eastern Europe - Case Study Example

 “Factors that Triggered the Collapse of Communist States in Eastern Europe back in 1989” Introduction For more than 40 years, the East Central Europe particularly in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia were very much controlled by dictatorial communist leaders. (Rupnik; U.S. Department of State) Aiming to be free from a communist leadership, it took Poland, Hungary, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia ten years, ten months, ten weeks, and ten days respectively to plan for a strategic way to win democracy. (Ash: p. 19, 78) Because of the joint forces exerted by the solidarity1, the anti-communist trade union as well as social movement, communism in Poland ended back on June 1989. (Ash: pp. 44 – 45) Upon reading the explanation provided in “The Magic Lantern” by Timothy Garton Ash; “The Walls Came Tumbling Down” by Gale Strokes; and “A Carnival of Revolution” by Padraic Kenney, the student will summarize the arguments and key factors suggested by each author that has significantly triggered the collapse of communist states in Eastern Europe back in 1989. Prior to conclusion, these factors will be compared and contrast. “The Magic Lantern” by Timothy Garton Ash Upon discussing the major factors that caused the collapse of communist states in Eastern Europe, Ash discussed the specific events that took place in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia by specifically writing down his own personal experiences combined with some facts he has gathered from its local citizens. These factors includes: (1) Unity of the people through strikes (pp. 15 – 16); (2) Unprecedented ‘Round Table’ talks which lead to further negotiations and the final agreement of an early election (p. 17); (3) the long-term economic decline; and (4) participation of highly intellectual individuals such as doctors, engineers, teachers, and journalists which strengthens the influence of the Solidarity activists (p. 33). Since most workers were not happy by the way the authorities was leading the people, a strike occurred in Eastern Europe back in May 1988 followed by another bigger strike which focused on gaining solidarity three months later (p. 15 – 16). Under the leadership of Lech Wal’gsa, he made use of his full authority to control the strikes which ended up torturing some of the strikers for four months. (p. 16) Due to the continuous political negotiations between the communist party and the opposition, the ‘Round Table’ talks lead to the final agreement of an early election made the Solidarity group won the June election. (p. 17 – 18) In case the Solidarity group failed to unit themselves through the active participation of the highly respected professionals among others (p. 33), the Eastern Europe may not be able to win their freedom under the power of the communist leaders. For this reason, the active participation of the ‘society’ which includes individual who are not manipulated by the communist party for some reason is considered the key factor made the opposition won against the communist party. (pp. 145 – 147) After Poland was able to free themselves from the political control of communist party, the similar events took place in Hungary, East Germany, and Czechoslovakia which resulted to the collapse of the Berlin wall and the revolution in Prague among others. (pp. 23) “The Walls Came Tumbling Down” by Gale Strokes In like with going through the historical events that made most of the Eastern Europeans go through traumatic experiences in the hands of the communists (p. 15 – 17), Strokes discussed about how the communist government made use of coercion, compulsion, force, and violence as they fought against the opposition who were decided to take the communist groups out of political control. (p. 12) Stroke stated that the workers’ collaboration for a national strike started back in early 1980s at the Warski Shipyard in Szczecin where the strike committees were officially elected. (p. 17) Upon takling the historical events that occurred in Eastern Europe in the first part of the book, the author discussed three major fault lines that contributes to the division of the Eastern Europe from the Western Europe making the Eastern part of Europe less developed as compared to the West. Eventually, the author also provided a thorough narrative explanation with regards to Brezhnev and his counterpart’s participation in the need for Eastern Europe to gain economic and political reforms. In the process, the author discussed the limitations of using the political development model of Barrington Moore as a way of explaining why Eastern Europe needs democracy. (p. 37) Aside from discussing the historical events that occurred in Prague Spring in Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania back in the later part of 1970s as well as the East Germany and the solidarity movement in Poland back in 1980s; the author discussed the reasons opposition side that leads to the revolution in Eastern Europe (p. 158). “A Carnival of Revolution” by Padraic Kenney Prior to describing the main causes the contribute to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe, Kenney (2002: 25) discussed about the negative effects of communism in terms of doing business in the country including the brutal treatment a communist government had on its opponents. In line with this matter, the author described how the Europeans some of the Catholic priests as well as the members of the opposition group were adbuct, beaten, tortured, and murdered during the martial law back in 1983. (p. 26) Basically, the author considered the human violation as the main factor that made the European decide to make a thorough plan on how they could drive out the communist leaders from their position in the government. Since most most of the Western obeservers believe that Gorbachev and Vaclav Havel played a crucial role in strengthening the power of the opposition group in Poland, Kenney exerted an effort in determining the real reason that triggered the collapse of communist states in Eastern Europe. In line with this matter, Kenney concluded that the real cause of Eastern Europe’s revolution is because of a ‘carnival’ of diverse players within the society that made serious action in freeing the people from the control of the communist regimes. As part of the unified effort, young activists also participated in the campaign for democracy. Comparison of Each Version Even though the authors are pertaining to the same factors that contribute to the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, each author has their own unique way of describing the incidence that has occurred in the past. Ash wrote “The Magic Lantern” by writing down his own personal experience as well as the personal interviews he conducted with the Europeans while he was in the country during the time the incidence occurred whereas Stroke made use of recent interviews with the Eastern Europeans combined with the Western sources he has gathered through research work. Through intensive research, Stroke was able to provide a more narrative and comprehensive view on factors that made the Eastern European communism collapse. In the case of Kenney, he wrote the book entitled “A Carnival of Revolution” through a personal interview with the major participants of the union movements as he focused not only in the role of Gorbachev and Vaclav Havel but also the rest of the opposition group in Poland. Stroke discussed a brief overview with regards to the emotional, intellectual, and physical burden that most of the Eastern Europeans had experienced in the hands of the communist leaders. (Linden; Stroke: p. 12) Similar to the description provided by Strokes, Kenney also discussed about the negative impact of having a communist group of leaders in terms of doing business within the country, the suppressing the people’s freedom of speech, aside from the brutal treatment a communist government had on the Catholic priests and its opponents (p. 25). Between Stroke and Ash, Stroke provided more details that occurred in the history of Eastern Europe which started in 1968. Basically, the book written by Ash is very much shorter and straight forward as compared with the version that was written by Strokes. For this reason, Ash failed to provide a complete explanation with regards to what really happened in Eastern Europe years before the communism in Eastern Europe fell in terms of the social economic and cultural experiences of the people. In comparison to the book written by Ash, Strokes (1993: p. 17) provided more explanations that made the European workers decided to form the ‘independent trade unions dependent on working class’ which eventually took place over the ‘party-dominated Central Trade Union Council’ as well as the formation of the ‘Solidarity’s Interfactory Strike Committee’ against the communist leaders. In the version of Ash (pp. 15 – 16), the author simply stated that a group of workers started a strike against the communism through solidarity meetings that first occurred in a coal mine. Contrary to the version of Ash, Stroke stated that the formation of the plan for national strike took place at the Warski Shipyward in Szczecin where the workers voted for their strike committees. (p. 17) The work of Ash is shorter and straight forward as compared with the works of Strokes and Kenney. For this reason, Ash was able to focus on the significant groups and individuals who took part in the movements that made the communism in Eastern Europe collapse. Ash highlighted the importance of solidarity over the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe (p. 15) whereas Kenney suggest that the active participation of a ‘carnival’ of diverse players within the society did the trick. In the case of Stroke, the author provided his personal argument with regards to the possible cause of communism collapse in Eastern Europe. In line with this matter, Strokes argues that solidarity is not the only factor that contributes to the revolution in Eastern Europe. He added that the middle class population in Hungary and the presence of the organizations has something to do with their winning. For this reason, Strokes suggest the need to not only focus on the social relations or economic condition of the Eastern Europe but also the importance of ‘autonomous power. (p. 158) Despite the differences in the way the authors presented how the Eastern European suffered from the communist leaders, all three authors agreed that the maltreatment most of these people had received from the government made their decision firm to protest against the government through strengthening a massive strike. One way or the other, Ash, Strokes, and Kenney highlighted the importance and impact of the active participation intellectual individuals including the presence of Mikhail Gorbachev, Imre Pozsgay, as well as the religious group in the fight for solidarity in each of the Communist states in the Eastern Europe. On top of these common ideas, Strokes strongly believe that the root cause that led to the collapse of the communist states in Eastern Europe is the alienation of the people from the existing communist regimes. (p. 170) In line with this matter, Gorbachev is considered one of the famous personalities that played an important role in making the people liberate from the communist regimes among others. Conclusion Each author had their own unique way of discussing the recollection process and peaceful revolution that occurred in Eastern Europe in exchange for their desire to have a democratic form of government. Among the three authors considered in this study, only Ash was able to provide his own personal point-of-view since his profession as a journalist made him able to experience the non-violent civil disobedience that occurred in the Eastern Europe. In the process, Ash was able to carefully observe negotiation that existed between the communist leaders and the opposition. Despite the differences, the authors acknowledge that the unity of the Eastern Europeans together with the active participation of political personalities like Mikhail Gorbachev and Imre Pozsgay as well as the intellectuals, the youth, and religious groups among others made the Europeans won over the communist leaders without the need to shred blood through violence. Through the unity of the people, a snap election unsuppressed the oppositions from their desire to become in-charge of the political power and granted the people with democracy. For this reason, historical event that happened in Eastern Europe is considered as one rare political case wherein presidential election has been proven to serve its main purpose of making a government body legitimate. *** End *** References: Ash, Timothy Garton. The Magic Lantern: The Revolution of '89 Witness Warsaw, Budapest, Berlin, and Prague. New York: Vintage Books, 1993. Kenney, Padraic. A Carnival of Revolution: Central Europe 1989. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2002. Linden, Ronald H. "The Walls Came Tumbling Down: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. by Gale Stokes." Slavic Review (1994): Vol. 53, No. 4 (Winter, 1994), pp. 1144 - 1145. Rupnik, Jacques. "Eurozine." 2008. Populism in Eastern Central Europe. 24 July 2008 . Strokes, Gale. The Walls Came Tumblind Down: The Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. "U.S. Department of State." 2008. Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, 1989. 23 July 2008 . Read More