The International Revolt Against Soviet Communism

1. The International Revolt Against Soviet Communism

2. Brezhnev dies in 1982

3. Yuri Andropov 16 months

4. 13 months Konstantin Chernenko

6. March 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev new head of government

7. Gorby feels the country needs a fundamental economic restructuring to overcome the stagnation that had developed

8. Perestroika – a modification of the centrally planned economy • Decentralization • Self-management for industry and agriculture • Incentives for productivity

9. To succeed against the hard liners and bureaucrats he needed the support of the people Wants to get their support by political change Glasnost or openness

10. Glasnost – the right to: *voice the need for change *criticize the government *reexamine past mistakes

11. Gorby’s gradual changes are not enough Worried if he moves too fast he could end up like Krushchev He also knows he needs stronger measures

12. A large part of the free speech becomes criticism of Gorby • Economy is still bad • Not giving enough freedom to the Republics • Same group is still in charge

13. Republics putting lots of pressure on Gorby Ethnic fighting took place between Armenia and Azerbaijan Baltic States remember the freedom before WWII and how 1/3 of their population was deported or killed

14. Gorby willing to set up council to study these matters, but can’t afford to make hardliners mad by doing more than that

15. Gorbachev and the West • Gorby changes old image of USSR as promoter of world revolution • Reduces troops in Eastern Europe • Ends war in Afghanistan • Negotiates arms reduction

16. Gorbachev encourages reform in the Eastern European nations, unaware how far this will go Iron Curtain

17. Gorby supports détente and military reduction to easy the crippling cost of military spending and supporting other communist regimes

18. Changes in Eastern Europe Détente caused more contact with the West Dissidents call for recognition of Human Rights guarenteed by Helsinki Accords

19. Economies had stagnated, with litte investment capital for new industries and a scarcity of consumer goods

20. Poland Poland was ruled strictly, even by communist standards: • Used troops to put down strikes • Persecuted church leaders • 1968 began anti-semitic campaign

21. After food riots in 1970 a reform minded leader is put in place The economy improves due to western loans but shortly it deteriorates due to heavy debt To fight this more goods are exported at the expense of domestic production

22. 1980 rising food prices cause strikes which begin in the shipyards of Gdansk The workers had formed a trade union called Solidarity

24. The leader of the union was Lech Walesa Solidarity will grow to 10 million industrial and agricultural members The Church backs the union, which calls for free elections and a role for Solidarity in the government

26. Under Soviet pressure the party installs General Jaruzelski Jaruzelski imposes martial law, bans Solidarity and arrests its leaders

27. After the situation is calmed and Solidarity appears to be reduced, Jaruzelski eases the restrictions, inpart due to internal/external pressure

28. Labor still unhappy West supports Solidarity Walesa win Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 Church supports it too Among the most vocal Bishop, later Cardinal Karol Wojtyla

29. Pope John Paul II Bishop Wojtyla

30. By the late 80’s economy is still down and resentment is still up Gorby’s reforms make it clear the Brezhnev doctrine is dead, and reform of the party itself is encouraged

31. 1989 Jaruzelski sets up parliamentary elections with all parties able to run for office, but the communists are guaranteed a minimum number of seats Solidarity wins in a landslide Lech Walesa becomes president in 1990

33. Hungary After 1956 Hungary ruled by Janos Kadar While keeping iron political control, Kadar moves away from centralized planning and uses the West for capital investments Hungary has a stronger economy than most of the Soviet Block

34. 1988 Party looks for way to hold on to power in a changing world Dump Kadar, dismantle the party-state apparatus, dissolved the party(make a new socialist party) and encourage elections with multiple parties

35. The new leaders condemned those who called in the Soviets in 56 Nagy’s body is exhumed from a mass grave and given a state funeral NAGY Nagy

36. Hungary allows East Germans in and opens border to Austria so people from East Germany can make their way to the West Tens of thousands of East Germans “vacation” in Hungary and move to West Germany

37. The flight of East Germans spurred a protest movement, with intellectuals, environmentalists and Protestant minister leading In an attempt to stabilize the situation the East German government opened the Berlin Wall November of 1989

40. Instead of stabilizing the situation, it gives greater momentum and the communist government is swept aside and a reform government takes its place

41. The reform socialist government wants a democratic socialism Can’t fight overwhelming factors: *9 million from the East go to West Germany to see family and friends and shop in the more affluent West Most return, but bring desire to be united

42. Second, Helmut Kohl is a master politician He has a step by step plan that cooperates with East Germany He promises a one for one exchange of W. German marks for E. German

43. In the first election in E. Germany the party aligned with Kohl’s Christian Dem. wins and calls for unification Groby agrees after Kohl promises not to develop WMDs and loan money to the Soviets

44. October 1990 the countries merge

45. Romania Ruled since 1965 by Nicolae Ceausescu with help from his family Ruled as a rigid autocracy supported by a large private security force Ceausescu built a cult of personality around himself

46. Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu

47. Ceausescu borrowed from the West to modernize – crippling his economy with dept payments Although in the Warsaw Pact, he broke with Moscow and did not always follow policy

48. He attempts to ignore the upheaval in 1989 but riots in the provinces forced him to act When the army would not kill the demonstrators, he sent his security force which killed hundreds

49. When word spread, there were demonstrations in the capital Security forces battled the army and Ceausescu and his wife fled

50. They are caught, tried and executed by firing squad