The Fall of Communism
Politics and Government in central and Eastern Europe.In this essay, I will examine what Communism is, the factors that have led to the collapse of Communism and how Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.Communism is a political philosophy based upon the principle of collective ownership of both property and the means of production. Communists therefore, view history from the perspective of class struggle and seek to establish a classless society, or in its most ideal form a "dictatorship of the proletariat."1 The idea of a communal society, a fundamental element of communist thought, is not knew, but dates back to the ancient Greeks and was advanced by Plato in his philosophical work the Republic and T. More's Utopia in 1516, which promoted the idea of a communal society.The Industrial Revolution and the severe economic hardships suffered by workers, however, gave rise to socialism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and modern communism emerged from the socialist movement, first as a radical wing of socialism and finally in early twentieth century as a separate and distinct ideology of revolution and collective ownership.
A population that had been tyrannized for decades had little work initiative, nor was it disposed to believe its government's new promises. Before 1989 was over, there were new governments in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Romania and only in Romania was there a violent revolution to overthrow the Communist government. The factors that have contributed to the collapse of Communism were mainly: Economic factors such as the problems of the centralized command economy and the practical impossibility of planning an economy in detail. In the Soviet Union's Eastern European satellites, Gorbachev was highly regarded by populations that had endured over four decades of privation and repression under Communism. The terms glasnost and perestroika came into common use as Gorbachev tried to undo the seven decades of economic stagnation and political repression in the Soviet Union. The economy of the Soviet Union was already declining to a Third World status, in spite of its military might and Andropov sought advice from his best sociologists and economists. Perestroika is usually translated as "restructuring," in the context of economic renewal and is derived from the word for building (stroika) and it implies the rehabilitation of an old structure. With the exception of Georgia, the remaining eleven former Soviet republics formed the Commonwealth of Independent States. The momentous changes that took place in the Soviet Union under the leadership of Mikhail Gorbachev are usually described by two Russian words: glasnost and perestroika. Ideological collapse and the failure of even party ideologists to retain faith in Marxism-Leninism. The failed attempt to turn back the clock in August 1991, by Communist party hard-liners not only further discredited the Communist party, but also led to the destruction of the central controls that had held the Soviet Union together, for over seven decades and by August 1991, the Baltic republics-Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, moved rapidly to claim their independence. Perhaps it was Gorbachev's view that the governments of Eastern Europe should be left to govern as they wish, without outside interference, which both facilitated and encouraged the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe. Domestically, glasnost and perestroika were creating turmoil, but in foreign policy, however, they offered definite advantages. There are many factors which have contributed, over the years, to the collapse of communism, such as the Soviet economic stagnation, the political corruption and the lack of reforms, but the actual collapse of Communism is mainly due to Gorbachev's radical reforms and this is what I am going to focus on.
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