Brave New World: Communism on Trial 26 Brave New World: Communism on Trial

Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union

The Postwar Soviet Union Economic recovery New five-year plan, 1946 Create a new industrial base Growth of heavy industry over consumer goods Paranoia of Stalin contributes to repression Stalin dies in 1953 and succeeded by Georgy Malenkov who quickly fell to rival Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) Political reform Agricultural reform Problems De-Stalinization Foreign policy failures Forced to retire due to “deteriorating health” in 1964

The Brezhnev Years, 1964-1982 Leonid Brezhnev (1906-1982) Stability over reform Cautious attempts at reform Stagnant industrial and agricultural economy A Controlled Society Revival of Stalinism Restrictive policy against Soviet Critics Andrei Sakharov and Alexander Solzhenitsyn Free expression restricted Pravada (Truth) and Izvestia (News)

A Stagnant Economy Brezhnev’s problems Absence of incentives Athletic achievement prized Senior officials get perquisites

An Aging Leadership Yuri Andopov (1914-1984) Konstantin Chernenko (1911-1985)

Cultural and Society in the Soviet Bloc Cultural Expression Literary and scientific expression dependent on the state Follow the party line No criticism of existing social conditions Soviet literature Boris Pasternak (1890-1960), Doctor Zhivago Alexander Solzhenitsyn (b. 1918) Eastern European states varied from country to country Desire to create a classless society stripped the ruling class of their special status Changes in education Emergence of a new elite Women Not equal Make up half the workforce Traditional roles in the home remained

The States of Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.

The Disintegration of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1931) Gorbachev Era Perestroika (restructuring) Glasnost (openness) Political reforms Call for a new Soviet parliament, 1988 Congress of People’s Deputies elected 1989 Political parties authorized, 1990 Gorbachev become the first president of the Soviet Union, March 1990 1988-1991 nationalist movements erupt December 25, 1991, Gorbachev resigns and turns power over to Boris Yeltsin, president of Russia

The New Russia: From Empire to Nation Russia under Boris Yeltsin Committed to introducing a free market economy New constitution, 1993 Hard-line resistance Problems Growing economic inequality, rampant corruption, and Chechnya Yeltsin resigned at the end of 1999; replaced by Vladimir Putin Vowed to end corruption and strengthen the role of the government in managing the state Sought to bring Chechnya back under Russian control Centralized authority and silenced critics

Eastern Europe: From Soviet Satellites to Sovereign Nations Poland Solidarity Free parliamentary elections, 1988 President freely elected by the populace, December, 1990 Hungary Attempts at economic reform in the 1980s Elections, March 1990 Czechoslovakia Charter 77 Communist government collapses, December, 1989 East Germany Oppressive regime of Erich Honecker led to massive demonstrations Government opened the border with the west; Berlin Wall torn down Germany reunited

The People’s Republic of China ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.

The East is Red: China Under Communism New Democracy Patterned after Lenin’s New Economic Policy Two-thirds of peasant households received land People’s tribunals against landlords and rich farmers The Transition to Socialism First Five-Year plan, 1953 Collectivization initiated, 1955 Great Leap Forward, 1958-1960 Collectives combined to form people’s communes A failure; 15 million died of starvation

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution Red Guard Policy disagreements Mao wanted to erase any capitalist values and the remnants of “feudalist” Confucian ideas Eliminated any profit incentives Established a new school system that stressed practical education at the expense of science and the humanities Tried to destroy all traditional society Destruction of temples, religious sculptures, even street names

From Mao to Deng Death of Mao in September 1976 brought a struggle for succession and the end of the Cultural Revolution Leadership of Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) Four modernizations – industry, agriculture, technology, defense Progress in ending problems of poverty and underdevelopment Did not include democracy

Incident at Tiananmen Square Increased criticism over corruption, nepotism, favored treatment of senior officials, and inflation May 1989 student protests Army crushes the movement and demonstrators harshly punished

From Marx to Confucius? Jiang Zemin followed Deng Xiaoping Rapid economic growth and control of dissent New emphasis on Confucianism Growing unrest among China’s national minorities

Popular Demonstrations at Tiananmen Square, Spring 1989 ©2004 Wadsworth, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Thomson Learning™ is a trademark used herein under license.

Economics in Command Post-Mao leader have placed economic performance over ideological purity Attempts to stimulate industrial sector Tolerate emergence of a small private sector Opened up the country to foreign investment and technology Stress educational reform Changes in agriculture Standard of living improved Problems Increasingly affluent middle class Closing of state-run factories has led to millions of workers being dismissed each year Environmental impact

Social Changes Women permitted to vote and participate in the political process Equal rights with men in marriage Worked to destroy the influence of the traditional family system Great Leap Forward Post-Maoism shift away from revolutionary utopianism Dress, religion, social change, socialist realism, literature, and art Religious practices were allowed Problems that come with a more open society

China’s Changing Culture Emphasis on social realism but it did not extinguish the influence of traditional culture During Cultural Revolution Literature Released from social realism by the death of Mao In painting an interest in traditional and Western forms Literature was to express views on the mistakes of the past Bai Hua, Bitter Love, critical of the excesses of the Cultural Revolution

Discussion Questions What kinds of reforms did Nikita Khrushchev advocate? What led to his fall from power? What were the most important social changes in the postwar Soviet Union? What challenges did Gorbachev face in his efforts to introduce reforms in the Soviet Union? Why is Confucianism so appealing to China’s current leaders?