1. Revolutions of 1989

2. 3 Pillars of Soviet System Principle of Soviet Military Domination / Security of Region Socialist Command Economy Sole Rule of Communist Party

3. Protest in the Eastern Block 1953: East German 1956: Poland / Hungary 1968: Czechoslovakia

4. Case Study: Poland Population: 25 million (1950) to 35 million (1980) Migration from countryside to cities: 24% (1950), 41% (1980) Consumption: # of televisions increase from 10/1000 people to 230/1000 people (1960- 1980). Numbers are roughly similar to Spain for the same time period. By 1970-75, real wages are up 40%. At the same time, meat consumption up 50%. How? Food subsidies.

5. Source: Bushnell & Leonard, Germany Divided and Reunited 1945-91 (2009)

6. Tiananmen Square, Apr. ‘89

7. Perestroika (‘restructuring’): relaxed production quotas and introduced some free enterprise. Glasnost (‘openness’): greater freedom of the press & transparency in government agencies. 1988: Withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan & 50% reduction of military presence in Eastern Europe. July 1989: End to the ‘Brezhnev Doctrine’. Mikhail Gorbachev General Secretary of the Russian Communist Party 1985-1991

8. Soviet Reforms Sept. 1986: Amnesty given to Polish prisoners. Sept. 1988: Gorbachev closed down central committee dept. responsible for centralizing Communist Parties in E. Europe. Dec. 1988: Gorbachev renounces threat of force as form of foreign policy.

9. No Tiananmen Square April 1989: Soviet troops begin to withdraw from Hungary May 1989: Hungary begins to defortify border with Austria Oct. ‘89: 40th anniversary of the GDR. Gorbachev: “Life punishes those who come to late.”

10. 3 Pillars of Soviet System Principle of Soviet Military Domination / Security of Region Socialist Command Economy Sole Rule of Communist Party

11. Political Dissent in East Germany Growing dissatisfaction throughout the 1980s. While other Communist states (eg. Poland & Hungary) embraced Gorbachev’s reforms, the Honecker regime resisted any liberalisation. May 1989: Local election results expose the fraudulent nature of the system & the extent of popular dissatisfaction. Estimated that at least 20% of people voted against the SED’s Party List. Opening of Hungarian border a catalyst for eruption of existing discontent. Existing opposition groups organise & come out in the open in the summer of 1989. Indecision at the top of the SED & the lack of support from abroad (USSR) prevent a crack down.

12. 9 November 1989

13. Revolution Big increment of democracy Return of the Social--separation of state and civil society Market privatization--separation of state and economy Emergence of Post-Communist Lefts