Chapter 8: Current and Former Communist Regimes

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Chapter 8Current and Former Communist Regimes
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Thinking about the Current and Former Communist
Regimes

• Weaknesses of Communist regimes appeared by 1980s
• States relaxed repressive policies
• Factional disputes divided Chinese rulers
• Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of USSR

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Thinking about the Current and Former Communist
Regimes

• Former Communist states declared themselves
  democracies
• Transitions very difficult
• Success stories in Poland, Hungary, and others
• China, Vietnam, North Korea, and Cuba remained
  Communist regimes

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Thinking about Communism

• Marxist-Leninist Regimes in Eastern Europe and
  Asia
• Several Marxist-like regimes in North Africa,
  Arabia, and South America
• The Leninist State
• Communist Party controlled all political life
• Democratic centralism was regime paradigm
• Until 1950s, USSR controlled Communist World
• China and USSR split in late 50s offered an
  alternative model

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Thinking about Communism

• Command Economies
• Government owned and controlled nearly all
  industrial and retail activity
• State planning committees determined output and
  consumption goals
• Benefits of command economies began diminishing
  in late 80s

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Thinking about Communism

• Key Questions
• What contemporary and historical, domestic and
  international forces shaped their development?
• How are decisions made in these countries?
• What role do average citizens play in policy
  making?
• What are the public policies?
• How is political life affected by global forces?
• How could regimes that seemed so strong collapse
  so quickly?
• What have some Communist systems survived?
• What are the political implications of economic
  reform in countries that have kept Communism and
  in those that have abandoned it?
• Why are they all facing much more serious
  domestic and global challenges than any of the
  countries covered in Part 2?

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Socialism, Marxism, Leninism

• Socialism
• Public ownership of means of production
• Substantial material equality
• Economic and political democracy

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Socialism, Marxism, Leninism

• Marxism
• Evolution of society
• Dialectics
• Historical materialism
• Revolution

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Socialism, Marxism, Leninism

• Marxism-Leninism democratic centralism
• Stalinism - totalitarianism
• Expansion
• Third International (Comintern)
• Eastern Europe
• Asia

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Socialism, Marxism, Leninism

• De-Stalinization
• Khrushchevs secret speech (1956)
• Slight loosening of intellectual controls
• Brezhnev era of more control and economic
  stagnation
• No longer a unified Communist movement
• Need to change grew at a time leaders were trying
  to prevent change

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The Marxist-Leninist State

• The Party State
• Secretariat
• Politburo
• nomenklatura
• The Graying of Communism thumbs and fingers

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The Crisis of Communism Suicide by Public Policy

• Reform too little, too late
• Glasnost
• Democratization of the Party
• Perestroika
• New thinking in foreign policy
• Change and resistance in Eastern Europe

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The Crisis of Communism Suicide by Public Policy

• 1989 The Year That Changed the World
• Solidarity in Poland
• Opening the Iron Curtain in Hungary
• Emigration and protest in East Germany
• Czechoslovakias Velvet Revolution
• Violent revolution in Romania
• Massive protest in Tiananmen Square

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The Crisis of Communism Suicide by Public Policy

• The Remnants of the Communist World
• A few Parties and governments were willing to
  continue to use force
• Countries too poor and too closed to outside
  influences
• Most had been outside Soviet Unions sphere of
  influence for some time

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Transitions

• Relative Success Eastern and Central Europe
• Relative ethnic homogeneity
• Economic progress with reform
• Communist leaders made common cause with
  opposition (pacting)

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Transitions

• Troubled transitions The former Soviet Union
• No real shift of power to new leaders
• Great problems with corruption
• Ethnic conflict
• The former Yugoslavia
• Russian war with rebels in Chechnya

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Transitions

• What's left of Marxism?
• North Korea and Cuba have maintained
  Marxist-Leninist systems
• China and Vietnam have reformed economies
• Monopoly power of Communist Parties remains

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Feedback

• Marxist-Leninist regimes controlled all media
• Loosening of controls in 1980s
• Radio, satellite television, cell phones, and the
  Internet have made controls much more difficult

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Conclusion The End of the Cold War important
because

• Cold War determined the evolution of Communist
  and non-Communist states
• Communist past vital to understanding present of
  Communist and former Communist states today

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Learning Objectives

• After mastering the concepts presented in this
  chapter, you will be able to
• Comprehend the development of communist doctrine
  and ideology in Europe.
• Differentiate among and define the following
  Marxism, Leninism, Stalinism, Totalitarianism
• Comprehend political and economic doctrines of
  Karl Marx on communism and class exploitation.
• Define Marxist theory and explain the following
  notions and terms Historical materialism,
  Dialectics, Proletarian revolution
• Understand the role of Russian Revolution in 1917
  in the development of communist regimes in
  Eastern Europe and beyond.
• Comparatively define socialism and communism.
• Understand the notion of totalitarian regime and
  totalitarian form of governance.
• Assess major differences between the command and
  free market economies.
• Comparatively analyze similarities and
  differences between the USSR and the Peoples
  Republic of China in managing economy and
  political process under communist ideology and
  party system.

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Learning Objectives

• After mastering the concepts presented in this
  chapter, you will be able to
• Recognize the role of Vladimir Lenin, Joseph
  Stalin and Mao Zedong in the process of communist
  state formation and development.
• Discuss the structure of the Communist Party and
  government institutions in the Soviet Union.
  Define the following terms Nomenklatura, Central
  Committee, Politburo, General Secretary
• Understand the role of Mikhail Gorbachev in the
  process of party, state and ideological
  reformation in the USSR. Define the following
  terms Glasnost, Perestroika
• Recognize factors that contribute to the collapse
  of communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the
  Soviet Union.
• Identify challenges of post-communist
  democratization in Eastern Europe.
• Define social and political, including of
  revolutionary character movements in Hungary,
  Romania, Soviet Union, Poland and other countries
  against communism.
• Recognize the process of the USSR disintegration.
• Discuss the implications of the shock therapy in
  post-communist countries.
• Identify remaining communist regimes and discuss
  their political, economic and social challenges.