¶ … Futures
The Variant Paths of Post-Communist Russia, Poland, and Hungary
The past ten years have seen great changes in the formerly Communist countries of Eastern Europe. Bound together for years under the Soviet yoke, these nations have now embarked upon their own individual paths as sovereign states. Representative of these emerging one-time Eastern Bloc nations are Russia, Poland, and Hungary. All three once shared a common form of government and a single social system. In each of these cases, Communism overlay a pre-existing civilization and set of traditions. This relatively brief interlude of Marxism, Leninism, and Stalinism was thus, a veneer, a covering over, if you will, of far older patterns of behavior and ways of thinking. It was these underlying cultural and historical characteristics that, combined with the shared history of Soviet rule, produced the countries we know today. Three distinct nations were put together into the crucible of the Communist State, and each emerged re-cast in a different manner. Russia, Poland, and Hungary seek their own futures in the contemporary world.
The Communist state as it came to exist in the Soviet Bloc was first developed in Russia. In many ways, many of its principles were deeply ingrained in Russian History. The autocracy of the tsars was reflected in the authoritarian nature of the communist party and state apparatus. Just as the Tsar of All the Russia had once demanded absolute and unquestioning obedience from his many subject peoples, so too did the Russian Communist State demand unblinking loyalty from its citizens. And as no power was beyond the tsar, so was no aspect of political, social, or cultural control outside the scope of the ruling Communist party. The Communist Party as first led by Vladimir Illyich Lenin, and further developed by Joseph Stalin, controlled every aspect of its people's lives. And when, after the Second World War Soviet troops remained in formerly Nazi-occupied Poland and Hungary, the Soviet government exercised in these countries the same kind of complete and total control that it enjoyed at home. For Poland, this meant a return to Russian domination - much of Poland had once been ruled by the tsars - while for Hungary this was its first experience of Russian rule.
For all the countries of the Eastern Bloc, Communism meant the elimination of private property, and the taking over of the entire economy by the state. State-run enterprises typically produced considerably lower returns than their privately-owned counterparts, and in general, the economies of all these countries suffered. Centralized planning also affected other areas of society, including education, housing, medicine, justice, and so forth. Housing was often in short supply, and schools were strictly controlled by the State. Individuals expressing un-Communistic, or anti-Communistic points-of-view were either sent off to be "re-educated," or shipped off to prisons and prison camps. At these prison camps, or gulags, citizens were not only punished for their unacceptable thoughts, but also beaten down and starved; their labor used to make up the production deficits of the "ideal" Socialist State. When Communism finally collapsed, Russia, Poland, and Hungary each had to find its own way out of this repressive, and economically unproductive system.
However, the collapse of the Communist System did not mean instant democracy.
Although the last decades of the 20th century witnessed a fast march to democracy in Eastern and Central Europe, they also revealed powerful tendencies toward greater central authority in the countries of the former Soviet Union, including Russia. This dynamic is apparent in leaders who believe they are undertaking great tasks in rebuilding and modernizing their countries and who seek to mobilize cooperation and support, not criticism and dissent. Public demands for both order and a higher standard of living create an environment that allows for backsliding toward centralized authority and even authoritarianism. It is no accident that such ideas resonate with leaders whose formative political experiences occurred in communist party structures.
Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin have both had to deal with the enormous problems facing a society and a nation in flux. Faced with an economy in a shambles, the breakdown of traditional - that is communist - authority, and rampant crime, and corruption, they have often been forced to resort to many of the old regime's tactics simply in order to hold Russia together. The centralized planning of the Soviet Union did not give way to any sort of organized transfer of the means of production into private hands. Instead, those well-placed enough to take advantage of the situation simply took over the factories and businesses. They prospered and grew rich, while most Russians...
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