Communismvs.nationalismin easterneuropeslides

Communism V.S. Nationalism in Eastern

Europe

Yugoslavia

• Consists of six republics: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia,

Montenegro, and Macedonia

• People in Tito’s Yugoslavia were very nationalistic

o Yugoslavia started to build up their own independent version of

Communism

o Tito tried to form a midway between Western democracy and eastern

communism which also lead to strained relationship with both the East

and the West

• Separated from Moscow

o Wanted to liberate themselves from the foreign occupiers

Yugoslavia

Josip Tito

• Considered to be one of the most successful

guerrilla leaders of all time o drove Nazis out of Yugoslavia during World War II

• After war joined and became leader of the

Yugoslavia Communists

• Ethnic tensions were suppressed during his

rule

Hungarian Revolution

Hungarians topple Stalin Monument

Nikita Khrushchev

• communist leader who had helped defend Ukraine from Nazis

• took position of first secretary months after Stalin's death, making him most powerful man in Moscow

• attacked Stalin for "intolerance, brutality, abuse of power" and began more liberal reforms o made it acceptable to publicly question Stalin

o within the year Poland and Hungary were revolting

Imre Nagy

• prime minister of Hungary July 1953-March 1955

• replaced in Soviet crackdown by radical Stalinist Matyas Rakosi, 1955 o tensions increased under his reign; Rakosi called

“Stalin’s best disciple”: zealous in anti-Yugoslavia campaign

Hungarian Revolution

• first major anti-socialist uprising and first

shooting war between socialist states

• Revolt by moderate Communists and anti-

Communists against Soviets

• Hungarian leader Imre Nagy did not try to

call Soviets to stop revolution; he

encouraged them and tried to break from

Warsaw Pact (treaty network designed to

unify East Europe against West)

Hungarian Revolution-Causes • feb. 1956: Khrushchev exposed Stalin’s

crimes, promised new direction for USSR

• hardcore Stalinists not exactly happy: non-

Stalinists gained popularity, Nagy among

them o disposed by radical Stalinist Matyas Rakosi, 1955

tensions increased under his reign; Raksi called

“Stalin’s best disciple”: zealous in anti-Yugoslavia

campaign

by Oct. 1956, gov. had lost control of situation

Hungarian Rev.- Reasons • Hungarians did not like the collective farms--used by Soviets

to extract more wealth

• 1956 height of power struggle; Stalin had died 1953, new

leaders denounced his policies, emboldening revolutionary

leaders

• became Stalinists vs. everyone else

• Stalinists had power after seizing it from liberal, anti-

collective farms gov.

• encouraged by Yugoslavia's refusal to follow Stalinism and

mass strikes in Poland

Hungarian Rev.- Key events

• Oct. 23, 1956: demonstration in Budapest to show

solidarity in Poland, who had mass strikes in June

o demanded Nagy take over gov. again

o fighting in Budapest, other cities; continued

throughout night

o Nagy declared prime minister the next morning

Hungarian Rev- Effects

• anti communists gathered strength; Nagy

took full power, brought back multiparty

system

• thousands of political prisoners released

Hungarian Rev- Aftermath

• Nov. 1: Khrushchev ordered Soviets to retake Hungary when

gov. planned to leave Warsaw Pact

o Hungarians not prepared at all

• Nov. 4: Soviets took Budapest, revolution collapsed

o West unable to do much; busy with Suez Canal crisis,

Soviet action too swift

o Nagy and revolution leadership deported; Nagy executed

in 1958

• high point of Soviets blocking self-determination

• discouraged more revolutions for over a decade

• Mass exodus, arrests and deportations cut out large part of

Hungarian populations

o 200,000 refugees fled Hungary

• showed Soviet determination to keep empire intact

Prague Spring-Causes

• Brief period of liberalism in Czechoslovakia

• stopped by USSR Warsaw Pact invasion

Prague Spring- Key Events

• 5 January 1968: Communist leaders ousted Stalinist First

Secretary Antonin Novotny

• political economic and nationalist tensions

• no reforms; repressed workers, intellectuals and students

who questioned the system

• replaced by Alexander Dubcek, leader of Slovak Communists

• “Socialism with a human face”--reforms to integrate

democracy, individual rights while keeping relations with

Moscow

• Period known as Prague Spring

• really got started 9 April 1968: Czech Communists

announced creation of Action Program

Prague Spring- Reforms

• what Action Program promised:

o more freedom for in industry, agriculture

o economic equality between Czechs, USSR

o protection of civil liberties

o independence for Slovakia

o party would stay in power, but more responsive to people

• what did happen:

o abolition of censorship, creation of workers’ councils on

factories,increased trade w/ West, writing of new

constitution to make democratic regime

o Rehabilitation Act passed: retrials for people convicted of

political crimes against communists

Prague Spring- People's Reaction • Czech population thrilled; hadn't had level of

freedom since Feb. 1948

o mass media raised about political purges,

show trials, concentration camps

o by summer public wanted independent

political parties, purer democracy, more

radical economic reforms

Prague Spring- Aftermath

• Moscow reaction

o saw reforms as rejection of USSR policies, worried

Czechs might withdraw from Warsaw Treaty

Organization (WTO)

alliance system in East Europe to counter NATO

(North Atlantic Treaty Organization; group of

Western countries allied against USSR)

o similar fears in East Germany, Polish conservative

communists who feared Czech reforms would

destabilize their countries

Prague Spring- Aftermath

• 16 July: letter from USSR, East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria

asking for reforms to stop

o blamed recent events on reactionaries still upset by imperialism

o claimed Czechs were breaking away from socialism, reforms

threatened entire socialist system

o Dubcek (Czech Leader) said reforms should not be seen as anti-

Soviet, they weren’t going to leave WTO

o annoyed USSR; military intervention

20-21 August 1968: 500,000 WTO troops invade, met little

resistance

Dubcek brought to Moscow 21 August 1968, gave into USSR

demands

27 August: told Czechs reforms were over

restored old system, annulled most radical reforms

Prague Spring- Aftermath

• Dubcek removed from office April 1969;

successor supported by Russian Red Army,

led one of most repressive regimes in East

Europe

• Moscow justification: the Brezhnev Doctrine

(No individual Communist party could make

decisions that threatened socialism as a

whole. If they did other socialist countries

were duty-bound to intervene militarily and

suppress the deviation.)

Soviet Opinion

"The Soviet Government expresses confidence that the peoples of the socialist countries will not permit foreign and internal reactionary forces to undermine the basis of the people's democratic regimes, won and consolidated by the heroic struggle and toil of the workers, peasants, and intelligentsia of each country."

- Friendship and Co-operation Between the Soviet Union

and Other Socialist States, October 30, 1956

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