Simplified his political philosphy was founded on two principles. The first 'glasnos' was the need for his government to be be 'open' with it own people, its allies and on the international stage. The second 'Perestroika' required dramatic 'restructuring' of the bankrupt Russian economy. Neither principle found favour with the authoritarian hard line communists in the Kremlin many of whom had began their rise to power under Presidents Joseph Stalin 1922 - 1953, Nikita Khrushchev 1953 -1964 and Leonid Brezhnev 1964 - 1982. Dissent and reform was not tolerated as the Hungarians found out in 1956 and the Czechslovaks experienced in 1968.

It was becoming was clear that President Gorbachev was not going to forcibly maintain Russia's grip on it's occuppied terrorities if challenged. Neither could the regimes in these terrorities such as the Erich Honecker government in East Germany or Nicolae Ceauşescu government in Romania could no longer expect Ruusia and other Warsaw Pact counties to send the tanks in to keep them and communism in power autonomously.

The Polish Precedent

Political power in Poland had from the country's communist government perspective been in disarray since the formation in September 1980 of the Solidarity Trade Union Movement in the Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk. This union, which was the first trade union movement in communist controlled Eastern Europe not run by the communist party, was led by Lech Walesa a devout catholic who like many of his countryman (95% of whom are catholic) resented the Russian domination of Poland. Shortly after the union was formed it was recognised by the Pope John Paul - himself a Pole from Krakow and rather than alienate the overwhelming catholic population the communist authorities 'tolerated' it existence. This tolerance saw the influence and unauthorised power of the Solidarity Movement spread nationwide.

Following Mikhail Gorbachev's speeches in 1988, the communist leader in Poland, General Jaruzelsk, decided that his government had an oppotunity to in 1989 make its peace with Solidarity which he had to do if his government was to remain in power. In Febuary 1989 his government and Solidarity began talks and on April 17th the Polish government signed an agreement which would allow Solidarity to stand as an independent political party in national elections. The agreement was sanctioned by President Gorbachev. The elections which, were held in June, inspite of some provisions in the agreement which General Jaruzelsk thought would ensure him forming the next government, resulted in the Solidarity movement being elected as the first non communist government in the Eastern Bloc. Immediately the result was announced the governments in East Germany and Romania privately appealed to the Kremlin for a Warsaw Pact Invasion of Poland on similiar lines to the occupation of Czechslovakia in 1968 but President Gorbachev dismissed the idea and the precedent for change in the rest of eastern europe was in place.

On August 22nd the Lithuanian government declared Moscow's annexation of the Baltic in 1940 was illegal. The following day two million linked hands to form a 400 mile chain that covered land in Estonia Latvia and Lithuania as a protest of the Soviet occupation of the Baltic States. See Also: Estonia The Singing Revolution

Three weeks later on September 10th the Hungarian foreign announced that the his country would open its borders with Austria so that any of estimated seven and half thousand East German refugees who were living in Hungary could travel to Western Europe. Hungary's decision, which defied the agreements of made in the Soviet inspired Warsaw Pact in 1955, for the first time opened the borders of communist controlled Eastern Europe to the West.

On October 7th to President Mikhail Gorbachev arrived in East Berlin to join official celebrations to mark the 40th anniversary of the the East German Republic. He was welcomed at the airport by the East German leader Erich Honecker and though they appeared to be ease with one another Gorbachev told Honecker "Life punishes those who delay" . That night after Gorbachev had left East Berlin thousands of protestors gathered on Alexanderplatz, the main thoroughfare in East Berlin carrying candles and torches and demanding change. Some chanted Gorby Gorby. The protestors were attacked by police armed with clubs. Several hundred were beaten and others were arrested and jailed. It was later revealed that following these protests Honecker had issued an order that the East German Army shoild be prepared to undertake a "Chinese solution" ( a reference to the Tiananmen Square Massacre in Beijing four months earlier) to put down the growing protests in the country. This order was anulled by another member of the East German Politburo as Honecker's grip on power was challenged by the Communist Party's power brokers. A few days later on October 18th Honecker was replaced by Egon Krenz.

On 23 October, the People's Republic of Hungary officially changed it's name to the Republic of Hungary. This eas after the Hungarian Communist Party's elected to change its name to the Hungarian Socialist Party.

On 28 October in Wenceslas Square Prague pro-democracy protesters gathered to mark g the 71st anniversary of Czechoslovakia's independence. As they chanted "We want another government'' and 'Freedom' riot police moved in after protesters refused to leave. The protest which mirrored a similar one in January was the first of several that would follow in subsequent weeks. The protests became larger and better organised and known as the 'civic forum' in which Vaclav Havel, the dissident playwright played a leading role.

By early November in East Germany Honecke's succesor Egon Krenz had reduced the size of the country's politburo and for the first time under communism issued a decree that East Germans were free to travel to any East German city. As a result thousands of East Germans began to descend on Berlin whilst between 8- 9.000 of others upped sticks and migrated to Czechslovakia every day. See Also: Mondays Revolution Leipzig

As the protests in Berlin grew greater and the migration continued it became clear the reforms of Egon Krenz were not going to the call for reunification of East Hermany with the democratic Western Germany. The government resigned and followed shortly afterward by the politburo.

Late on November 9th as demonstrators massed in Alexanderplatz by the Brandenburg Gate an alongside Eastern side of the Berlin Wall an East German government press conference was televised live on East German Television. In the conference the government spokesman announced that East Germans were now free to travel to the west. In Berlin thousands of people moved to the border crossings with West Berlin. At some of these crossings bemused border guards, not aware of the announcement frantically sought confirmation of the announcement before opening the gates. In other areas East Germans climbed on and over the wall or started to dismantle it by force. By midnight the wall had been breached in several places and Berlins freedom party had begun.

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The History of The Berlin Wall

Video The Rise & Fall Of The Berlin Wall

The following day the East German authorities sent bulldozers to dismantle the wall and thousands of East Berliners and East Germans again streamed into West Berlin. The Wall, which was the symbolic division of Germany (even though the western sector was completely surrounded by East German controlled territory) was effectively redundant and within a few weeks the government of Egon Krenz too resigned and East Germany was gradually reunited with West Germany.

The ruling communist party changed its name to the Bulgarian Socialist Party and won the June 1990 elections. Following a period of social unrest and passage of a new constitution, the first fully democratic parliamentary elections were held in 1991 in which the Union of Democratic Forces won. The first direct presidential elections were held the next year.

In the late 1980's the economic reforms in Russia were being replicated in Bulgaria and by November 1989 demonstrations on ecological issues in the capital Sofia had added 'political' reform to the agenda. On November 10th 1989 the Bulgarian Communist Party deposed its pro soviet leader Todor Zhivkov in attempt to placate the demands of demonstrators. The new leader, former foreign minister, Peter Miadenov is widely thought to have succeeded in avoiding a civil bloodbath but recognised that the protests would not abate until democracy was established in Bulgaria. In Fenuary 1990 he persuaded the Bulgarian Communist Party to give its absolute control on power and in June1990 the first free elections were held.

In Prague the demonstrations for independence and democracy continued with the momentum increasing dramatically after the peaceful fall of the Berlin Wall. By mid November 1989 these demonstations which were student inspired were a daily event with the protestors numbers rising each day. The protests which were peaceful became known as the 'Velvet Revolution' and on November 24th 1989 when the number of demonstatorsin Wenceslas Square had reached 200,000 the entire ruling politburo resigned and comminism in Czechslovakia began to crumble. Two decades earlier the Soviet led Warsaw Pact countries had used tanks to end the Prague Spring and sixth months later Jan Palach burnt himself to death in Wenceslas Square in protest ofthe occupation

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End Of The Prague Spring & 1968 Soviet Invasion with a Video

The Life & Death Of Jan Palach with a Funeral video

A new politburo was elected ovember with a caretaker communist leadership but it survived just five days. The demands for reform made by the Civic Forum led Vaclav Havel andendorsed the Czech leader during the Prague Spring Alexander Dubcek were to strong and on 29 November, Czechoslovakia's Federal Assembly revoked a law giving the Communist Party control of Czechslovakia. the leading role in the nation. By 10 December, President Gustav Husak had resigned. On December 10th President Gustav Husak resigned. On December 29th the same assembly - eben though it was still dominated by communist deputies - elected Vaclav Havel as president of Czechoslovakia. The Velvet Revolution was complete and man once jailed for being a dissident was now not only the country's new President - he was also the keyholder to Prague castle!

The 'expectancy of change' did not miss the people of Romania in the last part of 1989 but the country's communist regime was run by President Nicolae Ceausescuin who was a die hard pro- Soviet Stalinist who was ready to spill the blood of anyone who tied to oust him from power. Dissentors were often imprisoned or exiled and one Laszlo Tokes, a priest in the Romanian Reform Church who often campaigned for human rights, especially for the country's Hungarian minority was told he was to exiled to a remote Romanian village.

On 17 December 1989, agents from Romania's security forces went to arrest Tokes at his church in the town Timisoara but found that his church had been surrounded by hundreds of people intending to stop the arrest. When they used water cannon in attempt to disperse the crowd more people joined the protestors and the security forces opened fire on the crowd dozens of people. Within hours as news of the massacre spread up to 10,000 took to the streets destroying pictures of Ceausescu setting light to cars and ransacking shops. Ceausescu personally ordered that the security forces should shoot to kill the protestors. Tanks were sent into the city and hundreds of civilians died when they indiscrimantly opened fire on civilians. The following day Ceausescu left Romania on an official visit to Iran. The news of the killings gradually spread and the Romanian Authorities closed all the counties borders. In the Timis region a state of emergency was declared and tanks were ordered on to the streets of the capital Bucharest. During the following days dozens of demonstrators were shot dead across Romania.

On December 20th Ceausescu returned to Bucharest and decided to deliver a speech to a crowd ofwhat he thought were his supporters in Bucharest's central Palace Square. In his speech he denounced the "fascists and foreigners" leading the attempted revolution against him. The crowd began jeering at him and coverage of the speech which was being transmitted live on Romanian Television was unceremoiously cut off. The visibly shocked Ceausescu and his wife fled the capital by helicopter. That night the protests continued and the security forces once again began firing at the protestors.

The army had by now decided it would not support Ceausescu and arrested him he and his landed in the helicopter wife fled the capital by helicopter 50 miles north-west of the Bucharest. They were held in custody for three days but their arrest did not stop the viloence which was now becoming widespread across Romania. In response to the detiriating situation former senior communist officials established a ' the Council of National Salvation' as a provisional government. The council decided that Ceausescu and his wife should be put on trial immediately.

On December 25, Ceausescu and his wife were tried on charges covering the illegal gathering of wealth and genocide by a military court in Targoviste. On the same day they were found guilty and taken outside the courthouse and executed by an army officer with a sub-machine gun. The trial and execution were videotaped. During the trial the couple recited from the "Internationale".but when they began to sing just before they died they were shot dead after they singing four words. Ceausescu's 24-year authoritarian rule was over.

The Council For National Salvation (sometimes referred to as the National Salvation Front) assumed interim power on the basis that it would hold free elections iny April 1990. As a result the protests and violence ended and though a little late the first democratic elections were held on May 20th 1990.

Editorial Comment

There are many myths and unknowns about post-war Russia and the threat it posed to western europe at the end of WW2. Some people (particularly those with a Anglo Amewrican political agenda) believe that Stalin if it was not for the allied stance in West Germany would have happily sent Soviet tanks to populate Whitehall. Others believe that Stalin would have siezed any opportunity he had to occuppy the whole of Germany such was his hatred of the Nazis following the death of 22 milion Russians in the war. It is also argued that following Napoleons adventures a century and half earlier he might have extended the Russian Empire into France. We are unlikely ever to know his real aspirations.

The Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe from a military perspective created a buffer zone between Western Germany and Russia but it also enabled the Soviet machine to milk the occupied countries ecomomically. The buffer zone though an impositon on the occupied terrorities had a logic about and though it easy for western critics to condemn the economic motivation it was not dis-similiar to the expoilts of the British Empire before the war.

Joseph Stalin was a calculated man encouraging Russians citizens to migrate to the Baltic States and the Eastern Ukraine which arguably would justify an ongoing Russian prescence in these areas. In the Ukraine the dangers of that policy may figure in the coming decade as the country seeks to rid itself of the Russian Naval base at Sebastapol and join Nato.

However it is wrong to tarnish all Russians with same brush as Stalin had his critics many of whom found themselves in early grave or if they were lucky the Gulag. His successors Khrushchev and Brezhnev were almost as tyrannical with dissenters imprisoned and nationalist attempts to overhthrow the soviet occupation in East Germany Hungary and Czechslovakia ruthlessly quelled.

Against this background by the 1970's the maintenance of communism in Russia and eastern europe was not easily affordable as Russia and it satellite countries struggled to finance the cold war with the allies and the space race with the United States. In 1979 the Soviet Government's invaded Afghanistan which turned out to be a costly and unwinable war. These exercises accounted for for the greater part of the eastern block's expenditure and as a result investment in the modernising the post war industries of manufacturing and agriculture suffered.

During the 1980's the communism regimes increasingly struggled to provide the basics essentials of everyday life to those it claimed to serve. Fuel and food shortages resulted in empty shelves across eastern europe and Russia with people queing for basic rations, when they were available, sometimes in sub zero temperatures. Communism was bankrupt.

When Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary by the Russian Politburo on 11 March 1985 and then President on 1988 he attempted to address the domestic problems that Russia faced - first by controlling the price of alcohol and then by restructuring the economy. He also recognised that the country no longer finance it expenditure in the cold war, its occupation of Eastern Europe and Afghanistan and a 'new world order' followed.

The fall of communism was not a victory for the allies or Nato it was the realisation by Gorbachev that communism was no longer viable as an entity. Had he not realsed this the status quo In Russia and the occupied countries would have struggled on for several years possibly by using force to quell uprisings before being defeated in a series of bloody revolutions.

During his presidency he won few friends in the Soviet communist party and many people in Russia felt he had betrayed the Soviet Union as its was no longer the imposing power it use to be and as many of his economic reforms failed. Some commentators though believe that America and Westen Europe countries could have been more supportive in assisting Gorbachev reform the Eussian economy - though Britain's did manage to despatch Chancellor Norman Lamont who had bankrupted the British economy to offer some advice on establishing a free market economy! Gorbachev left office in 1991.

The Gorbachev legacy was first and foremost the reinstatement of democracy across Eastern Europe and the end of the cold war. Many would argue that he was the greatest statesmen of the 20th century others would say he came close to Churchill or Kennedy.

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