« The main lesson from 1968 was that communism was unable to reform itself ». Discuss

Résumé du document

People lost faith in the possibility of reform said Mikhail Gorbatchev during a conversation analyzing the Prague Spring and its consequences. Eastern European socialist countries experienced three attempts aat reform, at two different times. The first wave was a consequence of the de-Stalinization process. In 1956, after Khrushchev's secret speech, Gomulka came to power in Poland and led a communist reform movement. However the reform movement led during the Polish October was not considered 'dangerous' by the Soviet Union. In Hungary, that same year, things did not go as well, as the popular movement turned into a popular revolution. As a result, Soviet troops invaded Hungary to protect their own interest and ostensibly, the interest of the socialist bloc. The second wave of reform arose in 1968, in Czechoslovakia, and here again, Soviet troops invaded the country. Can we then conclude that the main lesson from 1968 was that communism was unable to reform itself? Communism thus has many different definitions depending on what focus is desired from it.

Extraits

[...] Hungary who at that time was also leading 4 reforms, continued on the same tracks as these reforms only focused on the economic sector. Romania and Yugoslavia analysed the intervention through two factors: the weak possibility of West counteraction as the US were having their own problems in Viet Nam and the fact that Czechoslovak resistance would be minimal and for that reason easy to contain. In that case, to avoid Soviet interference, the two countries developed links with the West: Yugoslavia obtained American security guarantees and President Johnson warned he would 'unleash the dog of war' if the Soviet Union intervened in Romania. [...]

[...] The Prague spring is one of the pre-events of the collapse of communism as it marks the end of the reformist movements that blew across Eastern Europe since Stalin's death. The 1968 crisis started in the first month of the year when Novotny was removed from the head of Party office on the 5th of January. This change of leadership was supposed to end the economic crisis in Czechoslovakia. Fervent communist, his successor, Dubcek, went to Moscow to reassure the Russians that 'Czechoslovakia would remain committed to socialism' because Dubcek's accession was resented like a coup d'état. [...]

[...] The Prague Spring revealed the hidden part of the Warsaw Pact to Eastern European countries: they had limited sovereignty and were under the domination of the Soviet Union. This is also known as the 'Brezhnev doctrine'. Plus the intervention proved that 'the established Marxist-Leninist theory is incompatible with a genuine, modern, democratic, economic and political system' and therefore spread a universal shadow on future economic reforms. The main result was 'disillusionment and disbelief in reforming a soviet type system along democratic lines and initiative of Communist Parties' . Nevertheless each Eastern European country interpreted and reacted differently to the invasion of Czechoslovakia. [...]

[...] Another major change after Dubcek's accession to power was the easing of censorship. Under the Novotny regime, a new press law had been established in 1967 that introduced high censorship However during the Sejna case at the beginning of 1968, the revelations of corruption were too sensational for media not to publish them: the number of newspapers sold grew by 21% between January and March. The party had in effect abandoned censorship and this allowed the press and radio to start free discussions on the democratization of the Party. [...]

[...] Kádár, head of the Hungarian Communist Party claimed that 'developed socialism' needed perfecting and that reform was a natural state of a socialist system. In 1985 he added 'reform process had become irreversible and intrinsic to the natural process of renewal in socialism'. Chernenko seems to agree that the stage of developed socialism is a necessary stage. He admits that certain sectors of the economy are lagging but assures that this can be overcome with the 'strengthening of order and discipline' under the dominance of the Communist Party. [...]