The role of the Catholic Church as a key opponent since the 1970s against the communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe

Résumé du document

One can observe that, among the different opponent actors who played a role in the opposition, the Catholic Church took a greater place in Eastern and Central Europe until the collapse of the communist regimes in the countries, by encouraging and aiding political opposition to authoritarian regimes. It provided an organizational and institutional framework which was independent of all-encompassing state control and supported the first grass-roots movements against the regimes, like Solidarity in Poland. When communist parties came to power, they did not hesitate to impose sharp restrictions on religious faith and practice in keeping with an ideological heritage that identified religion as an oppressive mechanism. Of course, as general rule, believers were guaranteed the right to believe and to worship, assured that religion is the "private affair" of the individual. The central hypothesis is that, despite the repressions and the clear deletion of religious beliefs, the Catholic Church has played a central role in the organization of the movements against the communist regimes in supporting regime breakdown and transition to democracy.

Extraits

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[...] The circles regrouped Catholic journalists, writers, editors of Catholic journals at the origin of the Znak newspaper, which was active in the 1960s and 1970s in social and political protest[74]. Chodak described the “bridging function” of these intellectual clubs: role of Catholic Club in unifying the opposition forces in Poland was spectacular. These legally independent Catholic organization provided shop-windows for ideas and ideals of non-Catholics, Left-wing socialists, humanists, and others as well as the Church”[75]. Their role was essential to organize the oppositions against the communist regimes and it was not without played a role in the future governments in the collapses of the communist regimes. [...]

[...] The role of the Catholic Church as a key opponent since the 1970s against the communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe Sommaire Introduction 1 I. A limited impact because of the Communists' fight against the Catholic Church 2 A. Theoretical explanation from the Communist's fight against the religion Ideological sources Fascist doctrine 3 B. The consequences: destruction of the church, repression of the organization and lower religious beliefs Number of arrests and destruction of the structure Propaganda to make incredible to role of the catholic Church Weakness of the catholic beliefs 5 C. [...]