Establishment of Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe

1. Establishment of Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe

2. 3 dimensions of the problem of communism in Eastern Europe after World War II • 1. The widely recognized need for fundamental and progressive social changes • 2. Existence of political forces prepared to lead the postwar transformation • 3. Role of the USSR

3. Eastern Europe in 1945 2 groups of countries: 1. Germany and her former allies: Romania Hungary Bulgaria Finland 2. Victims of Nazi aggression: Poland Czechoslovakia Austria (?) Yugoslavia Albania

4. Churchill-Stalin “percentages” agreement, Moscow, Oct. 1944

6. “I thought you’d be there waiting for me … What greeted me instead was the lingering stench of ashes and the empty sockets of our ruined home.” • Samuel Puterman on his return to Warsaw, 1945 • “We could see the physical destruction but the effect of vast economic disruption and political, social, and psychological destruction … completely escaped us.” • Dean Acheson, US Secretary of State, 1947 • Lowe, Keith (2012-07-03). Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II . St. Martin's Press. Kindle Edition.

7. Warsaw

8. Budapest

9. Berlin

10. Shattered states and societies • Discredited elites • Economies destroyed • Legacies of ethnic warfare and border conflicts • Masses in turmoil – hopes for a fresh start • Intensive political struggles in each country • In Western Europe, too: • Capitalism in deep crisis • Socialist ideas popular

11. The Right is either eliminated or severely weakened • The situation favours the Left • The East European Left in 1945, 3 types of left-wing forces: • Agrarian socialists • Social Democrats • Communists • Together, they dominate the political scene in every country • Relations between them depend on both internal and external factors

12. Throughout East Europe, left-wing parties were banned since 1920s or 1930s • Only in Czechoslovakia the Left, including CP, was fully legal until the German occupation - and was dominant in politics • one of the reasons why Britain and France gave it to Hitler? • Now the Left is free to act and take advantage of the postwar crisis • Its issues are popular: • Punishment of collaborators • Democratization • Socialist-type reforms

13. Even without the Soviet presence, Eastern European politics would have shifted drastically leftward

14. Stalin’s support of East European Leftists • The only Left Moscow was prepared to tolerate was one which would follow Stalin’s orders • And the orders were not necessarily: take power now! • And one did not have to be a Communist • This puts East European communists in a situation radically different from the Russian situation in 1917 • Fundamental contradiction between the Left project and Stalinism

15. East European Communists welcomed Soviet aid, but did they want to be Soviet puppets? • Some did, others not • Those who did not, tried to find other options • And the West was more or less willing to treat them as legitimate forces in the region • But Stalin would not tolerate the slightest dissent from the Kremlin line • He was the Red Emperor • And dissenters were severely punished • Degree of Soviet control was determined by Soviet strategic considerations • Any leeway was possible only if Soviet interests demanded it

16. The logic of Soviet actions in Eastern Europe • Geopolitics and security above all • In 1945-47, Stalin considered it pragmatic to allow a degree of freedom in East European countries • “People’s Democracies”, not one-party Communist regimes • Then the Cold War confrontation turned Eastern Europe into a political battleground between USSR and the West

17. The Cold War started unexpectedly early after the end of WWII – almost without a pause • A unique combination of factors: • Geopolitical • Ideological • Military

18. Geopolitics: • Emergence of a bipolar system: rise of the 2 superpowers • US-Soviet relations became the central axis of world politics • Ideology: • The historic defeat of the Global Right in 1945 empowered the Global Left • socialism, in some form or another, began to be seen by many as “the wave of the future” • Military power: • Introduction of atomic weapons as tools of foreign policy • global projection of enormous military power on the cheap

19. The Global Left: the postwar offensive EUROPE • Yugoslavia and Albania – Communists have come to power on their own • Greece, Italy, France – Communist parties may come to power on their own • Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria – defeated states in shambles; Soviet presence a major boost to local Communists • Poland – Soviet presence assures Communist takeover • Czechoslovakia – gradual Communist takeover from a strong domestic base, with Soviet help • Moderate, reformist Left makes major political gains in the West (e.g. Labour Party in Britain)

20. The West was primarily concerned about survival and rebuilding of capitalism in Western Europe • USSR was primarily concerned about strategic control of Eastern Europe – securing the Western flank • The division of Europe, agreed in 1945, materialized • The fate of Germany remained the one major bone of contention – East vs. West • In Asia, it was an open-ended continental struggle

21. ASIA: • Indochina: Vietnamese Communists the main anti-colonialist force, proclaim Vietnam’s independence in 1945 • China, 1945-49: Communists defeat Nationalists • Korea, 1945: Communists control the North with Soviet help • India, 1947: Independence won by nationalists supported by communists • Indonesia, Burma: nationalist-communist coalitions lead anticolonialist campaigns • Iran: the rise of a Communist-nationalist alliance • Turkey: emergence of a strong Communist-led Left • The Mideast • The establishment of Israel - with Soviet support • The rise of Arab nationalism against Western colonial rule

22. In 1948-49, Stalin goes for full control and isolation of Eastern Europe from the West • East European Communists were to serve as the tools for the Soviet takeover – at the expense of national independence and freedom to choose their own strategies • It required a massive purge of East European Communist Parties • Installation of Soviet-type regimes • Repressions against opposition and civil society • Socioeconomic changes of state-socialist type