Central & Eastern: Evaluate the causes of challenges to Soviet control in 1945-68 Flashcards
Intro/thesis
-In EG and PL, the most significant causes were the economic and social problems
-In Czechoslovakia and Hungary, it was more about limited freedoms and demand for reform.
-The slight increases in freedom acted as catalysts for these movements.
Paragraphs
-Poor living conditions
-Soviet control restricted freedoms
-Socialist reforms encouraged more pushes for change
-Soviet expansionism (Comecon & WP)
Poor living conditions- examples
-Enforced collectivization led to 15,000 East German farmers moving to the West and the process led to food shortages and heavy rationing. There was also a scarcity of consumer goods and a failure to increase housing.
-Similarly, in Poland, the poor living conditions contributed to the outbreak of the uprising in 1956. For example, there were food shortages among the working classes and the system of collectivization led to a collapse of Polish agricultural production after 1950, with a large-scale exodus of farmers. Farmers experienced shortages of fertilizers, machinery, and tools.
Poor living conditions- explanation and historiography
-This led to people becoming frustrated and saw the Soviet government as the culprit because it was their policies that had caused many of the shortages and rationing.
-These economic conditions contributed to the outbreak of uprisings as people felt they had very little to lose.
-Mark Mazower: The general radicalization that occupation had stimulated across Europe manifested itself in a widespread desire for socio-economic change.
Poor living conditions- mini judgment
Soviet control restricted freedoms- examples
-One of the reasons for the 1956 uprising in Poland was that Poles demanded more political freedom and national sovereignty. There were purges and mass arrests. Thousands of political prisoners were sent to new camps, similar to Gulags. There were 97 concentration camps in Poland by 1950.
-Under Rakosi (Hungary), around 480 public figures had been executed between 1948 and 53 and over 150,000 people had been imprisoned. The elections of 1949 also provided no opposition candidates to Rakosi.
Soviet control restricted freedoms- explanation
-This built up frustration among the Soviet people, which exacerbated people’s anger at the poor economic conditions.
-After the truth about Stalin’s actions came out, people felt more motivation and more entitlement to openly criticize the USSR.
Soviet control restricted freedoms- mini judgment
Socialist reforms encouraged more pushes for change- examples
-Krushchev’s Secret Speech in February 1956 shed light on Stalin’s horrible abuses of power and criticized him.
-One of the causes of the Prague Spring was that in the spring of 1968, the local Communist Party called on Czechoslovakia to adopt its own form of socialism dubbed ‘socialism with a human face’ instead of blindly following Soviet policies.
Socialist reforms encouraged more pushes for change- explanation and historiography
-In Hungary, the Soviets appointed Nagy after public demands for Rakosi to be replaced. Nagy was appointed as the new premier, and he led the intensification of the uprising as he tried to push the Hungarian revolt forward by abolishing one-party rule. After Nagy announced that Hungary was leaving the Warsaw Pact, the Soviets led a full-scale general offensive into Budapest.
-In Czechoslovakia, the Communist party encouraged ‘socialism with a human face’, there were also to be wider powers for trade unions, expansion of trade with the West, and freedom to travel abroad. In June, Dubček even abolished censorship and encouraged criticism of the government.
-Jeremi Suri: Attributes the Prague Spring largely to the decline in the effectiveness of the Czech armed forces and lack of motivation among students for patriotic duty and membership in the Communist party.
Socialist reforms encouraged more pushes for change- mini judgment
Soviet expansionism (COMECON & WP)- examples
-The Warsaw Pact, particularly its provision for the defending of Soviet troops in satellite territory, became a target of nationalist hostility in Poland and Hungary during the uprisings in those two countries in 1956.
-The Soviet Union invoked the treaty when it decided to move Warsaw Pact troops into Czechoslovakia in August 1968 to bring the Czechoslovak regime back into the fold after it had begun lifting restraints on freedom of expression and had sought closer relations with the West.
Soviet expansionism (COMECON & WP)- explanation
-(Put counterargument about Comecon first)
-Therefore, the WP not only contributed to the causes of the uprisings, but it was also significant in determining their outcomes, as it allowed the Soviets to crush both uprisings.
Soviet expansionism (COMECON & WP)- counterargument
-Comecon was not significant to the uprisings as the economic causes of the uprisings had more to do with food shortages and rationing, which were not directly related to Comecon.
-However, it could be argued that because of the difficulty of member states to conduct trade with each other due to prices being set by individual governments contributed to economic problems in the long-term.
Soviet expansionism (COMECON & WP)- mini judgment
