Central & Eastern: Reasons for Soviet domination in Eastern Europe Flashcards
Question
“It was not popular support for local communist parties that led to Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe, it was the use of intimidation and force.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?
Paragraphs
-Influence of popular support for local communist parties
-Violence and repression
-Removing existing governments
Thesis
Overall it was the use of intimidation and force, and although some popular support was genuine, this too was partly fuelled by intimidation and force.
Popular support for local communist parties- examples
-Membership of the Polish Communist Party grew from 20,000 in July 1944 to 300,000 in under a year
-In Czechoslovakia, communists won the 1946 elections with 39% of the vote and allied with the socialists under the new coalition government, gaining the majority vote. The party gained support through land reforms that gave back land to the peasants that was seized at the end of the war.
Popular support for local communist parties- explanation and historiography
-This demonstrates that there was, to some extent, popular support for communist leaders and the idea of communism itself. However, it could be argued that this support was not entirely genuine as people were heavily influenced by the intimidation and force placed on them.
-Mark Mazower:
The reason why so many people joined the communist party was that many compromised with the new masters and their Soviet backers. Others were simply too worn out by the years of war to struggle further. But there was also genuine enthusiasm underlying the rise of the party after 1945. In part, this was enthusiasm for the Soviet Union and respect for its achievements.
Popular support for local communist parties- counterargument
People at the time were unaware of the reality of life in the Soviet Union + were pressured into joining the party
Popular support for local communist parties- mini judgment
Not as significant as intimidation & force- explain
Violence & repression- examples
-There were purges and mass arrests. Thousands of political prisoners were sent to new camps, similar to Gulags. There were 97 work camps in Poland by 1950.
-Religion was suppressed. The new communist Polish government separated church and state and nationalized church property.
-Surveillance: Each country had become a police state by the end of the 1940s, with the secret police of each respective country coalescing with the KGB to exercise control over the population through widespread surveillance and intimidation.
Violence & repression- explanation
-This conveys the need for intimidation and force to gain and maintain power.
-The suppression of religion was characteristic of the Soviets; the same had been done in Russia in the 1920s when Lenin came to power.
Violence & repression- mini judgment
Removing existing governments- examples
-In Poland’s 1947 elections, the Polish Peasant Party had 246 candidates disqualified and 149 arrested.
-Elections in Bulgaria in 1946, and Hungary in 1947, were rigged before opposition leaders were executed.
Removing existing governments- explanation and historiography
-The Soviets used what was later dubbed ‘Salami tactics’ by Hungarian leader Rakosi; all other political parties were removed in stages, “like slicing of a salami, piece by piece”.
-These tactics allowed the USSR to gradually suppress existing governments in Eastern Europe. As this process was not very rapid, there was not as much opposition, meaning that by the time people in Eastern Europe were frustrated enough to oppose these actions, the Soviets had too much power.
-In this way, force was used by the Soviets to gain control in Eastern Europe. Although this force was not as direct as the use of surveillance and sending people to the Gulags, it still demonstrated the increasing presence of the USSR in Eastern Europe.
-Hugh Seton-Watson believes that this method was not planned in advance and instead began with a genuine coalition.
-In contrast, other historians assert that this process was established in order to purposefully gain control and was “Machiavellian”.
Removing existing governments- mini judgment
