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Language
English (en)
Date of Award
3-1-1995
Author's Department
International and Area Studies
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (A.B.)
Restricted/Unrestricted
Restricted
Abstract
"In Poland, it took 10 years, in Hungary 10 months, in East Germany 10 weeks, in Czechoslovakia it will take 10 days to get rid of communism," quipped British author Timothy Garton Ash to Vaclav Havel in Civic Forum headquarters in the Magic Lantern Theatre, Prague, November 1989. At the time, Havel was amused by the phrase but never dreamed it could prove true. A system built on lies, communism involved twisting reality to match the ideology. As Havel described, government by bureaucracy is called popular government; ... the complete degradation of the individual is presented as his ultimate liberation; depriving people of information is called making it available; the use of power to manipulate is called the public control of power, and the arbitrary use of power is called observing the legal code; ... the lack of free expression becomes the highest form of freedom; farcical elections become the highest form of democracy; banning individual thought becomes the most scientific of world views; military occupation becomes fraternal assistance. Therefore, speaking the truth, calling things by their real names, endangered the entire system. For it to endure, everyone had to conform and accept, at least outwardly, the communist ideology as reality. In a society which demanded conformism, any small independent action represented a serious threat to the authorities. On several occasions, people, by striking or writing a letter of complaint, rejected the lie in favor of freedom and respect. Each attempt ended in failure, crushed by the regime. Yet one after another like a set of dominos, the communist regimes in Eastern Europe fell in 1989. The communist system, imposed by the Soviets, had endured for 40 years despite the protests and periodic uprisings of the oppressed peoples. Why then did this seemingly invincible system finally crumble so easily in 1989?
Mentor
Roger Petersen
Recommended Citation
Casey, Sara, "The Development of a Coalition of Workers and Intellectuals in Poland and Czechoslovakia" (1995). Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses. 100.
https://repository.library.washu.edu/undergrad_etd/100