One of the first examples of how the Soviet Union would not get involved with eastern European affairs occurred in Poland. Economic reforms led to strikes in the spring and summer of 1988. The communist leaders in Poland allowed free elections. They lost to the trade union who pluralism, which allowed free elections. It got its way in April 1989 when the Opposition entered Parliament. The elections of 4-18 June saw the collapse of the Communist Party. On 8 September, a pluralist government was formed.
The people of Eastern Europe played a major part in the collapse of the Communist Bloc. After the events in Poland, the Eastern countries followed there lead and tried to make changes of their own. In Hungary, demonstrations against the regime increased during 1987 and 1988. The Opposition became organised, and reformers entered the Government in June 1988. On 18 October 1989, the Stalinist Constitution was abandoned, and Hungary adopted political pluralism. Earlier that year, in May, the ‘Iron Curtain’, which separated Hungary from Austria, had been dismantled, which enabled many East Germans to flee to the West. Also in the German Democratic Republic, opposition to the Stalinist regime grew. Huge demonstrations took place, and increasing numbers of East Germans fled the country. The Government would not consider any kind of reform, counting on the intervention of Soviet troops stationed in the GDR. Gorbachev, however, refused to help, having renounced Brezhnev’s doctrine of legitimate intervention in fellow Communist countries. From that point on, the Communist regime crumbled.
The Eastern Governments, found it hard to up hold the communist regimes because, without the support of the Red Army, and the Soviet Union, the governments found it hard to cope and battle the pressure put on by the people and the uprisings. Both the lack of soviet support and weakness in eastern government, led to the uprisings in places such as Poland, Germany and also Bulgaria, another place, where there was huge demonstrations against the communist government which is in place there.
On overall, it is clear that all factors contribute to the end of the Communist Bloc but I do however think we can look at which were the key factors. The most important for me was the fact that Gorbachev was willing to let things unfold, and that he was not going to intervene with Eastern Europe. His decision to do this enabled the people to rebel against the governments in place. Had he decided to get involved and support the eastern governments, then the rebellions may not have succeeded. Although he allowed it to happen, the fact that the people were able to organise and co ordinate such uprisings, was extremely crucial, and had they not been organised, the eastern governments in say Poland or Germany could have knocked them back, but the people and the uprisings were strategically planned.
