Essay on The Fall of Communism - 1064 Words

The era that preceded the formation of the Soviet Union was earmarked with social unrest, famine, and failed governments. After many struggles, many smaller soviet republics joined to form a large conglomerate nation, known as the Soviet Union in 1922. Vladimir Lenin, leader at the time, replaced the failing capitalist government with a communist government. . At the end of WWII, most of Eastern and Central Europe’s countries were being occupied by the soviet army. They came to be controlled by the Soviet government and pulled back behind an â€Å"iron Curtain†. Winston Churchill’s famed Iron curtain remark refers to the countries that fell under the spell of the Soviet Union and shut out the western world ways of capitalism. The countries of†¦show more content†¦On June 12, 1987, United States President Ronald Regan issued a speech while at the Berlin Wall to Mikhail Gorbachev, then the general Secretary of the Soviet Union- â€Å"General Secretary Gor bachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and Eastern, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!† (Wikipedia, 2011) Later, in the fall of 1989, civilians started chipping away at the wall. The growing desire for personal rights, democratic government, and a better way of life lead to the break up of the Eastern bloc. Citizens were tired of oppression, hunger, censorship, and in essence, life itself being a hardship. Protestors gathered and a peaceful revolution had started to tear down the wall. By the beginning of 1990, the wall was decimated with a few watch towers standing as memorials to the fallen that tried to escape to freedom in the West. In December of 1991, the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc officially broke apart, breaking up into fifteen sovereign countries. This was the end of the biggest communist country in the world, end to the Cold War, and containment policies. The former Soviet Union is now known as Russia. When governments are overthrown and dismantled, some of the effects are obviously immediate while others last for centuries. The same rule applied to the collapse of the soviet bloc in EasternShow MoreRelatedFall of Communism1772 Words   |  8 PagesHow can we explain the sudden collapse of Communism in Europe? Communism was a very popular ideology which was in great favor during the inter-war period but in the 1980s, there was an unanticipated demise of Communism. So how can we explain the sudden collapse of communism in Europe? I would argue that there were several forces converging to the breakdown of communism in Eastern Europe. Factors such as the high expenses of engaging in nuclear arms, the lost of their satellite states, the growingRead MoreThe Rise And Fall Of Communism1843 Words   |  8 PagesThe Rise and Fall of Communism â€Å"Let the ruling classes tremble at a communist revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win, workingmen of all countries, unite!† (Karl Marx). This quote is one of the most famous political slogans excerpted from the book Communist Manifesto, which was written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. It demonstrates Marx’s opinion on social classism and how he is against it by stating the imbalance between the working classRead MoreThe Rise and Fall of Communism1465 Words   |  6 PagesEveryone would like to live in a perfect society, and in Germany, Karl Marx set out to do just that by creating the government system known as Communism. 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Marx) What Karl Marx had set out in his Communist Manifesto as guide lines for the governing of a state was proved to work to the contrary of its good intentions when appliedRead MoreThe Fall Of Communism And The Soviet Union Essay2058 Words   |  9 PagesPrior to Putin’s 2001 State of the Nation address, Russia was dealing with the overwhelming effects of economic and political reform. The fall of Communism and the Soviet Union left Russia in a fragile state. When Putin references â€Å"the period of disintegration of the Statehood† he is referring to the lack of stability and legitimacy in Russia’s era of reformation in the 1990s that threatened the very existence of the nation. The sources and indicators of this disintegration can be found through anRead More The Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe Essay2009 Words   |  9 PagesThe Fall of Communism in Eastern Europe Many political beliefs exist. Everyone has the right to chose what to believe in, what ideas to have, what to seek and how to achieve his goals. Political science is not very defined and strict. Specific rules saying that if one believes in a certain idea he should join a certain party do not exist. Certain things match certain group of people and other things this group of people would not accept. The same principle can be applied for countries. CommunismRead MoreThe Fall of Communism in Russia/Soviet Union Essay1460 Words   |  6 PagesCommunism in the USSR was doomed from the onset. Communism was condemned due to lack of support from other nations, condemned due to corruption within its leadership, condemned due to the moral weakness of humanity, making what is perfect on paper, ineffective in the real world. The end of this system was very violent. It left one of the two most powerful nations in the world fearful of what was to come. brbrCommunism can either be called a concept or system of society. In a society that followsRead MoreThe Fall of the Berlin Wall and Communism in Europe Essay1804 Words   |  8 Pagescame. They simply picked up and left. Fà ¼hrer said, â€Å"They were ready for everything except candles and prayers. That night, the GDR was a different place than it had been that morning.† (Curry) After the drama of the Monday Demonstrations, the fall of the wall was actually considered anticlimactic. On November 9, 1989, a routine press conference was gathered to announce the party’s decisions. 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In a communist economy, the government owns most of the firms, subsequently controlling production and allocation of resources. One of the most well-known and well-documented cases of a communist government took place in the Soviet Union, beginning in 1917 and eventually falling in 1992. Idealistically, communism eliminates social classism and provides e qual work for all in a