Paper I

Prescribed subject 3

Communism in crisis 1976-89

Struggle for power following the death of Mao

China under Deng

Struggle for democracy/Tiananmen Square

Brezhnev

Gorbachev’s policies

Consequences

Let’s start with Brezhnev. Notice that the Paper starts from 1976 i.e. an indication that Afghanistan is the by far most important topic concerning Brezhnev. But let’s just mention some of the more important events that happened after Stalin passed away in 1953.

1. For a short while there was a collective leadership in the USSR after Stalin’s death. But soon Khrushchev emerged as the real leader. What can we say about his early policies?

2. What happened in Hungary in 1956 and why was this a result of Khrushchev’s policies?

3. What was the Virgin Land programme/result?

4. Why do you think he was forced to resign in 1964?

5. What were the problems with the Soviet economy in the early 70s?

6. Why was there growing opposition in the mid 1970s? Give some examples.

7. Give some examples of the stagnation in the mid 70s.

8. What was the Brezhnev doctrine?

9. Why was the USSR willing to participate in the détente process in the early 70s?

10. What did the Soviets do in Africa in the mid 70s and why do you think the Americans remained inactive at this time?

11. What happened in Afghanistan in April 1978?

12. How successful was the new regime (PDPA)?

13. Who were the mujahideens? And who supported them?

14. What happened in December 1979?

15. What happened to Amin and who replaced him?

16. In 1982 Brezhnev passed away. Describe the situation in Afghanistan at that time?

17. From lessons: what were the effects of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to the USSR?

18. What happened politically in the USSR from 1982 when Brezhned passed away until Gorbachev came to power in 1985?

19. Describe the “Soviet problems” when Gorbachev came to power in 1985?

Gorbachev

1. Describe his idea or plan how to reconstruct the Soviet society.

2. What does perestroika and glasnost mean?

3. What happened in 1986? (see the text numbered with “10”

4. What happened at the summit meeting in Reykjavik in 1986? (see text numbered 95)

5. What reforms were introduced in 1987 (see page 96)

6. What happened at the summit meeting in Washington in 1987? (see page 96)

7. What happened in 1988 concerning Afghanistan, the Red Army and the satellites in Eastern Europe? (p 96)

In 1989 the Soviet empire collapsed which was symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall (the Soviet Union lasted until 1991 however). We are going to read about three countries later, Poland, Czechoslovakia and East Germany. But let us just list some events from 1989:

Solidarity was legalized in Poland and there were free elections which brought a non-communist to power.

In May Gorbachev visited China. Students were demonstrating for democracy. After he had left the regime ordered the massacre at Tiananman square, The Chinese were not going to follow the USSR.

The Hungarian border to Austria was opened i.e. the Iron Curtain was falling apart The USSR left Afghanistan. Communist parties lost power in the satellites like Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Poland, Hungary

and Romania. In November the symbol of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall, came down.

(During that year your history teacher was teaching a year a grade 7 pupil in history who was so interested in the subject. His name was Fredrik and he was constantly reading in his historybook about events in the past. One day he looked at me and said: Why does nothing happen in our time?)

8. Let’s finally analyze the reasons for the fall of communism and start with external factors. How did the following external factors affect the Soviet union (p 97):

a) Military reasons

b) Nationalism

c) Other factors influencing the USSR

d) Development in the Third World

9. Let’s continue with internal factorsa) The system of planned economy

b) Gorbachev made mistakes

The economy-

Political changes

The lack of timing

10. So a difficult but interesting question: How do you explain the fall of communism (quite possible as question 4 in a documentary)

11. Read his own judgment (p102). Do you admire him or was he too naïve and caused the fall of the empire? (we shall soon study Deng Xiaoping who only reformed the economy but kept the single party communist rule. China is today stronger than ever while the USSR has ceased to exist)

12. You can of course find support for all explanations by different historians. Try to remember one who supports

Internal factors

External factors

What is Bell writing in the end

Development in three satellites between 76-89

Czechoslovakia

1. What happened in Czechoslovakia in 1968 and what was the Brezhnev doctrine?

2. Describe the policy of normalization

3. What was Charter 77?

4. What was the Sinatra doctrine (the text about Czechoslovakia continues on p 25)

5. Describe the economic development and how the opposition grew

6. Describe the fall of the regime and explain why it¨s called velvet revolution.

7. How important do you think internal and exernal factors were in this development

Poland

Read p. 13 as a background

8. What happened in Poland in 1956?

9. What happened in 1970? (p 18)

10. Around 1976 there was a crisis in Poland again why?

11. Describe the origins of Solidarity (wait with KOR)?

12. Why was it embarrassing in a communist country with a free trade union?

13. What was KOR?

14. Explain the significance of the Catholic Church?

15. What happened in Poland in 1980? (wait with the 31 of August)

16. Why was the 31 of August 1980 a unique day?

17. What did Solidarity achieve in the 469 days?

18. What did the problems in Bydgoszcz lead to?

19. Was Jaruzelski successful with his martial laws?

20. How did Jaruzelski react when Gorbachev introduced his reforms in the mid 1980?

21. What happened in Nov 1987?

22. What did Jaruzelski offer Walesa in 1988 and how did he manage to make the communist party to accept it`?

23. Who participated in the round table discussions in Feb 1989 and what was the outcome?

24. In June 1989 there were free elections for the first time in a communist country – what were the results?

25. So how shall we summarize the reasons for the fall of communism in Poland?

East Germany

26. How shall we describe East Germany as a communist state?

27. Why was the development in Hungary in the summer of 1989 so important?

28. What was the difference between Honecker and Jaruzelski concerning the development in the eastern bloc?

29. What did Gorbachev do when he visited the country in 1989?

30. Why is Leipzig important in the development?

31. Krentz the new leader who succeeded Hoenecker could never establish real political control since everything collapsed. What question was most important to the population?

32. Study the reasons for the sudden collapse of the communist regimes on p 29: rank what you think are the three most important reasons.

China

Our studies are supposed to start 1976 i.e. when Chairman Mao passed away. You do however need some background knowledge what happened before 1976.

In 1911 the Chinese empire collapsed which led to that central government lost power. The period after 1911 is called the War Lord Period The Goumingtang or nationalist made attempt to unify China in the 1920s In 1927 a civil war between the Goumingtang or the Nationalists against the communists started In 1937 Japan occupied China After World War II ended in 1945 the civil war started again In 1949 Mao and the communists finally defeated the nationalists and the most populous state in the

world was a communist state Between 1949-1958 China was weak and was leaning towards the USSR1. In 1958 Mao thought he was strong enough to introduce a new form of policy which was a clear brake

with the USSR. It was called the Great Leap forward. Explain this policy and the results

2. What kind of policy did Liu and Deng Xiaoping introduce after the failure of the GLF?

3. Is it possible to link this policy to the introduction of the Cultural Revolution?

4. Explain the Cultural Revolution. What happened to Deng and Liu?

Start of the prescribed topic:

5. Explain the stand of the pragmatists in the early 70s and explain their thoughts.

6. Did they have Mao’s support?

7. What was the Gang of Four and why do they represent the opposite side in the ideological field (compared to the pragmatists)

8. Prime minister Zhou Enlai passed away in. He had wanted Deng as his successor after Deng had been allowed to return as a top leader in 1973. But Mao appointed Hua Goufeng who was largely unknown. Where can we place Hua in the power struggle that was going on?

9. How did the Qingming revolt in 1976 start and who was attacked (and who got the support from the demonstrators)?

10. How was it “resolved”?

11. What happened to Deng and how did he avoid punishment?

12. Mao passed away short after the Qingming festival in 1976. What happened to his body?

13. Remember how important it had been to Stalin to deliver the main speech at Lenin’s funeral. Who did it at Mao’s funeral?

14. How did Mao appoint his successor (and notice that it was the senile Mao who did it and not the party?

15. Who controlled the sixteen member Politburo after Mao had passed away?

16. Who “held the key” in the power struggle between Hua and the Gang of Four and how were they finally deteated?

17. Describe Hua’s authority after the Gang of Four had been arrested.

18. Who promoted Deng’s return?

19. Step by step Deng gained power. Describe what you think were the strengths of Deng.

20. Explain the significance of the Third Plenum of 1978.

21. Khrushchev had in 1956 denounced Stalin in “the secret speech”. But Mao was both “Lenin and Stalin” in China. What does this mean and how did Deng solve the dilemma with Mao’s legacy?

22. How did the story of the Gang of Four end?

23. Do you understand the message of the two sources A And B?

24. What areas did The Four Modernisations cover?

25. Explain Deng’s economic policy: It doesn’r matter if the wheter a cat is white or black as long as it catches mice. Was he a communist?

26. Explain Deng’s xiang reforms or household responsibility system i.e. how agriculture was reformed.

27. Did the households join this system?

28. It was not a total success. Explain the problems.

29. In industry we can identify two phases. Explain

Phase 1

Phase 2:

30. What was decided in December 1978?

31. What was a “special Economic Zone?

32. The reforms were delayed to some extent because works were unwilling to give up their “iron rice bowl”. What does it mean?

33. What can we say about the GNP growth?

34. The third area in the Four Modernisations was education. What happened?

35. The fifth area was the army. What happened after the was against Vietnam in 1979?

36. What were the Four Cardinal Principles?

37. Who was Wei Jingsheng and what happened to him?

38. What was the Fifth Modernisation?39. There were many student demonstrations especially against corruption. How did Deng respond?

40. In what way can the economy be seen as a background to the Tiananmen square massacre?

41. What happened on 15th of April 1989 and what are the similarities to the Qingming festival in 1976?

42. How did Zhao Ziyang respond to the demonstrations?

43. Who came to Beijing in May 1989 and why was it significant?

44. What happened to Zhao on the 19th of May?

45. Describe how it all ended.

46. Some argue that Deng wanted the army, and not the police, to take actions. Why?