UDC 612.821: 338.46

Velvet revolutions in Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia. Chronicle of events.

Postnikov N.D.

Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor

Russian State University of Tourism and Service, Moscow

Annotation.

The Velvet Revolutions in Eastern Europe dramatically changed the political landscape of modern Europe. With the fall of communist regimes in these countries, they again became part of Europe. The peculiarities of the velvet revolutions in Poland, the GDR and Czechoslovakia make it possible to explicitly trace which social strata and political forces were interested in the collapse of communist regimes in these countries. What external forces were implicitly moderators of the velvet revolutions.

Keywords. Velvet revolution. Demonstration. Economic reform.

Solidarity revolution. The revolution in Poland in 1989 was not a revolution, an event that developed simultaneously. These were revolutionary events, and they developed throughout the 1980s. This was the uniqueness of the Polish Velvet Revolution.

There was a permanent political crisis in Poland, the cause of which was the confrontation between the communist regime and Polish society. In the second half of the 70s, it became clear that the ruling communists in Poland were unable to guarantee the population a sufficiently high standard of living, commensurate with the standard of living in Western countries. Moreover, the Poles themselves could see the ever-growing gap in living standards in Poland and the West, since the communist government allowed Polish citizens to visit Western countries for tourism purposes. From 1976 until the fall of the communist regime in 1989, the political situation in Poland was permanently unstable. Although to an outside observer it might seem that after W. Jaruzelski introduced martial law in the country from December 1981 to 1983, the situation in Poland normalized and was brought under the control of the authorities. However, this was not the case. The main opponent of the PUWP (Polish United Workers' Party), the Solidarity trade union, although it was banned by the authorities in 1981, was not crushed and, on the contrary, had significant influence on the Poles. During these critical years for Solidarity, the American government, through various funds, the AFL-CIO (American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Trade Unions) and other organizations, annually provided assistance to the union in the amount of 8 million dollars. In 1988-1989, the US Congress officially allocated $1 million to Solidarity through the AFL-CIO.

Polish society found itself embroiled in a conflict between the communist government and the anti-communist opposition, which united around Solidarity. Moreover, the opposition was by no means broken; it actively promoted its views, including through the publication of propaganda literature. Between 1982 and 1985, 1,700 anti-government newspapers and magazines were published illegally. Most of them existed for only a few weeks or months, and were then liquidated by the authorities. During the same period, the opposition published 1,800 different books and brochures with anti-government content; the circulation of such publications at times reached 5-6 thousand copies. After some improvement in the situation in Poland, in 1986 the socio-economic situation began to deteriorate again. In order to stabilize the situation in the country, the government decided to carry out another economic reform. The essence, which was the evolutionary transition from a state-planned economic model to a market economy. The deterioration of the situation in the country prompted renewal processes within the PUWP as well. The first steps on this path were taken at the 10th Party Congress, held in July 1986, also under the influence of the policy of perestroika carried out by the leadership of the USSR. The consequences of minor liberalization within party life did not take long to affect the actions of the government. On September 17, 1986, Minister of Internal Affairs Ch. Kischak announced the release of all political prisoners from prison. 225 people were released. From this moment on, the process of peaceful transformation of communist power into a Western-style democracy begins in Poland. On September 29, 1986, L. Walesa created the Provisional Council of Solidarity, essentially legalizing Solidarity. On December 6, 1986, the government announced the creation of an advisory body, the Advisory Council, under the Chairman of the State Council, W. Jaruzelski, within which there was a free exchange of views on current problems of the country between various political forces. However, the leaders of the anti-communist opposition refused to join the Council. Of the 56 members of the Council, three quarters were non-partisan.

The implementation of the announced economic reform was accompanied by a significant increase in prices: for consumer goods and services by 40%, for food - by 110%, for rent and tariffs for heat and energy supply of housing by 140-200%. As a result, starting in the fall of 1987, social tension in the country increased again. The government, fearing a new social explosion commensurate with the events of 1980-1983, decided to hold a nationwide referendum on support for economic and political reforms in the country. The second point of the referendum raised the question of “deep democratization of political life, the purpose of which is to strengthen self-government, expand the rights of citizens and increase their participation in governing the country.” The authorities announced that the referendum will be considered valid if more than half of the citizens eligible to vote vote in support of the government's reform course. Solidarity leader L. Walesa called for a boycott of the referendum. Many Poles supported Walesa's call; as a result, in a referendum held in November 1987, only more than 40% of citizens with the right to vote expressed support for the government's reform course. The referendum failed. It became clear that without an agreement with the opposition, further reforms in the country were not possible, because, as the referendum showed, the communist government did not have a strong social base among the population. The year 1987 was largely decisive in breaking the old command-administrative system in Poland and the coming to power of anti-communist forces. At the same time, transformational changes in the country occurred peacefully and outwardly not noticeably. The PUWP ceded its power step by step. It cannot be said that within the PUWP there was no resistance to this, so to speak, policy of concessions to the opposition. However, these forces found themselves in the minority in the party, and they also understood that it was impossible to resist the growing events. Confusion and despondency began in the party ranks, and among the party elite there was apathy and an inevitable premonition of the end. Thus, assessing the situation that developed at that time, the Secretary of the Central Committee of the PUWP, M. Orzechowski, stated “only after a certain time we began to realize that it is impossible to change the economic system without changing the political system, that it is impossible to create a modern market economy, leaving an anachronistic political system based on the leadership of one party." As if confirming these words of M. Orzechowski, various opposition groups, without encountering resistance from the authorities, came out of hiding and created opposition organizations, opened political clubs, published magazines and newspapers. The arrival of the Pope in Poland in June 1987 also contributed to the liberalization of the situation in the country and provided moral support to the opposition. Throughout 1987, the opposition met several times (the first time this happened in May 1987 on Walesa’s initiative) putting forward demands to the authorities to carry out political reforms in the country. Since October 1987, Solidarity has emerged from underground. On January 1, 1988, jamming of foreign radio stations broadcasting in Polish was stopped. Since 1989, non-governmental organizations have been operating in Poland. First of all, this applies to Amnesty International, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in Poland - an independent research institute and other organizations.

The economic reform carried out by the government did not produce tangible results. In April and May 1988, a new wave of strikes swept across the country. The government of Z. Messner could not cope with the socio-economic situation in the country; in May 1988 it resigned. The failure of the reform finally showed that further economic and political reform of the country within the framework of the socialist model of society has exhausted itself. Industry could no longer operate in the system of the former socialist economy. Enterprises simply became unprofitable and stopped. At this moment, the reformist wing of the PUWP, led by V. Jaruzelski, faced the choice of letting the political process take its course or reforming the country’s political system under the control of the party, including the opposition in this process. The party leadership chose the second path.

On August 26, the leadership of the PUWP officially invited the opposition to hold the so-called. "round table". The opposition did not immediately agree to its holding. It took several months of negotiations to agree on the round table format. It began its work on February 6, 1989. The government came up with a proposal to elect a new parliament based on a “pluralistic society” i.e. with the participation of opposition representatives in the elections, changes to the country's constitution, but while maintaining in the amended constitution the provision on the “inviolability of the socialist foundations of the state.” L. Walesa did not agree with the government's proposals. The essence of his demands was as follows. The power of the PUWP has come to an end, it is necessary to dismantle the communist regime in Poland and create a democratic state with a market economy in the country. Such different approaches to the negotiation process of both sides required long and complex consultations, which ended only on April 5, 1989. The government and the opposition agreed to hold elections to the Sejm with the participation of the opposition, legalize the Solidarity trade union (on May 20, the Supreme Court in Warsaw registered Solidarity), introduce the principle of separation of powers, and ensure civil rights of the population, especially freedom of speech. The agreements provided for the introduction of a new chamber of parliament - the Senate and the establishment of the post of president with greater powers. The government and the opposition agreed that V. Jaruzelski would become president. Also, according to the decision of the “round table”, a quota of parliamentary seats for the PUWP was established - 38%, and together with its allies (United Peasant Party, Democratic Party and secular Catholic organizations) in the amount of 65%. The remaining 35% of seats in the Sejm were to be filled in free elections. The decisions made by the round table were acceptable to the PUWP, since they allowed them to play a decisive role in the country’s political system, and the political system itself continued to remain within the framework of the socialist development model. The majority of Poles preferred to see the same course of development of reforms in the country, as shown by a sociological survey conducted in Poland in May 1989. To the question posed: What should be the meaning of socio-political changes in Poland? 22.4% of respondents answered that reform of the existing model of socialism is necessary, 38.6% - in the introduction of a new model of socialism, 22.4% - in the abandonment of the socialist system, 17.3% of respondents did not answer.

The opposition won the elections held in June 1989. Solidarity won all the seats in the Seimas within the allotted 35% quota for free elections. In the upper house of parliament in the Senate, out of 100 seats, the opposition took 99. The PUWP's attempt to form a communist government was not supported by the majority of parliamentarians. As a result, W. Jaruzelski, who was elected to the post of president of the country, was forced to nominate a representative from Solidarity, T. Mazowiecki, for the post of prime minister. In August 1989, he became the head of the coalition government, in which communist ministers were in the minority and no longer played a decisive role in the government. Governance of the country passed to the opposition, and the dismantling of the previous communist system began. In December 1990, the last point was put in the socialist period of Polish history. L. Walesa was elected as the new president of the country. W. Jaruzelski, the last symbol of socialist Poland, leaves his post. However, in an effort to emphasize the historical illegitimacy of the socialist system that existed for 45 years in Poland, to reconcile with the exile government in London and simply to humiliate W. Jaruzelski, L. Walesa accepts presidential powers not from W. Jaruzelski, but from the Polish president in exile R. Kaczorowski.

The Velvet Revolution in the GDR. Revolution of unification. By 1989, the economic situation of the GDR, despite the external favorable background, was quite difficult. There were interruptions in oil supplies from the USSR, which negatively affected the country's economy. The command-administrative economic system began to fail, and the economy slowed down.

Not everything was going well in the political sphere either. The changes taking place in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and perestroika in the USSR did not contribute to stability in the GDR. The leadership of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), under the leadership of E. Honecker, did not want any changes in the public life of the GDR, and in every possible way blocked the population’s access to the events taking place in other CEE countries and in the USSR. In the GDR, censorship was introduced on printed publications from these countries; they were withdrawn from sale. However, East Germans were quite well informed about events in these countries from German television programs. By the fall of 1989, the consequences of the economic crisis for residents of the GDR became even more tangible, and food began to disappear from stores. Dissatisfaction with the ruling SED was increasingly felt in society. Despite the growing discontent in society, the country's leadership did not take any significant steps aimed at finding a way out of the current situation. On the contrary, the leadership of the SED attempted to put pressure on the mass consciousness of East Germans, in a manner that made it impossible even in the future to think about changes in the political regime in the GDR. With the help of an article published on June 5, 1989 in the Neues Deutschland newspaper, those who disagreed were given an unambiguous message that any anti-government actions would be harshly suppressed. In the published article, the GDR party leadership justified the suppression of the anti-government student demonstration in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The article described the student demonstration as "a counter-revolutionary uprising by an extremist group of conspirators." A little later, the government of the GDR sent its congratulations to the leadership of China on the fortieth anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party. However, the events that followed showed that the GDR leadership underestimated the depth of the power crisis. The crisis has become systemic. The first socialist state on German soil lost to the capitalist Federal Republic of Germany.

The GDR leadership did not correctly assess the possibility of East German discontent developing into an organized opposition force. In the wake of events in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, where the dismantling of the former communist regimes was in full swing and the refusal of the political leadership of the USSR and, above all, M.S. Gorbachev, from the support of the SED, the situation began to get out of the control of party functionaries.

The oppositionists did not have the opportunity to convey their point of view to the population, because all the media were under state control, but as it turned out, there was still an information loophole. Church publications not controlled by the state began to provide their pages for oppositionists. Such publications quickly led to the organizational unification of the opposition. In other matters, even then the party and state leadership of the GDR did not take into account the growing opposition. In the early autumn of 1989, the Ministry of Security of the GDR (Stasi) informed the leadership of the country that in total there were about 2,500 people in various opposition groups and movements.

On July 1, 1989, a small group united under the name “Refusal of the practice and principles of dissociation” issued an open letter, the reason for which was the falsification of the results of municipal elections. The letter contained political demands to the authorities of the GDR. First of all, members of the group demanded respect for the secrecy of elections and the implementation in practice of the provisions of the GDR Constitution of the right to create independent interest groups, public associations and movements. Such a demand was undoubtedly legal, but in the context of a growing political crisis in the country it was dangerous for the SED government. Moreover, it opened up the opportunity for the opposition to create organizations, which became the force that overthrew the communist regime in the GDR. The process has started. On September 9, 1989, 30 representatives of a number of opposition, mostly church organizations, united into the New Forum group, whose registration was refused by the authorities. At the same time, the civil movement “Democracy Now” arose. The existence of organizations not controlled by the authorities was only one of the areas of the opposition’s struggle against the communist regime in East Germany. Another direction was the flight of East Germans from the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany through third countries. After Hungary opened the border with Austria, about 30 thousand people left the GDR through these two countries for the Federal Republic of Germany in just a month. Hundreds of East Germans turned to the German embassies in Warsaw and Prague asking for political asylum. The situation in the country began to get out of the control of the party leadership of the GDR. The city streets were filled with demonstrators demanding the abolition of the exit law, and after this the demands of the demonstrators grew in intensity from a call for reforms in the field of democracy and political freedoms to a demand for the resignation of the country's leadership. Such a significant surge in opposition activity, whether by chance or not, occurred on the eve of the GDR public holiday, Republic Day - October 7. On this and the next two days, October 8 and 9, in Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden and other cities of the republic, tens of thousands of people took to the streets demanding reforms under the slogan of “renewal of socialism.” Trying to turn the tide of events in their favor, the country's leadership ordered the demonstrations to be dispersed, and in Leipzig a verbal order was given to open fire on the demonstrators. Only with the help of force were the demonstrations dispersed, more than three thousand people were arrested. However, time was lost; the political and party leadership of the country was no longer able to take control of the course of events. They become irreversible. Trying to regain control of the situation, part of the leadership of the GDR agreed to discuss the demands of the demonstrators, but the moss of the Velvet Revolution had already been launched, and these concessions no longer satisfied the oppositionists. Trying to somehow stay in power, the SED party functionaries took a drastic step, which until recently was considered unimaginable. On October 17, 1989, by decision of the Politburo of the SED Central Committee, E. Honecker was removed from the post of General Secretary. His successor was Egon Krenz. The country's new leadership has proclaimed a course towards democratization and reform. But in reality nothing was done in this direction. E. Krenz tried to stabilize the situation in the country with the help of foreign policy demarches.

On October 26, E. Krenz had a telephone conversation with German Chancellor He. Kohl. During the conversation, the leader of the GDR proposed raising interstate relations with Germany to a “new level” of development in such areas of cooperation as security, economics, ecology, and the humanitarian sphere. Symptomatic during the telephone conversation was E. Krenz’s statement about Germany’s financial support for the new law on departure. In fact, this was an open signal of surrender of their positions, to put it even more harshly, the capitulation of the communist regime of the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany. G. Kohl naturally agreed to expand cooperation with the GDR and its leadership in all areas. The blitz visit of E. Krenz to the USSR on November 1 could no longer change the situation. M.S. Gorbachev, as can be seen from the speed of events unfolding in the following days in the GDR, refused to support the new leadership of the GDR. The opposition, on the contrary, increased pressure on the authorities. On October 23 and 24, in Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, and Magdeburg, many thousands of opposition demonstrations took place against the election of E. Krenz by the People's Chamber (the country's parliament) to the post of Chairman of the State Council and the National Defense Council of the GDR. The slogans of the demonstrators have changed significantly. Demands arose to deprive the SED of its ruling status and the resignation of all previous party leaders, and to hold free elections. This was already a call for the overthrow of state power in the country. However, the disorganized party leadership, having lost the will to resist, could no longer influence the course of events, becoming a statistic in the ongoing political process. Seeing no way out of the deepening crisis and trying to somehow influence events, E. Krenz announces the opening of passages in the Berlin Wall, which until recently was considered incredible. The border between the two Germanys ceases to exist. On November 22, the destruction of the Berlin Wall itself began. November 18 H. Modrov becomes head of government, the former leadership of the SED is removed from power.

On November 28, German Chancellor He. Kohl announced in the Bundestag his well-known program for the phased merger of both German states, called “H. Kohl’s 10 points.” G. Kohl's program, in fact, was interference in the internal affairs of the GDR, but the German Chancellor dismissed this accusation as absurd. G. Kohl's statement only accelerated the process of collapse of the GDR. Here is a chronicle of events.

On December 1, 1989, the GDR parliament excluded from the country's constitution the article on the leading role of the SED, which deprived the party of its monopoly on power. On December 6, E. Krenz was deprived of the posts of Chairman of the State Council and Chairman of the National Defense Council of the GDR. Two days later, on December 3, 1989, the entire leadership of the party’s Central Committee resigned, and E. Honecker was expelled from the party. The party itself entered a period of disintegration. At the emergency congress of the SED in December 1989, the name of the party was changed to SED-PDS (Party of Democratic Socialism). G. Gizi was elected chairman of the party, and Kh. Modrov became his deputy. On February 4, 1990, the former name of the SED was removed from the name of the party. On February 1, 1990, H. Modrov announced his plan to achieve national unity: “For Germany, a united fatherland.” His plan, in essence, was a plan for the accelerated inclusion of the GDR into the Federal Republic of Germany with the rights to create a confederation from two German states. However, during H. Modrov's visit to Germany on February 13-14, 1989, G. Kohl proposed making the West German mark a single volute of a united Germany. It became finally clear that the leadership of the GDR does not control the negotiation process and is forced, by surrendering its positions, to submit to the political will of its western neighbor.

Beginning in the second half of February 1989, the process of Germany's absorption of the GDR entered its final stage. On February 27, the GDR parliament decided to unify Germany. All obstacles to the unification of Germany were removed. On March 18, 1990, elections to the GDR parliament took place. The Alliance for Germany bloc, which was openly supported by German Chancellor Helmet Kohl, won the elections. The bloc received 48.1% of the votes. On the same day, the Federal Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic signed an agreement on the creation of a monetary, economic and social union. All that remained was to resolve the international issues of unification. They were discussed and resolved during negotiations in the 2+4 format (Germany, East Germany + USSR, USA, England, France), which took place in Moscow on September 12, 1990. As a result of the negotiations, the Treaty on the final settlement of the German question was signed. The USSR, USA, England, France agreed to the unification of Germany.

At its night meeting on August 23, 1990, the GDR parliament, the People's Chamber, made a historic decision on the republic's entry into the Federal Republic of Germany on October 3, on the basis of the West German constitution. On October 3, 1990, the GDR ceased to exist.

Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia. The change in the political climate in the USSR after the start of perestroika undoubtedly influenced the social life of Czechoslovakia. After the events of 1968, the idea of ​​the need to reform the existing socialist model of society continued to live in the minds of the masses. However, there was no organized opposition to the existing communist government in the country. Only a small group called “Charter 77” was active. The situation did not change even after G. Husak left the post of the Communist Party of Human Rights in 1987. The country continued to live without social upheaval. The situation changed dramatically and began to get out of the control of the authorities in 1988, when opposition groups, as if on command, launched an offensive against the authorities. Fortunately, there were enough formal reasons for holding demonstrations under anti-government slogans. In August, demonstrations were held in Prague and other cities of the country dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the entry of troops of the Warsaw Warsaw countries into Czechoslovakia. These demonstrations became a trial balloon for the opposition, showing that the people of Czechoslovakia were ready for change. In the fall, the activity of the opposition movement flared up with renewed vigor, which was greatly facilitated by a favorable foreign policy background, the unfolding events of the Velvet Revolutions in Poland, Hungary and the GDR, and the refusal of the Soviet party leadership to support its allies in the socialist camp. At the end of October 1988, a demonstration dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the formation of independent Czechoslovakia took place. In January 1989, the opposition held a demonstration in memory of the twenty-year anniversary of the protest burning of J. Palach. The demonstrations, held from August 1988 to January 1989, were anti-government in nature. Moreover, the scope and anti-government orientation intensified from demonstration to demonstration, shaking the stability of the state system. Realizing that the authorities are unable to reverse the course of unfolding events, the opposition goes on the offensive, using the textbook means of velvet revolutions:

well-coordinated and disciplined protests of the population in the form of mass marches;

connecting the most active stratum of society—students—to mass protests;

provocations against government structures;

theatricalization of action;

the use of psychological methods of struggle;

non-use of violence.

The turning point of the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia was the student demonstration held on November 17, 1989. The fact that the demonstration was well planned is evidenced by the route laid by the demonstrators: from the Albertov district to the symbol of Czech statehood, Visegrad Hill, where students paid tribute to the memory of the poet Karel Hynek Mahi. The ceremony ended with the singing of the national anthem by students and the inhabitants who joined the demonstration, laying flowers and lighting many small candles (theatricalization of the action). Until this point, the demonstration had been sanctioned by the authorities. However, the students, 15 thousand in total, continued the demonstration and headed towards the center of Prague. The police managed to block the demonstration and prevent them from entering Wenceslas Square. The demonstrators, trying to undermine the fortitude of the police, chanted: “Your task is to protect us,” “We are unarmed” (using psychological methods of struggle). However, the police dispersed the unauthorized procession within 40 minutes. The demonstrators did not confront the police. During the dispersal of the demonstration, more than 500 people were injured of varying degrees of severity. The next day, a rumor was spread that during the dispersal of the opposition march by law enforcement agencies, one student of the University of Prague, Martin Schmid, was killed (psychological method of struggle and provocation) and, although the rumor was not subsequently confirmed, the news of Schmid’s death caused a wave of protests directed against the communist regime, and served as a kind of catalyst for anti-government actions on the part of the opposition. (As it turned out later, the role of the murdered student during the dispersal of the demonstration was played by a lieutenant of the state security of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic).

In the early to mid 80s. Crisis tendencies gradually emerged in the GDR. Causes of the crisis:

Economic:

– lack of economic growth;

– lack of economic incentives to work;

– covering the shortcomings of one’s own economy through foreign loans that cannot be repaid.

Social:

– wages and financial situation in the GDR are much lower and worse than in the Federal Republic of Germany;

– good supply of the residents of the GDR, compared to other countries of Eastern Europe, was possible only thanks to the economic assistance of the USSR, which was now itself experiencing a crisis;

Political:

– the old leadership is in power, which only agrees to carry out economic reforms, but does not want concessions in the political sphere;

- The GDR government publicly condemned perestroika in the USSR and banned the distribution of Soviet newspapers and magazines in the country.

International:

– the end of the Cold War;

– perestroika in the USSR, revolutions of 1988-1989. in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, which establish direct relations with the West.

In 1989, Hungary opened its border with Austria, followed by Poland and Czechoslovakia allowing free travel to the West.

The population of the GDR expressed dissatisfaction that similar events were not being held in their country. Communal elections added fuel to the fire - 95.98% of the population voted for the candidates of the National Front, and the demonstrative support provided by the GDR to the Chinese government, which bloodily suppressed the student demonstration on June 4, 1989.

Against this background, in the summer of 1989, the flow of refugees wishing to move from the GDR to the Federal Republic of Germany increased; thousands of people flocked to Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. The West German embassies in these countries were overcrowded, and schools and gyms had to be rented to accommodate the refugees. At the same time, their transfer to Germany was slow.

Unrest began in the GDR itself. Since June 7, protests against falsification of election results have been held every Monday. The German government obtained permission from the GDR authorities to allow trains carrying German refugees from Poland and Czechoslovakia to transit through its territory. This further inflamed the situation; mass riots broke out and were brutally suppressed.

In this situation, the country approached its 40th anniversary. The official festive events planned by Honecker were supposed to demonstrate the calm and inviolability of the socialist system. M.S. was also invited to participate in the celebrations. Gorbachev. During his speech, the Soviet leader covertly criticized the leadership of the GDR. In his speech, Honecker did not even touch on the problem of refugees and the crisis in the country. As Gorbachev moved through the city, crowds of Germans chanted “Gorbi!” and “We are the people!”

After the anniversary, heated discussions took place within the Politburo on the situation in the country, during which Honecker was subjected to unprecedentedly harsh criticism. On October 17, he resigned. Krenz and Modrow became the leaders of the party. The first was compromised by the manipulation of the election results and the trip to China, the second by the bloody clashes between police and demonstrators in Dresden on October 4. They never took a single important political step. Popular protests against the policies of the SED continued. In the first 7 days of November, the protests reached their climax; 500 thousand people gathered at rallies in Berlin and Leipzig, and the situation was similar in other cities. The number of refugees reached 500 people per hour. In this situation, on November 8, the SED Politburo resigned in its entirety. Modrow was appointed the new Prime Minister of the GDR.

The new government developed a new law on leaving the country and published it. It provided for the right to travel for 1 month a year with a foreign passport and a special visa issued by the police within 30 days after submitting the application. Demonstrations began.

On November 9, 1989, Krenz submitted the text of the draft new border crossing rules to the secretary. They said on live television that the GDR has opened its borders and from 8 o'clock tomorrow morning any citizen of the country can obtain a visa. This was enough for the residents of Berlin to rush to the wall that separated them from West Berlin. The border guards also had no information other than a television statement. In order to prevent crushes and deaths, after consultations with the leadership, it was decided to open additional crossings - gaps were made in a number of places. The population took these measures as a signal for the general destruction of the wall. The Berlin Wall, 3.5-4.2 m high and 107 km long, fell. From 1961 to 1989 80 people died trying to cross the border.

The expression "velvet revolution" appeared in the late 1980s - early 1990s. It does not fully reflect the nature of the events described in the social sciences by the term “revolution”. This term always means qualitative, radical, profound changes in the social, economic and political spheres, which lead to the transformation of all social life, a change in the model of society.

A number of scientists (for example, V.K. Volkov) see the internal objective reasons for the 1989 revolution in the gap between the productive forces and the nature of production relations. Totalitarian or authoritarian-bureaucratic regimes became an obstacle to the scientific, technical and economic progress of countries and slowed down the integration process even within the CMEA. Almost half a century of experience in the countries of South-Eastern and Central Europe has shown that they are far behind the advanced capitalist states, even from those with whom they were once on the same level. For Czechoslovakia and Hungary this is a comparison with Austria, for the GDR - with the Federal Republic of Germany, for Bulgaria - with Greece. The GDR, a leader in the CMEA, according to the UN, in 1987 in GP per capita it occupied only 17th place in the world, Czechoslovakia - 25th place, the USSR - 30th. The gap in living standards, quality of medical care, social security, culture and education increased.

Another powerful factor that brought about the “Velvet Revolution” of 1989 was the national one. National pride, as a rule, was infringed by the fact that the authoritarian-bureaucratic regime resembled the Soviet one. The tactless actions of the Soviet leadership and representatives of the USSR in these countries, their political mistakes acted in the same direction. All this gave rise to the feeling that such a system was imposed from the outside.

What happened in Eastern Europe is largely the result of the imposed model of socialism and the lack of freedom for development. The perestroika that began in the USSR seemed to give impetus to socialist renewal. But many leaders of Eastern European countries failed to understand the urgent need for a radical restructuring of the entire society and were unable to accept the signals sent by time itself. Accustomed only to receiving instructions from above, the party masses found themselves disoriented in this situation. But why did the Soviet leadership, sensing imminent changes in the countries of Eastern Europe, not intervene in the situation and remove from power the previous leaders, whose conservative actions only increased the discontent of the population? Firstly, there could be no question of forceful pressure on these states after the events of April 1985, the withdrawal of the Soviet Army from Afghanistan and the declaration of freedom of choice. This was clear to the opposition and leadership of Eastern European countries. Some were disappointed by this circumstance, while others were inspired by it. Secondly, at multilateral and bilateral negotiations and meetings in the period from 1986 to 1989, the leadership of the USSR repeatedly stated the harmfulness of stagnation. However, most of the heads of state of the “socialist camp” did not show a desire for change in their actions, preferring to carry out only the bare minimum of necessary changes, which did not affect the overall mechanism of the existing system of power in these countries. For example, first in a narrow composition, and then with the participation of all representatives of the SED Politburo on October 7, 1989, in response to the arguments made by M. S. Gorbachev that it was urgently necessary to take the initiative into one’s own hands, the leader of the GDR said that it was not worth it teach them to live when stores in the USSR “don’t even have salt.” The people took to the streets that same evening, marking the beginning of the collapse of the GDR. N. Ceausescu stained himself with blood in Romania by relying on repression. And where the reforms took place while maintaining the previous structures and did not lead to pluralism, real democracy and the market, they only contributed to uncontrollable processes and decay. It is also necessary to take into account the psychological mood of citizens, which played a big role, since people wanted change. In addition, Western countries were interested in opposition forces coming to power. They supported these forces financially in election campaigns. The result was the same in all countries: during the transfer of power on a contractual basis (in Poland), the exhaustion of confidence in the reform programs of the HSWP (in Hungary), strikes and mass demonstrations (in most countries) or an uprising (in Romania), power passed into the hands of new political parties and forces. It was the end of an era. This is how the “velvet revolution” took place in these countries.

“Velvet Revolution” is the general name of the processes that took place in the states of Central and Eastern Europe in the period from the late 1980s to the early 1990s, which led to a change in the social system and political system, to the elimination of the Warsaw Pact, CMEA and the “socialist camp” in general " The collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 became a kind of symbol of them. These political coups received the name “Velvet Revolution” because in most states they were carried out without bloodshed (except for Romania, where there was an armed uprising and unauthorized reprisal against N. Ceausescu, the former dictator, and his wife). Events everywhere, except Yugoslavia, happened relatively quickly, almost instantly. At first glance, the similarity of their scenarios and the coincidence in time is surprising, but this indicated a general crisis that gripped authoritarian-bureaucratic regimes in a number of countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe. The dynamics of events are as follows.

February 6. As part of the round table in Poland, negotiations began between government representatives, the official association of trade unions, the Solidarity trade union and other public groups.

June 4. Parliamentary elections in Poland, to which opposition parties are allowed. Elections to the lower house were held in accordance with the agreements of the “round table”, the ruling parties received 299 seats out of 460. In the Senate, elections to which were held freely, 99 seats out of 100 were won by the opposition and 1 seat by an independent candidate.

September 18. During the round table negotiations between the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party and the opposition, a decision was made to introduce a multi-party system in Hungary.

_*October 18. The head of the GDR and the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED), E. Honecker, resigned. Egon Krenz became the new General Secretary of the SED, Chairman of the People's Chamber of the GDR and Chairman of the National Defense Council of the country.

October 18. The Hungarian Parliament adopted about 100 constitutional amendments regulating the transition to parliamentary democracy.

October 23. In Budapest, instead of the Hungarian People's Republic, the Hungarian Republic was proclaimed, which defined itself as a free, democratic, independent, legal state.

November 9. The Council of Ministers of the GDR decided to open the border with Germany and West Berlin.

10th of November. The head of the People's Republic of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Communist Party, Todor Zhivkov, resigned from the post of General Secretary and member of the Politburo. Petr Mladenov was elected as the new General Secretary of the BCP.

November 24. Under pressure from the opposition and mass demonstrations, the leadership of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia resigned. Karel Urbanek was elected as the new general secretary of the party.

November 28. In Czechoslovakia, following a meeting between the government delegation and the ruling Popular Front with representatives of the opposition “Civil Forum”, a decision was made to create a new government and abolish the provision enshrined in the constitution on the leading role of the Communist Party.

December 10. Resignation of the President of Czechoslovakia G. Husak. A new government with a non-communist majority was formed. On December 29, Vaclav Havel was elected President of Czechoslovakia.

December 22. In Romania, the head of state and the Romanian Communist Party N. Ceausescu was overthrown. Shot together with his wife on December 25. The leader of the National Salvation Front, I. Iliescu, became the President of Romania.

The general direction of movements was one-dimensional, despite the diversity and specificity in different countries. These were protests against totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, gross violations of the freedoms and rights of citizens, against social injustice existing in society, corruption of government structures, illegal privileges and the low standard of living of the population. They were a rejection of the one-party state administrative-command system, which plunged all the countries of Eastern Europe into deep crises and failed to find a decent way out of the current situation. The “Velvet Revolutions” in Eastern Europe were not only “against”, but also “for”. For the establishment of true freedom and democracy, social justice, political pluralism, improvement of the spiritual and material life of the population, recognition of universal human values, and an effective economy developing according to the laws of a civilized society.

As democratic and anti-totalitarian revolutions, they are the opposite of the revolutions of the 40s. However, they do have common features. The revolutions of the 40s began with the seizure of power, the formation of a totalitarian regime, and then it was provided with the appropriate social and economic support in the form of building socialism. The revolutions of 1989 followed the same path. First, the political regime was crushed and opposition forces came to power, which then began the “construction of capitalism”, the creation of an appropriate liberal democracy, a socio-economic base - a socially oriented market economy.

The main directions of economic reforms were: restoration of the regulatory role of the market and full-fledged commodity-money relations, transition to a convertible currency, to a multi-structure economy and the coexistence of various forms of ownership, including the recognition of private property and the hired labor market, dismantling the command-administrative system, decentralization and democratization economic life.

Of course, events in each country differed in national characteristics.