Eastern Europe. The economy of Western Europe after the Second World War

In the twentieth century the development of the economy of the leading capitalist countries was greatly influenced by two global events - the first and second world wars. The post-war economy of even the leading countries of Western Europe was in critical condition.

ENGLAND. The slowdown in the economic development of England began after the First World War. In the 1920s, the British economy developed unevenly. Production grew relatively rapidly in new industries, in which the processes of technical reconstruction of enterprises, an increase in their power supply, extensive mechanization, electrification and chemicalization were most rapidly going on. production processes. The old branches of British industry were stagnating. Coal mining, pig iron smelting, and the production of the English textile industry were reduced. Ferrous metallurgy enterprises were only half loaded. There was a process of curtailment of agricultural production. In terms of development rates, the British economy lagged behind the leading capitalist powers.

The Second World War caused a further weakening of the economic and political position of Great Britain. In general, during the years of the Second World War, it lost about 25% of the country's national wealth. The equipment of British enterprises during the war years was worn out, technical progress slowed down. The war led to an increase in Great Britain's dependence on the United States, which during the war sent large deliveries of weapons and food to its ally under Lend-Lease terms Lend-Lease is a system for lending or leasing weapons, ammunition, strategic raw materials, food, etc. to the United States. material resources countries of the anti-Hitler coalition during World War II., in addition, they had to reduce, and in some areas completely interrupt their foreign economic relations with countries where US capital was increasingly being introduced. In 1947, an acute financial crisis began in the country, and the government was forced to reduce food imports, which led to a sharp rise in food prices. The British government saw a way out of the difficult economic situation in joining the Marshall Plan.

FRANCE. Policy pursued ruling circles France in the second half of the 30s, led the country to a military disaster. In June 1940, France capitulated and its economy was placed at the service of Nazi Germany. The war and the four-year occupation caused considerable damage to France. Industrial production was reduced by almost 70%, its structure was archaic, and the machine park was not updated for a long time. Compared to 1938, agricultural output has halved. The end of the war put France before the most difficult tasks, the main of which was the elimination of economic ruin. However, neither the government nor the business circles had a unanimity of opinion regarding policy in the financial and economic field. Thus, the Minister of Economy, the radical P. Mendès-France, proposed to freeze wages and prices, as well as simultaneously blocking bank accounts and proceeding with the forced exchange of banknotes. Minister of Finance R. Pleven developed a project, the basis of which was the issue of a large internal loan, designed to save military profits. The communists, who were in a strong position due to their active participation in the resistance movement, considered the most important tasks to carry out nationalization and create a system social protection population. A sharp political struggle unfolded around the problem of nationalization, which ended in a compromise. As in other capitalist countries, the nationalization in France did not affect all the main branches of industry and did not change the essence of the capitalist economy. In its economic content, it meant the transition from private to state-monopoly property, representing a major step in the development of state-monopoly capitalism. The needs of economic recovery led to the fact that most of the investment began to be directed to industry. This has accelerated the pace industrial production countries and in the summer of 1947 to reach its pre-war level (in agriculture this level was surpassed in 1950). In May 1947, under the pretext of a vote by communist ministers against trust in the government, they were removed from the government coalition. The nationalization process was suspended, and on June 28, 1948. An agreement on economic cooperation between France and the United States of America was signed in Paris, marking the beginning of the Marshall Plan in France.

ITALY. Italy entered the 2nd world war on the side of Hitler's Germany. It is a developed industrial and agrarian country, in terms of development it belongs to the countries of highly developed capitalism. The most important branches of industry are associated with military production. In 1948, it was included in the Marshall Plan.

SWEDEN. Sweden is an industrial-agricultural country, the leading ones are mining, engineering, metalworking, electrical and chemical industries. A significant part of industrial goods is exported. In agriculture, meat and dairy animal husbandry prevails over agriculture. During the Second World War, Sweden declared neutrality, which, however, was violated in favor of the Nazi coalition. AT post-war years adheres to a policy of "freedom from unions".

NORWAY. The establishment of Norway's independence in 1905 favored an economic recovery. During World War II, Norway was occupied by Nazi Germany.

DENMARK. Agro-industrial country with intensive agriculture. The Danish industry has a pronounced manufacturing character. In 1940 it was occupied by Nazi Germany.

BELGIUM. By the end of the 19th century Belgium was a developed capitalist country, with big industry and intensive agriculture. During the Second World War it was captured by Germany.

AUSTRIA. For seven years (1938-1945) Austria was ruled by Nazi Germany. The entire economy of the country was subordinated to the military needs of Germany, the gold reserves of Austria were taken to Berlin. The main role in the country's economy belonged to large monopolies. In 1943, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain signed a declaration on Austria, declaring their desire to see it restored, free and independent. In 1948, with the active assistance of the United States, Britain and France, an agreement was signed on Austria's participation in the Marshall Plan.

GREECE. Greece is a predominantly agricultural country with a relatively developed industry. During World War II it was occupied by Germany.

SWITZERLAND. The country high level development, in the economy the main role belongs to industry. From the end of the 19th century it established the dominance of finance capital. In the Second World War declared neutrality.

PORTUGAL. An agrarian country, the most backward of all the countries of Europe. In World War II, she helped the fascist bloc.

TURKEY. Poorly developed agricultural country. On the eve of World War II, Germany had a great influence on the economy and politics of Turkey. during the war it supplied Germany with strategic raw materials.

Thus, after the 2nd World War, the economy of the countries of Western Europe found itself in an extremely difficult situation.

Topic 7. Countries of Eastern Europe after World War II.

After the war, the countries of Eastern Europe were included in the sphere of influence of the USSR, which, regardless of national characteristics, began to build Stalinist socialism in them. Any opposition was brutally suppressed, as was the case in Hungary (1956) and Czechoslovakia (1968). Only with the beginning of changes in the Soviet Union did the peoples of these countries get the opportunity for self-determination, which revealed acute problems in many countries that turned into ethnic and social conflicts, the collapse of the economy, and the deterioration of the situation of the people. In some places, former communists have returned to power, but their inability to change the situation leads to the fact that the Eastern European countries see their future on the path of democracy and integration into European structures.

November 29, 1945 - Proclamation of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was restored as a federal state after the war, but all power was concentrated in the hands of the authoritarian communist regime of Josip Broz Tito, who brutally suppressed opposition and at the same time allowed elements of a market economy in the economy.

January 1946 - Proclamation of the People's Republic of Albania. The communists who seized power in Albania, led by Enver Hoxha, established a dictatorship, physically exterminating supporters of other parties.

September 1946 - Proclamation of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. After cracking down on the opposition, the communists overthrew the Bulgarian monarchy and announced a socialist path of development.

February 1947 - Proclamation of the Polish People's Republic. Having declared the country socialist, the Polish communists expelled the oppositionists from the government, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Mikolajczyk.

September 1947 - formation of the Cominform. At a meeting of the leaders of the countries of Eastern Europe, a new body of Soviet control over the "fraternal parties" was created.

December 1947 - Proclamation of the Romanian People's Republic. After the overthrow of the monarchy, the Romanian communists created a one-party government and began mass repressions.

February 1948 - Communist coup in Czechoslovakia. By taking the workers to the streets, the communists forced President Beneš to dismiss the non-communist ministers from the government, and soon to resign.

Summer 1948 - break of Yugoslavia with the USSR. Yugoslavia, which dared to disobey Stalin's orders, was expelled from the Cominform. Help Western countries prevented Stalin from cracking down on Tito by military means, and after his death, a gradual improvement in relations between the USSR and Yugoslavia began.

January 1949 - creation of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). The economic community of the USSR and the countries of Eastern Europe was in fact a means of Moscow's economic dictates.

August 1949 - Proclamation of the Hungarian People's Republic. After the removal of the Peasant Party from the government, the communists usurped power and unleashed a cruel terror, imprisoning more than 800 thousand people.

September 1949 - Reik Trial. Prominent Hungarian communists, including Foreign Minister Laszlo Rajk, were accused of spying for Yugoslavia and executed.

February 1952 - the trial of Slansky. The court sentenced to hanging the leaders of the Czechoslovak Communist Party, including its Secretary General Rudolf Slansky.

June 1955 - creation of the Warsaw Pact Organization (OVD). The military alliance of the countries of socialism granted the Soviet Union the right to keep its troops and nuclear weapons on their territory.

June 1956 – uprising of workers in Poland. The uprising in Poznan was crushed by Soviet troops.

October 1956 - revolution in Hungary. The revolution was directed against the Stalinist Rakosi regime. The rebels created a government led by communist Imre Nagy, which announced the dissolution of the Communist Party and Hungary's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact. On November 4, they entered Hungary Soviet troops who, after stubborn fighting, crushed the uprising. Thousands of Hungarians died; Imre Nagy was captured and hanged.

1965 - Ceausescu comes to power. The new Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu announced a foreign policy independent of the USSR.

January 1968 - change of leadership in Czechoslovakia. With the advent of the new leadership of the Communist Party, headed by Alexander Dubcek, the "Prague Spring" began - the process of democratic reforms in Czechoslovakia.

August 21, 1968 - intervention in Czechoslovakia. The troops of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact countries entered Czechoslovakia and interrupted the reforms that had begun. Soon the reformers in the leadership ceded power to the Stalinists, led by Gustav Husak.

December 1970 - removal of Gomułka in Poland. Mass unrest after the price increase led to the resignation of the Polish leader Wladyslaw Gomułka. Instead of him general secretary The Communist Party was Edward Gierek.

May 1980 - Tito's death. After the death of the long-term dictator of Yugoslavia, the collective Presidium of Yugoslavia became the head of state.

September 1980 - Gierek's resignation. New popular uprisings, led by the Solidarity trade union, led to the resignation of Gierek and the crisis of communist power.

December 1981 - martial law in Poland. The paralysis of power forced the new party leader of Poland, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, to introduce martial law without waiting for the appearance of Soviet troops.

1988 - the crisis of communist regimes. The beginning of perestroika in the USSR led to a crisis in the countries of Eastern Europe. Communist regimes came under increasing criticism; individual leaders were forced to give way to the reformers.

In what political state did the countries of Eastern Europe find themselves in the first post-war years (until the end of 1946)?
2. What was the position of the Soviet Baltic republics after the war?
3. What public sentiments were common in Eastern Europe after the war? What approaches did the USSR follow in determining its policy in Eastern Europe?
4. How was the USSR treated in the countries of Eastern Europe?
5. How were the non-communist forces defeated in the general elections in Poland on January 19, 1947? What consequences did it have?
1. In Hungary after the war, the communists were not the main force. Hungary was an ally of Germany under the Anti-Comintern Pact, and Hungarian units participated in the fighting on the side of Germany in Yugoslavia and on the territory of the Soviet Union. However, back in 1943, dictator M. Horthy began to look for ways to withdraw the country from the war and entered into contacts with British representatives. In the spring of 1944, he even tried to get permission from Hitler to withdraw the Hungarian troops from at least one of the fronts. Berlin refused, and on March 14 German troops were brought into Hungary.
In August 1944, M. Horthy began negotiations with Moscow, asking her consent to the joint occupation of Hungary by the forces of the USSR and the Western allies. In October, he officially announced Hungary's withdrawal from the war. In response, German troops entered Budapest.
After the fall of M. Horthy and the liberation of Hungary by the Soviet troops, the first free elections were held on November 3, 1945. The Party of Small Farmers received the majority of votes. On February 1, 1946, a republic was proclaimed in Hungary. The new government since 1946 was headed by Ferenc Nagy, a representative of the Party of Smallholders. The Communists participated in it, but did not occupy a dominant position.
In other countries, the communists have achieved more. In November 1944, the Communists were included in the Romanian government. True, as early as February 1945, a new cabinet was formed in Bucharest, headed by Petru Groza, leader of the Front of Farmers. It was already essentially a communist government. The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR A.Ya. Vyshinsky, fulfilling the decisions of the December (1945) meeting of the Council of Ministers of Foreign Affairs in Moscow, was even forced to make a special visit to Romania in order to achieve the inclusion in the Romanian government of representatives of the "historical" parties - the National Liberal and the National -tzaranist - and thus provide the Romanian government with international recognition. In general, the disappearance communist parties and the establishment of a one-party system took place before anyone else precisely in those countries where the Soviet military-political presence either did not exist at all (Albania), or it played a secondary role in the formation of the post-war order (Yugoslavia).
The communization of Bulgaria, which during the war years was in allied relations with Germany and Italy, proceeded rather quickly, without declaring war on the USSR. On September 5, 1944, the USSR declared a state of war with Bulgaria, and Soviet troops were brought there. This allowed the Bulgarian communists and other anti-German forces to become more active. A non-communist government was formed in the country, headed by the leader of the Zveno Union, Kimon Georgiev. It included communists who occupied key posts. Members of the regency council were arrested and executed. In November 1945, parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria, in which the Patriotic Front, a coalition of diverse parties led by the Communists, won. The new cabinet was re-formed by K. Georgiev. In November 1946, as a result of a referendum, the monarchy in Bulgaria was abolished, and the country was proclaimed the People's Republic of Bulgaria. On November 21, 1946, Georgy Dimitrov arrived in Sofia from Moscow and headed the next Bulgarian government.
The situation in Poland developed more complicated. During the war, the western regions of this country were included in Germany, and in the east, a general government headed by a German governor was formed. By the end of the war, two Polish governments claimed the right to represent the interests of the Polish people - one pro-Western emigre government in London (in 1943-1944 it was headed by the leader of the Polish Peasants' Party Stanisław Mikolajczyk) and the other - created in July 1944 on part of the liberated territory of Poland in Lublin pro-Soviet Provisional National Government of Poland.
On August 1, 1944, patriotic groups of Poles who supported the London government raised an armed uprising in Warsaw against the German troops. It was launched taking into account the offensive on Warsaw by Soviet troops and counting on their support. Meanwhile, Stalin decided not to support the uprising in Warsaw in order to prevent the strengthening of anti-Soviet forces in Poland. On September 14, 1944, Soviet troops occupied one of the suburbs of Warsaw, and further advancement stopped. The uprising continued until October 2 and was brutally suppressed by the Nazis with the inactivity of the Soviet troops.
The Soviet Union began to strive for the post-war cabinet in Poland to be created on a "Lublin" and not a "London" basis. The key consideration that continued to guide the USSR was to secure recognition of the "Curzon Line" as the future eastern border of Poland. The Soviet side did not allow retreats on the border issue. The Soviet representatives considered it possible to include in the coalition government only those representatives of the "London Poles" who agreed with the "Curzon Line". The United States and Britain, without rejecting the position of I. V. Stalin, sabotaged the formation of the Polish cabinet on Soviet terms. Only in Yalta did they agree to the formula of a coalition government "on the basis of Lublin" with the participation of moderate "Londoners". But, fearing that the Western allies would refuse to fulfill the agreements reached, on April 21, 1945, the USSR concluded a Treaty of Friendship, Mutual Assistance and Post-War Cooperation with the Lublin government for a period of 20 years. It was clear that Moscow would not allow the formation of a coalition government in Poland at all if the US, Britain and the "London Poles" insisted on revising Moscow's position on the border issue. The USSR line won.
On June 28, 1945, a coalition cabinet was formed from the "Lublin" and "London" Poles, headed by the socialist E. Osobka-Moravsky, who represented the Lublin government. S. Mikolajczyk took the posts of Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Agriculture in it, hoping to expand his influence in the future, relying on popularity among the peasantry. Non-communist parties in Poland had many supporters, and Mikolajczyk's Polish Peasants' Party in 1945 outnumbered the Communist Party and the Socialist Party combined. In accordance with the decisions of the Potsdam Conference, the coalition government was recognized by the Western powers. In August 1945, the USSR signed with the new coalition government of Poland the Treaty on the Soviet-Polish state border, which confirmed its passage (with some deviations) along the "Curzon Line".
Of all the Eastern European countries, a non-communist alternative seemed the most viable in Czechoslovakia. Here, its democratic experience between the two world wars, and the country's economic orientation mainly to the West, and Moscow's positive attitude towards the figure of E. Beneš had an effect. Moscow supported his claims to the continuity of the pre-war Czechoslovak state, and as early as December 1943 JV Stalin and E. Beneš signed the Treaty of Friendship, Mutual Assistance and Post-War Cooperation. After the liberation of Czechoslovakia from fascism, Beneš was automatically restored as a full-fledged president of the country. On June 29, 1945, a Soviet-Czechoslovak treaty was concluded on Transcarpathian Ukraine. Transcarpathia ("Rusinia", "Podcarpathian Rus"), which belonged in 1920-1938. Czechoslovakia, and in 1938-1945. - Hungary (after the destruction of independent Czechoslovakia in 1938), transmitted Soviet Union.
Post-war reforms (especially in the agrarian sector) in Czechoslovakia were less radical than in other people's democracies, and until the end of 1947 the communists behaved relatively moderately, adhering to the concept of the "Czechoslovak path to socialism." In the elections in Legislative Assembly In Czechoslovakia, in May 1946, the communists managed to become the first influential party (38% of the vote), although their victory was secured by the votes of the populated Czech lands - in Slovakia, the positions of the communists were weaker. The Slovaks were wary of restoring a single state with the Czechs, fearing Czech nationalism.
Although Czechoslovakia's chairman Klement Gottwald (Czech) became prime minister of Czechoslovakia, the government was half non-communist, and the son of the first president of Czechoslovakia, Slovak Jan Masaryk, a supporter of a pro-Western orientation, took over as foreign minister.
2. The Baltic countries - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - were included in the USSR in 1940 without taking into account the opinions of the peoples of these countries. After the Second World War, their presence in the USSR was not openly disputed by the governments of other countries. However, the United States of America did not officially recognize the legality of the annexation of the Baltic states to the USSR, although they did not make any representations to Moscow on this matter.
The administrative boundaries of the Baltic republics within the USSR have undergone changes. Another was the line of the administrative border between the Estonian SSR and the Pskov region of the RSFSR - a wedge of territory with a mixed Russian-Estonian population in the area with. Pechory with the old Russian Orthodox Pskov-Pechora Monastery. A section of the Curonian Spit on the Baltic Sea and the former Memel Territory (the city of Memel became known as Klaipeda) were transferred to the Lithuanian SSR. Soviet Lithuania also retained in its composition the Vilna region (modern Vilnius and the adjacent region) with a large Polish minority living there, transferred to it by the Soviet government after the destruction of the Polish state in 1939.
After the expulsion of German troops from the Baltic states, at the beginning of 1945, Soviet authorities were restored on the territory of the Baltic republics, collectivization and partial re-nationalization were carried out. These measures were accompanied by repressions and deportations of "bourgeois elements" to the eastern and northern regions of the USSR. In total, about 9% of the Baltic population was deported, including 300,000 people from Lithuania. Nearly a hundred thousand more fled to the West. In the Baltics, an anti-Soviet partisan movement of the "forest brothers" arose, which was engaged in terror against the regular forces of the Soviet Army, disrupting elections and killing local communists. By the end of 1946, it was almost completely suppressed in Estonia and Latvia, but continued to operate in Lithuania. Individual activists of the "Forest Brothers" remained underground until the 1970s.
3. In the first post-war years, there was a painful process of mass movements of people in Europe - mainly in westbound. In addition to the eviction of 6 million Germans from Poland, the Baltic regions of the USSR, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia, about 380 thousand Poles fled or emigrated to the West, 220 thousand Jews (a significant part of whom soon rushed to Palestine), 125 thousand citizens of Yugoslavia , 87 thousand inhabitants of the three Baltic republics included in the Soviet Union, tens of thousands of Ukrainians from the Western Ukrainian regions of the USSR. About 5.4 million "Ostarbeiters" and political emigrants were returned to the USSR, largely forcibly, the vast majority of whom went through Soviet concentration camps. Population flows also occurred between Eastern European countries: Hungarians left Romania and Yugoslavia, Ukrainian Greek Catholics were expelled from Poland (where they lived in the Rzheshuv region), the Poles themselves left for Poland from the territory of the USSR.
The political and psychological situation in the east of Europe in the first post-war years differed little from the situation in the west. After five or six years of dictatorship and violence everywhere, public sentiment was saturated with fear. To this was added a sense of fatigue both from the ruthless market capitalism that, in the understanding of an ordinary European, became the cause of the crisis of the interwar years, and from the "failed democracy" that could not protect against this crisis. Disillusionment with parliamentary-republican forms of government was part of the psychological legacy of the crisis of 1929-1933, which all countries found a way out of in the 1930s by strengthening executive power.
With the exception of Czechoslovakia, democratic institutions in Eastern Europe were not trusted in any country. In Poland, the regime that existed on the eve of the World War and grew out of the dictatorship of Jozef Pidsudski was by no means liberal, and the intelligentsia in this country, in fact, did not have time to form. Between the wars, Romania was ruled by conservatives who, in the 1940s, surprisingly easily agreed to cooperate with the Nazis. True, in Romania and Hungary in the 1920s and 1930s there were the beginnings of a multi-party system, political parties were firmly embedded in local dictatorships and were part of them. There was no democracy either in Bulgaria or in Yugoslavia, where power belonged to the aristocracy and the conservative bureaucracy. In the perception of Eastern Europeans, the types of political structure known to them were discredited, and there were no understandable and attractive models of government to create, which would be worth striving for.
On the final stage war and in the first post-war years (until about mid-1947), Soviet leadership did not set the goal of forming one-party communist regimes in Eastern European countries. At that time, the task was to create a security belt of friendly states on the western border of the USSR. Their socio-political system after the war was formed under Soviet control, thanks to which the left had advantages. However, parliamentarism and multi-party system were not denied. Moscow was tolerant of non-communist moderate parties and encouraged the formation of coalitions and the unification of parties and movements into popular (national, democratic, domestic) fronts that stood on democratic positions. Obviously, anti-communist parties did not fit into this scheme, since they were identified with pro-fascist regimes, although even they, as the experience of Romania in 1944-1947 shows, were not denied access to these coalitions. Such an order ensured the dominance of socialist elements in the economy and political system without destroying the state machine and while maintaining traditional parliamentarism. It was called "People's Democracy".
Keyword
People's Democracy- the political system in the countries of Eastern Europe, with
in which, in fact, the leading role was played by local communists, relying on the support of the USSR, while non-communist parties continued to exist under the condition of their loyalty to the authorities.
The relatively soft course of the USSR until 1947 was dictated by the need for cooperation with the Western allies in the development of Europe. Moscow opposed the attempts of anti-communist forces to break through to power. But Soviet leaders held back the desire of local communist parties to accelerate anti-capitalist reforms. Conducted in 1945-1947. in the Eastern European countries, parliamentary elections, despite the offenses, testified to the growth of the influence of the communists. In Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, where the Soviet Union directed the work of the allied control commissions, the Soviet representatives insisted on the inclusion in the governments of representatives of non-communist parties, albeit from among those acceptable to Moscow.
4. The Soviet experience did not seem ideal to Eastern Europeans. But he made an impression. Little was known about the Stalinist repressions of the 1930s, and Soviet regime seemed better than the fascist one: at least, it seemed to be focused on the involvement of citizens in the state system - in contrast to Nazism, which was built on discrimination and exclusion from society of one or another category of citizens. The USSR was not a sign of a bright future, but it seemed to be a symbol of a departure from a nightmarish past.
In the Soviet Union, in the forests of the Baltic states, "forest brothers" were hiding - detachments of opponents of the accession of the Baltic countries to the Soviet Union, which periodically attacked units of the Soviet Army. In Western Ukraine until 1947 they continued to resist Soviet power detachments of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which did not leave together with the Nazis, under the leadership of the Western Ukrainian nationalist S. A. Bandera.
It is all the more striking that outside the USSR, the population showed no signs of intent to resist the Soviet presence and the onslaught of the local left. For example, in Poland alone, the number of opponents of communism should have been, according to Western estimates, at least 100 thousand people. But it turned out that in order to neutralize them, it was enough for the Polish communist government to carry out two amnesties (1947), after which the dissenters were simply forgotten for several years.
The sentiments against local collaborators - "prudent inhabitants" who endured the Nazis during the war in order to preserve their property - were stronger than fears against the Communists. At the same time, in the liberal and Catholic circles of Eastern European countries, they hoped for the "fragility of the new government" and "the imminent start of a third world war." While waiting for it, the moderates passively watched the events. In contrast, the poor strata showed signs of activity and a thirst for change. The communists were attracted by their energy and purposefulness against the background of the sluggishness of the centrists. New pro-communist and leftist regimes won the support of the masses. Paramilitary detachments of local communists began to form in the countries of Eastern Europe. Ordinary citizens willingly joined the police forces and the new national armed forces.
A. The Soviet Union behaved prudently in Eastern Europe, not wanting complications with Washington and London. But the cautious line was understood in Moscow as a renunciation of attempts to go beyond the geographical limits of what since 1945, in agreement with the United States and Britain, the USSR began to consider the security belt of the Soviet Union. Actions within this belt were not considered in Moscow to be either offensive or provocative towards the West. The USSR took care of the security of the borders and did this by building a geopolitical barrier out of the Eastern European countries.
In principle, such regimes could exist in the form of neutralist governments without the participation of the communists, as was the case in Finland after the resignation on March 4, 1946 of President Karl Mannerheim. But the experience of Finland, where there were no Soviet troops, was not applicable to the Eastern European countries. Radical forms of transformation began to predominate in them. The change of regime in Warsaw proved to be one of the most painful changes.
The pro-Western forces in Poland were in a difficult position. The USSR did not arouse the sympathy of the Poles. But the Polish peasants began to develop new lands in the territories received from Germany. On June 30, 1946, the leftist government submitted to a referendum and received approval of the program for the nationalization of industry. A land reform was carried out in the country, according to which new lands in the west were included in the calculation of land allotments. Settlers in the areas from which the German population was deported received houses, implements, property and arable land from the rue of communist power. This formed a layer of people interested in its survival in order to preserve the immutability of the western Polish borders.
At this time, the Western governments, as if on purpose, did everything to fuel the anti-Western suspicions of the Poles. British and American politicians shied away from confirming the legitimacy of Poland's borders in the West and pointed to their inconclusive nature. Legally, such statements did not contradict the Potsdam agreements. But this damaged the reputation of the West in the eyes of the Polish population, who feared that Washington and London might "take back" their concessions made at Yalta and Potsdam. Only Moscow firmly declared the final nature of the Polish borders and supported the eviction of the Germans from the territories annexed to Poland. The Polish left played on the fears of the population. It was difficult for pro-Western parties to build their election programs.
The situation was complicated for the non-communist forces by government repression. In 1946, 17 public figures and politicians from among the moderates and centrists were arrested on charges of having links with the anti-government underground. In addition to the main defendants in the process, thousands of grassroots leaders were arrested
Polish Peasants' Party. Starting in the autumn of 1946, she began to be subjected to systematic pressure, her meetings were dispersed by detachments of the Communist Party, in countryside PKP activists were arrested.
In the elections to the Sejm on January 19, 1947, the party of S. Mikołajczyk, on which they pinned their hopes as the non-communist core of the Polish political spectrum, was defeated, winning 28 seats against 394 won by the bloc of socialists and communists. Bolesław Bierut, one of the leaders of the Communist Party, was elected President of Poland.
On September 14, 1947, the Polish government broke the concordat with the Vatican, and a conflict between the state and the Catholic Church began in the country.
Keyword
Concordat-treaty between the Pope as head catholic church and
the state of the Vatican and any country about the legal status of the Catholic Church in it and relations with the papal throne.
The events in Poland caused the West to grow wary of the intentions of the USSR in Eastern Europe. The West did not recognize the results of the elections in Poland. Watching the actions of the communists in the east of Europe, Western governments were inclined to the appropriateness of repressive measures against the communists in their countries.
Minimum knowledge
1. The post-war situation in Eastern Europe was characterized by tension in social, ethnic, economic and political relations. This was (associated with fatigue, fear and socio-economic exhaustion as a result of participation in the war, mass migrations of peoples, deployment of Soviet troops. The USSR at the first stage did not seek to establish the power of pro-communist forces, agreeing to participate in government bodies traditional Eastern European parties and movements. The new regimes in Eastern Europe were called "countries of people's democracy."
2. The Baltic Republics, which were included in the USSR against the wishes of a significant part of the population of these countries, were subjected to mass repressions and a change in the socio-economic system in the image of the USSR of the 1920-1930s. The administrative border of these republics with the neighboring RSFSR was also changed.
3. The population of the countries of Eastern Europe perceived the dominance of the USSR in their countries without active resistance. The USSR was perceived as a winner in the war and a potentially possible model of the state and social structure.
4. The situation in Central and Eastern Europe was uncertain. Coalition governments in most countries were unstable, and there were processes of rivalry between left and center. In a number of countries, the communists failed to gain a clear advantage, however, counting on the support of the USSR, they were not going to miss the chance to seize power.
5. After the war, the USSR actually "bribed" the Polish population, transferring to it the material wealth and lands of the off-limits territories that had passed to Poland from Germany. The weakening of the anti-communist forces was also connected with this. An additional role was played by repressions against the Polish opposition. Poland was in the hands of the communists.

After the final defeat of the Nazis, coalition governments came to power in many states of Eastern Europe, which belonged to various political forces - communists, liberals, social democrats.

The primary task for the leaders of the Eastern European countries was the elimination of the remnants of fascist ideology in society, as well as the restoration of the economy. After the start cold war, the states of Eastern Europe were divided into two camps: those who supported the pro-Soviet course, and those that preferred the capitalist path of development.

Eastern European Development Model

Despite the fact that communist regimes remained in most Eastern European countries in the 1950s, the government and parliament were multi-party.

In Czechoslovakia, Poland, Bulgaria and East Germany, the Communist Party was recognized as dominant, but at the same time, the Social Democratic and Liberal parties were not dissolved, but rather had the opportunity to actively participate in political life.

In the early 50s, the Soviet model of development began to be established in Eastern Europe: like the USSR, collectivization and industrialization were carried out in countries, some leaders tried to create a cult of their personality.

USSR and Eastern Europe

AT post-war period all countries of Eastern Europe had the status of independent states. However, since 1947, the actual leadership of these states was carried out by the Soviet Union.

This year, the first Information Bureau was created in Moscow, whose competence included control over the communist and workers' parties of the socialist states and the elimination of the opposition from the political arena.

In the early 50s, Soviet troops still remained in Eastern Europe, which indicated the actual control of the USSR domestic policy states. Members of the government who allowed themselves to speak negatively about the Communists were forcibly resigned. Such personnel purge was widely practiced in Poland and Czechoslovakia.

The leaders of some Eastern European states, in particular Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, were subject to sharp criticism from the CPSU, as they initiated the modernization of the economy, which corresponded to the capitalist path of development.

Already at the beginning of 1949, Stalin called on the leaders of the communist parties of Yugoslavia and Bulgaria to overthrow the heads of state, declaring them enemies of the proletarian revolution. However, the heads of state G. Dmitrov and I. Tito were not overthrown.

Moreover, until the mid-1950s, the leaders continued to build a capitalist society using socialist methods, which caused a negative reaction from the USSR.

Poland and Czechoslovakia succumbed to sharp Soviet criticism, which also initiated modernization in the early 50s. To do this, the Eastern European countries needed to pool their resources in order to achieve the highest possible results.

The Soviet government regarded this as an attempt to create a new empire, which would eventually completely free itself from the influence of Moscow and in the future could even become a threat to the statehood of the USSR.

November 29, 1945 - Proclamation of the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia was restored as a federal state after the war, but all power was concentrated in the hands of the authoritarian communist regime of Josip Broz Tito, who brutally suppressed opposition and at the same time allowed elements of a market economy in the economy.

January 1946 - Proclamation of the People's Republic of Albania. The communists who seized power in Albania, led by Enver Hoxha, established a dictatorship, physically exterminating supporters of other parties.

September 1946 - Proclamation of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. After cracking down on the opposition, the communists overthrew the Bulgarian monarchy and announced a socialist path of development.

February 1947 - Proclamation of the Polish People's Republic. Having declared the country socialist, the Polish communists expelled the oppositionists from the government, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Mikolajczyk.

September 1947 - formation of the Cominform. At a meeting of the leaders of the countries of Eastern Europe, a new body of Soviet control over the "fraternal parties" was created.

December 1947 - Proclamation of the Romanian People's Republic. After the overthrow of the monarchy, the Romanian communists created a one-party government and began mass repressions.

February 1948 - Communist coup in Czechoslovakia. By taking the workers to the streets, the communists forced President Beneš to dismiss the non-communist ministers from the government, and soon to resign.

Summer 1948 - break of Yugoslavia with the USSR. Yugoslavia, which dared to disobey Stalin's orders, was expelled from the Cominform. The help of Western countries prevented Stalin from cracking down on Tito by military means, and after his death, a gradual improvement in relations between the USSR and Yugoslavia began.

January 1949 - creation of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA). The economic community of the USSR and the countries of Eastern Europe was in fact a means of Moscow's economic dictates.

August 1949 - Proclamation of the Hungarian People's Republic. After the removal of the Peasant Party from the government, the communists usurped power and unleashed a cruel terror, imprisoning more than 800 thousand people.

September 1949 - Reik Trial. Prominent Hungarian communists, including Foreign Minister Laszlo Rajk, were accused of spying for Yugoslavia and executed.

February 1952 - the trial of Slansky. The court sentenced leaders of the Czechoslovak Communist Party to hang, including its general secretary Rudolf Slansky.

June 1955 - creation of the Warsaw Pact Organization (OVD). The military alliance of the countries of socialism granted the Soviet Union the right to keep its troops and nuclear weapons on their territory.

June 1956 – uprising of workers in Poland. The uprising in Poznan was crushed by Soviet troops.

October 1956 - revolution in Hungary. The revolution was directed against the Stalinist Rakosi regime. The rebels created a government led by communist Imre Nagy, which announced the dissolution of the Communist Party and Hungary's withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact. On November 4, Soviet troops entered Hungary, which, after stubborn fighting, crushed the uprising. Thousands of Hungarians died; Imre Nagy was captured and hanged.

1965 - Ceausescu comes to power. The new Romanian leader Nicolae Ceausescu announced a foreign policy independent of the USSR.

January 1968 - change of leadership in Czechoslovakia. With the advent of the new leadership of the Communist Party, headed by Alexander Dubcek, the "Prague Spring" began - the process of democratic reforms in Czechoslovakia.

August 21, 1968 - intervention in Czechoslovakia. The troops of the USSR and the Warsaw Pact countries entered Czechoslovakia and interrupted the reforms that had begun. Soon the reformers in the leadership ceded power to the Stalinists, led by Gustav Husak.

December 1970 - removal of Gomułka in Poland. Mass unrest after the price increase led to the resignation of the Polish leader Wladyslaw Gomułka. Instead, Edward Gierek became general secretary of the Communist Party.

May 1980 - Tito's death. After the death of the long-term dictator of Yugoslavia, the collective Presidium of Yugoslavia became the head of state.

September 1980 - Gierek's resignation. New popular uprisings, led by the Solidarity trade union, led to the resignation of Gierek and the crisis of communist power.

December 1981 - martial law in Poland. The paralysis of power forced the new party leader of Poland, General Wojciech Jaruzelski, to introduce martial law without waiting for the appearance of Soviet troops.

1988 - the crisis of communist regimes. The beginning of perestroika in the USSR led to a crisis in the countries of Eastern Europe. Communist regimes came under increasing criticism; individual leaders were forced to give way to the reformers.

Eastern Europe after World War II.

The formation of totalitarian socialism in these countries proceeded in different ways. In the countries of Eastern Europe, the defeat of fascism led to the restoration of independence where it had been lost, or a change in the political regime where it had been preserved. A democratic system, universal suffrage and a multi-party system were established everywhere, agrarian reforms were carried out that destroyed large land ownership, the property of traitors and active supporters of fascism was confiscated.

The development of events in the West and in the East of Europe was very similar in the first post-war years. The difference was that Eastern Europe was liberated Soviet army, and there the role of the communist parties was much more significant.

Firstly, because in some of them (Yugoslavia, Albania) the communist parties led the partisan movement and, relying on it, became the most influential political force;

secondly, because they enjoyed the support of the USSR, under its pressure, the communists became part of all the post-war governments of these countries, occupying, as a rule, “power” ministerial posts.

When the Cold War began, relying on the positions already won and direct pressure from Moscow, the communists relatively easily and bloodlessly established their undivided power in 1947-1948.

Asian countries.

The communists came to power in North Korea in much the same way. In Mongolia, China, Vietnam and Laos, the coming of the communists to power, although it was associated with the support of the USSR, was to a lesser extent. Much more it had to do with that. That the communists in these countries led the liberation, anti-colonial movement. Thanks to this, they became an influential political force and were able to come to power.

Changes in the political system.

Having come to power, the communist parties set about "building socialism." The experience of the USSR was taken as a role model. The political system has been transformed. The multi-party system was either eliminated, or the parties lost their political independence, becoming part of coalitions and fronts led by the communists. All power was concentrated in the hands of the Communist parties. Judicial and representative power lost their independence. Following the example of the USSR, mass repressions were carried out. All rights and freedoms of citizens were actually abolished. Democracy was done away with, although constitutions were formally preserved, universal suffrage was formally preserved, "elections" were held regularly, and the leaders of these countries proudly called them countries of "people's democracy."

Planned Economy.

In the field of economics, “building socialism” meant completing the nationalization of industry and finance, carrying out industrialization, and cooperating agriculture. The market economy gave way to the planned one. There was a large-scale breakdown of economic and social structures. Entrepreneurs and independent peasants disappeared. Most of the adult population was employed in the public sector of the economy.

Foreign policy.

In foreign policy, all these countries to a greater or lesser extent followed the course of the USSR. Any disobedience to Moscow caused at first a very harsh reaction. As evidenced by the conflict between Tito and Stalin.

Results of socialist transformations.

As a result, the social and political system in these countries was radically transformed. And just as we call similar processes in Russia after October 1917 a revolution, we have the right to call these transformations revolutionary as well. These revolutions were socialist, in the sense that they approved state property instead of private property. They led to the formation of a totalitarian political system in these countries. All this allows us to call these countries countries of totalitarian socialism.

political crises.

Stalin's death in 1953 brought about major changes. Liberation from the oppressive fear of it exposed the deep contradictions of totalitarian socialism and mass dissatisfaction with it. Political crises arose in the GDR, and then in Poland and Hungary, which proved impossible to overcome without the use of force.

Changes in politics.

In a number of countries in Eastern Europe, the Communist parties found themselves forced to change their policies in order to remove the main causes of discontent. The mass repressions were stopped and the partial rehabilitation of their victims was carried out, changes were made to the envisaged rates of industrialization, the forms of co-operation were softened, and in Poland it was stopped. Partially lifted restrictions for small business. Later, economic reforms were carried out that weakened the rigid, administrative control over the economy. In many countries, all this was accompanied by a “thaw” in the sphere of ideology and culture.

In other countries, criticism of the most unattractive aspects of the Stalinist regime in the USSR caused alarm. The ruling leaders were concerned about the possibility of the criticism being directed at them. Not only did they not support the changes in Moscow and some Eastern European countries, but they also tried to take their own position. The first signs of Soviet-Chinese contradictions appear. In the early 60s, Romania and North Korea. Albania breaks ties with the USSR.

However. The changes in the USSR and some countries of Eastern Europe that took place after Stalin's death turned out to be shallow. Totalitarian socialism was not eliminated there, but only softened to make it more acceptable to the masses. But even this easing of the regimes after some time began to be seen by the Communist parties as a dangerous concession. The events in Czechoslovakia became clear evidence of such a danger to them.

The rise of totalitarianism.

After the intervention in Czechoslovakia, in all the countries of Eastern Europe that survived attempts to renew socialism, the totalitarian features of their system began to become tougher. Economic reforms were stopped. A backward movement began. The elements of market relations that had arisen here and there were liquidated or limited. All the dissatisfied began to be persecuted. In many countries, in connection with this, a movement of human rights activists, “dissidents”, arose.

The strengthening of totalitarianism began in countries where there were no attempts at reform and renewal. There, totalitarianism took especially extreme forms. In Albania, for example, all religions were banned in the 1960s. In China, they tried to “build communism”: the cooperatives were turned into communes, the peasants were deprived of household plots and personal property. In these countries, cults of personalities of leaders have developed: Kim Il Sung in North Korea, Mao Zedong in China, Enver Hoxha in Albania, Nicolae Ceausescu in Romania. All citizens were required to unquestioningly comply with their instructions.

Deterioration of the economic situation.

However, the economic situation of the countries of totalitarian socialism, starting from the 70s, began to steadily worsen. Many Eastern European countries began to take loans from Western countries, trying to renew their industry and accelerate development with these funds. But in the end, the problem of external debt arose. I had to pay debts. This made their situation even worse. Renewed after the death of Mao Zedong, the Chinese leadership was forced to make a decision in 1978 to start market reforms in order to overcome difficulties. In the countries of Eastern Europe, reforms were not even thought of. The economic situation there became more and more difficult. Here the conditions for revolution gradually began to take shape.