Ted,
You have got to be kidding...communism fell cause it ran out of money and its people were starving.
No the were not. Maybe in poor countries like Rumania, Albania or North Korea, but not in Soviet Union, Poland, GDR, Czechoslovakia and Hungary.
If you subtract the delay of the arrival of some fad consumer goods - platform shoees, VCRs, electric can openers, and look at the real living needs - housing, food, cloths, education, health, entertainment, you would be surprised. When I arrived in NY, I was surprised to see the number of people who lived well below the standard of living in Czechoslovakia, where I am from. You may say that picking New York City, the most socialist place in the US is unfair, and you would be partially right.
Running out of money is also a concept that does not really apply. Some countries ran up external debts, but those don't really count much for internal accounting, since the government had a monopoly in every aspect, and could command people to to things, rather than trying to induce them with monetary rewards.
Russia let the poles, the GDR, the czechs etc go because they could not afford to maintain a military presence in those countries any longer.
The cost of maintaining those troops are a complete non-issue. They have a conscription. Soldiers get paid next to nothing while serving, live in low quality military housing. It was the lack of confidence to use these that accelerated the fall of Communism.
The puppet leaders of the Eastern European countries were waiting for orders to break up the revolt. The orders never came.
Joe |
