Fall of Communism
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The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of
liberal democracy Liberal democracy, also called Western-style democracy, or substantive democracy, is a form of government that combines the organization of a democracy with ideas of liberalism, liberal political philosophy. Common elements within a liberal dem ...
movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
and other parts of the world. This revolutionary wave is sometimes referred to as the Autumn of Nations, a play on the term Spring of Nations that is sometimes used to describe the
revolutions of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...
in
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
. The revolutions of 1989 were a key factor in the
dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...
—one of the two global
superpower Superpower describes a sovereign state or supranational union that holds a dominant position characterized by the ability to Sphere of influence, exert influence and Power projection, project power on a global scale. This is done through the comb ...
s—and in the abandonment of communist regimes in many parts of the world, some of which were violently overthrown. These events drastically altered the world's balance of power, marking the end of the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
and the beginning of the post-Cold War era. The earliest recorded protests which led to the revolutions began in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
on 14 August 1980, the massive general strike across the entire nation which led to the
Gdańsk Agreement The August Agreements () was a set of four accords reached between the government of the Polish People's Republic and the Strike action, striking shipyard workers in Poland. The accord, signed in late August 1980 by government representative Miecz ...
on 31 August 1980 and the establishment of
Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...
, the first and only independent trade union in the Eastern Bloc, whose peak membership reached 10 million. In 1986, in
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
, then part of the Soviet Union, there were student demonstrations, and the last chapter of the revolutions ended in 1996, when
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
abolished the Soviet political system of government, adopting a new constitution which replaced the Soviet-era constitution. The main region of the 1989 revolutions was
Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in ...
, starting in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
with the Polish workers' mass-strike movement in 1988, and the revolutionary trend continued in
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
,
East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
,
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
,
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
, and
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
. On 4 June 1989, Poland conducted the first elections that led to the dissolution of the
communist government A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...
, with Solidarity winning an overwhelming victory, leading to the peaceful
fall of communism in Poland Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemispher ...
. Influenced by Poland,
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
organised round table-format talks of its own and began dismantling its section of the physical
Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...
. In August 1989, over a quarter of the Baltic republics total population physically chained for
Baltic Way The Baltic Way (; ; ) or Baltic Chain (also "Chain of Freedom") was a peaceful political demonstration that occurred on 23 August 1989. Approximately two million people joined their hands to form a human chain spanning across the three Baltic ...
openly protesting the countries' occupation by the Soviet Union, while the opening of a border gate between
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
and Hungary set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, in which the
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
disintegrated. This led to mass demonstrations in cities of East Germany such as
Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
and subsequently to the
fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (, ) on 9 November in German history, 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain, as East Berlin transit restrictions we ...
in November 1989, which served as the symbolic gateway to
German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...
in 1990. One feature common to most of these developments was the extensive use of campaigns of
civil resistance Civil resistance is a form of political action that relies on the use of nonviolent resistance by ordinary people to challenge a particular power, force, policy or regime. Civil resistance operates through appeals to the adversary, pressure and co ...
, demonstrating popular opposition to the continuation of one-party rule and contributing to pressure for change. Romania was the only country in which citizens and opposition forces used violence to overthrow its communist regime, although Romania was politically isolated from the rest of the Eastern Bloc. The Soviet Union itself became a multi-party semi-presidential republic from March 1990 and held its first presidential election, marking a drastic change as part of its reform program. The Soviet Union dissolved in December 1991, resulting in seven new countries which had declared their
independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...
from the Soviet Union over the course of the year, while the
Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...
regained their independence in September 1991 along with
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
,
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...
and
Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...
. The rest of the Soviet Union, which constituted the bulk of the area, continued with the establishment of the
Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
.
Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
and
Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...
abandoned communism between 1990 and 1992, by which time Yugoslavia had split into five new countries.
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
dissolved three years after the end of communist rule, splitting peacefully into the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...
and
Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...
on 1 January 1993.
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
abandoned Marxism–Leninism in 1992. The Cold War is considered to have "officially" ended on 3 December 1989 during the Malta Summit between the Soviet and American leaders. However, many historians argue that the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991 was the true end of the Cold War. The impact of these events were felt in many
third world The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, the Southern Cone, NATO, Western European countries and oth ...
socialist states throughout the world. Concurrently with events in Poland, protests in Tiananmen Square (April–June 1989) failed to stimulate major political changes in
Mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...
, but influential images of resistance during that protest helped to precipitate events in other parts of the globe. Three Asian countries, namely
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
,
Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...
and
Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...
, had abandoned communism by 1992–1993, either through reform or conflict. Eight countries in Africa or its environs also abandoned it, namely
Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
,
Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
,
Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...
,
Congo-Brazzaville The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...
,
Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
,
Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
, as well as
South Yemen South Yemen, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, abbreviated to Democratic Yemen, was a country in South Arabia that existed in what is now southeast Yemen from 1967 until Yemeni unification, its unification with the Yemen A ...
, which unified with
North Yemen North Yemen () is a term used to describe the Kingdom of Yemen (1918-1962), the Yemen Arab Republic (1962-1990), and the regimes that preceded them and exercised sovereignty over that region of Yemen. Its capital was Sanaa from 1918 to 1948 an ...
to form the Republic of Yemen. Political
reforms Reform refers to the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The modern usage of the word emerged in the late 18th century and is believed to have originated from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement, which ...
varied, but communist parties lost a monopoly on power in all but five countries; namely
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
,
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
,
Laos Laos, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic (LPDR), is the only landlocked country in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by Myanmar and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the southeast, and Thailand to the west and ...
,
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...
, and
Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...
. Vietnam, Laos, and China made economic reforms in the following years to adopt some forms of
market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand. The major characteristic of a mark ...
under
market socialism Market socialism is a type of economic system involving social ownership of the means of production within the framework of a market economy. Various models for such a system exist, usually involving cooperative enterprises and sometimes a mix ...
. The European political landscape changed drastically, with several former Eastern Bloc countries joining
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
and the
European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...
, resulting in stronger
economic An economy is an area of the Production (economics), production, Distribution (economics), distribution and trade, as well as Consumption (economics), consumption of Goods (economics), goods and Service (economics), services. In general, it is ...
and
social integration Social integration is the process during which newcomers or minorities are incorporated into the social structure of the host society. Social integration, together with economic integration and identity integration, are three main dimensions o ...
with
Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's extent varies depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the Western half of the ancient Mediterranean ...
and North America. Many communist and socialist organisations in the
West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...
turned their guiding principles over to
social democracy Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...
and
democratic socialism Democratic socialism is a left-wing economic ideology, economic and political philosophy that supports political democracy and some form of a socially owned economy, with a particular emphasis on economic democracy, workplace democracy, and wor ...
. In contrast, and somewhat later, in South America, a
pink tide The pink tide (; ; ), or the turn to the left (; ; ), is a political wave and turn towards left-wing governments in Latin America throughout the 21st century. As a term, both phrases are used in political analysis in the news media and elsewhe ...
began in
Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...
in 1999 and shaped politics in the other parts of the continent through the early 2000s. Meanwhile, in certain countries the aftermath of these revolutions resulted in conflict and wars, including various
post-Soviet conflicts This is a list of the crisis, crises and wars in the Post-Soviet states, countries of the former Soviet Union following its Dissolution of the Soviet Union, dissolution in 1991. Those conflicts have different origins but two primary driving f ...
that remain frozen to this day as well as large-scale wars, most notably the
Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of ...
which led to the
Bosnian genocide The Bosnian genocide () took place during the Bosnian War of 1992–1995 and included both the Srebrenica massacre and the wider crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing in the Bosnian War, ethnic cleansing campaign perpetrated throughout ar ...
in
1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...
.


Background


Emergence of Solidarity in Poland

Labour turmoil in Poland during 1980 led to the formation of the independent
trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...
, led by
Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...
, which over time became a political force, nevertheless, on 13 December 1981, Polish prime minister
Wojciech Jaruzelski Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski ( ; ; 6 July 1923 – 25 May 2014) was a Polish military general, politician and ''de facto'' leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 until 1989. He was the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party ...
started a crackdown on Solidarity by declaring
martial law in Poland Martial law in Poland () existed between 13 December 1981 and 22 July 1983. The Polish United Workers' Party, government of the Polish People's Republic drastically restricted everyday life by introducing martial law and a military junta in an a ...
, suspending the union, and temporarily imprisoning all of its leaders.


Mikhail Gorbachev

Although several Eastern Bloc countries had attempted some abortive, limited economic and political reform since the 1950s (e.g. the
Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 4 November 1956; ), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was an attempted countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the policies caused by ...
and
Prague Spring The Prague Spring (; ) was a period of liberalization, political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected Secretary (title), First Secre ...
of 1968), the ascension of reform-minded Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
in 1985 signaled the trend toward greater
liberalization Liberalization or liberalisation (British English) is a broad term that refers to the practice of making laws, systems, or opinions less severe, usually in the sense of eliminating certain government regulations or restrictions. The term is used ...
. During the mid-1980s, a younger generation of Soviet apparatchiks, led by Gorbachev, began advocating fundamental reform in order to reverse years of Brezhnev stagnation. After decades of growth, the Soviet Union was now facing a period of severe economic decline and needed Western technology and credits to make up for its increasing backwardness. The costs of maintaining its military, the
KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
, and subsidies to foreign client states further strained the moribund Soviet economy. Mikhail Gorbachev succeeded to the
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. was the Party leader, leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). From 1924 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union, country's dissoluti ...
and came to power in 1985. The first signs of major reform came in 1986 when Gorbachev launched a policy of ''
glasnost ''Glasnost'' ( ; , ) is a concept relating to openness and transparency. It has several general and specific meanings, including a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information and the inadmissi ...
'' (openness) in the Soviet Union, and emphasized the need for ''
perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...
'' (economic restructuring). By the spring of 1989, the Soviet Union had not only experienced lively media debate but had also held its first multi-candidate elections in the newly established Congress of People's Deputies. While glasnost ostensibly advocated openness and political criticism, these were only permitted within a narrow spectrum dictated by the state. The general public in the Eastern Bloc was still subject to
secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...
and
political repression Political repression is the act of a state entity controlling a citizenry by force for political reasons, particularly for the purpose of restricting or preventing the citizenry's ability to take part in the political life of a society, thereby ...
. Gorbachev urged his Central and Southeast European counterparts to imitate ''perestroika'' and ''glasnost'' in their own countries. However, while reformists in Hungary and Poland were emboldened by the force of liberalization spreading from the east, other Eastern Bloc countries remained openly skeptical and demonstrated aversion to reform. Believing Gorbachev's reform initiatives would be short-lived, hardline communist rulers like
East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
's
Erich Honecker Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the post ...
,
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
's
Todor Zhivkov Todor Hristov Zhivkov ( ; 7 September 1911 – 5 August 1998) was a Bulgarians, Bulgarian communist statesman who served as the ''de facto'' leader of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB) from 1954 until 1989 as General Secretary of the Cen ...
,
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
's
Gustáv Husák Gustáv Husák ( , ; ; 10 January 1913 – 18 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak politician who served as the long-time First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1969 to 1987 and the President of Czechoslovakia from 1975 ...
and
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
's
Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ;  – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...
obstinately ignored the calls for change. "When your neighbor puts up new wallpaper, it doesn't mean you have to too," declared one East German
politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...
member.


Soviet republics

By the late 1980s, people in the
Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...
and
Baltic states The Baltic states or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term encompassing Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, and the OECD. The three sovereign states on the eastern co ...
were demanding more autonomy from
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, and the Kremlin was losing some of its control over certain regions and elements in the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. Cracks in the Soviet system had begun in December 1986 in
Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
when its citizens protested over an ethnic Russian who had been appointed as the secretary of the CPSU's Kazakh republican branch. These protests were put down after three days. In November 1988, the
Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, (abbreviated Estonian SSR, Soviet Estonia, or simply Estonia ) was an administrative subunit (Republics of the Soviet Union, union republic) of the former Soviet Union (USSR), covering the Occupation o ...
issued a declaration of sovereignty, which would eventually lead to other states making similar declarations of autonomy. The
Chernobyl disaster On 26 April 1986, the no. 4 reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, located near Pripyat, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine), exploded. With dozens of direct casualties, it is one of only ...
in April 1986 had major political and social effects that catalyzed or at least partially caused the Revolutions of 1989. One political result of the disaster was the greatly increased significance of the new Soviet policy of glasnost. It is difficult to establish the total economic cost of the disaster. According to Gorbachev, the Soviet Union spent 18 billion roubles (the equivalent of US$18 billion at that time) on containment and decontamination, virtually bankrupting itself.Gorbachev, Mikhail (1996), interview in Johnson, Thomas, ', ilm Discovery Channel, retrieved 19 February 2014.


Impact of Solidarity grows

Throughout the mid-1980s,
Solidarity Solidarity or solidarism is an awareness of shared interests, objectives, standards, and sympathies creating a psychological sense of unity of groups or classes. True solidarity means moving beyond individual identities and single issue politics ...
persisted solely as an underground organization, supported by the Catholic Church. However, by the late 1980s, Solidarity became sufficiently strong to frustrate Jaruzelski's attempts at reform, and nationwide strikes in 1988 forced the government to open dialogue with Solidarity. On 9 March 1989, both sides agreed to a bicameral legislature called the
National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
. The already existing
Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...
would become the lower house. The Senate would be elected by the people. Traditionally a ceremonial office, the presidency was given more powers ( Polish Round Table Agreement). On 7 July 1989, General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev implicitly renounced the use of force against other Soviet-bloc nations. Speaking to members of the 23-nation Council of Europe, Mr. Gorbachev made no direct reference to the so-called Brezhnev Doctrine, under which Moscow had asserted the right to use force to prevent a Warsaw Pact member from leaving the communist fold. He stated, "Any interference in domestic affairs and any attempts to restrict the sovereignty of states—friends, allies or any others—are inadmissible". The policy was termed the Sinatra Doctrine, in a joking reference to the
Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
song " My Way". Poland became the first Warsaw Pact country to break free of Soviet domination.


Protests and revolutions in the Western Bloc

The 1980's revolutions occurred in
Western Bloc The Western Bloc, also known as the Capitalist Bloc, the Freedom Bloc, the Free Bloc, and the American Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of countries that were officially allied with the United States during the Cold War (1947–1991). While ...
regimes as well. In February 1986, the
People Power Revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, were a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...
in the
Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
peacefully overthrew dictator
Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...
and inaugurated Corazon "Cory" Aquino as the
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
. In 1987, the
South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
n June Democratic Struggle against the
military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...
of
Chun Doo-hwan Chun Doo-hwan (; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean politician, army general and military dictator who served as the fifth president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. Prior to his accession to the presidency, he was the cou ...
occurred after Roh Tae-woo was designated as Chun's successor without a direct election. Not wanting to escalate violence before the
1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...
being hosted in
Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
next year, the government made concessions with the protestors demands, including free elections, amnesty to political prisoners, restoring
press freedom Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...
and revisions to the
constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...
. The
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
n
apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English:  , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
, the Pinochet military dictatorship in Chile, and the Suharto regime in Indonesia were gradually declining during the 1990s as the West withdrew their funding and diplomatic support. The
First Intifada The First Intifada (), also known as the First Palestinian Intifada, was a sustained series of Nonviolent resistance, non-violent protests, acts of civil disobedience, Riot, riots, and Terrorism, terrorist attacks carried out by Palestinians ...
against
Israeli occupation Israel has occupied the Golan Heights of Syria and the Palestinian territories since the Six-Day War of 1967. It has previously occupied the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt and southern Lebanon as well. Prior to 1967, control of the Palestinian terr ...
of the
Palestinian territories The occupied Palestinian territories, also referred to as the Palestinian territories, consist of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip—two regions of the former Mandate for Palestine, British Mandate for Palestine ...
occurred, giving rise of militant movement
Hamas The Islamic Resistance Movement, abbreviated Hamas (the Arabic acronym from ), is a Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islam, Sunni Islamism, Islamist political organisation with a military wing, the Qassam Brigades. It has Gaza Strip under Hama ...
. Dictatorships such as
Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
,
Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
,
Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
,
Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...
,
Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
and
North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...
-
South Yemen South Yemen, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, abbreviated to Democratic Yemen, was a country in South Arabia that existed in what is now southeast Yemen from 1967 until Yemeni unification, its unification with the Yemen A ...
, among others, elected democratic governments. Exact tallies of the number of democracies vary depending on the criteria used for assessment, but by some measures by the late 1990s there were well over 100 democracies in the world, a marked increase in just a few decades.


History


National political movements


Poland

A wave of strikes hit Poland from 21 April then this continued in May 1988. A second wave began on 15 August, when a strike broke out at the July Manifesto coal mine in
Jastrzębie-Zdrój Jastrzębie-Zdrój (, ) is a city in the Silesian Voivodeship in southern Poland with 86,632 inhabitants (2021). Its name comes from the Polish words ''jastrząb'' ("hawk") and ''zdrój'' ("spa" or "spring"). From 1861 until the 20th century, it w ...
, with the workers demanding the re-legalisation of the Solidarity trade union. Over the next few days, sixteen other mines went on strike followed by a number of shipyards, including on 22 August the Gdansk Shipyard, famous as the epicentre of the 1980 industrial unrest that spawned Solidarity. On 31 August 1988
Lech Wałęsa Lech Wałęsa (; ; born 29 September 1943) is a Polish statesman, dissident, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who served as the president of Poland between 1990 and 1995. After winning the 1990 Polish presidential election, 1990 election, Wałę ...
, the leader of Solidarity, was invited to Warsaw by the communist authorities, who had finally agreed to talks. On 18 January 1989, at a stormy session of the Tenth Plenary Session of the ruling United Workers' Party, General
Wojciech Jaruzelski Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski ( ; ; 6 July 1923 – 25 May 2014) was a Polish military general, politician and ''de facto'' leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 until 1989. He was the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party ...
, the First Secretary, managed to get party backing for formal negotiations with Solidarity leading to its future legalisation, although this was achieved only by threatening the resignation of the entire party leadership if thwarted. On 6 February 1989 formal Round Table discussions began in the Hall of Columns in Warsaw. On 4 April 1989 the historic Round Table Agreement was signed legalising Solidarity and setting up partly free parliamentary elections to be held on 4 June 1989, incidentally, the day following the midnight massacre of Chinese protesters in Tiananmen Square. A political earthquake followed as the victory of Solidarity surpassed all predictions. Solidarity candidates captured all the seats they were allowed to compete for in the
Sejm The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...
. In the Senate they captured 99 out of the 100 available seats, with the one remaining seat taken by an independent candidate. At the same time, many prominent communist candidates failed to gain even the minimum number of votes required to capture the seats that were reserved for them. On 15 August 1989, the communists' two longtime coalition partners, the United People's Party (ZSL) and the Democratic Party (SD), broke their alliance with the PZPR and announced their support for Solidarity. The last communist Prime Minister of Poland, General Czesław Kiszczak, said he would resign to allow a non-communist to form an administration. As Solidarity was the only other political grouping that could possibly form a government, it was virtually assured that a Solidarity member would become prime minister. On 19 August 1989, in a stunning watershed moment, Tadeusz Mazowiecki, an anti-communist editor, Solidarity supporter, and devout Catholic, was nominated as Prime Minister of Poland and the Soviet Union voiced no protest. Five days later, on 24 August 1989, Poland's Parliament ended more than 40 years of one-party rule by making Mazowiecki the country's first non-communist Prime Minister since the early postwar years. In a tense Parliament, Mazowiecki received 378 votes, with 4 against and 41 abstentions. On 13 September 1989, a new non-communist government was approved by parliament, the first of its kind in the
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...
. On 17 November 1989, the statue of Felix Dzerzhinsky, Polish founder of the
Cheka The All-Russian Extraordinary Commission ( rus, Всероссийская чрезвычайная комиссия, r=Vserossiyskaya chrezvychaynaya komissiya, p=fsʲɪrɐˈsʲijskəjə tɕrʲɪzvɨˈtɕæjnəjə kɐˈmʲisʲɪjə, links=yes), ...
and symbol of communist oppression, was torn down in Bank Square, Warsaw. On 29 December 1989 the Sejm amended the constitution to change the official name of the country from the People's Republic of Poland to the Republic of Poland. The communist Polish United Workers' Party dissolved itself on 29 January 1990 and transformed itself into the
Social Democracy of the Republic of Poland Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives fro ...
. In 1990, Jaruzelski resigned as Poland's president and was succeeded by Wałęsa, who won the 1990 presidential elections. held in two rounds on 25 November and 9 December. Wałęsa's inauguration as president on 21 December 1990 is considered by many as the formal end of the communist
People's Republic of Poland The Polish People's Republic (1952–1989), formerly the Republic of Poland (1947–1952), and also often simply known as Poland, was a country in Central Europe that existed as the predecessor of the modern-day democratic Republic of Poland. ...
and the start of the modern Poland, Republic of Poland. The Warsaw Pact was dissolved on 1 July 1991. On 27 October 1991 the 1991 Polish parliamentary election, first entirely free Polish parliamentary elections since 1945 took place. This completed Poland's transition from communist Party rule to a Western-style liberal democratic political system. The last Russian troops left Poland on 18 September 1993.


Hungary

Following Poland's lead, Hungary was next to switch to a non-communist government. Although Hungary had achieved some lasting economic reforms and limited political liberalization during the 1980s, major reforms only occurred following the replacement of János Kádár as General Secretary of the communist Party on 23 May 1988 with Károly Grósz. On 24 November 1988 Miklós Németh was appointed prime minister. On 12 January 1989, the Parliament adopted a "democracy package", which included trade union pluralism; freedom of association, assembly, and the press; a new electoral law; and a radical revision of the constitution, among other provisions. On 29 January 1989, contradicting the official view of history held for more than 30 years, a member of the ruling Politburo, Imre Pozsgay, declared that Hungary's 1956 rebellion was a popular uprising rather than a foreign-instigated attempt at counterrevolution. Mass demonstrations on 15 March, the National Day, persuaded the regime to begin negotiations with the emergent non-communist political forces. Hungarian Round Table Talks, Round Table talks began on 22 April and continued until the Round Table agreement was signed on 18 September. The talks involved the communists (MSzMP) and the newly emerging independent political forces Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union, Fidesz, the Alliance of Free Democrats (SzDSz), the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF), the Independent Smallholders, Agrarian Workers and Civic Party, Independent Smallholders' Party, the National Peasant Party (Hungary), Hungarian People's Party, the Endre Bajcsy-Zsilinszky Society, and the Democratic Trade Union of Scientific Workers. At a later stage the Democratic Confederation of Free Trade Unions and the Christian Democratic People's Party (Hungary), Christian Democratic People's Party (KDNP) were invited. At these talks a number of Hungary's future political leaders emerged, including László Sólyom, József Antall, György Szabad, Péter Tölgyessy and Viktor Orbán. On 2 May 1989, the first visible cracks in the
Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. On the east side of the Iron Curtain were countries connected to the So ...
appeared when
Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...
began Removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria, dismantling its long border fence with Austria. This increasingly destabilized East Germany and
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
over the summer and autumn, as thousands of their citizens illegally crossed over to the West through the Hungarian-Austrian border. On 1 June 1989 the Communist Party admitted that former prime minister Imre Nagy, hanged for treason for his role in the 1956 Hungarian uprising, was executed illegally after a show trial. On 16 June 1989 Nagy was given a solemn funeral on Budapest's largest square in front of crowds of at least 100,000, followed by a hero's burial. The initially inconspicuous opening of a border gate of the Iron Curtain between Austria and Hungary in August 1989 then triggered a chain reaction, at the end of which the GDR no longer existed and the Eastern Bloc had disintegrated. It was the largest escape movement from East Germany since the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. The idea of opening the border came from Otto von Habsburg and was brought up by him to Miklós Németh, who promoted the idea.Miklós Németh in Interview, Austrian TV – ORF "Report", 25 June 2019. The local organization in Sopron took over the Hungarian Democratic Forum, the other contacts were made via Habsburg and Imre Pozsgay.Hilde Szabo: ''Die Berliner Mauer begann im Burgenland zu bröckeln'' (The Berlin Wall began to crumble in Burgenland – German), in Wiener Zeitung 16 August 1999; Otmar Lahodynsky: ''Paneuropäisches Picknick: Die Generalprobe für den Mauerfall'' (Pan-European picnic: the dress rehearsal for the fall of the Berlin Wall – German), in: ''Profil'' 9 August 2014.Ludwig Greven "Und dann ging das Tor auf", in Die Zeit, 19 August 2014. Extensive advertising for the planned picnic was made by posters and flyers among the GDR holidaymakers in Hungary. The Austrian branch of the Paneuropean Union, which was then headed by Karl von Habsburg, distributed thousands of brochures inviting them to a picnic near the border at Sopron. After the pan-European picnic,
Erich Honecker Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the post ...
dictated the ''Daily Mirror'' of 19 August 1989: "Habsburg distributed leaflets far into Poland, on which the East German holidaymakers were invited to a picnic. When they came to the picnic, they were given gifts, food and Deutsche Mark, and then they were persuaded to come to the West."Michael Frank: Paneuropäisches Picknick – Mit dem Picknickkorb in die Freiheit (German: Pan-European picnic – With the picnic basket to freedom), in: ''Süddeutsche Zeitung'', 17 May 2010.Andreas Rödder, Deutschland einig Vaterland – Die Geschichte der Wiedervereinigung (2009). With the mass exodus at the Pan-European Picnic, the subsequent hesitant behavior of the Socialist Unity Party of East Germany and the non-intervention of the Soviet Union broke the dams. Now tens of thousands of the media-informed East Germans made their way to Hungary, which was no longer ready to keep its borders completely closed or to oblige its border troops to use force of arms. In particular, the leadership of the GDR in East Berlin no longer dared to completely block the borders of their own country. The Hungarian Round Table Talks, Round Table agreement of 18 September encompassed six draft laws that covered an overhaul of the Constitution of Hungary, Constitution, establishment of a Constitutional Court of Hungary, Constitutional Court, the functioning and management of political parties, multiparty elections for National Assembly deputies, the penal code and the law on penal procedures. The last two changes represented an additional separation of the Party from the state apparatus. The electoral system was a compromise: about half of the deputies would be elected proportionally and half by the majoritarian system. A weak presidency was agreed upon. No consensus was attained on who should elect the president, the parliament or the people, and when this election should occur, before or after parliamentary elections. On 7 October 1989, the Communist Party, at its last congress, re-established itself as the Hungarian Socialist Party. In a historic session from 16 to 20 October, the parliament adopted legislation providing for 1990 Hungarian parliamentary election, a multi-party parliamentary election and a direct presidential election, which took place on 24 March 1990. The legislation transformed Hungary from a People's Republic into the Republic of Hungary, guaranteed human and civil rights, and created an institutional structure that ensured separation of powers among the judicial, legislative, and executive branches of government. On 23 October 1989, on the 33rd anniversary of the 1956 Revolution, the communist regime in Hungary was formally abolished. The Soviet occupation of Hungary, Soviet military occupation of Hungary, which had persisted since World War II, ended on 19 June 1991.


East Germany

On 2 May 1989, Hungarian People's Republic, Hungary Removal of Hungary's border fence with Austria, started dismantling its barbed-wire border with
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
. The border was still heavily guarded, but it was a political sign. The Pan-European Picnic in August 1989 finally started a movement that could not be stopped by the rulers in the Eastern Bloc. It was the largest escape movement from East Germany since the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. The patrons of the picnic, Otto von Habsburg and the Hungarian Minister of State Imre Pozsgay saw the planned event as an opportunity to test the reaction of Mikhail Gorbachev and the Eastern Bloc countries to a large opening of the border including flight.Thomas Roser: DDR-Massenflucht: Ein Picknick hebt die Welt aus den Angeln (German – Mass exodus of the GDR: A picnic clears the world) in: Die Presse 16 August 2018.Otmar Lahodynsky: Paneuropäisches Picknick: Die Generalprobe für den Mauerfall (Pan-European picnic: the dress rehearsal for the fall of the Berlin Wall – German), in: Profil 9 August 2014."Der 19. August 1989 war ein Test für Gorbatschows" (German – 19 August 1989 was a test for Gorbachev), in: FAZ 19 August 2009.Hilde Szabo: Die Berliner Mauer begann im Burgenland zu bröckeln (The Berlin Wall began to crumble in Burgenland – German), in Wiener Zeitung 16 August 1999. After the pan-European picnic, Erich Honecker dictated the Daily Mirror of 19 August 1989: "Habsburg distributed leaflets far into Poland, on which the East German holidaymakers were invited to a picnic. When they came to the picnic, they were given gifts, food, and Deutsche Mark, and then they were persuaded to come to the West." But with the mass exodus at the Pan-European Picnic, the subsequent hesitant behavior of the Socialist Unity Party of East Germany and the non-intervention of the Soviet Union broke the dams. Now tens of thousands of the media-informed East Germans made their way to Hungary, which was no longer ready to keep its borders completely closed or to oblige its border troops to use force of arms. By the end of September 1989, more than 30,000 East Germans had escaped to the West before the East Germany, GDR denied travel to Hungary, leaving
Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...
as the only neighboring state to which East Germans could escape. Thousands of East Germans tried to reach the West by occupying the West German diplomatic facilities in other Central and Eastern European capitals, notably the Prague Embassy and the Hungarian Embassy, where thousands camped in the muddy garden from August to November waiting for German political reform. The GDR closed the border to Czechoslovakia on 3 October, thereby isolating itself from all its neighbors. Having been shut off from their last chance for escape, an increasing number of East Germans participated in the Monday demonstrations in East Germany, Monday demonstrations in Leipzig on 4, 11, and 18 September, each attracting 1,200 to 1,500 demonstrators. Many were arrested and beaten, but the people refused to be intimidated. On 25 September, the protests attracted 8,000 demonstrators. After the fifth successive Monday demonstration in
Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...
on 2 October attracted 10,000 protesters, Socialist Unity Party of Germany, Socialist Unity Party (SED) leader
Erich Honecker Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the post ...
issued a ''shoot and kill'' order to the military. Communists prepared a huge police, militia, Stasi, and work-combat troop presence, and there were rumors a Tiananmen Square-style massacre was being planned for the following Monday's demonstration on 9 October. On 6 and 7 October,
Mikhail Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet and Russian politician who served as the last leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to dissolution of the Soviet Union, the country's dissolution in 1991. He served a ...
visited East Germany to mark the 40th anniversary of the German Democratic Republic, and urged the East German leadership to accept reform. A famous quote of his is rendered in German as "Wer zu spät kommt, den bestraft das Leben" ("The one who comes too late is punished by life."). However, Honecker remained opposed to internal reform, with his regime going so far as forbidding the circulation of Soviet publications that it viewed as subversive. In spite of rumors that the communists were planning a massacre on 9 October, 70,000 citizens demonstrated in Leipzig that Monday and the authorities on the ground refused to open fire. The following Monday, 16 October 120,000 people demonstrated on the streets of Leipzig. Erich Honecker had hoped that the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, Soviet troops stationed in the GDR by the Warsaw Pact would restore the communist government and suppress the civilian protests. By 1989, the Soviet government deemed it impractical for the Soviet Union to Sinatra Doctrine, continue asserting its control over the Eastern Bloc, so it took a neutral stance regarding the events happening in East Germany. Soviet troops stationed in eastern Europe were under strict instructions from the Soviet leadership not to intervene in the political affairs of the Eastern Bloc nations, and remained in their barracks. Faced with ongoing civil unrest, the SED deposed Honecker on 18 October and replaced him with the number-two-man in the regime, Egon Krenz. However, the demonstrations kept growing. On Monday, 23 October, the Leipzig protesters numbered 300,000, and remained as large the following week. The border to Czechoslovakia was opened again on 1 November, and the Czechoslovak authorities soon let all East Germans travel directly to West Germany without further bureaucratic ado, thus lifting their part of the Iron Curtain on 3 November. On 4 November the authorities decided to authorize a demonstration in Berlin and were faced with the Alexanderplatz demonstration, where half a million citizens converged on the capital demanding freedom in the biggest protest the GDR ever witnessed. Unable to stem the ensuing flow of refugees to the West through Czechoslovakia, the East German authorities eventually caved in to public pressure by allowing East German citizens to enter West Berlin and West Germany directly, via existing border points, on 9 November 1989, without having properly briefed the border guards. Triggered by the erratic words of regime spokesman Günter Schabowski in a TV press conference, stating that the planned changes were in effect "immediately, without delay," hundreds of thousands of people took advantage of the opportunity. The guards were quickly overwhelmed by the growing crowds of people demanding to be let out into West Berlin. After receiving no feedback from their superiors, the guards, unwilling to use force, relented and Fall of the Berlin Wall, opened the gates to West Berlin. Soon new crossing points were forced open in the Berlin Wall by the people, and sections of the wall were literally torn down. The guards were unaware of what was happening and stood by as the East Germans took to the wall with hammers and chisels. On 7 November, the entire ''Ministerrat der DDR'' (State Council of East Germany), including its chairman Willi Stoph, resigned. A new government was formed under a considerably more liberal communist, Hans Modrow. On 1 December, the Volkskammer removed the SED's leading role from the Constitution of East Germany#1968 constitution, constitution of the GDR. On 3 December Krenz resigned as leader of the SED; he resigned as head of state three days later. On 7 December, Round Table talks opened between the SED and other political parties. On 16 December 1989, the SED was dissolved and refounded as the Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany), SED-PDS, abandoning Marxism–Leninism and becoming a mainstream democratic socialist party. On 15 January 1990, the Stasi's headquarters was stormed by protesters. Modrow became the de facto leader of
East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...
until 1990 East German general election, free elections were held on 18 March 1990—the first November 1932 German federal election, since November 1932. The SED, renamed the Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany), Party of Democratic Socialism, was heavily defeated. Lothar de Maizière of the Christian Democratic Union (East Germany), East German Christian Democratic Union became prime minister on 4 April 1990 on a platform of speedy reunification with the West. On 15 March 1990, Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, a peace treaty was signed between the two countries of Germany and the four Allies, to replace the Potsdam Agreement of 1 August 1945 after World War II to return full sovereignty to Germany, which facilitated the reunification. The two German countries German reunification, were reunified into present-day Germany on 3 October 1990, solving the German problem of two states status, which had existed since 7 October 1949. The Government of the Soviet Union, Kremlin's willingness to abandon such a strategically vital ally marked a dramatic change by the Soviet superpower and a fundamental paradigm shift in international relations, which until 1989 had been dominated by the East–West divide running through Berlin itself. The last Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, Russian troops left the territory of the former GDR, now part of a reunited Germany, Federal Republic of Germany, on 1 September 1994.


Czechoslovakia

The "Velvet Revolution" was a non-violent transition of power in Czechoslovakia from the communist government to a parliamentary republic. On 17 November 1989, riot police suppressed a peaceful student demonstration in Prague, a day after a similar demonstration passed without incident in Bratislava. Although controversy continues over whether anyone died that night, that event sparked a series of popular demonstrations from 19 November to late December. By 20 November the number of peaceful protesters assembled in Prague had swelled from 200,000 the previous day to an estimated half-million. Five days later, the Letná Square protest held 800,000 people. On 24 November, the entire Communist Party leadership, including general secretary Miloš Jakeš, resigned. A two-hour general strike, involving all citizens of Czechoslovakia, was successfully held on 27 November. With the collapse of other communist governments, and increasing street protests, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced on 28 November 1989 that it would relinquish power and dismantle the single-party state. Barbed wire and other obstructions were removed from the border with West Germany and Austria in early December. On 10 December, President
Gustáv Husák Gustáv Husák ( , ; ; 10 January 1913 – 18 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak politician who served as the long-time First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1969 to 1987 and the President of Czechoslovakia from 1975 ...
appointed the first largely non-communist government in Czechoslovakia since 1948 and resigned. Alexander Dubček was elected speaker of the federal parliament on 28 December and Václav Havel the President of Czechoslovakia on 29 December 1989. In June 1990 Czechoslovakia held its first democratic elections since 1946. On 27 June 1991 the last Soviet troops were withdrawn from Czechoslovakia.


Bulgaria

In October and November 1989, demonstrations on ecological issues were staged in Sofia, where demands for political reform were also voiced. The demonstrations were suppressed, but on 10 November 1989, the day after the Berlin Wall was breached, Bulgaria's long-serving leader
Todor Zhivkov Todor Hristov Zhivkov ( ; 7 September 1911 – 5 August 1998) was a Bulgarians, Bulgarian communist statesman who served as the ''de facto'' leader of the People's Republic of Bulgaria (PRB) from 1954 until 1989 as General Secretary of the Cen ...
was ousted by his Politburo. He was succeeded by a considerably more liberal communist, former foreign minister Petar Mladenov. Moscow apparently approved the leadership change, as Zhivkov had been opposed to Gorbachev's policies. The new regime immediately repealed restrictions on free speech and assembly, which led to the first mass demonstration on 17 November, as well as the formation of anti-communist movements. Nine of them united as the Union of Democratic Forces (Bulgaria), Union of Democratic Forces (UDF) on 7 December. The UDF was not satisfied with Zhivkov's ouster, and demanded additional democratic reforms, most importantly the removal of the constitutionally mandated leading role of the Bulgarian Communist Party. Mladenov announced on 11 December 1989 that the Communist Party would abandon its monopoly on power, and that multiparty elections would be held the following year. In February 1990, the Bulgarian legislature deleted the portion of the constitution about the "leading role" of the Communist Party. Eventually, it was decided that a round table on the Polish model would be held in 1990 and elections held by June 1990. The round table took place from 3 January to 14 May 1990, at which an agreement was reached on the transition to democracy. The Communist Party abandoned Marxism–Leninism on 3 April 1990 and renamed itself as the Bulgarian Socialist Party. In June 1990 the first free elections since 1931 were held, won by the Bulgarian Socialist Party.


Romania

Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, Czechoslovak President
Gustáv Husák Gustáv Husák ( , ; ; 10 January 1913 – 18 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak politician who served as the long-time First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia from 1969 to 1987 and the President of Czechoslovakia from 1975 ...
's resignation on 10 December 1989 amounted to the fall of the communist regime in Czechoslovakia, leaving Ceaușescu's Romania as the only remaining hard-line communist regime in the Warsaw Pact. After having suppressed the Brașov rebellion in 1987,
Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( ; ;  – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian politician who was the second and last Communism, communist leader of Socialist Romania, Romania, serving as the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 u ...
was re-elected for another five years as leader of the Romanian Communist Party (PCR) in November 1989, signalling that he intended to ride out the anti-communist uprisings sweeping the rest of Europe. As Ceaușescu prepared to go on a state visit to Iran, his Securitate ordered the arrest and exile of a local Hungarian Calvinism, Calvinist minister, László Tőkés, on 16 December, for sermons offending the regime. Tőkés was seized, but only after serious rioting erupted. Timișoara was the first city to react on 16 December and civil unrest continued for five days. Returning from Iran, Ceaușescu ordered a mass rally in his support outside Communist Party headquarters in Bucharest on 21 December. To his shock, the crowd booed and jeered him as he spoke. Years of repressed dissatisfaction boiled to the surface throughout the Romanian populace and even among elements in Ceaușescu's own government, and the demonstrations spread throughout the country. At first, the security forces obeyed Ceaușescu's orders to shoot protesters. On the morning of 22 December, the Romanian military suddenly changed sides. This came after it was announced that defense minister Vasile Milea had committed suicide after being unmasked as a traitor. It was suggested that he only tried to incapacitate himself in order to be relieved from office, but the bullet hit an artery and he died soon afterwards. Believing Milea had actually been murdered, the rank-and-file soldiers went over virtually ''en masse'' to the revolution. Army tanks began moving towards the Central Committee building, with crowds swarming alongside them. The rioters forced open the doors of the Central Committee building in an attempt to capture Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena Ceaușescu, Elena, coming within a few meters of the couple. They managed to escape via a helicopter waiting for them on the roof of the building. Although elation followed the flight of the Ceaușescus, uncertainty surrounded their fate. On Christmas Day, Romanian television showed the Ceaușescus facing a hasty trial, and then being executed by firing squad. An interim National Salvation Front (Romania), National Salvation Front Council led by Ion Iliescu took over and announced elections for April 1990, the first free elections held in Romania since 1937. These were postponed until 20 May 1990. The Romanian Revolution was the bloodiest of the revolutions of 1989: over 1,000 people died, one hundred of which were children, the youngest only one month old. Unlike its kindred parties in the Warsaw Pact, the PCR simply melted away. No present-day Romanian party claiming to be its successor has ever been elected to the legislature since the change of system. However, former PCR members have played significant roles in post-1989 Romanian politics. Every Romanian President until the election of Klaus Iohannis in 2014 Romanian presidential election, 2014 was a former Communist Party member. The years following the disposal of Ceaușescu were not free of conflict, and a series of "Mineriads" organized by dissatisfied Jiu Valley miners occurred. The June 1990 Mineriad turned deadly after university students, the "Golaniads", held a months long protest against the participation of ex-PCR and Securitate members in the 1990 Romanian general election. President Ion Iliescu branded the protesters "hooligans" and called the miners to "defend Romanian democracy". Viorel Ene, president of the Association of Victims of the Mineriads, asserted that: Over 10,000 miners were transported to Bucharest and in the ensuing clashes, seven protesters died and hundreds more were injured, although media estimates on the casualty figures were much higher. The opposition newspaper ''România Liberă'' alleged that over 128 unidentified bodies were buried in a common grave in Străulești II cemetery, near Bucharest. A few weeks after the mineriad, several medical students conducted research in Străulești II cemetery, discovering two trenches with about 78 unmarked graves, which they claimed to contain victims of the events.


Yugoslavia

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was not a part of the Warsaw Pact but pursued Titoism, its own version of communism under Josip Broz Tito. It was a multi-ethnic state which Tito was able to maintain through a Yugoslavism, Yugoslav patriotic doctrine of "Brotherhood and unity". Tensions between ethnicities began to escalate with the Croatian Spring of 1970–71, a movement for greater Socialist Republic of Croatia, Croatian autonomy, which was suppressed. Constitutional changes were instituted in 1974, and the 1974 Yugoslav Constitution devolved some federal powers to the constituent republics and provinces. After Tito's death in 1980 ethnic tensions grew, first in Albanian-majority Socialist Autonomous Province of Kosovo, SAP Kosovo with the 1981 protests in Kosovo. Parallel to the same process, Socialist Republic of Slovenia, Slovenia initiated a policy of gradual liberalization in 1984, somewhat similar to the Soviet Perestroika. This provoked tensions between the League of Communists of Slovenia and the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, central Yugoslav Party and Yugoslav People's Army, federal army. In 1984, the decade long ban to build the Church of Saint Sava, Saint Sava Cathedral in Belgrade was lifted. The backdown of the communist elite and a popular gathering of 100,000 believers on 12 May 1985 to celebrate liturgy inside the walls of the ruins marked the return of religion in postwar Yugoslavia. By the late 1980s, many civil society groups were pushing towards democratization, while widening the space for cultural plurality. In 1987 and 1988, a series of clashes between the emerging civil society and the communist regime culminated with the so-called Slovene Spring, a mass movement for democratic reforms. The Committee for the Defence of Human Rights was established as the platform of all major non-Communist political movements. By early 1989, several anti-communist political parties were already openly functioning, challenging the hegemony of the Slovenian Communists. Soon, the Slovenian Communists, pressured by their own civil society, came into conflict with the League of Communists of Serbia, Serbian Communist leadership. In January 1990, an extraordinary Congress of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia was called in order to settle the disputes among its constituent parties. Faced with being completely outnumbered, the Slovenian and League of Communists of Croatia, Croatian communists walked out of the Congress on 23 January 1990, effectively bringing to an end to Yugoslavia's communist party. Both parties of the two western republics negotiated free multi-party elections with their own opposition movements. On 8 April 1990, the democratic and anti-Yugoslav DEMOS coalition won the 1990 Slovenian parliamentary election, elections in Slovenia, while on 22 April 1990 the 1990 Croatian parliamentary election, Croatian elections resulted in a landslide victory for the nationalist Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) led by Franjo Tuđman. The results were much more balanced in Bosnia and Herzegovina and 1990 Macedonian parliamentary election, in Macedonia in November 1990, while the parliamentary and President (government title), presidential elections of December 1990 in Serbia and Montenegro consolidated the power of Milošević and his supporters. Free elections on the level of the federation were never carried out. The Slovenian and Croatian leaderships started preparing plans for secession from the federation, while a part of the Serbs of Croatia started the so-called Log Revolution, an insurrection organized by Socialist Republic of Serbia, Serbia that would lead to the creation of the breakaway region of SAO Krajina. In the 1990 Slovenian independence referendum, Slovenian independence referendum on 23 December 1990, 88.5% of residents voted for independence. In the 1991 Croatian independence referendum, Croatian independence referendum on 19 May 1991, 93.24% voted for independence. The escalating ethnic and national tensions were exacerbated by the drive for independence and led to the following Yugoslav wars: * Ten-Day War, War in Slovenia (1991) * Croatian War of Independence (1991–1995) * Bosnian War (1992–1995) * Kosovo War (1998–1999), including the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. The insurgency in the Preševo Valley (1999–2001) and the insurgency in the Republic of Macedonia (2001) are often discussed in the same context.


Albania

In the People's Socialist Republic of Albania, Enver Hoxha, who led Albania for four decades, died on 11 April 1985. His successor, Ramiz Alia, began to gradually open up the regime from above. In 1989, the first revolts started in Shkodra and spread in other cities. Eventually, the existing regime introduced some liberalization, including measures in 1990 providing for freedom to travel abroad. Efforts were begun to improve ties with the outside world. March 1991 elections—the first free elections in Albania since 1923, and only the third free elections in the country's history—left the former communists in power, but a general strike and urban opposition led to the formation of a coalition cabinet including non-communists. Parliamentary elections were held in Albania on 22 March 1992, with a second round of voting for eleven seats on 29 March, amid 1997 Albanian civil unrest, economic collapse and social unrest.


Mongolia

Mongolia (Outer Mongolia) declared independence from China in 1911 during the Xinhai Revolution, fall of the Qing dynasty. The Mongolian People's Party Outer Mongolian Revolution of 1921, took power in 1921, and the party renamed itself the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party. During these years, Mongolia was closely aligned with the Soviet Union. After Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal left in 1984, the new leadership under Jambyn Batmönkh implemented economic reforms, but failed to appeal to those who, in late 1989, wanted broader changes. The "Mongolian Revolution of 1990, Mongolian Revolution" was a democratic, Nonviolent revolution, peaceful revolution that started with demonstrations and hunger strikes and ended 70-years of Marxism-Leninism and eventually moved towards democracy. It was spearheaded by mostly younger people demonstrating on Sükhbaatar Square in the capital Ulaanbaatar. It ended with the authoritarian government resigning without bloodshed. Some of the main organizers were Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, Sanjaasürengiin Zorig, Erdeniin Bat-Üül, and Bat-Erdeniin Batbayar. During the morning of 10 December 1989, the first public demonstration occurred in front of the Youth Cultural Center in the capital of Ulaanbaatar. There, Elbegdorj announced the creation of the Mongolian Democratic Union, and the first pro-democracy movement in Mongolia began. The protesters called for Mongolia to adopt
perestroika ''Perestroika'' ( ; rus, перестройка, r=perestrojka, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg, links=no) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s, widely associ ...
and
glasnost ''Glasnost'' ( ; , ) is a concept relating to openness and transparency. It has several general and specific meanings, including a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information and the inadmissi ...
. Dissident leaders demanded free elections and economic reform, but within the context of a "human democratic socialism". The protesters injected a Pan-Mongolism, nationalist element into the protests by using traditional Mongolian script—which most Mongolians could not read—as a symbolic repudiation of the political system which had imposed the Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet. In late December 1989, demonstrations increased when news came of Garry Kasparov's interview in ''Playboy'', suggesting that the Soviet Union could improve its economic health by selling Mongolia to China. On 14 January 1990, the protesters, having grown from three hundred to some 1,000, met in a square in front of Lenin Museum in Ulaanbaatar, which has been named Freedom Square since then. A demonstration in Sükhbaatar Square on 21 January followed, in weather of −30 C. Protesters carried banners alluding to Chinggis Khaan, also referred to Genghis Khan, rehabilitating a figure whom Soviet schooling neglected to praise. In subsequent months of 1990, activists continued to organize demonstrations, rallies, protests and hunger strikes, as well as teachers' and workers' strikes. Activists had growing support from Mongolians, both in the capital and the countryside and the union's activities led to other calls for democracy all over the country. After numerous demonstrations of many thousands of people in the capital city as well as provincial centers, on 4 March 1990, the MDU and three other reform organizations held a joint outdoor mass meeting, inviting the government to attend. The government sent no representative to what became a demonstration of over 100,000 people demanding democratic change. This culminated with Jambyn Batmönkh, chairman of Politburo of MPRP's Central Committee decided to dissolve the Politburo and to resign on 9 March 1990. Mongolia's first free, multi-party elections for a bicameral parliament took place on 29 July 1990. Parties ran for 430 seats in the Great Hural. Opposition parties were not able to nominate enough candidates. The opposition nominated 346 candidates for the 430 seats in the Great Hural (upper house). The Mongolian People's Party, Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) won 357 seats in the Great Hural and 31 out of 53 seats in the Small Hural. The MPRP enjoyed a strong position in the countryside. The State Great Khural first met on 3 September 1990 and elected a president (MPRP), vice president (Mongolian Social Democratic Party, Social Democrat) who was also a chairman of the Baga Hural, prime minister (MPRP), and 50 members to the Baga Hural (lower house). In November 1991, the People's Great Hural began a discussion on a Constitution of Mongolia, new constitution, which entered into force on 12 February 1992. The new constitution restructured the legislative branch of government, creating a unicameral legislature, the State Great Hural (SGH). The MPRP retained its majority but lost the 1996 elections. The final Russian troops, which had been stationed in Mongolia since 1966, fully withdrew in December 1992.


China

While China did not undergo a revolution resulting in a new form of government in 1989, a popular national movement led to large demonstrations in favor of democratic reforms. Paramount leader, Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping had developed the concept of socialism with Chinese characteristics and enacted local Socialist market economy, market economy reforms around 1984, but the policy had stalled. The first Chinese student demonstrations, which eventually led to the Beijing protests of 1989, took place in December 1986 in Hefei. The students called for campus elections, the chance to study abroad, and greater availability of Western pop culture. Their protests took advantage of the loosening political atmosphere and included rallies against the slow pace of reform. Hu Yaobang, a protégé of Deng Xiaoping and a leading advocate of reform, was blamed for the protests and forced to resign as the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, CCP general secretary in January 1987. In the "Anti Bourgeois Liberalization Campaign", Hu would be further denounced. The Tiananmen Square protests were sparked by the death of Hu Yaobang on 15 April 1989. By the eve of Hu's state funeral, some 100,000 students had gathered at Tiananmen Square to observe it; however, no leaders emerged from the Great Hall of the People, Great Hall. The movement lasted for seven weeks.. Mikhail Gorbachev visited China on 15 May during the protests, bringing many foreign news agencies to Beijing, and their sympathetic portrayals of the protesters helped galvanize a spirit of liberation among the Central, South-East and Eastern Europeans who were watching. The Chinese leadership, particularly Communist Party general secretary Zhao Ziyang, who had begun to radically reform the economy earlier than the Soviets, was open to political reform, but not at the cost of a potential return to the disorder of the Cultural Revolution. The movement lasted from Hu's death on 15 April until tanks and troops rolled into the Tiananmen Square protests of 4 June 1989. In Beijing, the People's Liberation Army at the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, military response to the protest by the PRC government left many civilians in charge of clearing the square of the dead and severely injured. The exact number of casualties is not known and many different estimates exist. The event, however, did make some political change. The problem with the mass migration is that it has now started a deepening divide between the rural poor and the rich urban people.


Malta summit

The Malta Summit took place between U.S. President George H. W. Bush and U.S.S.R. leader Mikhail Gorbachev on 2–3 December 1989, just a few weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a meeting which contributed to the end of the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
partially as a result of the broader pro-democracy movement. It was their second meeting following a meeting that included then President Ronald Reagan, in New York in December 1988. News reports of the time referred to the Malta Summit as the most important since 1945, when British prime minister Winston Churchill, Soviet premier Joseph Stalin and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt agreed on a post-war plan for Europe at the Yalta Conference.


Election chronology in Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia

Between June 1989 and April 1991, every communist or former communist country in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia—and in the case of the USSR and Yugoslavia, every constituent republic—held competitive parliamentary elections for the first time in many decades. Some elections were only partly free, while others were fully democratic. The chronology below gives the details of these historic elections, and the dates are the first day of voting as several elections were split over several days for run-off contests: * – 1989 Polish legislative election, 4 June 1989 * – 1990 Turkmen Supreme Soviet election, 7 January 1990 * – 1990 Uzbek Supreme Soviet election, 18 February 1990 * – 1990 Lithuanian Supreme Soviet election, 24 February 1990 * – 1990 Moldavian Supreme Soviet election, 25 February 1990 * – 1990 Kirghiz Supreme Soviet election, 25 February 1990 * – 1990 Tajik Supreme Soviet election, 25 February 1990 * – 1990 Belarusian Supreme Soviet election, 4 March 1990 * – 1990 Russian Supreme Soviet election, 4 March 1990 * – 1990 Ukrainian Supreme Soviet election, 4 March 1990 * – 1990 East German general election, 18 March 1990 * – 1990 Estonian Supreme Soviet election, 18 March 1990 * – 1990 Latvian Supreme Soviet election, 18 March 1990 * – 1990 Hungarian parliamentary election, 25 March 1990 * – 1990 Kazakh Supreme Soviet election, 25 March 1990 * – 1990 Slovenian parliamentary election, 8 April 1990 * – 1990 Croatian parliamentary election, 22 April 1990 * – 1990 Romanian general election, 20 May 1990 * – 1990 Armenian Supreme Soviet election, 20 May 1990 * Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, Czechoslovakia – 1990 Czechoslovak parliamentary election, 8 June 1990 * – 1990 Bulgarian Constitutional Assembly election, 10 June 1990 * – 1990 Mongolian legislative election, 22 June 1990 * – 1990 Azerbaijani Supreme Soviet election, 30 September 1990 * – 1990 Georgian Supreme Soviet election, 28 October 1990 * – 1990 Macedonian parliamentary election, 11 November 1990 * – 1990 Bosnian general election, 18 November 1990 * – 1990 Serbian general election, 9 December 1990 * – 1990 Montenegrin general election, 9 December 1990 * – 1991 Albanian Constitutional Assembly election, 31 March 1991


Dissolution of the Soviet Union

On 1 July 1991, the Warsaw Pact was officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague. At a summit later that same month, Gorbachev and Bush declared a US–Soviet strategic partnership, decisively marking the end of the Cold War. President Bush declared that US–Soviet cooperation during the 1990–1991 Gulf War had laid the groundwork for a partnership in resolving bilateral and world problems. As the Soviet Union rapidly withdrew its forces from Central and Southeast Europe, the spillover from the 1989 upheavals began reverberating throughout the Soviet Union itself. Agitation for self-determination led to first Lithuania, and then Estonia, Latvia, and Armenia declaring independence. However, the Soviet central government demanded the revocation of the declarations and threatened military action and economic sanctions. The government even went as far as controversially sending Soviet Army troops to the streets of the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, to January Events (Lithuania), suppress the separatist movements in January 1991, causing the deaths of 14 persons. Disaffection in other Soviet republics, such as Georgia and Azerbaijan, was countered by promises of greater decentralization. More open elections led to the election of candidates opposed to Communist Party rule. ''Glasnost'' had inadvertently released the long-suppressed national sentiments of all peoples within the borders of the multinational Soviet state. These nationalist movements were further strengthened by the rapid deterioration of the Soviet economy, whose foundations were exposed with the removal of communist discipline. Gorbachev's reforms had failed to improve the economy, with the old Soviet planned economy, command structure completely breaking down. One by one, the constituent republics created their own economic systems and voted to subordinate Soviet laws to local laws. In 1990, the Communist Party was forced to surrender its seven-decade monopoly of political power when the Supreme Soviet rescinded the clause in the Soviet Constitution that guaranteed its sole authority to rule. Gorbachev's policies caused the Communist Party to lose its control over the media. Details of the Soviet Union's past were quickly being declassified. This caused many to distrust the 'old system' and push for greater autonomy and independence. After the 1991 Soviet Union referendum, March 1991 referendum confirmed the preservation of the Soviet Union but in a looser form, a group of Soviet hard-liners represented by Vice- Gennadi Yanayev launched 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, a coup attempting to overthrow Gorbachev in August 1991. Boris Yeltsin, then president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR, rallied the people and much of the army against the coup and the effort collapsed. Although restored to power, Gorbachev's authority had been irreparably undermined. Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary of the Communist Party following the coup, and the Supreme Soviet dissolved the Party and banned all communist activity on Soviet soil. Just a few weeks later, the government granted the Baltic states their independence on 6 September. Over the next three months, one republic after another declared independence, mostly out of fear of another coup. Also during this time, the Soviet government was rendered useless as the new Russian government began taking over what remained of it, including the Kremlin. The penultimate step came on 1 December, when voters in the second most powerful republic, Ukraine, overwhelmingly voted to secede from the Soviet Union in a referendum. This ended any realistic chance of keeping the Soviet Union together. On 8 December, Yeltsin met with his counterparts from Ukraine and Belarus and signed the Belavezha Accords, declaring that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist. Gorbachev denounced this as illegal, but he had long since lost any ability to influence events outside of Moscow. Two weeks later, 11 of the remaining 12 republics—all except Georgia—signed the Alma-Ata Protocol, which confirmed the Soviet Union had been effectively dissolved and replaced by a new voluntary association, the Commonwealth of Independent States. Bowing to the inevitable, Gorbachev resigned as Soviet president on 25 December, and the Supreme Soviet ratified the Belavezha Accords the next day, legally dissolving itself and the Soviet Union as a political entity. By the end of 1991, the few Soviet institutions that hadn't been taken over by Russia had dissolved. The Soviet Union was officially disbanded, breaking up into fifteen constituent parts, thereby ending the world's largest and most influential Socialist state, and leaving to China that position. In 1993, a 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, constitutional crisis dissolved into violence in Moscow as the Russian Armed Forces were called in to reestablish order.


Baltic states

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania implemented democratic reforms and achieved independence from the Soviet Union. The Singing Revolution is a commonly used name for events between 1987 and 1991 that led to the restoration of the independence of Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, Estonia, Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, Latvia and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, Lithuania. The term was coined by an Estonian activist and artist, Heinz Valk, in an article published a week after 10–11 June 1988 spontaneous mass night-singing demonstrations at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds. Estonia Estonian Sovereignty Declaration, declared its sovereignty from the Soviet Union on 16 November 1988. Lithuania followed on 18 May 1989 and Latvia on 28 July 1989. Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania, Lithuania declared full independence on 11 March 1990 and on 30 March, Estonia announced the start of a transitional period to independence, On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia, followed by Latvia on 4 May. These declarations were met with force from the Soviet Union in early 1991, in confrontations known as the January Events (Lithuania), "January Events" in Lithuania and "The Barricades" in Latvia. The Baltic states contended that their incorporation into the Soviet Union had been illegal under both international law and their own law, and they were reasserting an independence that still legally existed. Soon after the launching of the August coup, Estonia and Latvia declared full independence. By the time the coup failed, the USSR was no longer unified enough to mount a forceful resistance, and it recognized the independence of the Baltic states on 6 September 1991.


Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova

* declared full independence from the USSR on 25 August 1991. The main political changes of the early 1990s were driven by the Belarusian Popular Front and its fraction in the Supreme Soviet of Belarus. A few years later, a new post-communist leader, Alexander Lukashenko, obtained power. After a short period, he increased his power as a result of two controversial referendums (1995–96) and has been criticized for Human rights in Belarus, repressing political opposition ever since. * participated in the War of Transnistria between Moldova and Russian-connected forces in the separatist region of Transnistria. Communists came back to power in a 2001 election under Vladimir Voronin, but faced 2009 Moldova civil unrest, civil unrest in 2009 over accusations of rigged elections. * had Declaration of Independence of Ukraine, restored its independence in August 1991, after it lost its independence, as the short-lived Ukrainian People's Republic, in 1919. Presidencies of former communists Leonid Kravchuk and Leonid Kuchma were followed by the Orange Revolution in 2004, in which Ukrainians elected Viktor Yushchenko (also a former member of CPSU). Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, was the focal point of the movement's campaign of
civil resistance Civil resistance is a form of political action that relies on the use of nonviolent resistance by ordinary people to challenge a particular power, force, policy or regime. Civil resistance operates through appeals to the adversary, pressure and co ...
, with thousands of protesters demonstrating daily.


Transcaucasia

All countries in the region regained their independence in 1991 following the takeover by the Red Army in 1920–21. * and the North Caucasus have been marred by Wars in the Caucasus, ethnic and sectarian violence since the collapse of the USSR. In April 1989 the Soviet Army April 9 tragedy, massacred demonstrators in Tbilisi. In November 1989, the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic, Georgian SSR officially condemned the Red Army invasion of Georgia. Democracy activist Zviad Gamsakhurdia served as president from 1991 to 1992. Russia aided break-away republics in wars in 1991−1992 South Ossetia War, South Ossetia and War in Abkhazia (1992−1993), Abkhazia during the early 1990s, conflicts that have periodically reemerged, and Russia has accused Georgia of supporting Chechen rebels during the First Chechen War, Chechen wars. A coup d'état installed former communist leader Eduard Shevardnadze as President of Georgia until the Rose Revolution in 2003. * 's independence struggle included violence as the First Nagorno-Karabakh War was fought between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenia became increasingly militarized, with the ascendancy of Kocharian, a former president of Nagorno-Karabakh, often viewed as a milestone. Elections have since been increasingly controversial, and government corruption became rifer. After Kocharyan, notably, Serzh Sargsyan ascended to power. Sargsyan is often noted as the "founder of the Armenian and Karabakh militaries" and was, in the past, defense minister and national security minister. * 's Azerbaijani Popular Front Party, Popular Front Party won the first elections with the self-described pro-Western, populist nationalist Elchibey. However, Elchibey planned to end Moscow's advantage in the harvesting of Azeri oil and build much stronger links with Turkey and Europe, and as a result was overthrown by former communists in a coup backed by Russia and Iran, which viewed the new country as a compelling threat, with territorial ambitions within Iranian borders and also being a strong economic rival. Mutallibov rose to power, but he was soon destabilized and eventually ousted due to popular frustration with his perceived incompetence, corruption and improper handling of the war with Armenia. Azerbaijani KGB and Azerbaijani SSR leader Heydar Aliyev captured power and remained president until he transferred the presidency to his son in 2003. The First Nagorno-Karabakh War was fought between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and has largely defined the fates of both countries. Unlike Armenia, which remains a strong Russian ally, Azerbaijan has begun, since Russia's 2008 war with Georgia, to foster better relations with Turkey and other Western nations, while lessening ties with Russia.


= Chechnya

= In Chechnya, an Autonomous republics of the Soviet Union, autonomous republic within Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR that had a strong desire for independence, using tactics partly copied from the Baltics, anti-communist coalition forces led by former Soviet general Dzhokhar Dudayev staged a largely bloodless revolution, and ended up forcing the resignation of the communist republican president. Dudayev was elected in a landslide in the following election. In November 1991, he proclaimed Checheno-Ingushetia's independence as the Republic of Ichkeria. Ingushetia voted to leave the union with Chechnya, and was allowed to do so, becoming the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. Due to Dudayev's desire to exclude Moscow from all oil deals, Yeltsin backed a failed coup against him in 1993. In 1994, Chechnya was invaded by Russia, spurring the First Chechen War. Chechnya had only marginal international recognition, from one country: Georgia, which was revoked soon after the coup landing Shevardnadze in power. The Chechens, with considerable assistance from the populations of both former-Soviet countries and from Sunni Muslim countries repelled the invasion, and a peace treaty was signed in 1997. However, Chechnya became increasingly anarchic, largely due to both the political and physical destruction of the state during the invasion, and general Shamil Basaev, having evaded all control by the central government, conducted raids into neighboring Dagestan, which Russia used as a pretext for reinvading Ichkeria. Ichkeria was then reincorporated into Russia as Chechnya again.


Central Asia

* 's independence struggle began with the Jeltoqsan uprising in 1986. Former communist leader Nursultan Nazarbayev has been in power from 1990 when he started serving as Kazakh SSR, President of Kazakh SSR until his retirement from his position in 2019. * 's Askar Akayev retained power until the Tulip Revolution in 2005. * 's Rahmon Nabiyev retained power, which led to the civil war in Tajikistan. Emomali Rahmon has succeeded Nabiyev and has retained power since 1992. * 's Saparmurat Niyazov retained power until his death in 2006 and was criticized as one of the world's most totalitarian and repressive leaders, maintaining his own cult of personality. Niyazov's successor Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov initially eased changes made by Niyazov before starting his very own cult of personality. * 's Islam Karimov retained power until his death in 2016 and was widely criticized for repressing the political opposition throughout his tenure.


Post-Soviet conflicts

Some of the more notable post-Soviet conflicts include the Tajikistani Civil War, the First Nagorno-Karabakh War, the War of Transnistria, the 1991–1992 South Ossetia War, the First Chechen War, the War in Abkhazia (1992–1993), War in Abkhazia, the Ossetian–Ingush conflict, the Second Chechen War, the Russo-Georgian War, the 2014 Crimean Crisis, Crimea and War in Donbas (2014–2022), Donbas conflicts, and the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ethnic conflicts in the former Soviet Union, and their potential for triggering serious interstate conflicts, posed a major threat to regional and international security for years ahead.


Other events


Communist and socialist countries

Reforms in the Soviet Union and its allied countries also led to dramatic changes to communist and socialist states outside of Europe. Countries that retained socialist-styled economies and government structures beyond 1991: * – China remained under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, whilst continuing far-reaching economic reforms. * – Cuba remained under the leadership of the Communist Party of Cuba and retained a socialist planned economy. * – Economic liberalisation in India, Indian economic reforms were launched in 1991. Poverty reduced from 36 percent in 1993–94 to 24.1 percent in 1999–2000. * – Laos remained under the leadership of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party and retained many socialist economic policies. * History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi#Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1977–2011), Libya – Libya remained governed according to Muammar Gaddafi's socialist Third International Theory, and retained a socialist planned economy until First Libyan Civil War, 2011. It had started with the Libyan Revolution and ended with Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, Gaddafi's assassination. * – Syria remained under the leadership of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party – Syria Region, Syrian Ba'ath Party and retained a socialist (Ba'athism, Ba'athist) planned economy. * – Vietnam remained under the leadership of the Communist Party of Vietnam and pursued economic reforms that were much less far-reaching than China's and many socialist economic policies were retained.


= Africa

= * – 1988 October Riots, democratization through the 1989 Algerian constitutional referendum, 1989 constitutional referendum, victory of, an Islamist party, the FIS in the 1990 Algerian local elections, 1990 local elections and in the 1991 Algerian legislative election, 1991 legislative elections, leading to a military coup in January 1992, sparking the Algerian Civil War, until 2002. *
Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
– The ruling MPLA government abandoned Marxism–Leninism in 1991 and agreed to the Bicesse Accords in the same year, however the Angolan Civil War between the MPLA and the conservative UNITA continued for another decade until 2002. * People's Republic of Benin, Benin – Mathieu Kérékou's regime was pressured to abandon Marxism–Leninism in 1989. * – Thomas Sankara was overthrown and assassinated in the 1987 Burkinabé coup d'état, during which power was taken by Blaise Compaoré, who reversed many of Sankara's social policies. Military rule was ended in 1989, with the establishment of the Organization for Popular Democracy – Labour Movement, ODP-MT and the Popular Front (Burkina Faso), Popular Front coalition, beginning a process of democratization that started in 1991 Burkinabé presidential election, 1991 and finished when Compaoré was finally forced to resign by the 2014 Burkinabé uprising. * – 1996 Burundian coup d'état * – The ruling African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde party cut down its socialist ideology and foreign donors pressured the government to allow multiparty elections in 1991. * – democratization in 1992. * People's Republic of the Congo, Congo-Brazzaville – Denis Sassou Nguesso's regime was pressured to abandon Marxism–Leninism in 1991. The nation had elections in 1992 and First Republic of the Congo Civil War in 1993. * – Djiboutian Civil War in 1991 and democratization in 1992. *
Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...
– A 1987 Constitution of Ethiopia, new constitution was implemented in 1987 and, following the withdrawal of Soviet and Cuban assistance, the communist military junta Derg led by Mengistu Haile Mariam was defeated by the rebel Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, EPRDF in the Ethiopian Civil War and fled in 1991. * – The Third Republic of Ghana and the Provisional National Defence Council, military government of Jerry Rawlings are dissolved following 1992 Ghanaian presidential election, democratization in 1992, leading to the establishment a democratically elected Rawlings government, government under the National Democratic Congress (Ghana), National Democratic Congress. * – A process of democratization begins with the introduction of multi-party politics in May 1991 and the 1994 Guinea-Bissau general election, first democratic elections being held in 1994. * – 1984 Guinean coup d'état * Democratic Republic of Madagascar, Madagascar – Socialist President Didier Ratsiraka was ousted in 1991. * – Moussa Traoré was ousted, Mali adopted a new constitution; held multi-party elections. Tuareg rebellion (1990–95), Rebellion in 1990 and 1991 Malian coup d'état, coup d'état in 1991. *
Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
– The Mozambican Civil War between the socialist FRELIMO and the RENAMO conservatives was Rome General Peace Accords, ended via treaty in 1992. FRELIMO subsequently abandoned Marxism–Leninism in favor of democratic socialism with the support of the United Nations Operation in Mozambique, UN, held multiparty elections. * – The ruling Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe/Social Democratic Party cut down its Socialist ideology and foreign donors pressured the government to allow multiparty elections in 1991. * – Socialist Party of Senegal formed a national unity government with the Senegalese Democratic Party in 1991. * – democratization in 1991. * – The start of the Sierra Leone Civil War in March 1991, followed by a 1991 Sierra Leonean constitutional referendum, constitutional referendum restoring multi-party system, multi-party politics in August 1991 and a 1992 Sierra Leonean coup d'état, coup d'état finally overthrowing the First Republic of Sierra Leone in April 1992. *
Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...
– 1988 Hargeisa-Burao offensive, 1988 offensive by Somali National Movement, SNM rebels during the Somaliland War of Independence leads to the acceleration of the Isaaq genocide.Interpeace,
The search for peace: A history of mediation in Somalia since 1988
' Interpeace, May 2009, 2.
Rebelling Somalis overthrew Siad Barre's communist military junta during the Somali Revolution in January 1991, with Somaliland later unilaterally Somaliland Declaration of Independence, declaring independence in May 1991.Interpeace,
The search for peace: A history of mediation in Somalia since 1988
' Interpeace, May 2009, 13–14.
Somalia has been in a constant Somali Civil War, state of civil war ever since. * History of Sudan (1986–2011), Sudan – The 1985 Sudanese coup d'état overthrows the Democratic Republic of the Sudan. After a brief period of parliamentary democracy during the late 1980s, the 1989 Sudanese coup d'état establishes a right-wing dictatorship under Omar al-Bashir. * – The ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi party cut down its Socialist ideology and foreign donors pressured the government to allow multiparty elections in 1995. * – Habib Bourguiba removed from power by Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in the 1987 Tunisian coup d'état, reforming the Socialist Destourian Party into the Democratic Constitutional Rally in 1988 and holding the 1989 Tunisian general election, first multi-party election in 1989. The Tunisian Communist Party abandoned communism and reformed itself as the Ettajdid Movement in 1993. * – The government of Milton Obote is overthrown by a coup in 1985, followed by the end of the Ugandan Bush War in 1986. With the rise of Yoweri Museveni to power, the National Resistance Movement cut down its Socialist ideology. * Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Western Sahara – cut down its Socialist ideology and the End of the Western Sahara War in 1991. * – The ruling United National Independence Party cut down its Socialist ideology and foreign donors pressured the government to allow 1991 Zambian general election, multiparty elections in 1991.


= Middle East

= * Ba'athist Iraq, Iraq – 1991 uprisings in Iraq, Uprisings in 1991, leading to Kurdistan becoming an autonomous region. The rest of Iraq remained under Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime until 2003 with 2003 invasion of Iraq, American invasion overthrowing his regime in 1 month. * Republic of Kuwait, Kuwait – Annexed by Iraq in 1990. Then liberated in 1991 during the Gulf War. * Palestinian Territories – The Palestine Liberation Organization lost one of its most important diplomatic patrons, due to the deterioration of the Soviet Union, Arafat's failing relationship with Moscow and loss of a one-party government, and Suspension PFLP-GC of the PLO in 1984.
First Intifada The First Intifada (), also known as the First Palestinian Intifada, was a sustained series of Nonviolent resistance, non-violent protests, acts of civil disobedience, Riot, riots, and Terrorism, terrorist attacks carried out by Palestinians ...
occurred from 1987 to 1991,Nami Nasrallah, 'The First and Second Palestinian ''intifadas'',' in David Newman, Joel Peters (eds.
''Routledge Handbook on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict''
Routledge, 2013, pp. 56–68, p. 56.
leading to the PLO recognition of Israel. * – The South Yemen Civil War began in 1986. The government abandoned Marxism–Leninism in 1990. In 1990, Yemenite reunification, Yemen reunified with the more capitalist
North Yemen North Yemen () is a term used to describe the Kingdom of Yemen (1918-1962), the Yemen Arab Republic (1962-1990), and the regimes that preceded them and exercised sovereignty over that region of Yemen. Its capital was Sanaa from 1918 to 1948 an ...
. In 1994, this led to 1994 civil war in Yemen, a civil war. * – The Syrian Communist Party was divided to two parties in 1986. Syria participated in the Madrid Conference of 1991 and met its Cold War enemy Israel in peace negotiations. The Syrian Democratic People's Party changed from Left-wing to center-left.


= Asia

= *
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
– The People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, People's Democratic Party underwent National Reconciliation (Afghanistan), National Reconciliation reforms from 1987, renaming the country to Republic of Afghanistan (from "Democratic Republic") and removing the red star of communism from the coat of arms. The Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, Soviet occupation ended in 1989, and in 1990 the ruling party renamed itself, removing all references to Marxism–Leninism in the process. The Soviet-backed government Afghan Civil War (1989–1992), fell in 1992 and the party was dissolved; a new Afghan Civil War (1992–1996), Civil War followed. * – In 1990, a 1990 Mass Uprising in Bangladesh, mass uprising leads to the end of the country's military dictatorship and a restoration of democracy. The Communist Party of Bangladesh experiences a split between an orthodox Marxist–Leninist faction and a more democratic and libertarian faction. The country experiences an Internal conflict in Bangladesh, internal conflict, driven by the rise of Islamism since 1989. * Burmese Way to Socialism, Burma – The 8888 Uprising in 1988 saw the demise of the Burma Socialist Programme Party, but failed to bring democracy, although Marxism was abandoned. The country was led by a military government under the State Peace and Development Council until 2011, following 2010 Burmese general election, 2010 elections viewed by many Western countries as fraudulent. End of the Communist insurgency in Myanmar, communist insurgency in 1989. * People's Republic of Kampuchea, Cambodia – The Vietnam-supported government, which had been in power since the Cambodian–Vietnamese War, fall of the Khmer Rouge, lost power following UN-sponsored United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia, elections in 1993, the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea, CGDK and the Party of Democratic Kampuchea were dissolved in 1993. * – The Chinese Communist Party began implementing Chinese economic reform, liberalizing economic reforms during the late 1970s under Deng Xiaoping. However, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, pro-democracy protests of 1989 were crushed by the People's Liberation Army, military. Western countries imposed arms embargoes on China. 1987–1989 Tibetan unrest, Unrest in Tibet in 1987. The United Revolutionary Front of East Turkestan, URFET and the East Turkestan People's Revolutionary Party, ETPRP was dissolved. * – Defeat of the Indian National Congress in the 1989 Indian general election. The Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress was dissolved in 1989, Tripura National Volunteers was dissolved in 1988 and Hmar People's Convention was dissolved in 1986. Beginning of the Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989. The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency continued into the 21st century, while the Communist Party of India (Marxist) remains a major political force in the states of West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. * – Remained communist under the Lao People's Revolutionary Party. Laos was forced to ask France and Japan for emergency assistance, and also to ask the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank for aid. Finally, in 1989, Kaisôn visited Beijing to confirm the restoration of friendly relations, and to secure Chinese aid. The red star and the hammer and sickle was taken out from the crest in 1991. * – Kim Il-sung died in 1994, passing power to his son Kim Jong-il. Unprecedented floods and the dissolution of the Soviet Union led to the North Korean famine, which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 2.5 million to 3 million North Koreans. All references to Marxism–Leninism were absolutely replaced by Juche in 2009, thus signifying an apparent downplaying of the role of communism in North Korea. North Korea is still a single-party totalitarian state. * – End of the second 1987–89 JVP insurrection, communist insurgrency by the communist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna and the death of its leaders, but the Sri Lankan civil war, Civil War continues until 2009. * – The Communist Party of Vietnam has undertaken Doi Moi reforms since 1986, liberalizing certain sectors of the economy in a manner similar to China. Vietnam is still a single-party communist state.


= Latin America

= * – The end of Soviet subsidies led to the Special Period. An August 1994 protest in Cuba, unsuccessful protest was held in 1994, in which thousands of Cubans took to the streets around the Malecón, Havana, Malecón in Havana to demand freedom and express frustration with the government. Cuba is still a single-party communist state. * – After the death of Forbes Burnham in 1985, his successor Desmond Hoyte oversaw a period of democratization and the first free elections were 1992 Guyanese general election, held in October 1992,Dieter Nohlen (2005) ''Elections in the Americas: A data handbook, Volume I'', p363 during which the People's Progressive Party (Guyana), People's Progressive Party of Cheddi Jagan was elected. * – End of the Contra War, Daniel Ortega's Sandinista National Liberation Front, Sandinista lost the multi-party 1990 Nicaraguan general election, elections in 1990, and the National Opposition Union (Nicaragua, 1990), National Opposition Union won. * – democratization in 1987 and Suriname Guerrilla War 1986–1992.


= Oceania

= * – Vanua'aku Pati lost the multi-party elections in 1991, and the Union of Moderate Parties won. Voter turnout was 71%.Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) ''Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume II'', p842


Other countries

Many Soviet-supported political parties and militant groups around the world suffered from demoralization and loss of financing. * – The Communist Party of Australia was dissolved in 1991. * – The Communist Party of Austria lost its East German financing and 250 million euros in assets. * – The Communist Party of Belgium was divided to two parties in 1989. * – The Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin was dissolved in 1991. * – In 1990 the Communist Party of Canada was de-registered and had its assets seized, forcing it to begin an ultimately successful thirteen-year political and legal battle to maintain registration of small political parties in Canada known as ''Figueroa v. Canada'', thus changing the legal definition of a political party in Canada in 2003 and now operates without any elected political representation. * – 1993 Equatorial Guinean legislative election, first multi-party elections in 1993. * – The Finnish People's Democratic League was dissolved in 1990 and the bankrupt Communist Party of Finland collapsed in 1992, and absorbed to the Left Alliance (Finland), Left Alliance. * – The collapse of the Eastern Bloc came as a shock to the French Communist Party. The crisis is called ''la mutation''. Fusion of the Unified Socialist Party (France), Unified Socialist Party with the New Left for Socialism, Ecology and Self-management for Red and Green Alternatives in 1989. * – 1994 Gambian coup d'état * – The German Communist Party lost its East German financing and declined significantly and the Communist League (West Germany), Communist League was dissolved. The Red Army Faction lost its long-term supporter, the Stasi, after the
fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (, ) on 9 November in German history, 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain, as East Berlin transit restrictions we ...
. * – The Organisation of Marxist–Leninist Communists of Greece was dissolved in 1993 and merged into the Movement for a United Communist Party of Greece. Greek Left was dissolved in 1992. * – democratization in 1990. * – The Communist Party of Ireland declined significantly. Democratic Socialist Party (Ireland), Democratic Socialist Party was dissolved. * – The collapse caused the Italian Communist Party to reform itself, creating two new groups, the larger Democratic Party of the Left and the smaller Communist Refoundation Party. The disappearance of the Communist party in part led to profound changes within the Italian political party system in 1992–1994 and collapse of the Radical Party (Italy), Radical Party in 1989 and the Italian Socialist Party in 1994. Disintegration of the Red Brigades in 1988. * – The Japanese Communist Party became gradually influenced by Eurocommunism and issued a statement titled "We welcome the end of a great historical evil of imperialism and hegemonism". As a result, the JCP survived the post-Cold War decline of communist parties in the Western Bloc, and remains one of the largest non-governing communist parties in the world. * – End of the Lebanese Civil War, Civil War * – First Liberian Civil War * – The Communist Party of Luxembourg declined significantly. * – The Malayan Communist Party laid down its arms in 1989, ending an Communist insurgency in Malaysia (1968–89), insurgency that had lasted decades. * – the failed 1988 Maldives coup d'état * – the Mexican Socialist Party, the last effort to unify the different Mexican left-wing parties, and the last political party in Mexico to officially use the word "socialist" in its name, dissolved in 1989. * Kingdom of Nepal, Nepal – The Communist Party of Nepal (Janamukhi) and the Communist Party of Nepal (Fourth Convention) was dissolved in 1990. * – The Communist Party of the Netherlands was dissolved in 1991 and absorbed to the GreenLeft. League of Communists in the Netherlands was dissolved in 1992. * – democratization in 1991, but 1996 Nigerien coup d'état, Coup d'état in 1996. * – 1985 Nigerian coup d'état, Coup d'état in 1985. * – The Communist Party of Norway changed their pro-Soviet line. * – The Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman was dissolved in 1992. * – The Communist Party of the Philippines experienced criticism and the debates that ensued between the leading party cadres resulted to the expulsion of advocates of "left and right opportunism" notably forming the so-called "rejectionists" and "reaffirmist" factions. Those who affirmed the Maoist orthodoxy were called the "Reaffirmists", or RA, while those who rejected the document were called "Rejectionists" or RJ. In July 1993, the Komiteng Rehiyon ng Manila-Rizal (KRMR), one of the Rejectionists, declared its autonomy from the central leadership. Within a few months, several of the Party's regional formations and bureaus followed suit, permanently formalizing and deepening the schism. * – The Sammarinese Communist Party was dissolved in 1990. * – The Barisan Sosialis was dissolved in 1988. * – The Workers' Party of Spain–Communist Unity was dissolved in 1991. Alternative Left (Spain), Alternative Left was dissolved in 1993. Communist Party of Spain (Marxist–Leninist) (historical) was dissolved in 1992. The Communist Party of Galicia (Revolutionary Marxist) was dissolved in 1989. * – The Communist Association of Norrköping was dissolved in 1990 and Kommunistiska Förbundet Marxist-Leninisterna ceased to function as nationwide party. The pro-Albanian Kommunistiska Partiet i Sverige and the Maoist Communist Workers' Party of Sweden were dissolved in 1993. The main leftist party, Vänsterpartiet kommunisterna, VPK (Left Party – Communists), abandoned the communist part of its name, and became simply Vänsterpartiet (Left Party). * – The Communist Labour Party of Turkey was split. * – The Communist Party of Great Britain was dissolved. * – 1992 Venezuelan coup d'état attempts Concurrently, many anti-communist authoritarian states, formerly supported by the US, gradually saw a transition to democracy. * – Held the 1989 Brazilian presidential election, first democratic presidential election since 1960 due to reforms started a few years earlier. * – democratization in 1991. * – 1990 Chadian coup d'état, Coup d'état in 1990. * – While communist guerillas were Armed resistance in Chile (1973–1990), unsuccessful in toppling the anti-communist regime, the Military dictatorship of Chile (1973–1990), military junta under Augusto Pinochet was pressured to implement 1989 Chilean general election, democratic elections, which saw Chilean transition to democracy, Chile's democratization in 1990. The Broad Party of Socialist Left subsequently merged into the Socialist Party of Chile. * – The Colombian Constitution of 1886, conservative constitution of 1886 was Colombian Constitution of 1991, repealed in 1991. The 19th of April Movement, the Movimiento Armado Quintin Lame, Quintin Lame Armed Movement and most of the Popular Liberation Army gave up their weapons and began to participate in politics. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC continued its role in the Colombian conflict into the 21st century. * – The Salvadoran Civil War ended in 1992 following the Chapultepec Peace Accords. The rebel Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front, FMLN movement became a legal political party and participated in subsequent elections. * – democratization in 1991. * – The Guatemalan Civil War ended in 1996 and the rebel Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity became a legal party. * – Haitian Revolution of 1986 * – The Suharto regime received great international criticism for its role in the 1991 Santa Cruz massacre and continued occupation of East Timor, leading to US sanctions. Fall of Suharto, Suharto resigned in 1998 following mass protests, and East Timor gained independence in 2002 following the 1999 East Timorese independence referendum, 1999 referendum. * – democratization in 1990. * – Restoration of multi-party democracy in 1991 * – democratization in 1993. * – 1984 Mauritanian coup d'état; democratization in 1992. * – democratization in 1988. * – The Manuel Noriega regime was overthrown by the United States invasion of Panama, US invasion in 1989 as a result of his suppression of elections, drug-trafficking activities and the killing of a US serviceman. * – The dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner came to an end when he was deposed in a military coup d'état. In 1992, the country's new constitution established a democratic system of government. * – The internal conflict in Peru intensified under Alberto Fujimori, who was criticized for his increased authoritarian rule and human rights abuses until his downfall in 2000. The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement ended its role in the internal conflict in Peru in 1997. The Shining Path, responsible for killing tens of thousands people, shrunk in the 1990s, but continued into the 21st century. * History of the Philippines (1965–86), Philippines –
People Power Revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, were a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...
in 1986 led to the downfall of
Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. (September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino lawyer, politician, dictator, and Kleptocracy, kleptocrat who served as the tenth president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled the c ...
. Communist rebellion in the Philippines continued into the 21st century. * – Rwandan Civil War in 1990 and Rwandan genocide, Genocide in 1994. * – Following the Soviet-Afghan War, Osama bin Laden, the founder of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, proposed to the Saudi monarchy not to rely on the United States after the Invasion of Kuwait, fall of Kuwait. Bin Laden later denounced the Saudi invitation of the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division and was eventually expelled from the country in 1992 due to the criticism. His citizenship was revoked in 1994. * – The June Democracy Movement's June Struggle, nationwide protests led to the downfall of the
Chun Doo-hwan Chun Doo-hwan (; 18 January 1931 – 23 November 2021) was a South Korean politician, army general and military dictator who served as the fifth president of South Korea from 1980 to 1988. Prior to his accession to the presidency, he was the cou ...
government in 1987, and the country's 1987 South Korean presidential election, first democratic elections. In 2000, North and South Korea agreed in principle to work towards Korean reunification, peaceful reunification in the future. * – Negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa, Negotiations were started in 1990 to end the South Africa under apartheid, Apartheid system. Nelson Mandela was 1994 South African general election, elected as the President of South Africa in 1994. * – In 1987 the ruling Kuomintang party ended its Martial law in Taiwan, strict martial law introduced at the end of the Chinese Civil War. Gradual Taiwan#Democratic reforms, democratic reforms led to the 1996 Taiwanese presidential election, first direct presidential election in 1996. * – democratization in 1993. * – The Northern Ireland peace process led to an end of The Troubles in 1998, with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. * – Following the end of the
Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
, the United States became the world's sole
superpower Superpower describes a sovereign state or supranational union that holds a dominant position characterized by the ability to Sphere of influence, exert influence and Power projection, project power on a global scale. This is done through the comb ...
. It ceased to support many of the military dictatorships it had during the Cold War, pressing more nations to adopt democracy. * – Yemeni unification, unified with the communist
South Yemen South Yemen, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, abbreviated to Democratic Yemen, was a country in South Arabia that existed in what is now southeast Yemen from 1967 until Yemeni unification, its unification with the Yemen A ...
after the Yemeni unification, separation period (1967–1990) and also democratized in 1990, then Yemeni Civil War (1994), suppressed communist secessionist movement in the South in 1994. * – First Congo War, Civil War in 1996.


=Countries that emerged into socialist-styled governments beyond 1991

= * – Evo Morales led the Movement for Socialism (Bolivia), Movement for Socialism which led to the establishment of the socialistic Plurinational State in 2009 and ruled the country until 2019 Bolivian political crisis, his ouster in a coup. * – Kingdom of Nepal, Monarchy was overthrown in 2008 and the republic has been ruled by Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), Communist Party since then. * – Hugo Chavez led the Fifth Republic Movement which led to the establishment of the Bolivarian Republic in 1999 and ruled the country until his death in 2013.


=Other impacts

= * – In 1990, the Soviet Union finally permitted free emigration of Soviet Jews to Israel. Prior to this, 1970s Soviet Union aliyah, Jews trying to leave the USSR faced persecution; those who succeeded arrived as refugees. Over the next few years, some one million Soviet citizens migrated to Israel. Although there was a concern that some of the new immigrants had only a very tenuous connection to Judaism, and many were accompanied by non-Jewish relatives, this massive wave of migration brought large numbers of highly educated Soviet Jews and slowly changed the demographic nature of Israel. In addition, thousands of Beta Israel, Ethiopian Jews were Operation Solomon, rescued by the Israel Defense Forces in 1991.


Political reforms

Decommunization is a process of overcoming the legacies of the communist state establishments, culture, and psychology in the post-communist states. Decommunization was largely limited or non-existent. Communist parties were not outlawed and their members were not brought to trial. Just a few places even attempted to exclude members of communist secret services from decision-making.After Socialism: where hope for individual liberty lies
Svetozar Pejovich.
In a number of countries the communist party simply changed its name and continued to function. In several European countries, however, endorsing or attempting to justify crimes committed by communist regimes became punishable by up to three years of imprisonment.


Economic reforms

State run enterprises in socialist countries had little or no interest in producing what customers wanted, which resulted in shortages of goods and services. In the early 1990s, the general view was that there was no precedent for moving from socialism to capitalism", and only some elderly people remembered how a market economy worked. As a result, the view that Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe would stay poor for decades was common. The collapse of the Soviet Union, and the breakdown of economic ties which followed led to a severe economic crisis and catastrophic fall in the Standard of living, standards of living in the 1990s in post-Soviet states and the former Eastern bloc. Even before Russia's 1998 Russian financial crisis, financial crisis of 1998, Russia's GDP was half of what it had been in the early 1990s. There was a temporary fall of output in the official economy and an increase in black market economic activity. Countries implemented different reform programs. One example, generally regarded as successful was the "shock therapy" Balcerowicz Plan in Poland. Eventually the official economy began to grow. In a 2007 paper, Oleh Havrylyshyn categorized the speed of reforms in the former communist countries of Europe: * ''Sustained Big-Bang'' (fastest): Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia * ''Advance Start/Steady Progress'': Croatia, Hungary, Slovenia * ''Aborted Big-Bang'': Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Kyrgyzstan, Russia * ''Gradual Reforms'': Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Romania * ''Limited Reforms'' (slowest): Belarus, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan The 2004 enlargement of the European Union included the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. The 2007 enlargement of the European Union included Romania and Bulgaria, and Croatia 2013 enlargement of the European Union, joined the EU in 2013. The same countries have also Enlargement of NATO, become NATO members. In Mongolia, the economy was reformed in a similar fashion to the Eastern European counterparts. Armenia declared its decision to join the Customs Union and the Common Economic Space of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, and participated in the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union. Effective from 2015, Armenia joined the treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union. Chinese economic reform, Chinese economic liberalization began in 1978 and has helped lift millions of people out of poverty, bringing the poverty rate down from 53% of the population in the Mao era, to 12% in 1981. Deng's economic reforms are still being followed by the Chinese Communist Party, CCP today, and by 2001 the poverty rate was only 6% of the population. Doi Moi, Economic liberalization in Vietnam was initiated in 1986, following the Chinese example. Economic liberalisation in India, Economic liberalization in India was initiated in 1991. Harvard University Professor Richard B. Freeman has called the effect of reforms "The Great Doubling". He calculated that the size of the global workforce doubled from 1.46 billion workers to 2.93 billion workers. An immediate effect was a reduced ratio of capital to labor. In the long-term, China, India, and the former Soviet bloc will save and invest and contribute to the expansion of the world capital stock.


Ideological continuation of communism

As of 2008, nearly half of Russians viewed Stalin positively, and many supported restoration of his previously dismantled monuments. In 1992, President Yeltsin's government invited Vladimir Bukovsky to serve as an expert to testify at the CPSU trial by the Constitutional Court of Russia, where the communists were suing Yeltsin for banning their party. The respondent's case was that the CPSU itself had been an unconstitutional organization. To prepare for his testimony, Bukovsky requested and was granted access to a large number of documents from Soviet archives, then reorganized into the TsKhSD. Using a small handheld scanner and a laptop computer, he managed to secretly scan many documents, some with high security clearance, including
KGB The Committee for State Security (, ), abbreviated as KGB (, ; ) was the main security agency of the Soviet Union from 1954 to 1991. It was the direct successor of preceding Soviet secret police agencies including the Cheka, Joint State Polit ...
reports to the Central Committee, and smuggle the files to the West.


Interpretations

The events caught many people by surprise. Before 1991, many thought that the collapse of the Soviet Union was Predictions of Soviet collapse, impossible. Bartlomiej Kaminski's book ''The Collapse of State Socialism'' argued that the state Socialist system has a lethal paradox, saying that "policy actions designed to improve performance only accelerate its decay". By the end of 1989, revolts had spread from one capital to another, ousting the regimes imposed on Central, South-East and Eastern Europe after World War II. Even the isolationist Stalinist regime in Albania was unable to stem the tide. Gorbachev's abrogation of the Brezhnev Doctrine was perhaps the key factor that enabled the popular uprisings to succeed. Once it became evident that the feared Soviet Army would not intervene to crush dissent, the Central, South-East and Eastern European regimes were exposed as vulnerable in the face of popular uprisings against the one-party system and power of
secret police image:Putin-Stasi-Ausweis.png, 300px, Vladimir Putin's secret police identity card, issued by the East German Stasi while he was working as a Soviet KGB liaison officer from 1985 to 1989. Both organizations used similar forms of repression. Secre ...
. In 1990, Coit D. Blacker wrote that the Soviet leadership "appeared to have believed that whatever loss of authority the Soviet Union might suffer in Central and South-East Europe would be more than offset by a net increase in its influence in western Europe." Nevertheless, it is unlikely that Gorbachev ever intended for the complete dismantling of communism and the Warsaw Pact. Rather, Gorbachev assumed that the communist parties of Central and South-East Europe could be reformed in a similar way to the reforms he hoped to achieve in the CPSU. Just as ''perestroika'' was aimed at making the Soviet Union more efficient economically and politically, Gorbachev believed that the Comecon and Warsaw Pact could be reformed into more effective entities. However, Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev, Alexander Yakovlev, a close advisor to Gorbachev, later stated that it would have been "absurd to keep the system" in Central and South-East Europe. Yakovlev came to the conclusion that the Soviet-dominated Comecon could not work on non-market principles, and that the Warsaw Pact had "no relevance to real life". In retrospect, authoritarian regimes such as the Soviet Union are more likely to be subject to economic sanctions by democratic nations, creating a riskier vulnerability to collapse. In 1991, Timur Kuran wrote that generally leaders were despised and failed to meet expectations of freedoms and economic prosperity that they had promised, leading to citizen motivation to upheave the government. Economic distress mirrored across most regimes had declined growth rates to near zero leading up to their respective uprisings. While socialist economics may have played a role, Stathis Kalyvas, Stathis N. Kalyvas argues that international sanctions as well as the government makeup of authoritarian regimes were equally as impactful in reducing their economy's prosperity. Scholars such as Gale Stokes argue that the moral repression under the guise of security by communist regimes had brought citizens to the streets. Others argue that the repression of revolutionary dissidents and human rights justified revolutionary privilege throughout Europe.


Remembrance


Organizations

*Memorial (society), Memorial, an international historical and civil rights society that operates in a number of post-Soviet states which focuses on recording and publicising the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
's totalitarian aspect of the past, but also monitors human rights in post-Soviet states at the present time, for example in Chechnya


Events

*German Unity Day in Germany, a national holiday commemorating the anniversary of
German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...
in 1990 *Statehood Day (Slovenia), Statehood Day in Slovenia commemorates the country's declaration of independence from Yugoslavia in 1991 *Independence and Unity Day in Slovenia commemorates the country's independence referendum *Public holidays in Georgia, Day of National Unity in Georgia is a public holiday commemorating victims of the 9 April tragedy *National Day in Hungary *Constitution of Mongolia, Constitution Day in Mongolia commemorates the country's transition to democracy in 1992 *Constitution Day in Romania commemorates the 1991 Romanian Constitution that enshrined the return to democracy after the fall of the communist regime *Public holidays in Slovakia, Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day in Slovakia *Public holidays in the Czech Republic, Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day in the Czech Republic *Restoration of Independence Day in Latvia commemorates the On the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia, 1990 declaration restoring the country's independence


Places


Other

*''The Soviet Story'', an award-winning documentary film about the Soviet Union *''The Singing Revolution'', a documentary film about the Singing Revolution *''Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism'', a book and a documentary film based on the book *''Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire'', a Pulitzer Prize-awarded book *''A Political Tragedy in Six Acts'', biography of dissident Václav Havel *''Right Here, Right Now (Jesus Jones song), Right Here, Right Now'', an international hit written by Mike Edwards and performed by his rock band Jesus Jones and released in September 1990 *"Wind of Change (Scorpions song), Wind of Change", a hit song by the German heavy-metal band Scorpions (band), Scorpions that celebrates Perestroika and the fall of communism in Central and Eastern Europe.


See also

*Breakup of Yugoslavia *Chinese democracy movement *Colour revolutions *History of Solidarity *January Events, Lithuania, 1991 *JBTZ trial, former Yugoslavia, 1988 *
People Power Revolution The People Power Revolution, also known as the EDSA Revolution or the February Revolution, were a series of popular Demonstration (people), demonstrations in the Philippines, mostly in Metro Manila, from February 22 to 25, 1986. There was a ...
, Philippines, 1986 * Polish Round Table Agreement, 1989 *Reagan Doctrine Aftermath: *Arab Spring *Baltic Tiger, Baltic economies *Carpat Tiger, Romanian economy *Commonwealth of Independent States *Communist nostalgia *Enlargement of NATO *Enlargement of the European Union *Euromaidan, Ukraine, 2013 *International relations since 1989 *Jeans Revolution, Belarus, 2006 *Orange Revolution, Ukraine, 2004 *Overthrow of Slobodan Milošević, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 2000 *Pink tide, Latin America, 21st century *Rose Revolution, Georgia, 2003 *Russo-Ukrainian War *Dissolution of Czechoslovakia, Velvet Divorce in Czechoslovakia *2018 Armenian Revolution, Velvet Revolution, Armenia, 2018 General: *Civil resistance *Democracy in Europe *Preference falsification Earlier revolutionary eras: *Atlantic Revolutions, late 18th and early 19th century *Revolutions of 1917–1923


References


Further reading

* ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Contains chapters on the Soviet Union (Mark Kramer), Czechoslovakia (Kieran Williams), Poland (Alexander Smolar), Baltic States (Mark R. Beissinger), China (Merle Goldman), and East Germany (Charles Maier). * * * *


External links

* * *. Some of aspects of state national economy evolution in the system of the international economic order. * * * + Ergänzender Anhang A – F. Video of the revolutions in 1989 * {{Authority control Revolutions of 1989, 1989 in Europe 1990 in Europe 1991 in Europe Capitalism Cold War rebellions Conflicts in 1989 Decommunization Eastern Bloc Foreign relations of the Soviet Union Global politics Nationalism in the Soviet Union Revolutionary waves, 1989 Turn of the third millennium