Russian Life & People Digest
Question by Patrick: Did Glasnost apply to the whole of Eastern Europe?
In 1988, Gorbachev introduced Glasnost under his regime. Did this policy encompass the whole of the Soviet sphere of influence?
Answers and Views:
Answer by West Side™
Not all at once no – all over the Soviet bloc Nations were breaking loose from Communism. Places like Rumania leading the way. They put Ceausescu and his wife up against a wall and shot them!
Read all the answers in the comments.
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poornakumar b says
Gorbachev exercised control over USSR. Perestroika (restructuring- of the party) and Glasnost (transparency) were introduced into the USSR governance by him.
Spellbound says
Not at all. The independent Communist countries of the Eastern Bloc did not slavishly follow the Soviet Union. Each Communist party followed their own road to socialism within set parameters.
In Hungary socialism took on a different form, co-operatives were more common than state owned massive factories, and it had long been the most liberal of the communist countries.
In Romania, Ceausescu ran the country like a medieval tyrant, much like North Korea, but with less basic provisions – electricity was rationed to just a few hours a day. Any form of Glasnost' would have seen his country collapse around him – which is exactly what happened.
Czechoslovakia had been a grim Stalinist state after the 1968 uprising and resisted any changes to the internal running of the country.
East Germany faced a much bigger problem, West Germany – the East German government knew that any liberalisation would lead to calls for re0unification.
Poland was developing a post-communist model of its own, with no reference to the USSR, thanks to the independent trade union – Solidarity.
Bulgaria was also did not allow for liberalisation, although the people were very pro-Russia (not the whole USSR),.
Yugoslavia was reasonably liberal before Tito died, and after his death the call was not for greater freedom, but for splitting the country into independent states.