Chapter 8:Chapter 8:Current and Current and

Former Former Communist Communist

WorldWorld

Thinking About Current and Former Communist Regimes

• The Impossible: Collapse of Communism• Some remain, but most with economic

reform• Little in common with the socialism Marx

and Engels predicted• Unlikely that these regimes will remain

Communist

Thinking about Communism• The Leninist State - Democratic Centralism• Command Economies• Key Questions

– What forces shaped the development of states and governments?

– How are decisions made?– What role do average citizens play in policy making?– What are the public policies?– How could apparently powerful regimes collapse?– What have some Communist systems survived?– What are the political implications of economic reforms

in Communist and former Communist countries?– Why are these countries facing challenges more serious

than industrialized democracies?

Socialism, Marxism, Leninism

• Socialism– Public ownership of means of

production– Substantial material equality– Economic and political democracy

Socialism, Marxism, Leninism

• Marxism– Evolution of society– Dialectics– Historical materialism– Revolution

Socialism, Marxism, Leninism

• Marxism-Leninism – democratic centralism

• Stalinism - totalitarianism• Expansion

– Third International (Comintern)– Eastern Europe– Asia

• De-Stalinization

The Marxist-Leninist State• The Party State

• Secretariat• Politburo• General Secretary• Cult of Personality• Nomenklatura• Command economy

• The Graying of Communism

The Crisis of Communism:Suicide by Public Policy

• Reform: Too Little, Too Late• Glasnost• Democratization• Peristroika• Approach to the West

• 1989: The Year That Changed the World• The Remnants of the Communist World

Transitions

• Economic disasters• Relative successes: East and Central

Europe• Troubled transitions: The former Soviet

Union• Ethnic conflict• Reform: What's left of Marxism?

Feedback• Were never technologically equal to media in the

West• Party controlled media• Censorship• Western media kept out• Loosening of controls during Gorbachev years• Media is now open, contentious, and critical in

former Communist states• Cracks in the party’s armor against media in

current Communist regimes