Socialism with a New Face? The PDS in Search of Reform
Socialism with a New Face? The PDS in Search of Reform

Summary/Abstract: The largely peaceful abdication of monopoly power by ruling Marxist-Leninist parties throughout East Central Europe was one of the most spectacular and unexpected contributions to the annus mirabilis-1989. There was simply no precedent for this. No one who had studied Marxist-Leninist parties predicted it; the changes encouraged in the region by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, notwithstanding. The factors contributing to the system's demise are well known : among them, deteriorating economic conditions; the unwillingness of the Soviet Union to sustain Communist party rule in the bloc with force; and the disorientation that accompanied Gorbachev's reforms. Taken together, one might argue that loss of power had become merely a question of time; but Communist parties had more than sufficient domestic military and security force at their disposal to quell opposition demonstrations. In the past they had not hesitated to use it when confronted with equally challenging circumstances. [...]

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