Lenin. At its most basic, the ideal of communism is a system in which everyone is seen as equal and wealth is distributed equally among the people. There is no private ownership. The state owns and controls all enterprises and property. The state is run by one leading elite. The Soviet model of communism was based on these ideals. All opposition parties were banned although parties who were sympathetic to communism and who shared the communist ideals were allowed. All power was concentrated into the hands of the Communist party. Free press and civil liberties were suppressed. Censorship and propaganda were widely used. There was state ownership of the economy. No private enterprise was allowed. There was a collectivisation of agriculture. The Communist Party invaded and controlled every aspect of political, social, cultural and economic life. It was a totalitarian state with complete Communist control over all facets of life.

In the early years, and up until Gorbachev’s “new regime”, the use of force and terror as a means of maintaining control was widespread.

The first factor which contributed to the failure and eventual collapse of commun

Gorbachev it is doubtful that the disintegration of the communist regime would have occurred so soon. Gorbachev can be seen as a reform communist.

Politburo condemning the Stalinist regime and calling for change was published. (4) In response to this Stalin wreaked a terrible revenge. In

Bolshevik confiscated virtually all harvests. This brought the country to the brink of economic collapse. The net result of war communism under Lenin was that from 1914 the countryside was neglected and destroyed and in 1920 there was a severe drought. (20) In 1921 the New Economic Policy (NEP) was introduced. This was in effect a limited capitalism. Peasants were allowed to keep their surpluses after taxes were paid. Bonuses, extra rations and better housing were offered as incentives. Still there was widespread opposition to the communist policy with the beginnings of a “peasant war” against Stalin’s’ proposed collectivisation policy in 1928. (21) Although agricultural production increased, the standard of living was lowered and hardship was widespread. Forcible collectivisation was pursued until 1935.

Many of the Eastern countries, for example Hungary under Nagy or

On the 24th of November the Czechoslovak Communist Party resigned after mass demonstrations in Prague of up to 800,000 people. On the 7th of

1936 Stalin began what became known as the “purges” whose function it was to try members of the communist party who had acted treasonously. (5) The result of these was that five thousand party members were arrested and stripped of their membership. The sixteen defendants in the three

Some topics in this essay:
Eastern Europe, R120 Gorbachev, Policy NEP, History CPSU”, Change Gorbachev, Finally Gorbachev, Europe Gorbachev, Civil War, Due Glasnost, Eastern European, communist regime, eastern bloc, communist party, eastern europe, communist rule, communism eastern europe, communism eastern, collapse communism, budget deficit, force coercion, hope survive, communist rule eastern, contributing factor collapse, eastern bloc communist, factor collapse communism,