The Magic Lantern

Marxism-Leninism was the term established in the Soviet Union for the dominant ideological framework within that country and in Eastern European communist regimes. Marxism-Leninism reflects the ideology of Karl Marx, that is, that the establishment of capitalism contained the seeds of its own destruction. Eventually, exploited workers would overthrow the existing state and establish new regimes. The bourgeois capitalist phase of history would give way to socialism and then communism, the full establishment of a utopia free of class exploitation.

Lenin’s contribution to Marxist thought was that in a country like Russia, without a strong industrial base or a large working class, a “vanguard party” could nevertheless lead countries to socialism and communism through its decisive leadership role and control of the state. Lenin was a hallowed figure in the public life of the Soviet Union, with statues and symbolism in Eastern Europe as well. The shipyard where Solidarity came into being was named for Lenin, as an indication of his revered status in public life in Poland. This explains why Garton Ash makes a point of Lech Wałęsa’s proximity to a bust of Lenin in 1989, and his new ability to give it a “laughing glance” (15). The formerly revered figure can now be mocked, with the entirety of his commitment to liberation now in question. Solidarity, Garton Ash seems to say, is the new vanguard party leading Poland forward.

The Soviet Union, or the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was the governing multi-state entity that ruled Russia and most of Eastern Europe and Central Asia from 1917 to 1991. After the Russian revolution of October 1917, Lenin’s Bolshevik party declared itself the national government and its intention to establish one-party rule and a workers’ state. After years of brutal civil war, the Russian monarchy was ousted (its royal family, the Romanovs, were executed), and the Empire re-constituted itself as the Soviet Union. The state consisted of numerous republics, most of which were former protectorate states of the Empire. These included present-day Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. During World War II, the USSR formally annexed the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The USSR’s Communist Party and its Central Committee governed the country from its capital in Moscow, Russia, which controlled the leadership of all the USSR’s satellite states. Though the communist regimes of Eastern Europe were not formally annexed, Stalin assured that the regimes established there were ideologically aligned to assuage his fears about the country’s future security. The USSR formally ceased to exist in December 1991, and the Russian Federation is its legal successor state.

Though the communist regimes of Eastern Europe were dominated by Marxist-Leninist parties, other political parties did contest in elections and had representation in parliament. These often included parties representing peasant or agricultural interests. Garton Ash calls them “puppet parties” to signify that they had no significant power until after 1989. They were, however, an important part of early governing coalitions in the decade after World War II, when the new regimes were first taking shape as they indicated the hope that the new political order would represent the interests of formerly oppressed socioeconomic groups.

At the end of Word War II in 1945, Germany was divided into occupation zones by the Allied Powers—France, Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States. The Soviet-controlled zone was eventually transformed into a separate state, the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Migration westward for economic and political reasons became an increasing problem for the GDR’s government and constructing a guarded wall that separated East and West Berlin became the solution. The wall and other border checkpoints were formally established in 1961. Escape from the GDR was difficult and frequently resulted in execution or arrest. Garton Ash notes that the wall was a “psychological burden” in “every heart” of the GDR’s citizenry (57). Its “fall”—that is, when free passage through it was granted in November of 1989, was a powerful moment in world history signaling regime change in Eastern Europe.

In 1956, Hungary’s Communist leadership experienced an internal crisis. Hungarian students protested for a leadership change after the long rule of the authoritarian Mátyás Rákosi. After street fighting, including with the secret police, the new government of Imre Nagy declared that Soviet military presence in Hungary should end, and Hungary should enjoy free elections. The government of Nikita Khrushchev crushed the new government by force, and Nagy and many of his associates were executed. Though Nagy’s successor, János Kádár, pursued some economic liberalization, his rule was largely in line with Soviet domination of the region. Nagy, as Garton Ash notes, remained a powerful symbol of opposition and resistance.

The Warsaw Pact formed as an international organization of mutual defense and comprised all the socialist regimes of Eastern Europe, including the USSR, with the exception of Yugoslavia. It formed as an ideological and military counterweight to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), whose signatories in Western Europe and the United States were also bound to mutual defense of one another. The Warsaw Pact was used to justify the Brezhnev Doctrine, that the Soviet Union would militarily guarantee the security of communist regimes in East-Central Europe. This was the basis of the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia to quell the uprising in Prague. The repudiation of the Brezhnev Doctrine under Gorbachev was key to the success of the 1989 revolutions, as dissidents and reformers knew that their efforts would not be crushed by the Soviet military.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, workers in Poland increasingly protested their wages and standard of living. The Solidarity Party first formed in 1980, after strikes at the Gdansk shipyards. The Polish government recognized its right to exist, which was a significant departure from one-party rule and the formerly exclusive recognition of only state-sponsored trade unions. Solidarity remained in existence even after the declaration of martial law in Poland in 1981, and its leader was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982. Solidarity’s broad coalition of resistance meant it was the group best positioned to take advantage of the changing political situation in 1989. Solidarity remains a political party in present-day Poland, though with diminished numbers.

The Civic Forum was a civil society group that formed in Czechoslovakia in winter of 1989, with its headquarters in the Magic Lantern theater, from which Garton Ash’s work takes its title. Many forum members had been active in the reform and dissent movements since the 1970s, including Václav Havel. The Forum had a Slovak counterpart, the Public Against Violence (PAV). Garton Ash concentrates on the Forum’s activities to articulate its ideology and needs, its relationships with students, and efforts to negotiate with the government, which soon dissolved itself and chose Havel as president. Both the Forum and the PAV became political parties in the new and independent Czechoslovakia. Garton Ash stresses that the forum membership was diverse, as it included radical communists, Catholics, workers, students, and intellectuals.

First established in 1957, the European Community was a coalition of states dedicated to promoting free trade among members, in part to advance the broader cause of reducing future conflicts between nations. The European Community established cooperating and coordinating agencies in the areas of coal, steel, and nuclear policy. Garton Ash calls the EC a “common home” (140) where the newly independent states can form relationships with existing democracies. The EC would serve as the basis for the European Union’s official formation in 1993, which now includes open borders, a common currency, and the freedom to study and work in member states.