A Gun is the Only Thing a Communist Understands*

In your opinion what are the most important causes of the fall of communism? What cause is the most determinative?

In his work Farce, Reformability, and the Future of the World, Václav Havel reflects on the nature of the Communism’s totalitarian structure. He states, “[t]he system’s totalitarian character conflicts with life’s own intrinsic tendency toward heterogeneity, diversity, uniqueness, autonomy – in a word, toward plurality. This is why life inevitably obstructs and resists a totalitarian system.” In hindsight, these words are an ironic companion to Mikhail Gorbachev’s words in Perestroika, in which he claims that “People, human beings with all their creative diversity, are the makers of history,” and that “Perestroika itself can only come through democracy.” Given the failure of peaceful democratic revolution in Czechoslovakia during the Prague Spring of 1968, it was no surprise that individuals like Havel perceived the reform-minded Gorbachev as more-of-the-same. It was, however, the reform movement helmed by Gorbachev that served as the final straw to break the Communist back, one which had weakened since the death of Josef Stalin.

The first death throe of Communism came with the last death throe of Stalin. Through shocking abuse of totalitarian authority, Josef Stalin was successful in maintaining an iron grip on the Soviet Union, the Eastern Bloc, and the Communist Party. Utilization of fear, force, and death all worked in the favor of the party ideology, particularly in tumultuous times. However, as the chaos of war diminished and the relative peace of the Cold War grew, the vibrant energy of the Great Revolution no longer existed in a manner capable of fully sustaining Communist integrity. As Gorbachev points out, “Decay began in public morals; the great feeling of solidarity with each other that was forged during the heroic times of the Revolution, the first five-year plans, the Great Patriotic War and postwar rehabilitation was weakening . . .” With the era of Stalinism ended and the subsequent “thaw” provided by Khruschev’s more moderate form of Communism as revealed in the “Secret Speech,” the ideology began to weaken. With the violent suppression of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956 and the subsequent oppression of Czechoslovakia following the Prague Spring in 1968, the Soviet Union’s interpretation of Communism continually oscillated between authoritarianism and democratization. By Brezhnev’s death in 1982, this oscillation had continually weakened the declining system which fought to maintain rampant defense spending while faced with declining quality control, economic capability, and a dismal standard of living.

The fall of Communism can be likened to a spinning top. In the beginning, the top spins fast, strong and straight, the same way Communism maintained itself through the Stalinist Era. However, once the initial energy is lost, the top must rely on its own inertia to keep spinning. It will continue to do so, but will slowly lose speed and will begin to move away from its original axis. In the end, as the energy plays out, the top slows to a point where it topples and finally stops. Such was the case of the Soviet system of Communism. The inconsistent and oppressive nature of Soviet control could no longer keep pace in the war of ideologies as the democratic West continued to surpass all aspects of the Communist bloc. A crumbling infrastructure at home (the Soviet Union) meant decreased capabilities to react appropriately (from a Soviet perspective) to growing civil unrest and calls for reform. Once Gorbachev came to power, systemic reform was not only wanted, it was desperately needed. The writing was on the wall; the energy of the Revolution was not infinite and the old ways were not enough to maintain sustainability. The ideology had spun too far from its original axis and no amount of force could right it again.

*Title quoted from Václav Havel’s Farce, Reformability, and the Future of the World