Word: east
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Czechoslovakia now joins the astonishing avalanche of change that is overtaking Eastern Europe. Poland was the first to move, electing a non- Communist government in August. In the past six weeks, upheavals have taken place in the Hungarian, East German and Bulgarian Communist parties. Nor were events in Prague the only remarkable developments that took place last week...
...East Germany new party leader Egon Krenz mounted a campaign to live down his long association with his discredited predecessor, Erich Honecker, who is under investigation for suspected abuses of power. Struggling to hang on to his job as the party prepares for a seminal congress on Dec. 15, Krenz announced that he favored rescinding the country's constitutional guarantee of a "leading role" for the Communist Party, opening the possibility of multiparty rule...
Czechoslovakia's seething frustrations were rooted partly in a faltering economy. By East bloc standards, the country is relatively prosperous, with ample supplies of basic foodstuffs and fewer housing woes than its neighbors. But Czechoslovakia 50 years ago boasted one of Europe's strongest economies, and many residents compare their living standards not with those of East bloc neighbors but with those of the West. By that measure, Czechoslovaks concluded that their economy was backward...
...more important than economic dissatisfaction, however, was political anger. Czechoslovakia has Eastern Europe's strongest democratic tradition, and its modern supporters argued that the country was being left behind by new experiments in Poland, Hungary and even East Germany. But if tradition served as a goad to some, it was lack of a historical memory that helped spur on others. The generation of Czechoslovaks now coming of age did not experience the trauma of the invasion -- and the fear of provoking a new crackdown. Said Martin Mejstrik, a leader of the university strike: "Our parents are still frightened...
...Economic Assistance, was based on a curious reverse mercantilism: the imperial country (the Soviet Union) supplied energy and raw materials that the colonies (the satellites) paid for in manufactured goods. Since the Soviet Union was chronically short of almost everything, it was an undemanding market, providing no incentive for East Europeans to develop products for sophisticated customers. These bad habits will not be shed overnight...