The election of Pope John Paul II, who was from Poland and
the first non-Italian pope in almost 600 years was a factor; but not the efficient cause
of the collapse of communism. Communism was doomed from the beginning; as an economic
theory it simply does not work. Almost all communist regimes were marked by bureaucratic
incompetence and a cumbersome system of centralized control. This is illustrated by the
domino effect that resulted from the collapse of Communist regimes in Poland and the
rest of Western Europe, ultimately culminating with the collapse of the Soviet
Union.
The first evidence of cracks in the communist bloc
occured in Gdansk, Poland with the birth of the Solidarity movement
led by Lech Wolesa.They struck and occupied a plant there with the support of the
Catholic Church. The movement was augmented by a speech by Pope John Paul II in Poland
in which he spoke of the "unalienable rights of man." The Polish government attempted to
quell the movement by arresting its members; but it had gained so much popular support
that it was unstoppable. The Communist government called for elections, expecting to win
control of the government, but were resoundingly defeated. Solidarity took control of
the government and introduced a free market system and eliminated the secret police.
Reforms were instituted at a slow pace, however to discourage intervention by the
Soviets. In fact, Soviet intervention was unlikely as Communism there was in its death
throes.
Poland was followed by Hungary, East Germany and
Czechoslovakia, and then Romania. All of the "revolutions" were peaceful except in
Romania where the dictator, Nicolai Ceausescu, was shot. In the Soviet Union, Mikail
Gorbachev instituted a policy of "openess" ("Glasnost") in attempt to gradually
introduce reforms; however the momentum of the movement was too great. On December 25,
1991, the once mighty Soviet Union ceased to exist.
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