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ByRichard Baum, Ph.D.,University of California, Los AngelesAccording to Deng Xiaoping, the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and Europe was due to inadequate economic reform. (Image: helloRuby/Shutterstock)The Velvet Revolution

In the late summer and fall of 1989, the entire Soviet bloc erupted in turmoil,as a massive popular revolt against communism spread like a tsunami throughout eastern and central Europe. Chinese leaders watched in morbid fascination as the aptly named Velvet Revolution swept through the region, toppling Communist governments one after the other, from Berlin and Budapest to Prague and Warsaw.

For the most part, these embattled regimes recognized the handwriting on the wall and left the stage peacefully. But there was one major exception. When the unyielding, hard-line Romanian Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu refused to relinquish power gracefully in mid-December, his government headquarters was besieged by angry mobs of Romanian citizens, forcing Ceausescu to flee for his life.

Within days he was hunted down, captured, and executed by his own army. Half a world away, within the cloistered walls of Zhongnanhai, Ceausescus execution set off alarm bells.

This is a transcript from the video seriesThe Fall and Rise of China.Watch it now, on Wondrium.

Seeking to assuage their own obvious discomfort and anxiety, Beijings hard-liners began to spin the story of east Europes collapse. According to their narrative storyline, it wasnt the failure of communism that caused the collapse, but rather the reformist liberal programs of Mikhail Gorbachev.

Gorbachevs policies of glasnost and perestroika, they argued, had fueled massive popular demands for political and economic liberalization throughout the Soviet bloc. After coming to power in 1984, Gorbachev had indeed steered SovietRussia toward becoming a more open and pluralistic society. Internationally, he ended the Cold War with the United States and pursued peaceful accommodation with China.

When Gorbachev let it be known in the spring of 89 that he would not send Soviet troops and tanks to defend embattled communist regimes in east and central Europe, those regimes suddenly found themselves powerless to resist a rising tide of popular rebellion.

Faced with a classic choice of fight or flight, most chose to flee. Romanias Ceausescu was the sole exception, and he paid for his obstinacy with his life. Following Ceausescus execution, Chinas traditionalists (conservatives) were increasingly blunt in their criticism of Gorbachevs policies.

Learn more about the birth of Chinese communism.

ChenYun charged that the weakness of Gorbachevs ideological line is that it is pointing in the direction of surrender and retreat. Our party cannot afford to stand by and watch this happen. General Wang Zhen also accused the Soviet leader of abandoning socialism.

Even the normally very cautious Jiang Zemin was moved to join the growing anti-Gorbachev chorus. Early in 1990, he claimed that the Soviet leader should be held personally responsible for the debacle in eastern Europe.

As the anti-reform backlash gathered momentum in China, it was given an enormous boost by the stunning collapse of the Communist Mother Shipthe Soviet Unionin the fall of 1991.

Gorbachev had badly underestimated the growing mood of popular disaffection in Russia, and when he tried to reassert the Communist Partys authority, he was ousted and replaced not by a communist but by a liberal democrat, Boris Yeltsin, as president. Thereafter, the Soviet Communist Party lost whatever remaining legitimacy it might have had, and the USSR simply collapsed.

Chinas diehard conservatives now drew a new lesson from the shocking collapse of the Soviet bloc. Even before the implosion oftheSoviet Union, the hard-liners had begun to draw parallels between Gorbachevs liberalization policies and those of Deng Xiaoping. Seeking to revive Mao Zedong mystique and the Maoist emphasis on class struggle, they openly attacked Dengs reforms.

Learn more about Maos alignment with the Soviets.

Early in 1991, one of Chen Yuns conservative protgs, a sharp-tongued propagandist by the name of Deng Liqun, launched a nationwide campaign to publish a new edition of Mao Zedongs works, with free copies to be distributed to every classroom in China.

Calling for a sharp increase in political and ideological education and indoctrination, Deng Liqun promised to educate all Chinese students against the lure of Gorbachev-type pied pipers of pluralism.

He joined forces with General Wang Zhen to defend Maos decision to launch the Cultural Revolution, and they applauded Maos efforts to wage a life-and-death class struggle against the enemies of socialism.

Deng hadnt been seen in public since mid-February. One persistent rumor held that Deng had prostate cancer, another (which later proved to be correct) suggested that he had advanced Parkinsons disease.

With Dengs health fading, conservatives saw an opportunity to ratchet up their attacks on his economic reforms. In journals controlled by the partys leftwing propagandists, they began to openly refer to Dengs promarket policies as capitalistic reform and opening up.

From the sidelines, an infirmed Deng Xiaoping watched uncomfortably as the hard-line offensive gathered momentum. Convinced that he had to act decisively to stem the growing leftist assault, Deng summoned his remaining energy to undertake what was to be the final, and perhaps the most important, political campaign of his entire career.

Deng Xiaoping believed that what led to the collapse of communism in Europe and the Soviet Union was inadequate economic reform. He noted that reforms shouldnt be limited, but should have room for progress.

According to Chinas hard-liners narrative storyline, it wasnt the failure of communism that caused the collapse of east Europe, but rather the reformist liberal programs of Mikhail Gorbachev.

Mikhail Gorbachev was the final leader of the Soviet Union. He announced in the spring of 1989 that he wouldnt send troops to help the communist regimes in eastern Europe. Chinas conservatives blamed Gorbachev for being responsible for the collapse of communism in eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.

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China and the Collapse of Communism in the Soviet Union and Europe - The Great Courses Daily News