From the article of 'Petrel'
No.750 / November 21, 1999

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Spreading Disillusionment to 'The Market Economy'

Spreading Speculation, Crime, Unemployment
The Reality of 10 Years After the Eastern Europe 'Revolution'


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It has already been 10 years after the demise of Eastern Europe "Socialism" at the opportunity of the collapse of Berlin Wall. Needless to say, it also accompanied the direct opportunity of the Soviet Union collapse. Let's examine what was the Eastern Europe 'revolution' and what was the 10 years for the Eastern Europe countries.
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The disillusionment is beeing spread and Nationalism is blowing out

It is new to our memory yet that the bourgeoisie in the world cried out and celebrated the demise of socialism and the final victory of capitalism with triumphant when 'the socialism' of Eastern Europe collapsed and the Soviet Union subsequently collapsed so quickly.

It is not difficult to imagine that even the people of Eastern Europe would be relieved and have swollen their chest with the expectation to have been released from dictatorship and have been able to get democracy and freedom with this, and to be able to send the rich and prospered life like the west side finally. (Recollect the youngsters who were raising cheer and striking the Berlin Wall with the hammer, the hundreds of thousand citizens who were filled up the Vaclav Plaza in Prague, shaking the hands, dancing and singing.)

However, now such a uforia(the feeling of happiness) is not found in anywhere. Rather, I may be good to say that a disillusionment, apathy, feeling of helplessness are drifting between extensive people.

The chief editor of the Poland biggest daily 'Gazeta Wyborcza', Adam Michnik (He had acted as an antiestablishment intellectual together with Jacek Kuron etc. from the 70's, and also worked as an adviser of "The Solidarity") records such a mood as follows.

"This was just the velvet revolution of great Poland. [ It indicates that Poland peacefully 'changed in administration' through the round table conference in 1989. --quoter] Our revolution also caused a great hope as all the revolutions were so, but what was brought about was a huge disillusionment. The government authorities became disappointed--they did not put themselves on the collapse of the system but the rationalization and modernization. 'The Solidarity' became disappointed--although they thought that the era of 'reputation and glory' would come, the era of severe criticism, unemployment, 'dispute in the top', nimble old nomenklatura, corruption of the new governing class have come. In short, the whole society, which believed that the end of communism would change Poland to the country with American wages, Scandinavian welfare system, labor ethics tracing back to the era of the first secretary Gierek [the first secretary of the Poland United Workers Party from '70 to '80], had the sense of failure. The expected blessing from the sky has not fallen." (From the contribution to 'The World' December 1999. For all that, he is emphasizing that the way of Poland to 'the market economy' was success hereafter.)

Vladimir Marta, the singer in Czecho who sang the song that stimulated people in the Vaclav Plaza 10 years ago, writes severely with the sense of a poet.

"The sunlit cultural, logical reform was expected widely in Middle Europe. It was not materialized--the small country merely adapted itself to the environment. The consensus of the existing sovereignty was making the favorable agreement and personal sacrifice of general people the raison d'etle of itself. Czecho--as a part of the uncivilized east-- increased the vocabulary of the economic dictionary. Such as the coinage called tunnel digging, the law without approval, the judge without law, the shame exposed by no one, useless cleanup, etc.It is only in Czecho, that person dies in a highway on account of a huge advertisement panel along with the way, Mafias are released at the court of justice by the hand of the co-offender, prisoners are waiting for punishment with queue for their turn because of the increased thief by virtue of generous amnesty. No one is able to give a sentence to the biggest thief anymore. The nonpayment such as in credit, tax, fine, charge has become national sports. The high profits that lawyers, politicians, bosses, imposters get are contrastive with the warning strikes of doctors, teachers, many employed persons and farmers. No fewer than 100,000 employed persons of national enterprises are waiting for the salary vainly. The slogan replaced the truth and love is severely parodying Masaryk--Steal without fearing". (from 'The World' forcited)

It is not that alone. Although nationalism gushed at a burst after the collapse of 'socialism', as it is symbolized to the breakup of Yugoslavia and the disruption of the Soviet Union, the risings of nationalism continue still. The separatism and race antipathy of the ethnic minority is becoming more radical even in the republics reorgaized into several races. The antipathy between the Albanian and the Serbian in Kosovo is the typical example, and there are many exsamples like that, the delicate relation between Rumania and Hungary about the Hungarian as the ethnic minority of Rumania, the separation of Slovakia from the Czechoslovakia Republic, etc.

Such reality disclosed that 'the harmony' between each race under 'socialist' system was just a mere nominal terms, it was nothing but 'the circle of iron' tightened each race and connected them to the union, and 'socialist' system was far from the raising of nationalism.

These realities set the problem what was the Eastern Europe 'revolution' and what was the historical meaning before us.

What was the Eastern Europe 'revolution'?

I will hasten to introduce that the specialists of the Soviet Union/Eastern Europe problems are discussing just about this theme in the feature called "Europe fluctuation" of 'the world' quoted above.

Mr. Takayuki Itou of "Eastern Europe contemporary history" brings up the question "whether we would be able to call the Eastern Europe revolution as 'a revolution', tells "it was not the one to upset the social order as a result of pursuit of something new or a certain ideal like French Revolution and Russian Revolution, and claims that "it was the revolution to hope to adopt the system that has been already realized at other places and the worth has been demonstrated [the capitalism it is ...quoter]". Is it not 'a counterrevolution' if it is the conversion from 'socialism' to capitalism? Mr. Itou! He also says that "it was the fluctuation by the compromise between the antiestablishment elite and the establishment elite", but he does not answer to the question whether it was a 'revolution' in any way.

Mr. Shimotomai of "the present Russian politics" says that the Eastern Europe revolution in '89 "was a revolution exactly in the meaning called unexpected," it was "the collapse phenomenon of the socialism at the style of Soviet Union in a wide meaning, the periphery revolution in the meaning". Although it would be full of 'revolution' in the world if we would be able to say that it was 'revolution' on account of the 'unexpected', asides that, Mr. Shimotomai does not explain why 'the collapse phenomenon' is immediately 'revolution', 'the periphery revolution'.

On the other hand, Mr. Noriaki Sato of "economics of socialism" says that "it was non the less a 'revolution', "it was certainly 'a revolution' as a conversion from the old system" in the meaning that "they started the conversion to capitalist economy with throwing down the politaical system controled by the Communist Party, or for the three countries in Eastern Europe, they tried to come back to the capitalism". (Besides that, he distinguishes that it was "a people's revolution" in Poland, Czecho, Hungary although it was "a kind of coup d'etat" in Rumania.)In this case we have the doubts whether it was also "a counterrevolution" if it was so, or the power had moved from whom to whom exactly, there is of course no explanation.

Last, although Mr.Susumu Takahashi of "international history of politics/German diplomacy" says as it was "a kind of political system fluctuation and I am calling it 'the cold war dismantling revolution', "it was 'a revolution' that uprised in 1989" , but what he is emphasizing is that it was "a large fluctuation", "had the magnitude to the twice world war", so in short, he says only that it was 'revolution' because the scale of the fluctuation was big.

Do you, the reader, feel realistically that you have known something truth with these explanation? To say the impression of me, the author, it has many words but there is no content. If there is no explanation about the real contents and nature, and they only enumerate the phenomenon or say that it was 'revolution' only on account of the 'scale' of fluctuation after that although they say "the revolution" after the other, is there any words other than that?

It is certain that the upheaval of Eastern Europe of 10 years ago was "the self collapse of the old system". Because in Hungary as well as in Czecho and Poland, the Communist Party evacuated the administration almost without any resistance. What materialized after that was some kind of "people's power" or "worker's power"(in the casse of Poland), and these administration traced the way to 'market economy' without exception.

But, how is 'the change' from socialism to capitalism possible? It may be when the socialist power was thrown out by a counterrevolution influence. However, was the Communist Party's administration a socialist power and was 'the civil' administration after that a counterrevolutional power?

The scholar teacher do not even think of such logical contradiction. This question is able to be rationally explained first by recognizing "the socialism" system as a capitalism system, statecapitalism system although it was distorted and in unique form, as we have clarified every time. Although the state capitalism system in Eastern Europe was planted by plenary power with the back-up of the power of the Soviet Union after the war, it had to become 'a weak ring' as state capitalism because it was weak in comparison with the Soviet Union 'socialism' that already had the history over 30 years at the time, the scale of the nation was small (even in the biggest Poland, the population is about forty million people), and the resources was slant.

This system has exposed the bourgeois character and have walked more openly the way to capitalism economy from early time as it was symbolized in Hungary that set out on 'economic liberalization' from half of the 60's prior to the Soviet Union, so the national capitalism system was already dismantling from the inside and it had reached to the place where there was not wonder whenever it would collapse in the latter half of 80's.

The way where Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Communist Party administration has walked was the way to push further boldly and openly the way to the outright capitalism economy already had advanced under the old system, and it was inevitable because the old system was not raised to real socialism by the worker's power.

The Eastern Europe 'revolution' was nothing but the conversion from state capitarism to'free' capitalism. (Although that does not mean the free capitalism of the 19th century any longer.) The essence as capitalism has been keeped, and to say about the move of power, there was only the chage from the state capitalism bureaucracy to the former bureaucrats who turned bourgeoisie or the bourgeois 'citizen'.

The attainment point of 'market economy' and the gushing contradiction of capitalism.

The reality of Eastern Europe that has went through the 10 years reform is as already informed by mass media and is essentially same with what we have seen in Russia.

Namely, such as the arrogation of the national assets by the name of privatization, the change of bureaucracts to bourgeoisie, the appearance of speculative capitalists who swarm concession, the corruption of power, the plundering of masses by inflation or restructuring, wage unpaid, the expansion of the gap between rich and poor, a large amount of unemployment, the rampancy of crime, etc.

Let's listen to Marta once again.

"The coupon privatization that the rule of play changes whirlingly halfway (according to the prime minister Zeman, the fraud of the century) did not start in the adequate relation, and connected the finance elite with the power elite.The change of power to Mafia in Czecho was done overtly as a group ceremony. Although the consistency of law concept was won formally (the country where has the same Constitution, law, election system), the exception began to become effective right away in reality."

"The opaque and unmoral play called coupon privatization stirred the bog and brought forth a new financal oligarchy from it. The future magnanimous captain of each industry, the elite who is the embryo of the sorted vocational capitalist class. The power constructed newly is self-sufficiency, that is, they pay the salary to themselves, elect themselves, and give amnesty to themselves.The moral worth is sent to the bargain sale. (from 'The World' forcited)

This is the social reality of which the bourgeoisie of the West called "the miracle of Czecho".

How are Poland and Hungary reputed as being smooth in economic development. The two countries certainly have won the growth rate of several percent a year with taking advantage of setp-by-step privatization of the state-owned enterprise and the introduction of foreign capital (including the disposal of the state-owned enterprise to foreign capital), without taking the way of coupon privatization like Czecho.

However, in the case of Poland, it was a big factor that America canceled the half of severe indebtedness and has given a large amount of help to make it a model of 'post-socialism', and in the case of Hungary, the inflow of the capital of the west side countries that counted upon the low wages of one theventh or tenth of Germany was a big factor of growth. In addition, the reliance degree to the EU market is high in both countries. Therefore, if the business conditions of the EU countries would recede it is inevitable to fall instantly into a serious depression.

And, the intensification of the corruption and the contradiction of capitalism seen in Czecho are common to these countries. The people of Rumania, Bulgaria, and old Yugoslavia countries being left from the economic development are gasping in general poverty and ruin.

The people of Eastern Europe are now seeing before their eyes what was the result of so much adoration for the free economy after all through 10 years step. They view the oppressive realities of 'market economy' (= capitalism) with the awoken eyes, are groping the way to real liberation once again and have to do so. If the reglession to the state capitalism called 'socialism' is impossible now and the capitalism called 'market economy' deepen the contradiction and is oppressing the masses worker increasingly, the way to advance might be only one. The historical experience of 10 years is forcing them serious reconsideration, and it is not the affairs of other poeple for the worker of Japan.

(Written by Ken'ichi Suzuki)
(Translated by Yoshi)