Archive for the ‘Communism’ Category

Czechs to celebrate 25th anniversary of fall of communism

Published November 17, 2014

Women place candles to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the so-called Velvet Revolution in Prague, Czech Republic, Monday, Nov. 17, 2014. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)(The Associated Press)

A woman places a candle to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the so called Velvet Revolution in Prague, Czech Republic, Monday, Nov. 17, 2014. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)(The Associated Press)

Thousands of Czechs, using the 25th anniversary of the anti-communist Velvet Revolution, gather to call on the controversy-prone Czech President Milos Zeman to resign in Prague, Czech Republic, Monday, Nov. 17, 2014. The crowd gave Zeman a symbolic red card on Monday for demeaning the importance of human rights, a pro-Russian stance in the conflict in Ukraine, using vulgar language and recently downplaying the brutal use of force by police 25 years ago. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)(The Associated Press)

Thousands of Czechs, using the 25th anniversary of the anti-communist Velvet Revolution, gather to call on the controversy-prone Czech President Milos Zeman to resign in Prague, Czech Republic, Monday, Nov. 17, 2014. The crowd gave Zeman a symbolic red card on Monday for demeaning the importance of human rights, a pro-Russian stance in the conflict in Ukraine, using vulgar language and recently downplaying the brutal use of force by police 25 years ago. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)(The Associated Press)

A woman places a candle to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the so called Velvet Revolution in Prague, Czech Republic, Monday, Nov. 17, 2014. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)(The Associated Press)

PRAGUE Thousands of Czechs gathered in central Prague on Monday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Velvet Revolution that toppled communism -- but festivities turned into an appeal for President Milos Zeman to resign.

The center of the rally was a street in downtown Prague where police cracked down on a peaceful anti-communist student march that came a week after the collapse of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 17, 1989.

The demonstrations began with fiery speeches against the hard-line communist regime at a university campus, prompting thousands of students to march downtown. The police blocked the street from both sides, squeezing the protesters with armed vehicles before attacking them with truncheons; hundreds were injured. Undeterred, the students went on strike and crowds mushroomed in the days that followed.

On Dec. 29, 1989, dissident playwright Vaclav Havel became Czechoslovakia's first democratically elected president in a half-century.

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Czechs to celebrate 25th anniversary of fall of communism

NEW WORLD ORDER – Communism by the backdoor – Part 1 – Video


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Hashtag Just Girly Things #4: Communism the musical. – Video


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The spectre of communism? Europe should fear the spectre of austerity

Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, at the Berlin Wall memorial. Photograph: Kay Nietfeld/dpa/Corbis

Marx and Engels proclaimed in 1848 that a spectre was haunting Europe the spectre of communism.

As it turned out, the spectre did eventually materialise, in the form of Soviet communism, which spread after the second world war to eastern Europe. The Berlin Wall was built 16 years later, in 1961, to put a stop to the way East Germans were voting about communism with their feet.

There have been celebrations recently to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the wall in November 1989. That fall was followed in 1991 by the collapse of the Soviet Union itself, a Soviet Union about which President Putin appears to harbour nostalgic feelings.

After those events there was an inevitable burst of triumphalism in the west. Some of us feared that, with the disappearance of the communist threat, some of the worst instincts of casino capitalism would be evinced; and so they were.

I myself had what I thought was a bright idea of writing a book called The Spectre of Capitalism. I hoped the catchy title would make my fortune indeed, make me a capitalist but it has to be said that sales fell woefully short of anything written by Marx.

Now the governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, has followed Marx with a declaration last week that a spectre is now haunting Europe the spectre of economic stagnation.

This phrase received about as much attention as that book of mine. It was uttered during the presentation of the monetary policy committees quarterly inflation report, and people were much more interested in the outlook for interest rates: the story remains that rates went outside after the financial crash, and will continue to remain outside for some time.

But, as the Bank is keen to emphasise, the outlook for the British economy is a lot better than that for Europe in general: it may be the slowest recovery in centuries, but our economy is now on the mend. However, there is a still a long way to go to make up the ground lost after Chancellor Osbornes woefully misjudged decision to abort the 2010 recovery he inherited with a needlessly deflationary and (literally) counterproductive fiscal policy.

Which brings us back to the spectre haunting Europe. Carney was not referring to David Cameron, but it intrigues me that when the prime minister and a legion of others go on about the need for reform in Europe, they are barking up the wrong tree. As Llewellyn Consulting points out in its current bulletin, the universal chant when the subject of the eurozones plight comes up is that what is needed is more structural reform.

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The spectre of communism? Europe should fear the spectre of austerity

When Liberty Knocked Down the Berlin Wall

Its easy to be pessimistic about the future of liberty. Yet sometimes freedom advances with extraordinary speed. Like 25 years ago in Europe.

As 1989 dawned communism had ruled what was the Russian Empire reborn for seven decades. The system failed to fulfill its promise of human liberation, but survived with the backing of secret police, gulags, and the Red Army.

Then in an instant it all was swept away. On November 9, 1989, the Berlin Wall was open. One of the most dramatic symbols of human tyranny was gone.

Tens of thousands of East Germans were imprisoned for Republikflucht, or attempting to flee the East German paradise. Some 1000 people died trying to escape East Germany, about 200 from Berlin.

As 1989 dawned there was obvious unrest in what Ronald Reagan had called the Evil Empire. Hope was rising, but no one could forget that previous popular demands for freedom always had been crushed by Soviet tanks.

In 1989 Hungary led the way. Plans were made for multiparty elections. The Communist Party dissolved. When the new leadership tore down Hungarys wall with the West the Iron Curtain had a huge hole.

Polands communist regime made a deal with a revived Solidarity Union and held free elections. The liberal tide rose in Czechoslovakia, sweeping away the hardline leadership installed to squelch the Prague Spring of 1968.

The East German regime remained tough. Frustrated East Germans began escaping through Hungary, with its open border.

Protests spread, causing the communist leadership to temporize. On November 4 a million people gathered in East Berlin.

On November 9 visibly struggling Politburo member Guenter Schabowski declared that East Germans would be free to travel to the West immediately. Border guards desperately sought guidance as tens of thousands of people gathered demanding to be let through. Just before midnight the security forces stood aside.

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When Liberty Knocked Down the Berlin Wall