The Spectre of an Ideal: A Global History of Communism

The origins of communism can be traced back to the publication of the Communist Manifesto by Marx in the 19th century. The publication, while banned in some countries, still inspired the establishment of communist parties across Europe. However, in the 19th century, these parties did not have any great impact in Europe or beyond.

Then, in the 20th century, things would begin to change. This was in no small part due to the First World War that emerged in 1914. This war involved most of Europe, including Germany, Britain, and France. In addition to this, the war also involved the Russian Empire who were committed to their Entente allies of Britain in France.

The Russians struggled against the German army in this war, and by 1917 was on the brink of defeat. The economic impact of this war left shortages in Russia and an increase in inflation. Under such circumstances, support for the Russian monarchy had all but evaporated, and so in February of 1917, the Tsar abdicated from the throne. Months later, the Bolshevik coup began to establish the first communist regime in Russia.

This would have significant implications for Europe as well. After the Bolshevik coup, they would establish the Comintern. Comintern, otherwise Communist International, was committed to the spread of communism and assisting communist parties elsewhere. As such, the first congress was held in Moscow in 1919.

Soon after the war, communist parties in Europe became increasingly active. In Germany, the Spartacus League attempted its own putsch. Elsewhere, in Italy, as support for the various coalition parties declined, the Italian communist parties gained an increasing amount of support. However, in neither of the countries did a communist regime emerge.

The USSR did not attempt to spread the revolution during the inter-war period. Instead, their foreign policy was more isolationist. As a second war in Europe emerged, the USSR actually remained neutral for the first few years. However, Operation Barbarossa changed this as Axis troops advanced into Russia.

The rise of communism in Europe began during the war in the East. From 1943 onwards, the Red Army steadily advanced out of the USSR and into Eastern Europe. Poland, Romania, Hungary, and then East Germany itself were advanced into. The war ended after the Red Army's occupation of Berlin. It was a victory for the USSR and its allies in the West.

With the Red Army in much of Eastern Europe, communist regimes began to emerge in various European countries east of Germany. Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia all emerged with Communist regimes in place. In 1946, Churchill visited America, where he made the Iron Curtain speech. As the speech noted, an Iron Curtain has descended across Europe.

The final steps in establishing the Eastern Bloc emerged in 1949 when the GDR was established in East Germany. The GDR was the German Democratic Republic, which, along with much of Eastern Europe, was a part of the Eastern Bloc. As such, the Cold War in Europe was now emerging between these Warsaw Pact countries and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).

This Cold War in Europe would see the rise of the Berlin Wall in the 1960s. Berlin provided one emigration loophole for Germans in the GDR. To close this loophole, a wall was gradually established in Berlin, which was called the Berlin Wall.

The Cold War continued into the 1980s, although the emergence of Gorbachev in the USSR began a change in Soviet policy. Economic decline and stagnation in the communist bloc were undoubtedly a factor in this. As such, the policies of Glasnost and Perestroika were introduced to reform communism in the USSR and Europe, and also to end the Cold War with the United States.

In 1987, President Reagan visited Berlin, where he made the Tear Down this Wall speech. In this speech, a plea was made to the USSR to tear down the Berlin Wall. The final lines of this speech were along the lines of: “Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”

Reformist groups in the Eastern Bloc were increasingly encouraged by this. By 1989, reformist groups, such as Solidarity, had re-emerged in countries such as Poland. The victory of Solidarity in the 1989 Polish parliamentary elections was a disaster for the communist parties in Poland. Now the first non-Communist regime emerged in the Eastern Bloc, and it would not be the last.

Inspired by Solidarity, other Eastern European countries would also soon begin to abandon Communism in 1989. Hungary, and then perhaps more significantly, East Germany, both began to introduce reform. In East Berlin, the Berlin Wall was gradually opened, and then torn down by Germans on both sides. By the end of 1989, the Eastern Bloc had all but crumbled.

This marked a final chapter in the Cold War, and indeed Communism in Europe. Since the demise of the Iron Curtain, much of the former Eastern Bloc has joined the European Union. Support for communist parties in Europe has never really recovered since the demise of the Eastern Bloc, and in 1999, the last European communist regime fell after the Moldovan elections also ended the communist regime in Moldova. Communism in Europe has now completely disappeared in the 21st century.