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There was no peace movement in the east. There were no labour unions in the east. There were no intellectuals in the east. There was no environmental movement in the east. There were no artists and students in the east. The overthrow of the communist states in Central and Eastern Europe was not a victory of the people over an oppressive one-party rule.

Capitalism won.

Well said.

The frightening thing is that both the liberal and conservative-nationalist narratives in Central Europe deny that history, too. And if it comes up, "there was no other alternative" and "the Third Way was an illusion"1 come up as very strong memes. (See for example Adam Michnik's astute yet doctrinaire account of the events 20 years ago, quoted in the Salon here.)

  1. This refers to an earlier use than the Clinton-Blair-Schröder Third Way: a Third Way between socialism and capitalism, an idea that was popular in 1989 but ultimately rejected by the former dissidents who founded the election-winning parties and opinion-setting newspapers.


*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Mon Nov 30th, 2009 at 03:24:31 AM EST
an idea that was popular in 1989 but ultimately rejected by the former dissidents who founded the election-winning parties and opinion-setting newspapers

It wasn't completely dead, but it's representatives today aren't nice people, though: see the Kaczyński twins and their even madder former coalition partners in Poland, or much of the present coalition in Slovakia (even if neither rattled much on the capitalist status quo when in government).

*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.

by DoDo on Mon Nov 30th, 2009 at 03:29:03 AM EST
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