Soviet Bloc Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Soviet Bloc - Essay Example From World War II (WWII), there arise an imposed domestic revolution in Yugoslavia which emerged as a new socialist order that promised something profoundly new to those who lived under it in the form of social equality. However, the Eastern Europe side after emerging from WWII could have the opportunity to represent a greater break with the past than the promise that the elite class or the powerful would be considered low, that those who had been nothing. Even in member states that were economically developed and followed democracy like Czechoslovakia, this embodied a thrust toward egalitarianism and in response Hungary and Poland, given their traditional elitist social orders and yawning gaps between gentry and mass, it meant no less than transformation of the very bases and premises of society. The Soviet elite was a ruling group that could be clearly defined in context with the Western society where there were competing hierarchies based on wealth, political power, professional status, and religious authority. Mawdsley & White (2000) points out that in a society of the Soviet block, it was the regime itself that chose through the appointments system for the people who occupied the highest-ranking positions in government, in the economy, and in public life (Mawdsley & White, 2000: vi). It was clear that those who were chosen as the elite class were also members of the party bodies through which this form of domination was exercised. The main point that arises here is that to what extent according to Soviet block societies were seen as pyramids to answer a question that even for the Soviet case about how far from the vertex the defining line of the elite should be drawn. In looking at the Soviet elite we should consider all members of the Communist Party. Communist Rule and Policies As a world's first socialist state, the Constitution of Soviet Union only allowed a communist rule which was later by some member countries like Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia introduced elements of market-based reforms before the collapse of the Soviet Union (WB, 2002). As a communist state, it was only possible through Soviet's permission to allow Hungary and the German Democratic Republic (GDR) to find their own future and it was Soviet pressure that encouraged Vietnam to do the same (Segal et al, 1992: 10). However, in many cases Soviet's example was not perceived as it was supposed to be accepted like in the Chinese and North Korea, it was dealt with pessimism but it is fair to say that no matter what happened to reform in the Soviet Union, the fate of the Soviet's revolution was important to all. Economic Performance The former member states never fulfilled revolutionary promises, particularly when they promised equality. Parliamentary democracy was neglected and remained involutorial in the region except in Czechoslovakia, yet subordination to the Communist regimes left less personal or