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From hope to despair

Hans Modrow, the last prime minister of the German Democratic Republic, has written a compelling account of the Soviet Union’s collapse and the demise of socialism in Eastern Europe, says JOHN GREEN

Perestroika And Germany: The Truth Behind the Myths 

by Hans Modrow

(Artery Publications/Marx Memorial Library, £10) 

MUCH has been written about perestroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union, together with actually existing socialism in eastern Europe, but little from those who were intimately involved in the process. 

Hans Modrow was the last prime minister of the German Democratic Republic before the elections leading to German unification in 1990. He was intimately involved in discussions with Mikhail Gorbachov and other leading Soviet politicians, as well as with West German leaders in the run-up to Germany’s unification.

His reminiscences offer a unique insight into the processes that brought about perestroika and the demise of eastern Europe’s experiment with socialism. Written in 1998 but at last translated into English, the book’s an essential read for all those wishing to better understand those processes from the viewpoint of an intelligent insider and perceptive observer. 

Many in the socialist and capitalist worlds, like Modrow, were initially full of admiration for Gorbachov when he took over the helm of the Soviet Communist Party. They knew that socialism in eastern Europe and particularly in the Soviet Union had become ossified and that its progress was being held back by an inflexible bureaucracy. 

Gorbachov’s original demands of perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (transparency) appeared to offer a way out of the quicksands. He was also unlike his stone-faced and apparatchik-like predecessors — he went out and mixed with the people, he was spontaneous, a great communicator and he was passionate about world peace. 

From that initial period, when he was seen as a man promising to usher in genuine socialist renewal, he became transformed into a darling of the West and, once he’d served his political purpose, ended up as an advertising icon for a pizza chain.

Modrow reveals how Gorbachov and the Soviet leadership had no real concept about what they wanted or hoped for from perestroika and glasnost. That storm of confusion broke over the Soviet Union and the other European socialist states and the perestroika crops they were supposed to nurture were left flattened in the fields.

Gorbachov not only brought about the transformation of the Soviet Union and the Eastern bloc but a shift in the constellation of world relationships. At the centre of those profound changes that shook Europe was a divided Germany. Western leaders like Reagan, then Bush, Thatcher and Kohl couldn’t believe their luck when fairy godmother Gorbachov appeared to grant all their wishes without asking for a single quid pro quo.

The Pentagon generals must have polished their missiles with renewed vigour when they heard that Gorbachov wasn’t even demanding a written agreement that no Nato expansion eastwards would take place. Gorbachov ignored too East German pleas to ensure that the post-war settlement, including the transfer of land from the big landowners to the people, was sacrosanct. Nor did he demand immunity of prosecution for GDR party leaders who had committed no crimes according to GDR law.

During his period as Dresden regional party secretary, Modrow had numerous contacts with the Soviet Union and other east European countries and during his short time as prime minister he met frequently with Soviet leaders. 

He has an intimate knowledge of the processes that led to perestroika and the detailed discussion that took place between world leaders at that time. He was particularly involved in the discussions concerning the process that concluded with German unification and explains how he fought for a unification on the basis of two internationally recognised German states coming together as equals. But what happened was the virtual annexation of the GDR by the Federal Republic. All the achievements of the GDR — an exemplary social welfare system, the promotion of women in the workplace, universal childcare and a simplified, easily accessible justice system — were all swept aside and a West German system imposed.

Modrow is clear that the centralised “command economies” of eastern Europe were doomed virtually from the outset because democratic principles were ignored. That’s why, today, he is an adamant supporter and campaigner for a genuinely democratic socialism.

What is particularly interesting in Modrow’s account is that it is written by a man who still believes in socialism and refuses to call it a day. Unlike many others who once called themselves “communist” or “socialist,” Modrow refused to cross to the other side and join the victors. 

Nor has he succumbed to cynicism. He went on to become an MP for the PDS — the party that emerged out of the GDR’s Socialist Unity Party (SED), later to become Die Linke —  in the German parliament and then an MEP. 

Today he is honorary Chair of Die Linke (The Left Party) and still an active participant in the political life of Germany.

 

Perestroika And Germany: The Truth Behind The Myths is available from the Marx Memorial Library. The library is hosting the book’s launch at midday on Saturday July 26, with Hans Modrow  attending . Details: www.marx-memorial-library.org.

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