Western Civilization - History Of European Society

646 Chapter 32

Discontent in the USSR worsened after the Red
Army invaded neighboring Afghanistan in 1979. The
Kremlin sought to prevent the establishment of a mili-
tant Islamic government on its southern border, adja-
cent to Soviet republics with a large Islamic population.
A minor military campaign to install a friendly govern-
ment in Kabul, however, soon grew into the Soviet
Union’s Vietnam. Forty thousand troops were needed in
the first month, as the Red Army encountered fierce re-
sistance from Afghan rebels, the mujahedeen.As the war
became a frustrating, no-win stalemate, the USSR met
the same international hostility that the Vietnam War
caused the United States. A conference of thirty-six Is-
lamic states condemned the Soviet Union. The United
Nations voted a resolution denouncing the war. A
planned Soviet showcasing of Communist society, the
1980 Olympic Games, was boycotted by the United
States, West Germany, and Japan. Internal dissent also
increased. Sakharov and his wife, Yelena Bonner, were
so troublesome to the regime that they were exiled to a
Russian city closed to foreigners.

The Gorbachev Revolution

in the USSR, 1985–89

The turning point for the USSR and Eastern Europe

came in 1985 when a youthful reformist and western-

izer, Mikhail Gorbachev, became the head of the Soviet

Union following a succession of ineffective, elderly,

doctrinaire leaders (see illustration 32.4). Gorbachev

was the son of Russian peasants. He joined the Com-

munist Party at twenty-one, rose to membership in the

Supreme Soviet at thirty-nine, reached a cabinet post at

forty-seven, and in 1980 became the youngest member

of the Politburo at forty-nine. Gorbachev emerged as

one of the energetic leaders of the Politburo during the

rudderless period following the death of Leonid Brezh-

nev in 1982. The Soviet Union was widely considered

a gerontocracy, and three aging heads of government

died in quick succession between 1982 and 1985.

The instability of this period encouraged the Politburo

to accept the fifty-four-year-old Gorbachev as first

secretary.

DOCUMENT 32.2

Demands of the Solidarity Workers

in Poland, 1980

Striking ship-workers at Gdansk confronted the Communist govern-

ment with the following demands in August 1980.

1. Acceptance of free trade unions independent of the
   Communist Party.


2. A guarantee of the right to strike and of the security of
   strikes and those aiding them.


3. Compliance with the constitutional guarantee of free-
   dom of speech, the press and publication.


4. A halt in repression of the individual because of per-
   sonal conviction.


5. Guaranteed automatic increases in pay on the basis of
   increases in prices and the decline of real income.


6. A full supply of food products for the domestic mar-
   ket, with exports limited to surpluses.


7. The selection of management personnel on the basis
   of qualifications not party membership.


8. Privileges of the secret police, regular police and party
   apparatus are to be eliminated by equalizing family
   subsidies, abolishing special stores, etc.
   9. Reduction in the age of retirement for women to 50
   and for men to 55, or after 30 years of employment
   in Poland for women and 35 years for men, regardless
   of age.


9. Conformity of old-age pensions and annuities with
   what has actually been paid in.


10. Improvements in the working conditions of the health
    service to insure full medical care for workers.


11. Assurances of a reasonable number of places in day-
    care centers and kindergartens for the children of
    working mothers.


12. Paid maternity leave for three years.


13. A decrease in the waiting period for apartments.


14. A day of rest on Saturday.
    Solidarity. “Demands of the Solidarity Workers in Poland.” New York
    Times,August 28, 1980.