Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. Benjamin Franklin

Sunday, November 9, 2014

The Free Market Did Not Bring Down the Berlin Wall

The United States has misinterpreted the end of Communism for a quarter of a century. It's time to set the record straight.     

BY Melvyn P. Leffler    

Foreign Policy - NOVEMBER 7, 2014

On Nov. 9, 1989, Gunter Schabowski, an East German regime spokesperson, fumbled through a press conference and changed history.
Although Schabowski was a member of the Politburo, he had not attended its meeting earlier in the day when the committee decided on the Communist Party's new travel regulations. He hadn't even read them over when he stood before the room full of reporters.
For months, East Germans had been fleeing to West Germany, either through Hungary or Czechoslovakia. The regime was deeply embarrassed, and it was shaken even more by the growing turmoil in its cities. Demonstrators had been gathering peacefully in Leipzig, week after week for several months, attracting ever-larger crowds. Spurred by church groups, environmentalists, and non-governmental organizations seeking peace and disarmament, East Germans marched in the streets, clamoring for change but also fearing repression.
In her new book The Collapse, historian Mary Sarotte details the roles of ordinary individuals and the accidents that led to the fall of the Berlin Wall: Party leaders knew they had to draft new travel rules to defuse the crisis at home and deflect growing pressure from their comrades in Prague, Budapest, and Moscow. But they did not want to throw open the borders. They did not intend to allow East Germans to leave without seeking permission.

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