Gorby meets the car workers - at a plant near Moscow
authorities. Union. No fond farewell for Honecker East Germany?
By Gus Fagan August Hungary opened up its border to the West and within a few months another 50,000 mostly young people took the easy route out, thus giving dramatic expression to the developing crisis.
It was only a matter of time before the crisis would explode and the final spark was lit by the Fortieth Anniversary celebrations and Gorbachev's visit. The masses came onto the streets shouting their support for Gorbachev, "Gorbi Hilf!" (Gorby help us) became the slogan of the day. Gorbachev made clear his support for popular demands: "Only those are in danger who refuse to respond to life", he said. He also made it clear that if the aged leadership should provoke its people to revolt, it would not be rescued by Soviet tanks as it had been in 1953. The Brezhney doctrine was a thing of the past.
Demonstrations grew throughout the GDR. On 9 October 70,000 demonstrated in Leipzig. There were demonstrations in Halle (20,000), Plauen (15,000) and in East Berlin. At first the state security replied with the usual brutality but soon the size of the mass protest ruled out violence as an option. On Monday 16 October
It is now more than clear that there is a burning need to build a socialist curent within the Soviet working class independent of, and politically opposed to, all wings of the ruling bureaucracy; a current which understands the need to unite with the reformers against the con- servatives on democratic and other issues, but which is able to articulate a fully socialist alterative to the perspective of reforming 'from above' the crumbling bureaucratic edifice that today constitutes the Soviet the biggest demonstration in the history of the GDR took place in Leipzig. Between 120,000 and 150,000, twenty per cent of the popula- tion of the GDR's second-biggest city, were on the street. The slogan now was "Wir sind das Volk" (We are the people). On Wednes- day the resignation of Honecker was an- nounced. The limited concessions that have been made in the first few days and the rejection of demands for free elections, party plurality, recognition of the newly formed opposition groups, etc. means that this is only the begin ning of the struggle in East Germany. Apart from the mass demonstrations, other signs of the rapidly mounting crisis were evi dent in September and October. The old in- timidation had disappeared and six or seven reform groups openly agitated without fear. The largest of them, Neues Forum (New Forum), has registered over 12,000 sup- porters. A new social-democratic party has been formed. Leaders of the other parties in the parliament dominated by the stalinist party, the SED, began publicly to criticize the regime. Important organizations in intellectual SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 18, October 1989
20 percent of the population on the streets: the giant Leipzig demo shakes out Honecker - but how will Krenz fare?
and cultural life openly called for reform, among them the Writers Union in Berlin and the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig.
The mass demonstrations, and loss of support among the intellectuals, in the context of intense international pressure from Moscow and Bonn, forced Honecker's resignation. In the official announcement of his departure "for health reasons", he wasn't even thanked.
In the case of Hungary and Poland we are familiar with the economic crisis which has formed the background to the political crisis of Stalinist rule and which led to the adoption, among intellectuals and party leaders, of a liberal market orientation. What is the situation in East Germany? Western journalists and academies (as well as apologists for the regime) point to the economic successes of the GDR. A growth-rate of 4% in the first half of this year is very respectable. National income per capita grew 120% between 1970 and 1987 (73% in Japan and 44% in West Germany). Although some question the accuracy of these figures, no one doubts that there have been some real achievements. Surveys indicate that the GDR population has a very positive attitude towards the "achievements of socialism': socialized production, the social security and education system.
But there are some real problems. Economic autarky, the attempt to produce everything themselves, although partly caused by lack of Western currency and the poor quality of goods in Comecon, became a virtue. Massive investment in fields such as microelectronics (14 billion marks) and large-scale subsidizing of basic products (bread, vegetables), combined with a reluctance to borrow from Western banks, has led to severe shortages and high prices in the consumer SOCIALIST OUTLOOK no 18, October 1989
IN DEPTH 7 goods market. Bread is cheap (quarter of the price in West Germany) but coffee is beyond the reach of the ordinary worker (25 marks for 250 gr in 1985, the equivalent of 4 hours work at average wage). A radio-cassette recorder which in West Germany would cost 200 DM New man - new policies? Egon Krenz (13 hours labour), in East Germany costs 1200 marks (208 hours labour).
Hence the widespread discontent with the economy. Growth rates don't mean a great deal if there's nothing in the shops or what's there is ridiculously expensive. Doris Cornelsen, a sympathetic expert on the problems of the East German economy, describes it this way: In the GDR everyone has food to eat -generally too much, in fact - and everyone is comfortably dressed. But there's nothing beyond that: no variety, no quality, no modern
or fashionable products. So no one is motivated to work hard. What's there to do with the extra cash?'
This discontent expressed itself especially among young people attracted by West Ger man prosperity and limited career prospects at home. Whether we like it or not, most young people in the East want a car. But in East Germany, where the car industry is a management disaster, the young worker knows that he/she will probably have to wait until they're 35 to get a car which, even then, really belongs in a museum. So economic discontent is very real and is a big factor among those mostly young people whom we have seen on the TV screens boarding the trains for the West and, to the astonishment of the locals, leaving their home-manufactured Trabis behind in the streets of Prague and Budapest.
Price reform and improvement in efficiency in an economy which is very material-, energy- and labour-intensive will be no easy matter, as has been demonstrated in the cases of Hungary and the Soviet Union. Opinions vary on the urgency and type of economic reforms required.
But for those who left the country, as well as for the other 99% of the workforce who remained in the GDR, it was the political/social aspect which had become most intolerable - political and cultural repression, boring censored newspapers, banned novels, banned songs, banned hair-styles, banned travel, rigged elections, fake parliaments. With liberalization in the Soviet Union and the collapse of stalinist rule in Poland and Hungary, it was inevitable that GDR society would begin to assert itself. The demands are for political and cultural freedom, freedom of information and expression, proper elections
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