1989 in Central Europe: A Counterrevolution

The literature on the fall of communism contains numerous interpretations of the changes that took place in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, while debates about how best to characterize the fall of the communist regimes have raged for many years. Researchers continue to ponder and argue over how ‘revolutionary’, as opposed to ‘evolutionary’ (or ‘reformatory’) these changes were. In this new study, author Pawel Ukielski proposes the term ‘counterrevolution’ to describe the historical process that took place and uses it as an analytical construct to better understand the crisis of Soviet communism and the subsequent transitions that took place.

INTRODUCTION .- PART ONE – THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS.- Chapter I: Revolution. Theoretical foundations.- Chapter II: Counterrevolution. Theoretical foundations.- PART TWO – INTRODUCTION OF COMMUNISM.- Chapter III: Revolution in Russia and unsuccessful world revolution.- Chapter IV: Introduction of Communism in Central Europe after 1944. Export of revolution.- PART THREE – THE FALL OF COMMUNISM IN CENTRAL EUROPE IN 1989.- Chapter V: Global factors.- Chapter VI: Poland.- Chapter VII: Hungary.- Chapter VIII: GDR.- Chapter IX: Czechoslovakia.- Chapter X: Bulgaria.- Chapter XI: Romania.- CONCLUSIONS.- Chapter XII: Central Europe in 1989 – in search of general theory.

Pawel Ukielski Ph. D. is a political scientist, historian and an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Political Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences.