Six common factors that we can learn from our study of Hungary, Berlin and Czechoslovakia
That hope was squashed and squashed again
Socialism appeared attractive after WW1, the Great Depression +WW2
But Stalinism was repressive
Khrushchev and Brezhnev both disappointed
That political repression was the only means to keep control
No freedom
Censorship
Secret Police
Rigid control from Moscow (Cominform)
That economic failures were highlighted by comparisons with the West
Economies geared towards Soviet needs
A very weak consumer economy
Berlin seen as a “gaping hole”
That young people were particularly frustrated
Students led the revolts in H + C
Skilled people in particular fled Berlin
That there was a sense of being occupied
Soviet tanks on the streets of Budapest
The USSR build the Berlin Wall
Soviet troops (amongst others) quash the Prague Spring
That, apart from resentment about a lack of freedom and weak economies, there was the matter of frustrated nationalism
