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The Collapse: A Revolutionary Symphony in Four Movements, 1989
The Collapse: A Revolutionary Symphony in Four Movements, 1989
The Collapse: A Revolutionary Symphony in Four Movements, 1989
Masses in movement
Three trains, full of German refugees en route from Prague to West
Germany, passed the railway station of Dresden on the night of October
4, 1989. A huge throng gathered and attempted to get on board, but the
riot police attacked them. For two days they fought as people and sought
to halt the trains by lying on the rails, attacking the trains, and clashing
with the police force. More than 1,300 people were arrested.
At this moment the entire young generation of the country revolted,
and even enlightened members of the elite joined in. Endless mass
demonstrations engulfed Dresden; another series began in Leipzig on
October 9, followed by Berlin. During the three weeks between October
16 and November 8, more than two hundred major demonstrations took
place in the country with the participation of 1.3 million people. The
obedient German Untertan (loyal subject) ceased to exist. After the
celebration of the fortieth anniversary of its foundation, the German
Democratic Republic disintegrated.
The exodus continued. Austrian, German, and Hungarian television
had live broadcasts from the Hungarian-Austrian border. Euphoric
young refugees were interviewed and were obviously in a celebratory
mood. Radio Free Europe and Voice of America covered the event, and
the people of East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and other bloc countries
learned of the breathtaking mass exodus (Brubaker, 1990).
The East German government had to act. Paradoxically enough, the
Scenes of a revolution
The collapse of Central and Eastern European state socialism was
accompanied by genuine revolutionary events. New, previously unknown
revolutionary leaders emerged. In the overcrowded Wenceslas Square in
the heart of Prague a euphoric crowd listened to the shy, informal
playwright, with a boyish smile on his face: Vaclav Havel, the active
leader of a passive, moral opposition, who did not have much faith in
mass demonstrations and rebellions, speaks to the people from a balcony.
A sports bag on his shoulder, he is on his way to have a dialogue with the
prime minister.
In the heart of Bucharest, students, intellectuals, and workers gathered
in the evening. The organizer and virtual leader of the throng was a young
Bucharest actor, Mircea Diaconu, who organized "resistance points,"
convinced army units to join the rebels, and addressed the entire nation
on television. Another self-appointed leader, the young rector of the
Polytechnic, Petre Roman, spent the whole night with the crowd and also
took command. The retired General Militaru addressed the army and
directed military actions via television.
After the first major demonstration at Tirana University, a belated
attempt to duplicate the neighboring countries' path in Albania brings
the country to the brink of civil war. There was wild reaction to brutal
police intervention. A twenty-eight-year-old philosophy student, Azem
Hajdari, emerged as a revolutionary leader: on behalf of the revolting
students, he presented to party chief Ramiz Alia on December 11
demands for the introduction of political pluralism and the free foundation
of political parties. The acceptance of the demands was the first act of the
party-state's withdrawal and the collapse of the regime (Biberaj, 1992).
Besides the emerging revolutionary leaders and the spontaneous and
emotional speeches from balconies (the inseparable symbols of revolutions),
the demolishing of statues and rescuing of fallen dictators also characterized
the Central and Eastern European scenery.