GPPi co-sponsors discussion on "Legacies of Communism"

The Harvard Center for European Studies in Berlin (CES), with assistance from GPPi Associate Director Thorsten Benner held a discussion on 6 November 2006 on the topic of ​“Legacies of Communism” as part of the CES Berlin Dialogues discussion series. The panellists included Anne Applebaum, columnist and member of the editorial board of the Washington Post and Jens Bisky, editor of the features page of the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. Toralf Staud, a freelance journalist, chaired the event which took place at the Hertie School of Governance.

Applebaum began the discussion by emphasizing that not only did different national flavours of communism exist in Central and Eastern Europe during communism, but different flavours of post-communism have also subsequently emerged in these countries. In addressing the issue of post-communism, she compared different mechanisms of coping with this past within countries such as Poland, Hungary, East Germany and Russia. While some countries, she explained, have made an effort to confront their communist past, other such as Russia have not made any effort whatsoever, which she believes is important in understanding the current political and social situation in Russia.

Bisky presented a different approach to the issue. Born and raised in East Germany, he addressed the question of the legacies of communism from a more and sociological perspective. By quoting rather dire statistics regarding the political, economic and social views of East Germans, Bisky emphasized the difficulty of transition for many people from a socialist society to a free market and democratic government. Following reunification, the promise of West Germany to guide the East in their transition, Bisky believes, was in essence no different than the previous state-run system. The effect of this was minimal development of entrepreneurship and personal responsibility, Bisky explained, and the continuing distrust of institutions. He ended by saying that the legacy of communism in East Germany is not as strong as the German public often suggests.

The following discussion with the audience brought up a number of topics, most significant of which was the topic of nationalism and the perceived increase of nationalist sentiments in post-communist societies. Applebaum stressed that one must be careful when labelling the developments excessively nationalist, as some nationalism is healthy for democracy, and frustrations resulting from current problems are born out of the fact that the same people as before still possess the power, both political or economic, but under a different guise. Bisky believes that the existence of a liberal European society (in the form of the European Union) is an effective means to bridge the divisions that may occur. Both speakers agreed that the West is still struggling to react to the collapse of communism with respect to foreign policy decisions.