CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND POLAND: ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL STABILITY--1945-1993
This research examines economic and political stability in Czechoslovakia and Poland from 1945 through 1993. Czechoslovakia separated into two sovereign nations--the Czech Republic and Slovakia--as of 1 January 1993 (Velvet divorce, 1992, p. 52). Thus, Czechoslovakia is treated as a unity in the greater part of this examination.
Background on Economics and Politics in Eastern Europe: 1945-1989
Subsequent to the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922, the republics that comprised the Soviet Union functioned largely under a Marxist political and economic system. Lenin's New Economic Policy implemented in 1921 temporarily suspended most of the Marxist economic policy; however, Marxist economic policy and centralized planning were reimposed with a vengeance by Stalin in 1928 (Mazour, 1967, pp. 121, 129). Khrushchev flirted with economic reform in the 1950s; however, these reforms were abandoned after a few years along with Khrushchev (Mazour, 1967, p. 204).
Most of the nation states of Eastern Europe became Soviet satellites following the end of the Second World War. Thus, subsequent to 1945, most of these countries also functioned largely under a Marxist political and economic system. There were some temporary interruptions in Marxist dominance. Hungary attempted to overthrow its Marxist government in 1956, only to see its efforts crushed by the Soviet army. In the 1970s, however, Hungary was able to implement and retain some significant economic reforms. Czechoslovakia, under Alexander Dubcek, experimented with major economic reform in 1968, only to see the reform crushed by Warsaw Pact troops (Shawcross, 1970, p. 111). Yugoslavia, under Tito, broke away from the Soviet orbit in the 1950s. The Yugoslavs were able to modify to a significant extent their Marxist economic system; ho...