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By Alan Woods
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Wednesday, 18 June 2008 |
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The intervention of Russian tanks temporarily
halted the movement in Czechoslovakia. But, as Alan Woods pointed out at the
time, "The rule of the bureaucracy now represents an absolute fetter on the
development of the planned economies of Russia and Eastern Europe. The needs of
the people can no longer be met by a system whose every pore is choked by
bureaucracy, mismanagement and waste."
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By Alan Woods
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Wednesday, 11 June 2008 |
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In Part One Alan Woods analysed the
meaning of Dubcek and the reform movement
within the Czechoslovak bureaucracy.
Part Two explains why the
Russian bureaucracy
intervened and how the Czechoslovak workers
were left leaderless in
the face of military
intervention.
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By Alan Woods
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Monday, 09 June 2008 |
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To mark the 40th
anniversary of the invasion of Czechoslovakia,
we are here reprinting an article by Alan Woods, first written on September 4,
1968, and published in the Winter edition of the Spark, in which he clearly
relates the momentous events that shook the Stalinist regimes and explains
their significance.
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By Patrik Olofsson
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Monday, 10 December 2007 |
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In what is now
becoming a tradition, this weekend the third North
European Marxist
School was held in Poland, where
40 young comrades took part in discussions on Fascism, Stalinism and The ABC of
Trotskyism.
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By Marek Znidericz in Warsaw
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Monday, 03 September 2007 |
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Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski and his party PiS, Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc (Law and Justice), are in trouble. A scandal has erupted threatening the already unstable government. The situation is extremely unpredictable, and every day brings new revelations and new possible outcomes.
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By Marek Znidericz in Warsaw
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Friday, 17 August 2007 |
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Poles are tired. You can see
this everywhere: on the streets, in shops, places of work, schools and
universities. There is deep frustration, anger and cynicism about the political
system. However, we also
have to look at the situation from below, from the streets, where we are seeing
protest movements arising like that of the students last year, and the nurses
this year.
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By Agata Rozenberg and Wojciech Figiel, (editor of www.socjalizm.org and the New Popular Weekly)
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Wednesday, 04 July 2007 |
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The collapse of Stalinism in Eastern Europe created a
peculiar political situation, which is not easily understood from outside.
Stalinism discredited the very idea of socialism, but what has replaced is a
rather crude bourgeois political set up. However, below the surface, things are
moving on. In Poland, where right-wing Christian views seem to dominate the
scene, a crisis is brewing.
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By our correspondent in Moscow
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Monday, 16 April 2007 |
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The period of
illusions in the “market economy” in the Czech Republic
is coming to an end. The realisation that struggle is the only road to defend
their interests is seeping into the consciousness of Czech workers. Marxism has
a role to play in this process. The new bourgeois elite is trying to stop the
activities of the Czech communists, in particular of the Czech Young
Communists. These young comrades need the help of workers and youth around the
world.
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By our correspondent in Moscow
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Tuesday, 03 April 2007 |
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Ukraine has yet again been plunged into a political crisis as the President attempts to dissolve Parliament. The two camps of capitalist cronies that squared off in the so-called Orange Revolution are back at it for round two. The working class has no interest in supporting either camp, and must build an independent position.
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By Radim Gonda, Vice-chairman of the KSM Czech Republic
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Wednesday, 31 January 2007 |
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The Czech Ministry of the Interior recently banned the KSM
(Communist Youth Union) simply because it "strives for revolutionary overcoming
of capitalism and... removal of private ownership of the means of production and
its replacement with collective ownership." Here we provide a letter from the
Czech Young Communists, explaining the latest developments.
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By our Hungarian correspondent
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Friday, 17 November 2006 |
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The Visegrad Four are Poland, Hungary, the Czech
Republic and Slovakia, ex-Stalinist countries who have joined the European
Union and are also preparing the conditions for entry into the Euro. The way
they are doing it is by attacking viciously all the social gains of the
workers. Sooner or later this will lead to an explosion of the class struggle.
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By our Hungarian correspondent
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Friday, 20 October 2006 |
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Hungary
is preparing to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1956 uprising.
The Stalinists in the past presented that movement as reactionary. Today's
regime is trying to usurp the banner of 1956, falsifying completely what really
happened. It is our duty to explain what really happened. The heroes of 1956
were trying to build a democratic workers' state and genuine socialism.
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By Communist Youth Union, KSM, Czech Republic
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Thursday, 19 October 2006 |
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We are publishing an appeal issued by the Czech Communist
Youth Union (KSM) after the government recently banned their organisation. We
ask you to support their struggle for the basic right to exist as an
organisation. Send letters of protest and make the Czech Young Communists know
that workers and youth around the world support them.
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By our Hungarian correspondent
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Thursday, 05 October 2006 |
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As could be expected, the Socialist Party (MSZP) and their
coalition partners the Free Democrats (FDSZ) lost heavily in the recent council
elections in Hungary.
The problem is the people know what they are voting against but have no
real alternative to vote for. Both main political blocs offer the same
austerity programme. A genuine Left alternative is required.
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By our Hungarian correspondent
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Tuesday, 26 September 2006 |
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Last week’s rioting in Hungary drew the
attentions of the world’s mass media. Some even tried to compare it to that
glorious moment in the history of the Hungarian working class in 1956, when attempts
were made to move towards genuine workers’ democracy. But all that is false.
Today’s rioting has a reactionary content, the result of a terrible austerity
programme, but with no genuine Left alternative being presented to the masses.
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By our correspondent in Moscow
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Tuesday, 27 June 2006 |
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This weekend (24-25 June) over 100 activists gathered from all over Ukraine, as well as from Russia and Moldova, to discuss the way forward for the left in Ukraine. The conference was organized by the editorial boards of the website Communist.ru (and its paper Protiv Techeniya, Against the stream) and the youth site Contr.info and the youth organization Che Guevara.
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By Wojciech Figiel in Warsaw - www.socjalizm.org
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Friday, 21 April 2006 |
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Last month’s elections
reconfirmed Lukashenko as the president of Belarus. The Western media
and governments have protested about the “lack of democracy”. In
reality what is taking place is a conflict of interests over who
should control the Belarusian economy.
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By Mordachai
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Monday, 10 October 2005 |
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This letter gives a glimpse of life in
westernised, capitalist Latvia. Wealth at one end of society, while 70% of the population is
classed as poor.
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By Wojciech Figiel
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Tuesday, 04 October 2005 |
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Parliamentary elections took place in Poland on
September 25. The victory of the right wing is a direct consequence of the pro-capitalist
policies of the outgoing Democratic Left Alliance government. The vote is against
those policies rather than for the right wing.
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By Misha Steklov in Moscow
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Monday, 03 October 2005 |
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On Thursday 8 September, Ukrainian President Viktor
Yuschenko fired Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko and her cabinet. After all the
hype of the “orange revolution” it is business as usual in the degenerate world
of Ukrainian politics, a den of thieves who have a flair for stabbing each
other in the back. |
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By Misha Steklov in Moscow
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Monday, 03 October 2005 |
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The
tragedy of the Ukrainian workers is that all the parties, including the
Socialist and Communist Parties, have links with business groups, and are the
mouthpieces for these business interests. This article, originally written in
Russian in February, gives some useful background information to what is
happening now in the Ukraine. |
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By Goran M. from Belgrade
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Sunday, 16 January 2005 |
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The “orange revolution” in the Ukraine was given quite a lot of
coverage in the western media. The truth of the matter is that this
so-called “revolution” was nothing of the kind. It was used to
facilitate the passage of power from one wing of the ex-bureaucracy to
the more openly pro-imperialist elements within the ruling elite. Goran
M. from Belgrade looks at the situation basing himself on a similar
experience in Serbia. These events are possible because there is no
clear working class alternative being presented to the masses. |
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By Fred Weston
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Wednesday, 24 November 2004 |
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The conflict in the Ukraine is being presented by the Western media as
one of democracy versus authoritarianism. In reality it is a struggle
between two capitalist camps, one that favours closer links to Russia,
the other that wants closer links with Western imperialism. Neither of
them offer a solution to the problems of the Ukrainian workers. |
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By Kamo Torosyan
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Monday, 22 November 2004 |
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The Armeniana people were once proud of what they achieved after the 1917
Bolshevik revolution, in spite of the later Stalinist deformations. But since
the demise of the former Soviet Union capitalism has been introduced and the
effect has been a total collapse of what was once a developing and cultured
country. |
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By Heiko Khoo
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Tuesday, 09 November 2004 |
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Fifteen years ago on November 9th 1989, the Berlin Wall fell. Within a
year East and West Germany were reunited. But unification was carried
out on a capitalist basis. Thus it was a counterrevolution. But the
movement in the East did not start with that aim in mind, far from it!
The early movement had many elements of the political revolution, i.e.
a movement against the bureaucracy and for genuine socialism. Here we
provide an analysis and also material produced by the Marxists in East
Germany at the time. |
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By a supporter of In Defence of Marxism in Georgia
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Thursday, 25 December 2003 |
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November 23, 2003 was a very significant day in the history of Georgia. For the
first time in Georgian history a revolution took place in the old
southern Caucasus state ... We are publishing this letter from a supporter of In
Defence of Marxism in Georgia. |
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By Julianna Grant
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Tuesday, 08 October 2002 |
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We are republishing this article on the 1956 Hungarian
revolution, first published on the 40th anniversary in Socialist Appeal issue 45,
October 1996.
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By our correspondent in Hungary
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Wednesday, 15 May 2002 |
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The elections held in Hungary in April this year have given a slim majority to a social democrat-liberal
coalition, ousting the incumbent centre-right government of Viktor Orbán who was forecast to win another term
in office. Our correspondent in Hungary looks at the real situation facing workers today. |
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By Heiko Khoo
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Friday, 09 November 2001 |
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A dozen years ago, the Berlin Wall fell. The world was changed irrevocably.
The wave of East European revolutions, the unification of Germany, and the collapse of
the Soviet Union all followed in quick succession. An eye-witness account by Heiko Khoo. |
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By Professor Jacek Tittenbrun of Poznan University, Poland
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Wednesday, 10 October 2001 |
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We publish an edited version of a document sent to us by Professor Jacek Tittenbrun of Poznan University in Poland.
He gives an interesting and detailed account of the economic and social processes (especially the role of Western credit)
that led to the revolt of the Polish workers in the early eighties, and to attempts by the Polish Stalinist bureaucracy
to transform itself into a capitalist class. |
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By Alan Woods
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Wednesday, 10 October 2001 |
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Socialist Appeal editor, Alan Woods, interviews Evgenii Leshan, member of the Ukrainian parliament.
Evgenii Leshan explains how the drive towards privatization over the past ten years in the Ukraine has
been a real nightmare. The Ukraine used to enjoy one of the highest living standards in the Soviet Union.
It is now on an African level. |
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By Alexey Petrov
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Thursday, 15 March 2001 |
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The landslide victory of the Communist Party of
Moldavia in the recent parliamentary elections has a great significance for all the
former republics of the Soviet Union. It is the first time that a 'Communist Party'
has managed to take power on the territory of what was the USSR. The high
voter turnout makes the success even more impressive. With 71 out of 101 seats
in Parliament, the Communist Party can, at least formally, do anything that it
wants to: appoint the President of the country, change the constitution, and pass
any laws that it wishes. However, the 'Communists', who have come to power in
one of the poorest countries in Europe, face serious economic and political
problems. It is not an exaggeration to say that this is the moment of truth for
Vladimir Voronin and his party. |
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By In Defence of Marxism
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Friday, 29 September 2000 |
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The demonstrations in Seattle, Washington, London and Prague are an indication
that something is changing. For the past twenty years, Capital has been on the
offensive. On its banners are inscribed the new slogans: Liberalisation,
Globalisation, Downsizing, Outsourcing, Flexibilisation, and a host of other
reactionary neologisms. The fall of the Soviet Union gave a further impulse to
this offensive. The bourgeoisie was filled with confidence and optimism in the
future. But now, a decade after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the whole thing is
beginning to come apart at the seams. |
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By Julianna Grant
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Tuesday, 13 June 2000 |
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Hungary put in a GDP growth of 6.8% in the first
quarter of the year 2000 and expects a rate of growth of 5-5.5% by the end of
the year. These are impressive figures, which any visitor seeing signs of a
building boom, lots of new cars on the streets and a well-dressed, well-fed
population would quickly confirm. Is the advent of capitalism bringing the horn
of plenty to Hungary or is the picture somewhat less straight forward? |
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By Alan Woods
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Thursday, 18 May 2000 |
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'Lenin wake up, Brezhnev has gone mad.' This was one of the slogans
chanted on the street of Prague 30 years ago as Russian and Warsaw Pact troops invaded
Czechoslovakia. The upheavals in Czechoslovakia had began with a stormy session of the
Writers Union which passed a resolution supporting Soviet author Solzhenitsyn's protest
against censorship.
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By Alan Woods
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Thursday, 25 February 1999 |
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On January 1999 the Romanian miners marched again on the capital Bucarest in
opposition to plans to close the mines. As a result miners' leader Miron
Cozma was sentenced to 18 years of jail and arrested during violent clashes between
miners and riot police. The miners from the Jiu Valley have a long and proud history of
struggle. Alan Woods examines the implications for the process of capitalist restoration
in Romania. |
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By John Gandy
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Wednesday, 13 July 1994 |
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We are republishing this
article on the electoral victory of the former Stalinists in Hungary in 1994, first
published in Socialist Appeal issue 23, July 1994. Following the trend of much of
Eastern Europe Hungary in 1994 placed back in power the leaders and parties it
had rejected just five years earlier. This article explains the background to the
Socialists' victory. |
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By Julianna Grant
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Friday, 18 March 1994 |
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We are republishing this article on the
effects of the transition to capitalism in Hungary first published in Socialist
Appeal issue 20, March 1994. "Miles and miles of closed factories greeted me as
I travelled into Budapest. The contrast in downtown Budapest could not have
been sharper. The swish, but very expensive shops and well dressed shoppers
made me feel I had risen out of the Metro into a different world. The advent of
capitalism has produced a polarisation of the population in terms of appearance,
mood, wealth and lifestyle. A small, but significant section of people were living
very well, but the vast majority, especially those in some country areas, where
wholesale factory closures removed the sole employer, were sinking into
poverty, unemployment and hopelessness." |
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By Alan Woods
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Wednesday, 15 August 1990 |
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We republish this article written by Alan Woods in 1990 about the
process of capitalist restoration in Romania. At that time the miners had marched on
the capital Bucarest and clashed with the pro-capitalist students who were
organising demonstrations. Alan Woods analysed the situation from a class point of view. |
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