austin-murphy-the-triumph-of-evil

64 THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL
1966). East Germany had the most restrictive travel policies because
West Germany tried to entice its skilled workers to emigrate not only
through much better-paying jobs (easily obtainable because of similar
culture and language and, more importantly, because ofWest Germany's
offer of immediate and automatic citizenship to East German immi­
grants) but also with sizable cash payments and many other benefits
(Der Tagesspiege/, 1990f).5 West Germany could afford to be so "gen­
erous" to East German immigrants because it had impoverished East
Germany after World War II by forcing it alone to pay the entire amount
of the enormous reparations to the Soviet Union that was contracted for
Germany as a whole by the USA at Potsdam in 1945 (Apel, 1966).
Other forms of economic warfare and extortion (where the far greater
wealth of the capitalist countries gave them powerful advantages)
also played a part in communist Eastern Europe moving toward capitalist
systems. In particular, lucrative trade, loans, and aid were often
offered to communist countries if they conducted capitalistic economic
"reforms", while "non-reforming" communist countries were typically
confronted with trade barriers. Moreover, the threat of an escalation of
the arms race, which was especially counterproductive to the poorer
communist countries that had to expend a larger percent of national
income to defense as a result, also produced motivation to appease
Western demands for capitalist reforms (Marcy, 1990).
In addition, ethnic, cultural, and religious differences were a factor
in the break-up of the Eastern European communist bloc. In particular,
many people in Eastern European countries and in the former Soviet
Union had resented being dominated by Russians since the pre-communist
days of czarist Russia (Matlock, 1995), especially after Russia
killed or exiled millions from the Caucasus in the 1800s (Levene and
Roberts, 1999). However, economic subsidies and investments in the
non-Russian republics of the Soviet Union (as well as the grant of some
political autonomy) had greatly reduced such tensions under communism
(Marcy, 1990) and eliminated the need for ethnic-related repression
(Getty, Rittersporn and Zemskov, 1993). The ethnic problems
reemerged only under Gorbachev's capitalist reforms in the mid-I980s
under Perestroika, as those free market policies resanctified the quest
for personal or regional gain (at the expense of others), which encouraged
ethnic or nationalist movements (Marcy, 1990). For instance, an
CHAPTER 1 65
earlier Soviet policy of investing substantial sums into less developed
areas of the Soviet Union (in order to bring their income closer to that
of the historically richer Russians) was drastically cut back under Pere­
stroika for reasons of economic efficiency, and those who opposed such
reforms under Gorbachev were purged from power, thereby magnify­
ing the resentment of Russian domination and causing a reawakening of
the nationalist or independence movements (Marcy, 1990). The Soviet
Union's decision to charge its Eastern European allies capitalist market
prices for oil in the late 1980s also contributed to the 1989 revolutions
among its Eastern European allies, as the resulting slowing of eco­
nomic growth there increased the people's dissatisfaction with the com­
munist system (and their Russian defenders), especially in East Ger­
many (Ritschl, 1996) where the original revolution broke out. The Joint
Economic Committee (1988) of the USA Congress itself was well
aware of the fact that the capitalist reforms whicn the USA was pres­
suring Eastern Europe to undertake quite naturally increased income
inequality, which caused "tensions among the nationality groups."
The War in Afghanistan
Also potentially contributing to unrest among ethnic groups in the
Soviet bloc (especially in the Moslem republics of the USSR), and to
dissatisfaction amongst the Soviet people in general, was the 1979-89
military participation of the USSR in a civil war in Moslem Afghani­
stan, which provided some evidence of actual Soviet atrocities that led
many people in the Soviet Union to question the legitimacy and moral­
ity of their government and leaders (Kuperman, 1999). The conflict
started when CIA-financed rebels began terrorist attacks against a com­
munist government (Blum, 1995), which bad (completely independent
ofthe Soviet Union or its agents) overthrown a feudal dictatorship ear­
lier in 1978 (Rodman, 1994). This government then invited Soviet mili­
tary forces into the country to aid in stopping the CIA-sponsored terror­
ism (Blum, 1995). The rebel terrorists were being led by ''Ultra-conser­
vative" Moslem religious leaders and landowners, who initially were
largely supported by bandits and smugglers (especially on the border
with Pakistan), and later by many Afghan males (especially in rural
areas) who opposed the communist government acts which decom­
modified women (i.e., forbid their sale) and which offered education
(including literacy) and other rights to Afghan females (Urban, 1990).