How far could Solidarity be blamed for the decline of Soviet control over Eastern Europe?

It could be stated that Solidarity could be blamed for the decline of Soviet control. First of all, Solidarity highlighted the inefficiency of the communist government, because so many people were joining the Solidarity and opposing the communist government. The membership of Solidarity reached its peak at 9.4 million in January 1981, which was even more than a third of all the workers in Poland. This shows how the communist government failed to provide good living conditions for the people, undermining communism’s claim of being a system which would be beneficial for ordinary people. Thus Solidarity showing the inefficiency and corruption of the communist government contributed to the decline of Soviet control.

Moreover, Solidarity could be blamed for the decline of Soviet control because it showed people Solidarity was very powerful. The Union was immensely popular, and a general strike joined by the in the shipbuilding and heavy industries would have devastated Poland’s economy. Solidarity showed that there were organizations which were capable of resisting a communist government, showing that the communist governments could be threatened by People Power, acting as an encouragement for people to overcome the communist control, thus it could be responsible for the decline of Soviet control.

In addition to Solidarity, other factors also contributed to the decline of Soviet control. First of all, because Gorbachev and his perestroika and Glasnost program. For his perestroika program, he restricted people’s rights for having the freedom of buying and selling, it was the first time in 60 years that it was no longer illegal to buy and sell for profit. For his Glasnost actions, Gorbachev called for open debate on government policies and honesty in facing up to problems. From this action, he gave people the opportunity to criticize the government and its actions, it allowed people to have debates about the government, discussing sensitive historical problems, allowing arts and literature criticizing the government to be published, so people’s discontent grow larger towards the communist government.

Also, another reason that contributed to the decline of the Soviet control was Gorbachev reducing the defense spending. As the Soviet Union was going through a nuclear arms race, it was an enormous drain on the Soviet economy, suing a huge amount of money. After almost 50 years on a constant war footing, the Red Army began to shrink, he reduced the spending on them. With a weakening military, it would be a cause for the decline of the Soviet control.