Great Man Theory

1

Matt

02/16/05

POS 471 – Comparative Politics

Professor Hugh Harris

Great Man Theory

The great empire that was Western Communism has been the subject of many discussions during the last ten to 15 years. It seems impossible that such a system could have fallen in a matter of about six months. Many factors must have played a role in the fall of such a powerful structure. Pierre Salinger’s Great Man Theory suggests that “it was Pope John Paul II who triggered the fall of Western Communism.” While the Pope may have played a major world role at the time of the beginning of the fall of Western Communism, is it possible his actions were spurious to what was already taking place? Or perhaps the Pope was the major driving force behind what took place, first, in Poland and then spread to much more of the Soviet Union.

In the late 1980’s, communist government after communist government of the Soviet Union began to experience the unrest and dissent of the citizens. In as short a time as ten days in some countries, citizens were able to bring down the communist regimes. Many have argued democracy is the outcome of a process that requires decades of effort. However, it seems that almost all of Eastern Europe came to democracy in a matter of months. For years, the people of the communist regimes had lived under authoritarian rule. Suddenly, they decided to throw it off. What unexpectedly gave the people of the Soviet Union the courage to throw off the reign of the communists?

We must apply Huntington’s propositions of democracy taking root in formerly authoritarian states.

1. No single factor is sufficient to explain the development of democracy in all countries or in a single country.

2. No single factor is necessary to the development of democracy in all countries.

3. Democratization in each country is the result of a combination of causes. (Huntington, 1991, p.38)

Assuming that these are correct propositions, we know that no particular dynamic could have caused the fall of communism in so many countries of the Soviet Union. However, the role of “Great Men” could be included in the combination of causes responsible for the development of democracy within the Soviet Union.

Perhaps the actions of the “Great Men” are what gave credence to the protesting citizens of the Soviet states. If the desire of the people to have freedom was the zeitgeist, or the spirit of the times, then it is possible that the people needed only a spark to give legitimacy to their cause. After Pope John Paul II took the papacy, he visited his home country where he had been a cardinal for years. While he was a cardinal in Poland, officially an atheist country, he was censored by the church from speaking out against the communist government there. However, once he became Pope, he was no longer subject to this censorship and he began to speak out against the authoritarian rule of his home country. When he visited Poland, he encouraged the citizens of the country to realize their own human rights; something communist regimes would prefer that the people did not know. Perhaps the Pope was the spark needed to give authenticity to the cause of freedom.

However, the Pope was not the only “Great Man” of the time in Poland. Lech Walesa had begun a trade union to challenge the existence of his job’s state-run labor union. Walesa organized a strike in Poland and the movement became known as the Solidarity movement. The Catholic Church backed Walesa’s union and soon its membership swelled to 9 million members. Eventually, the movement forced the government to adopt a multi-party system and democratic human rights. It is possible that Walesa added to the spark created by the Pope in Poland.

The citizens of Soviet states near Poland saw the Polish people act out their unrest within the state and began to feel the same dissent. The spirit of the times became freedom from authoritarian rule and one communist regime after another began to fall. Even Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union, recognized that there had to be a Perestroika, or a restructuring, and did little to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union. In fact, he may have even encouraged it. Due to growing pressure to liberalize within the Soviet Union, Gorbachev met with the Pope and developed diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the Vatican. This established freedom of religion and legalized worship in the Soviet Union, something which was not allowed under the previous atheistic communist laws.

Because it is assumed that no single factor can explain the development of democracy in all countries, we cannot say that one “Great Man” caused the fall of communism in Eastern Europe. However, when looking at the chain reaction of events which took place in the Soviet Union, one can see that the actions of great men may have incited the spirit of the times, after all. The timing of John Paul II coming to the papacy and the development of the Solidarity movement under Walesa may have been an accident that led to democracy in many Soviet states. No matter, these two men gave legitimacy to the dissent of the people. The unrest escalated and the pressure placed on the Polish Communist regime forced it to concede to the people. This created a snowball effect and soon the people of other Soviet states brought down communist regime after communist regime.

Obviously, many factors were involved in the development of democracy in Eastern Europe. This included the spirit of the times and the snowball effect, but it was started by two Great Men who incited the citizens to grasp the existence of the sovereignty of the people. Salinger correctly points to Pope John Paul II as the man who triggered the fall of Western Communism, but it was the existence of Lech Walesa and the general feeling of unrest of the people that allowed the collapse to be carried through to completion.

Works Cited

The Fall of Communism – video by Pierre Salinger

Huntington, S. (1991). The third wave: Democratization in the late twentieth century. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press.