By Boris Kagarlitsky
MOSCOW — "The Lithuanians have elected former communists!" The results of the October 24 elections in Lithuania still had not been finalised when this sensational news flashed across the pages of the newspapers. For the inhabitants of the former Soviet Union, the reports shouldn't have been so stunning. Weren't former communists in power in Russia, the Ukraine, Moldavia and the republics of Central Asia? Weren't former party functionaries running the new democratic Romania? And hadn't Gorbunov, a leader of "totally democratic" Latvia and a convinced Latvian nationalist, once been among the leaders of the local Communist Party?
Nevertheless, something important has indeed happened in Lithuania.
For the first time, a left party has triumphed in free elections in Eastern Europe. For the first time, an opposition has won power from a government in democratic fashion. For the first time, an organisation which is the direct and official successor to a Communist Party has emerged as a country's dominant political force through a free expression of popular will. And most importantly, nationalism in Eastern Europe has suffered its first defeat.
Origins of DLPL
The Democratic Labour Party of Lithuania (DLPL) has never been distinguished by particular radicalism. In 1989, when the question of independence came onto the agenda, the Communist Party in Lithuania, as in the other Baltic countries, underwent a split between supporters of independence and opponents. The orthodox minority suffered a defeat, and after the events of August 1991 was forced into clandestinity. The majority, headed by the popular and pragmatic Algirdas Brazauskas, declared itself a social-democratic party and changed its name.
The party program was phrased very cautiously. The leaders of the DLPL did everything possible to prove that they were not communists or "reds".
Brazauskas and his supporters might better have been called "social liberals" than social democrats. They accepted the need for privatisation and for restructuring the ownership of industry on a share-holding basis. They insisted that without the development of private property it was impossible to create a market, and constantly declared their adherence to the idea of the national revival of Lithuania. Alongside the DLPL stood a social-democratic party proclaiming even more right-wing positions.
The liberal wave sweeping Eastern Europe could not have failed to have an effect on the Lithuanian left. But although Brazauskas and his supporters made numerous concessions to liberalism, they could not avoid accusations of "communism". A furious propaganda campaign was unleashed against the DLPL. Not only nationalists and right-wingers attacked it, but also centrists and social democrats, who justifiably ival.
Political wind changes
Meanwhile, new political winds were blowing in Eastern Europe. In elections for the Polish Sejm the Left Democratic Union, founded by "social democratised" communists, scored big gains. The party missed out on becoming the largest parliamentary group by only one% of votes.
The Communists in Czechoslovakia did not change their name; in 1968 their party had headed the "Prague Spring", and earlier still it had been the main force in the anti-fascist resistance. In the 1992 elections the left bloc formed around the Communist Party enjoyed considerable success. A number of former dissidents with left-wing views were elected to parliament on the same list with the Communists. The old division between "democrats" and "communists" has given way to a new demarcation between right and left.
The elections in Slovakia were won by a left-centrist coalition calling for independence. Many observers were surprised by the Slovaks' desire to take their leave of Prague, but the people of Slovakia feared being turned into an internal colony, the semi- developed periphery of a capitalist Czechija.
In the municipal elections in eastern Berlin in the spring of 1992 the most successful grouping was the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), formed on the basis of the former Socialist Unity Party of Germany. The PDS is headed by the popular lawyer Gregor Gysi, who in the 1970s achieved fame in the German Democratic Republic as a defender of dissidents. The PDS proclaimed itself a radical left party; rejecting the ideology of the Communists, it did not accept the mild reformism of the social democrats either.
Reformed post-Communist parties have strengthened their positions throughout all Eastern Europe. For voters, the ideological packaging in which these parties have served up their programs has not been especially important. The reformed Communists in Poland did their utmost to social-democratise themselves, and won the support of every fifth Pole. The Czechoslovak Communists, on the other hand, stressed their fidelity to the traditions of their party. They also scored successes. The PDS in Germany presented itself as a party with a quite new and original ideology. It made gains as well.
Deceived by pro-capitalist politicians
Millions of people who supported the post-Communist parties did not do so because they believed in the new ideas. They had simply realised that they had been deceived by the politicians who had promised that independence and capitalism would bring them prosperity and a flowering of democracy. Neither prosperity nor a particularly meaningful democracy had resulted. In these circumstances people voted for the most left-wing party contesting the elections, or for the most familiar and serious of the left parties. This was almost always the "post-Communists". In Lithuania as elsewhere, people voted not only in favour of the left, but also against a right-wing government. The leaders of Sajudis were confident they enjoyed the support of the population simply because they had led the country to independence. But in independent Lithuania, people found life nowhere near as pleasant as they had hoped. The economic crisis deepened; bitter, pointless conflicts broke out with Russia and Byelorussia; national minorities suffered oppression, and authoritarianism was strengthened.
Ultimately, all the republics of the USSR received their independence, even those which had not demanded it. None of them, however, received the prosperity they had been promised. An "era of name changes" began.
Very likely, Lithuania will not be the only country of the former "Communist bloc" where a left party wins a majority in parliament. The crisis of capitalism in the West, popular disappointment with nationalism, the failure of privatisation and the chaos of the "free market economy" are creating a new situation in Eastern Europe.
A great deal depends on the DLPL. Brazauskas's party now has to show whether it is capable of forming parliamentary coalitions and of arriving at compromises with other political forces, without at the same time renouncing its own principles. Above all, the party must put forward a real way out of the crisis.
While they were in opposition, the leaders of the DLPL sought to prove their moderation and good sense. Now that they are on the threshold of power, they are about to discover that moderation and half measures are not of much use in a crisis. People voted for the DLPL because they wanted change. If this change doesn't come about, the party will lose its popular support.
But if the party begins a serious fight for change, it will have to enter into serious confrontation with the forces that have led not only Lithuania, but Russia and all of Eastern Europe into a dead end — that is, with the forces which are destroying the state sector through "nomenklatura privatisation", and which are undermining production in the interests of speculative trade. In short, the DLPL will have to mount a fight against the bureaucratic bourgeoisie and the International Monetary Fund.
The choice will not be easy — radical changes are always hard to implement. But the DLPL now has a chance. It is not only the people of Lithuania who have spoken out for changes, for a regulated economy and for social justice. The people of Russia as well have grown tired of the Yeltsin-Gaidar experiment. We too have to find a way out of the dead-end.
The lesson of Lithuania is quite straightforward: leftists can win elections in "post-Communist" societies, and not in 10 years' time, but right now. We should not underrate ourselves. In Russia, the Party of Labour has a future; democratic leftists have real prospects. The main thing is not to let the chance slip through our fingers.
[Boris Kagarlitsky is a member of the Executive Committee of the .]