A few months ago, the political situation in Hungary at the forefront of the Iron Curtain had taken a surprising turn, when Kadar, who had been the leader of Hungary for many years, was elected general secretary of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, and the reformers within the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party took control of the party.
Kadar's defeat did not provoke interference from the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact groups, which emboldened the newly elected Hungarian leader.
After the October events of 1956, when Khrushchev launched an armed intervention in Hungary's internal affairs, some 200,000 Hungarians fled to the consular Austria, and the refugee problem has been an issue for both Austria and Hungary for many years.
Shortly after Kadar came to power, Austria and Hungary negotiated their borders separately without Soviet permission, and in order to solve the problem of insufficient supply of goods and refugees in the country, the Hungarian government decided to open the border between the two countries, and allowed Hungarians who had left Hungary in 1956 to return to their own countries without holding them accountable.
At this point, the Iron Curtain, which had been tightly sealed since the end of World War II, tore a gap in Hungary.
The opening of the borders allowed European and American goods to enter the Hungarian market in a big way, and at the same time had some impact on the entire socialist camp.
Seryosha's early partner, East German Wilhelm Peake, was originally a smuggler, but now he has discovered a more lucrative industry: smuggling.
In the past, if East Germans wanted to flee to West Germany, they had to find ways to cross the heavily fortified Berlin Wall.
But the astute Wilhelm Peake found a new, safer route, which was to start from East Germany, pass through Czechoslovakia or Poland into the socialist state of Hungary, then exit the border between Hungary and Austria to reach Austria, and finally head north to West Germany.
This line was so safe that the standard of living of the people of East Germany was second to none in the camp of the True Brother Socialism.
It is still affordable for them to travel to the fraternal countries of the Warsaw Pact camp.
Anyway, as long as you get to Hungary in the end, you can enter Austria smoothly, and then come to West Germany, which may not be able to reach in the past at the risk of your life, and live a good life.
So William Peake closed his chain of pharmacies and started a travel agency business, and after organizing several successful smuggling operations, William Peake gradually gained a foothold in this industry.
As a pioneer in the market, William Peake did seize the opportunity, but soon many followers also entered the industry.
It can be said that at the beginning of 1989, the most enthusiastic business of the gangs in East Germany was smuggling.
This small gap in the Iron Curtain began to cause a massive exodus of East German population, a phenomenon that soon attracted the attention of the East German government, but the East German government could not prevent its own citizens from traveling to socialist countries, otherwise it would cause dissatisfaction in fraternal countries.
Honecker then placed the blame on the question of separate negotiations between the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party and the Austrian side, and he personally called Gorbachev and called on the Soviet Union to warn and deal with the problem of bourgeois liberalization within the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party.
Honecker and Brezhnev have been friends for many years, and his influence in the Warsaw Pact camp is significant.
Naturally, Gorbachev did not dare to slack off in his demands, but now the domestic Georgian issue is still burning his eyebrows, and Gorbachev is really powerless about the affairs of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party.
So he asked Shevardnadze for his opinion on the matter.
As soon as he spoke, Shevardnadze resolutely rejected Honecker's request.
"General Secretary, our current Leningrad Special Economic Zone is mainly relying on the help of the West, in which West Germany is one of our main investors, and if we offend the West German government on the issue of the Austro-Hungarian border, our Leningrad Special Economic Zone is also very likely to be affected."
Shevardnadze persuaded Gorbachev.
"Then how should we reply to Comrade Honecker," Gorbachev asked uneasily.
"I will personally consult with the new leader of the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, Gross, and we have already asked about it anyway, but this matter is a matter decided within the Hungarian Socialist Workers' Party, and I will explain this to Comrade Honecker that it is inconvenient for us to interfere too much," Schevardnadze replied.
At this moment, the leadership of the Soviet Union did not realize how this small gap in the Iron Curtain would bring to the entire Warsaw Pact camp, and even Seryosha, a soul traveler, did not realize the danger.
In fact, now, Seryosha is also always paying attention to the crisis of the drastic changes in Eastern Europe.
Seryosha, however, focused his attention on Poland, where he installed many Gorky Brotherhood cronies within Solidarity.
Always keep an eye on Lech Walesa's every move.
According to the current situation, although Poland is in danger of changing the sky, Lech Walesa's ability is limited, and although he is famous, he does not have the ability to get Poland out of the socialist camp.
Therefore, after the reconciliation with the Polish government, the Solidarity led by Walesa decided to involve Solidarity in the political life of the country in order to appease the discontent of the people in the country.
Walesa was soon elected as a people's deputy, and the Polish United Workers' Party began to implement a policy called the "Round Table" at the call of Jaruzelski.
Although Jaruzelski was the leader of the Polish United Workers' Party for many years, he was always afraid that the Soviet Union would intervene in Poland's internal affairs because of the Solidarity problem, which would once again cause a painful lesson similar to the Poznan time, so Jaruzelski was eager to solve the problem of Solidarity within Poland.
As the leader of a satellite state, Jaruzelski was always careful to safeguard the interests of Poland.
So when it comes to Solidarity, Jaruzelski is actually more pressing than Walesa.
Without a situation of stability and unity, Poland could not settle down and develop its economy.
In addition, Poland's economy has always been ranked low in the socialist camp, and its own base is low.
Since the events in Poznan in 1956, there have been one massive strike after another, which has brought Polish production to a standstill from time to time.
Jaruzelski felt that instead of continuing this vicious circle, it was better to try to break the cycle.
In addition, Jaruzelski also hopes that the reform of the Polish United Workers' Party will win more popular support, so that the Polish United Workers' Party can solve the big problems of Solidarity and continue to lead Poland forward with a new attitude. t1706231537: