There was a second key factor that led to hope. Widespread violence was virtually absent in the Eastern European revolution. Peace is a necessity in the formation of democracy. Major changes occurred without the traditional imposition of Soviet force or, for that matter, the violence that accompanies most revolutions. Estonians speak of the “singing revolution” in their country that took place without any deaths or destruction of property. In Summer Meditations, Vaclav Havel writes of the significance of the nonviolent nature of the revolution that swept Czechoslovakia and much of the rest of Eastern Europe:
The idea that the world might actually be changed by the force of truth, the power of a truthful word, the strength of a free spirit, conscience and responsibility –with no guns, no lust for power, no political wheeling and dealing –was quite beyond the horizon of . . . understanding . . . but it was the only way that made sense, since violence, as we know, breeds more violence. This is why most revolutions degenerate into dictatorships that devour their young, giving rise to new revolutionaries who prepare for new violence, unaware that they are digging their own graves and pushing society back onto the deadly merry-go-round of revolution and counterrevolution.
Even where violence is being experienced in Eastern Europe, it usually occurs not as a result of a change in the structure of government but rather as a result of the liberation of pent-up nationalist and ethnic hostility. Tragically, this form of violence is allowed to be acted out because of the heightened disarray that accompanies a change in governmental form. Dictatorships of a somewhat different form did emerge (especially in Russia). Havel was only partly right. Vladimir Putin is a much less visionary but horribly more realistic actor.
A third key factor that we must keep in mind concerns the nature of major changes that occurred in Eastern Europe during the 1990s. These changes were short-term, illusory or primarily cosmetic. The same people were often in charge and the same policies often were followed–though different words were now being used. Truth was still being distorted and extreme statements were still being made. Only now they were the opposite of what was said before. In other words, the more that things seem to change in the former Soviet Union, the more, in some sense, they seemed to stay the same. Citizens of the Soviet Union were accustomed to believing that the truth was whatever was the opposite of the official information.
