“The Walls Came Tumbling Down”, highlights the events leading up to the end of Communism in Eastern Europe. More specifically Gale Stokes focuses on the countries of Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania.
Stokes is careful not to generalize in the reason for each country’s collapse, but rather highlights each country and discusses the many factors that led to their individual revolution. However, there were two important factors that influenced all of Eastern Europe: the Prague Spring of 1968 and the Solidarity movement in Poland. Stokes argues that the brutal and heavy handed response of the Soviet Union in invading Czechoslovakia in 1968 crushed any remaining idealism in the Communist system of government. The Solidarity movement which arose as a kind of workers union for Poland was important because it came to be a powerful force that largely resided outside the Party’s influence. Polish Party leaders were forced to make concessions to appease the movement or face massive countrywide strikes which had a devastating affect on the economy.
Stokes uses a wide range of sources mostly from the 20th century to bolster his arguments on why the system eventually imploded in on itself even though it encouraged its citizens to keep a low profile and not make any waves. For the most part, Stokes heavily cites his facts in the back of the book, but there were a few glaring facts throughout the book that were not backed up by evidence. Instead, they were treated more as accepted wisdom.
One of the most important thing to keep in mind when reading this book, is that it was written in 1992 and published in 1993. Readers aren’t given as clear a picture of the events of 1989 as they might from reading a more modern book with a greater sense of perspective. This may be why the book doesn’t focus as much on the broader social feelings of average people. Rather, the book looks heavily at the leaders both in the government and in the opposition.