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Just as Poland was showing the world the best that could be hoped for in the drama of reform, China was showing the worst. Deng Xiaoping had introduced bold and promising reforms of the economy under the slogan of "Four Modernizations." But Deng kept the political system rigidly in the Stalinist mold. Inspired by their increased exposure to the outside world in general and by the example of Gorbachev's democratization in particular, the people of China appealed to their leadership for more political freedom. A demonstration by several thousand students escalated into a six-week occupation of the central square in Beijing by crowds of up to 1 million people. When the tanks rolled in on June 4, reformers in Poland suddenly had a new code word for the catastrophe they feared might still befall them: Tiananmen.
Although Gorbachev was obviously dismayed, his public reaction was muted. Talking with French academics at the Sorbonne a month later, he reminded them that the Soviet party had urged the Chinese authorities to solve the problem by "political dialogue" with the young demonstrators. "This position of ours remains unchanged," he said. In contrast, Gorbachev called the changes in Eastern Europe "inspiring."
The Iron Curtain Comes Down
Nowhere were they more so than in Hungary. The Hungarian freedom fighters of 1956 had been the moral and political precursors of the martyrs of Tiananmen, defeated by tanks. After suppressing that revolt and executing the moderate communist leader Imre Nagy, Moscow tried a new form of bribery: it allowed Hungary wider latitude in economic experimentation than any other East bloc country, in exchange for political orthodoxy.
Hungarian revisionism, nicknamed "goulash communism," produced prosperity and glitter for a while, but the economy nonetheless went into a long decline because the stagnation was too widespread and deep rooted to be cured by tinkering. Party boss Janos Kadar, the quisling who had replaced Nagy, was ousted in May 1988. He was succeeded by moderate reformer Karoly Grosz. But as in the Soviet Union, moderate reform was, by definition, inadequate. Drastic measures were necessary and, in the Gorbachev era, acceptable to Moscow. In search of new ideas and a democratic image in January 1989, parliament passed legislation permitting the formation of opposition political parties for the next election, to be held in the spring. The communists, in a desperate bid to regain some legitimacy, have renamed themselves the Hungarian Socialist Party, but they are expected to capture no more than 15% to 20% of the vote.
On March 17, Hungary signed the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, pledging not to force fleeing foreigners to return to their own countries. In a year of turning points, that move had special importance. Hungary began dismantling the barbed wire on the Austrian border. Quite literally, the Iron Curtain had started to come down. The principal beneficiaries were East German travelers, who were suddenly able to keep right on moving westward. The fatal hemorrhaging of the German Democratic Republic had begun.