Editing Eastern Bloc (section)

==Politics==
{{main|Eastern Bloc politics}}
[[File:Communist block.svg|thumb|left|300px|Countries which once had overtly [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] governments in bright red and countries the USSR considered at one point to be "moving toward socialism" in orange]]
Despite the initial [[Stalinism|institutional design of communism implemented]] by [[Joseph Stalin]] in the Eastern Bloc, subsequent development varied across countries.<ref name="hardt11">{{Harvnb|Hardt|Kaufman|1995|p=11}}</ref> In satellite states, after peace treaties were initially concluded, opposition was essentially liquidated, fundamental steps towards socialism were enforced, and Kremlin leaders sought to strengthen control therein.<ref name="wettig108">{{Harvnb|Wettig|2008|pp=108–9}}</ref> Right from the beginning, Stalin directed systems that rejected Western institutional characteristics of [[market economy|market economies]], capitalist parliamentary democracy (dubbed "bourgeois democracy" in Soviet parlance) and the rule of law subduing discretional intervention by the state.<ref name="hardt12">{{Harvnb|Hardt|Kaufman|1995|p=12}}</ref> The resulting states aspired to total control of a political center backed by an extensive and active repressive apparatus, and a central role of [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] ideology.<ref name="hardt12"/>
[[File:Eastern block flags.png|thumb|300x300px|Communist countries and [[Soviet republic (system of government)|Soviet republics]] in Europe with their representative flags (1950s)]]
However, the vestiges of democratic institutions were never entirely destroyed, resulting in the façade of Western style institutions such as parliaments, which effectively just rubber-stamped decisions made by rulers, and constitutions, to which adherence by authorities was limited or non-existent.<ref name="hardt12"/> Parliaments were still elected, but their meetings occurred only a few days per year, only to legitimize politburo decisions, and so little attention was paid to them that some of those serving were actually dead, and officials would openly state that they would seat members who had lost elections.<ref name="crampton246">{{Harvnb|Crampton|1997|p=246}}</ref>

The first or General Secretary of the [[central committee]] in each [[communist party]] was the most powerful figure in each regime.<ref name="crampton244">{{Harvnb|Crampton|1997|p=244}}</ref> The party over which the [[politburo]] held sway was not a mass party but, conforming with [[Leninist]] tradition, a smaller selective party of between three and fourteen percent of the country's population who had accepted total obedience.<ref name="crampton245">{{Harvnb|Crampton|1997|p=245}}</ref> Those who secured membership in this selective group received considerable rewards, such as access to special lower priced shops with a greater selection of high-quality domestic and/or foreign goods ([[confection]]s, [[alcohol (drug)|alcohol]], [[cigar]]s, [[camera]]s, [[television]]s, and the like), special schools, holiday facilities, homes, high-quality domestic and/or foreign-made furniture, works of art, pensions, permission to travel abroad, and official cars with distinct license plates so that police and others could identify these members from a distance.<ref name="crampton245"/>

===Political and civil restrictions===
{{further|Political repression in the Soviet Union|Human rights in the Soviet Union|Elections in the Soviet Union|Population transfer in the Soviet Union|Gulag|Telephone tapping in the Eastern Bloc|Suppressed research in the Soviet Union|Samizdat|Sharashka}}
In addition to emigration restrictions, civil society, defined as a domain of political action outside the party's state control, was not allowed to firmly take root, with the possible exception of [[History of Poland (1945–1989)#Final decade of the Polish People's Republic (1980–89)|Poland in the 1980s]].<ref name="hardt18">{{Harvnb|Hardt|Kaufman|1995|p=18}}</ref> While the institutional design of the communist systems were based on the rejection of rule of law, the legal infrastructure was not immune to change reflecting decaying ideology and the substitution of autonomous law.<ref name="hardt18"/> Initially, communist parties were small in all countries except Czechoslovakia, such that there existed an acute shortage of politically "trustworthy" persons for administration, police, and other professions.<ref name="wettig40">{{Harvnb|Wettig|2008|p=40}}</ref> Thus, "politically unreliable" non-communists initially had to fill such roles.<ref name="wettig40"/> Those not obedient to communist authorities were ousted, while Moscow cadres started a large-scale party programs to train personnel who would meet political requirements.<ref name="wettig40"/> Former members of the middle-class were officially discriminated against, though the state's need for their skills and certain opportunities to re-invent themselves as good Communist citizens did allow many to nonetheless achieve success.<ref name="James, M (2005)">{{cite journal |last1=Mark |first1=James |title=Discrimination, opportunity, and middle-class success in early Communist Hungary |journal=The Historical Journal |date=June 2005 |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=499–521 |doi=10.1017/S0018246X05004486 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/33CC6D7338635CA31C36D84DE015E1AD/S0018246X05004486a.pdf/div-class-title-discrimination-opportunity-and-middle-class-success-in-early-communist-hungary-div.pdf |archive-date=27 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190427095703id_/https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/33CC6D7338635CA31C36D84DE015E1AD/S0018246X05004486a.pdf/div-class-title-discrimination-opportunity-and-middle-class-success-in-early-communist-hungary-div.pdf}}</ref>

Communist regimes in the Eastern Bloc viewed marginal groups of opposition intellectuals as a potential threat because of the bases underlying Communist power therein.<ref name="Pollackxiv">{{Harvnb|Pollack|Wielgohs|2004|p=xiv}}</ref> The suppression of dissidence and opposition was considered a central prerequisite to retain power, though the enormous expense at which the population in certain countries were kept under secret surveillance may not have been rational.<ref name="Pollackxiv"/> Following a totalitarian initial phase, a post-totalitarian period followed the death of Stalin in which the primary method of Communist rule shifted from mass terror to selective repression, along with ideological and sociopolitical strategies of legitimation and the securing of loyalty.<ref name="Pollackxv">{{Harvnb|Pollack|Wielgohs|2004|p=xv}}</ref> Juries were replaced by a tribunal of professional judges and two lay assessors that were dependable party actors.<ref name="crampton247">{{Harvnb|Crampton|1997|p=247}}</ref>

The police deterred and contained opposition to party directives.<ref name="crampton247"/> The political police served as the core of the system, with their names becoming synonymous with raw power and the threat of violent retribution should an individual become active against the State.<ref name="crampton247"/> Several state police and secret police organizations enforced communist party rule, including the following:
* Soviet Union – [[KGB]]
* East Germany – [[Stasi]], [[Volkspolizei]] and [[Combat Groups of the Working Class|KdA]]
* Czechoslovakia – [[StB|STB]] and [[People's Militias (Czechoslovakia)|LM]]
* Bulgaria – [[Committee for State Security (Bulgaria)|KDS]], usually referred to as just "Darzhavna sigurnost" ("State Security")
* Albania – [[Sigurimi]]
* Yugoslavia – [[Directorate for State Security (Yugoslavia)|UDBA]]
* Hungary – [[State Protection Authority|ÁVH]] and [[Workers' Militia|Munkásőrség]]
* Romania – [[Securitate]] and [[Patriotic Guards (Romania)|GP]]
* Poland – [[Urząd Bezpieczeństwa]], [[Służba Bezpieczeństwa]] and [[ZOMO]]

===Media and information restrictions===
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{{main|Eastern Bloc media and propaganda}}
{{further|Deutscher Fernsehfunk|Mass media in Communist Czechoslovakia|Propaganda in the People's Republic of Poland|Propaganda in the Soviet Union|Soviet Information Bureau}}

[[File:TrybunaLudu3.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Announcement of [[martial law in Poland]] by ''[[Trybuna Ludu]]'',14 December 1981]]
The press in the communist period was an organ of the state, completely reliant on and subservient to the communist party.<ref name="oneil15">{{Harvnb|O'Neil|1997|p=15}}</ref> Before the late 1980s, Eastern Bloc radio and television organizations were state-owned, while print media was usually owned by political organizations, mostly by the local communist party.<ref name="oneil25">{{Harvnb|O'Neil|1997|p=125}}</ref> Youth newspapers and magazines were owned by youth organizations affiliated with communist parties.<ref name="oneil25"/>

The control of the media was exercised directly by the communist party itself, and by state censorship, which was also controlled by the party.<ref name="oneil25"/> Media served as an important form of control over information and society.<ref name="oneil1">{{Harvnb|O'Neil|1997|p=1}}</ref> The dissemination and portrayal of knowledge were considered by authorities to be vital to communism's survival by stifling alternative concepts and critiques.<ref name="oneil1"/> Several state Communist Party newspapers were published, including:
* [[Central newspapers of the Soviet Union]]
* [[Trybuna Ludu|Trybuna Ludu (Poland)]]
* {{ill|Czerwony Sztandar (Vilnius)|pl|Czerwony Sztandar (Wilno)}} (1953–1990), Polish-language newspaper in Lithuanian SSR
* [[Népszabadság]] (until 1956 [[Szabad Nép]], Hungary)
* [[Neues Deutschland|Neues Deutschland (East Germany)]]
* [[Rabotnichesko Delo|Rabotnichesko Delo (Bulgaria)]]
* [[Rudé právo|Rudé právo (Czechoslovakia)]]
* [[Rahva Hääl|Rahva Hääl (annexed former Estonia)]]
* [[Pravda (Slovakia)]]
* [[Kauno diena|Kauno diena (annexed former Lithuania)]]
* [[Scînteia|Scînteia (Romania)]]
* [[Zvyazda|Zvyazda (Belarus)]].

The [[Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union|Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS)]] served as the central agency for collection and distribution of internal and international news for all Soviet newspapers, radio and television stations. It was frequently infiltrated by Soviet intelligence and security agencies, such as the [[NKVD]] and [[Glavnoye Razvedyvatel'noye Upravleniye|GRU]]. TASS had affiliates in 14 Soviet republics, including the [[Lithuanian SSR]], [[Latvian SSR]], [[Estonian SSR]], [[Moldavian SSR]]. [[Ukrainian SSR]] and [[Byelorussian SSR]].

Western countries invested heavily in powerful transmitters which enabled services such as the [[BBC]], [[VOA]] and [[Radio Free Europe]] (RFE) to be heard in the Eastern Bloc, despite attempts by authorities to jam the airways.