Why did communism fail to connect with nationalism?

Answer 1

The inability to connect communism with nationalism left communist regimes vulnerable throughout eastern and Western Europe. The hope that reform might push the regimes to a less harsh and more enlightened communist rule with Nikita Khrushchev's vision of a more prosperous and humane communism inspired a generation of reformers in the Soviet Union and Europe. By the early 1970s, intellectuals and dissidents abandoned all hope for a humane socialism. Strains on the Soviet economy, obvious signs of discontent, and a new Soviet orientation by Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the new Soviet leader, led to the collapse or overthrow of regimes in Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, and East Germany. The end of communism came first in Poland, where Solidarity, a combined trade union and nationalist movement, put pressure on the Communist Party. These two systems never connected because nationalism was about pride and freedom while communism was more about rules, regulations, and uniformity within a society. In Czechoslovakia, a "velvet revolution" swept communists out of office and restored democracy by 1990. The failure of these communist nations produced a quicker defeat of the Soviet Union with the pace of reform eventually leading to the ultimate collapse. The Soviet system disintegrated soon after other communist countries fell, a feat deemed impossible by many of the age. Boris Yeltsin, Gorbachev's former friend and ally, dismantled the Communist Party, lead the country towards democracy and became the first president of Russia.