Brezhnev Doctrine

The Brezhnev Doctrine was proclaimed by the Soviet party leader Leonid Brezhnev at the 5th Congress of the Polish United Workers Party on November 12, 1968. She went out of the " limited sovereignty" of the socialist states and deduced from the right to intervene if in one of these states, socialism would be threatened. This was the main thesis: " The sovereignty of the individual States finds its limit in the interests of the socialist community. "

History

One day after the proclamation of the doctrine appeared the following text in the Soviet newspaper Pravda:

" The CPSU has always advocated that every socialist country determines the concrete forms of its development on the path of socialism, taking into account the specifics of its national conditions. But also recognized that there are general laws of socialist construction. A move away from them could lead to a shift away from socialism. And if the inner and outer, socialism enemy forces try to turn the development of some socialist country on the restoration of the capitalist system, if a threat to socialism in this country, a threat to the security of the entire socialist community is formed which can not only a problem of the country concerned. "

The Brezhnev Doctrine justified later the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops in Czechoslovakia, which took place on 21 August 1968 ( Prague Spring ). It was also used to justify the military intervention by the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in 1979.

The People's Republic of China, Romania, Albania and Yugoslavia referred the Soviet leadership back, other Eastern Bloc countries, including the GDR, accepted him.

As part of the reform policy under Mikhail Gorbachev, the doctrine was officially lifted in 1988. The following year, was coined by the Speaker of the Soviet Foreign Ministry, Gennadi Gerasimov, in October 1989 on the edge of a state visit to Finland, the word, the Brezhnev Doctrine will now superseded by the Sinatra Doctrine.

Warsaw letter to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia

The Warsaw letter to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic ( CSSR ) of 15 July 1968 is also understood as the Brezhnev Doctrine and took place 37 days before the invasion of troops into Czechoslovakia, thus the so-called Prague Spring was crushed. From the contents: " It was and is not our intention to interfere in such matters are extremely internal affairs of your party and your state. It was and is not our intention to violate the principles of respect for autonomy and equality in relations between communist parties and socialist countries to violate [ ... ]. "

" We can not agree that hostile forces encounter your country from the path of socialism and would risk a secession of Czechoslovakia from the socialist community. These are not just your affairs. These are the common aspects of all the communist and workers' parties and all through Confederation, through cooperation and friendship united states. These are the common affairs of States which have united in the Warsaw Treaty in order to establish their independence, to ensure peace and security in Europe is an insurmountable barrier against the imperialist forces of aggression and revenge. "

End of the Brezhnev Doctrine

Mikhail Gorbachev called ( according to its own description ) at the funeral of his predecessor Chernenko in March 1985 the leaders of the Eastern Bloc countries to himself and made it clear to them that from now on every country of his way ( and the consequences thereof ) itself was responsible. This new doctrine was known as the " Sinatra doctrine ".