Sharon L. Wolchik > Quotes

“When communist governments took over after the war, they installed their men and women at the local level and in the key ministries so that they controlled the economy, military, and police. Parties on the far right were tarred as collaborators and outlawed soon after the end of the war. The timing varied, but in all cases, noncommunist parties were either eliminated or allowed to exist under Communist Party control to mobilize sectors of the population unlikely to become members of the party.”
― Sharon L. Wolchik, Central and East European Politics: From Communism to Democracy

“Communism was also a system in which the leaders had little trust in those they worked with or in the population as a whole. The Soviet model was not chosen by the population, but was imposed from above.”
― Sharon L. Wolchik, Central and East European Politics: From Communism to Democracy