The Role of the USSR in the Establishment of Communist

Governments in Eastern Europe after 1945

After 1945, several Eastern European countries adopted Communist
regimes, whether this was caused by the actual popularity of the
ideology or on the other hand, was due to the influence of other
factors, such as the USSR, the question remains quite interesting
when analysis 20th century politics.
During the war, in Nazi occupied countries, it was the Communists
who led the Resistance movements; therefore it is fair to say that
Communism gained well-deserved popularity from 1939 to 1945, in
Denmark for example, the Communist party would triple in votes
after the war.
The dreadful impacts of the war left the people of most European
countries in a terrible. Communism seemed to be a great social
alternative, and that is why, in 1946, 38% of the Czech population
voted Communist, this remains one of the greatest performances of
any Communist party in a free election.
Although these factors seem to show that the establishment of
Communism in Eastern Europe was due to the growing popular
desire for social change, there is an external element that
completely outweighs the previous factors: The USSR.
The presence of the USSRs Red Army, the biggest in the world, in
liberated Eastern countries after 1945 was a decisive factor in the
rise of Communism.
In most eastern countries, Communism was not all that popular, but
the Communists had a set of strategies to make sure they gained
popularity. They would focus on controlling propaganda, the police,
and the Ministry of Justice so as to pressure whole populations to
vote in their favour. They implemented salami tactics which meant
to get rid of opposition groups one by one. The sole influence of the
Red Army and of the NKVD, the Soviet secret police, already made it
so popularity for the Party would go up.
In Hungary, just after the war ended, 17% of the population voted
Communist. In 1949, after four years of the Red Armys presence,
the Communists would receive 96% of the vote. This shows the
clear influence of the Red Army and the NKVD on popular vote.
In Poland, there was supposed to be a coalition government made
up of both Communists and non-Communists. Stalin did not care, he
had 500,000 soldiers stay in Poland and set up a Communist
Provisional government despite what was agreed at Yalta in 1945.

From 1945 to 1949, the number of Communist Party members went

from 240,000 to 1,370,000.
Although after 1945, the popularity of Marxist ideas notably
increased, the role of the USSR was by far the most decisive factor
in the rise of Communism in Eastern Europe.