Computer Collection of Essays from Scholarship 2006 Perestroika and the PC Richard Evans-Best Computer Online Store Houston Buy Discount Prices Texas-Directron.com

Richard Evans

Perestroika and the PC
- By Richard Evans

On the frosty winter evening of December 13th 1981, General Wojciech Jaruzelski announced to surprised Polish TV viewers the imposition of martial law - ordering the army and special police units to seize control of the country, apprehend opposition leaders (mainly members of Solidarność � a labor union that grew to be a powerful political power threatening the communist party) and prevent all further forms of union activity. The real reasons of this act remained unclear though this was a man that, having reigned over a political system based upon economic rationing, questioned why a man would need to own more than one tie because, after all, he could only wear one at a time.

In interviews many years later Jaruzelski claimed that he acted to prevent the greater evil of otherwise unavoidable Soviet invasion. The junta suppressed all forms of resistance with a fervent determination that cost the lives of several protesters and, by the New Year, the stunned nation that had hoped for reforms and a more Western-oriented approach of its government was again under the firm grip of a conventional communist regime.

On August 12^th the same year, IBM released a product that would change the world forever - the IBM PC. The "PC" stood for "Personal Computer" making IBM responsible for popularizing the term and heralding a new technological revolution. Four months later Time Magazine named that computer "man of the year" amidst overwhelming consumer demand for IBM's new product. In the years that followed further milestones would be reached through the work of a then-little company called Microsoft, which further developed and popularized the PC as we know it today.

For most people around the world, the invention of the Personal Computer and the technological revolution that followed would be more important than the events in Poland and the Velvet revolution that would later follow throughout Central and Eastern Europe. After all, IBM's invention affects our lives on a daily basis. Very few of us can imagine life without a Personal Computer, the success and financial viability of many businesses no doubt depends on it and to prove just how true that statement is it's enough to look at the Millennium Bug and the worldwide panic it caused and financial costs to squash it.

For Polish people and citizens of the other Central and Eastern European countries the events of the 1980s had had a huge impact on even the remotest possibility of technological progress. For almost the whole decade communist governments throughout the region had continued to staunchly suppress the exchange of knowledge and information, a policy which had served them well since the end of the Second World War in seeking to maintain their political grip. Even something as simple as wrapping your shoes in one of the daily newspapers from a foreign country you had visited would elicit the confiscation of said newspaper for fear it would get into the wrong hands. University professors would be sent articles from their foreign counterparts and, upon arrival would find that words had been cut of the text - words that the Communist party apparently deemed too dangerous for the sustainability of their position in power. The censorship did not only mean a lack of accurate political and economical insight amongst society but also limited or no access to western literature, movies, science, technology and goods, ultimately resulting in a cultural and economic gap between the Communist Bloc and the western world. News of IBM's wonderful invention had largely passed them by.

Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachov was elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on March 11th 1985 and swiftly implemented a series of economic reforms, as a part of the "Perestroika" program, seeking to reorganize a stagnant Soviet economy and to improve workers' conditions. Largely unrealized at the time, Gorbachov's new policies - later to be called "Socialism with a human face" - would have far reaching consequences for the Communist-oppressed countries throughout the Soviet Bloc, including Poland. Gorbachov's "Perestroika" program would eventually lead to the fall of the "Iron Curtain" in the late 1980s and early 1990s and would herald the advent of the free market economy. Even after political reforms gradually took place in Poland and in the other former Soviet Bloc countries, allowing for a free market economy and for the free exchange of technology, the cultural and economic gap which had been allowed to grow under Communist rule would clearly take a number of years to catch up with the more developed countries. Eventually, however, news of the "PC" would arrive.

Born in 1977 and growing up in Poland at this very difficult time was quite different from what people my age in western countries must have experienced. Apart from the tense political situation and limitations involved following the events described above we simply didn't have as many nice clothes, books, toys and well, Personal Computers. Even when news of the PC did come, economic realities meant few people could afford it. 15 years ago and in Poland it was not at all obvious for a kid to own a computer. In fact probably only one in a hundred teenagers had one. Not only were they extremely expensive, they were also hard to buy as the private sector of the economy slowly grew the knowledge and contacts to meet the trickling demand. For those that did have a PC, often in the form of a gift from family members living abroad, they were considered �the chosen few' and were sorely admired amongst the student populous. Eventually, following the demise of Communism and the political and economical changes that took place, computer technology became more accessible and gradually got cheaper. Even so, it wasn't considered unusual that I got my first computer only after I graduated from the university at the age of 23. Being fresh out of school and therefore unable to afford one my parents gave me my first "PC" as a present, congratulating me for my exam success.

Nowadays, I have to wonder how I ever coped without a PC. How did I write all the papers? And, the endless assignments? And, above all, how did I write my research thesis? Well, looking back, I have to say � with great difficulty. The Psychology Department's computer lab had maybe 6 or 7 PCs even as late as the year 1999 � some 13 years after Perestroika and still the PC was a rare commodity. With 300 students, one can no doubt imagine just how difficult it was to actually use one of them. Some of my wealthier friends, still then considered amongst �the chosen few', had their own computers and they very kindly let me use them, such was the ongoing limitation to IBM's great invention. Unfortunately they had their fair share of work to do, so it was always very much about timing and planning well ahead to gain access. And even then I was using those computers as typewriters, since that was all I could count on � just enough time to quickly type up a piece of my work, rather than benefit from all its editing tools which had come along with the fall of Communism.

Gaining access to a PC in Poland even in 1999 still took some careful planning. Knowing for example that the department's computer lab was run by students � in an unpaid capacity � the promise of easy access to the "master" PC was enough of an incentive for me to get a job. As you can imagine it wasn't easy at all. The successful candidate had to be familiar with the Operating System, text editors and to have knowledge of fixing the most common problems, which seemed only fair but not having a PC of my own I had to learn it from somewhere. When I eventually landed the job, my life got much easier - not to mention the quality of my papers! Sure there were differences between my experiences of the eventual introduction of IBM's wonderful new product and the experiences of people my age around the world but, perhaps if I had not grown up having had those experiences, I wouldn't appreciate just how wonderful an invention it was. And, what if Perestroika and the PC hadn't come along for me in Poland? Those two very different events � the technological revolution and the birth of the PC and the Velvet revolution and the death of Communism � have changed my life forever.

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