Communism’s Curtain Call: The Collapse of Soviet Rule in Eastern Europe 1989-1991

About the Committee:

For the last sixty years, the Soviet Union and its later Warsaw Pact “allies” have stood strong against fifth columnists, the West, and anyone else who would see the Worker’s Revolution falter. However, the forces of reaction are mustering their greatest threat to socialism since the bleak days of the Great Patriotic War - the Soviet economy is sluggish, the West has surged ahead in military power, and dissidents are taking advantage of Gorbachev’s new openness to protest and riot, to sow the seeds of collapse in governments across the Eastern Bloc. To make matters worse, the leadership of the Pact is divided - at a time like this, infighting between hardliners and reformists may create the very opening Yeltsin and his capitalist cronies need to place millions back under the iron boot of Capitalist repression. In this committee, leaders from across the Eastern Bloc representing a wide variety of national and ideological interests have been assembled to face the crises that threaten to overwhelm all of Socialist Europe. Will you fight the collapse as one and preserve Lenin’s dream, or falter and watch in despair as the worker’s banner is lowered from the flagpole for the final time?

A LETTER FROM THE DaiS:

Dear Delegates, 

My name is Ian Smith, and I’m thrilled to be co-directing my second MUNUM committee! I’m a junior majoring in Economics and Political Science and have been a member of MUNUM since my freshman year. Outside of MUNUM, I’m a member of Michigan’s competitive Model UN team, BlueMUN, where I have so much fun getting to travel and participate in fun and novel committees. I’m also President of our Board Game club, through which I’ve met a ton of great people and learned a lot about leadership. Outside of school and extracurriculars, I’m very interested in Cold War history, especially in the U.S, which provided a lot of inspiration for this committee topic. In my free time, I play a lot of Wii and board games with my friends, read very occasionally, and have been getting more into films. Designing this committee with Thomas has been super fun, and I look forward to helping all of you have a great time at conference with it. Feel free to reach out if you have questions about MUNUM, this committee, or anything else - see you in January!

I’m Thomas Besek, and I’m so excited to be co-directing a committee at MUNUM this year with Ian. I’m a sophomore at the University of Michigan majoring in Political Science, and I’ve been part of MUNUM since last year, where I served as a rapporteur on the Nixon committee. It’s been one of the most meaningful parts of my college experience, and I’m thrilled to help lead a committee this time around. On campus, I served in student government and am involved with The Public Interest Research Group and the Alexander Hamilton Society. I’m especially interested in American politics and government. This fall, I’ll be studying abroad in Paris, and I can’t wait to bring back some fresh perspective and even better stories. Outside of class and MUNUM, I love riding my bike around town, cooking for my friends, and working on local campaigns. Co-directing this committee with Ian has been a great experience so far, and we’re both looking forward to seeing how you all bring it to life in January. Don’t hesitate to reach out with questions about the committee, MUNUM, or anything else!

We can’t wait to see all of you in committee, as long as we don’t find out any of you are Bourgeois spies before January. Until then, you can get in touch with us at iansmi@umich.edu and besekt@umich.edu.

Best,

Ian and Thomas, your Soviet Collapse Co-Directors.