Communist parties lacking legitimacy bargained with society and reformed, preparing them for transition.

Evidence

In contrast, the parties who rode into power on Soviet tanks and had little legitimacy on their own right were the first to relax repression and to allow some degree of economic and political reform. For the Polish and Hungarian parties, their initial lack of support led to redoubled efforts to gain societal acceptance through constant efforts to demonstrate responsiveness. They thus neither made extensive inroads into society, nor did they have much use for party membership. Instead, they focused on leadership change and policy adjustment. While the reform policies often backtracked before lurching ahead again, the underlying patterns of the party state-society relationship remained. Since there was no initial mass legitimization, these parties constantly bargained with society in an attempt to keep social peace. — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 331

Categorization

• XREF: Core to the reading purpose: early legitimacy deficit drove a durability orientation rather than decay, the mirror image of communist successor parties facing alliance collapse after 1989. — connects to: High initial legitimacy made a communist party repressive and rigid rather than responsive. — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 330; Forced exit from power in 1989 was needed to compel communist party reform — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 112; Parties with low initial legitimacy survived by bargaining with society — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past: The…, 330 (+1 more)

Broader Connections

• Parties with low initial legitimacy survived by bargaining with society #expands (0.95) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 330
• Communist successor parties repurposed legacies of past reform to gain democratic credibility. #expands (0.80) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 74
• Forced exit from power in 1989 was needed to compel communist party reform #corroborates (0.75) — Anna M. Grzymala-Busse, Redeeming The Communist Past, 112