History of Germany (1945–90) eventually hundreds of thousands of people in several cities—particularly in Leipzig—continued to grow. On 7 October, the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev visited Berlin to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of East Germany and urged the East German leadership to pursue reform, without success. The movement of civil resistance against the East German regime—both the emigration and the demonstrations—continued unabated. On 18 October, Erich Honecker was forced to resign as head of the SED and as head of state and was replaced by Egon Krenz. But the exodus continued unabated, and pressure for political reform mounted. On 4 November,
Main Task "unity of economic and social policy". Between 1971 and 1982 the GDP of the GDR grew at average 5% annually, however the pursued policy only increased state’s debts and by 1982 GDR was nearly insolvent. This change of policy was greatly influenced by the 1970 Polish protests which lead to greater emphasis on consumer goods and welfare policies in the whole of Eastern Bloc. In reaction to Walter Ulbricht’s many policy changes, Erich Honecker imposed a more traditionalist Weimar-era communist ideology which influenced his economic policies as well. Instead of Ulbricht’s technocrats who dreamt about overtaking capitalist West, he promoted