The Fall of Communism
The fall of communism can be linked to several reasons. Some of these reasons were internal while other were the results of outside influence. For a form of any type of government to work the people must support it, true a government can use force to make their populace submit to the will of the government as with China in Tiananmem Square. In that case, the government use armed military force to put down student demonstrator demanding for democracy reform. Meanwhile over in Eastern Europe the people are able to force a change of government. When communism first took hold in Russia, Lenin predicted that their system would produce a new socialist man, completely loyal to communism. However, the young folks that had spent their whole life under communist control that hated this form of government and were trying to escape to the west. This maybe credit to fact that folks behind the Iron Wall were able to see the advantages the people of the west had. Other internal problems facing the communist governments of Eastern Europe was the collapse of their economy. The arms race the Soviet Union had been involved in with NATO had bankrupted their economy. This in turn effect the people, when the economy started to collapse, the people started to lose their jobs, were not able to get the basic necessities from the local stores. In most cases when one form of government can not provide the basic needs for their people, than the people will look for a form of government that can provide for them. Than there is one aspect of human nature that Communist Party in the Soviet Union was not able to control and the desire of the people of Eastern Europe to be free of Soviet control. Before World War II, the countries that made up Eastern Europe had been independent countries able to decide their own fate. When the Soviet Union pushed out the forces of Nazi Germany, they install puppet governments that were loyal to the Soviet Union. Inspite of 40 plus years of control, the communist party was never able to kill the dream of the people to govern themselves and chose their own destiny. The other major cause for the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe was NATO.
The Communist Government faced some political and economic challenges in the years 1917-28, with the Civil War leading to economic collapse, mass poverty and political crisis. The Communist Government tried to introduce measures to solve these problems, but with every solution there was more political and economic challenges.
During the 20th century, the rise of communism sparked rage in people throughout the world. More towards the end of the 1900's the fall of communism and dictatorships was just the beginning of what would eventually be a large democratic change for several countries. 1989: Democratic Revolutions at the Cold War's End, speaks about the change brought to several different countries from the 1980's-1990's and plans to show "the global transformations that marked the end of the cold war and shaped the era in which we live"(Pg V). During the cold war, communist had power and control over a large area and spread communism throughout several continents. This book specifically hits on six different studies of where communism and dictatorship affected these areas and what they did to stop it. Poland, Philippines, Chile, South Africa, Ukraine, and China throughout the end of the 20th century created revolutionary movements which brought them all one step closer to freeing themselves and creating democratic change.
The United States, led by President Truman, wanted to form democracies in Europe and create a capitalistic society to build economically strong nations that would complement the American economy through trade. In contrast, the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, wanted to rebuild itself and spread communism through Europe and Asia. In a desperate attempt to rebuild, many countries devastated by war fell under Soviet influence and resorted to communism. The Soviet Union called these nations satellite nations and hoped that they would serve as?buffers? nations, preventing invasion from the West.
The twentieth century was full of a lot of bloodshed and violence which was mainly because of the 2 world wars that occurred. Although there was a lot of fighting during the twentieth century, there was an even amount of non-violence fighting going around the entire world. The main battle of non-violence was going on between the communists and the capitalist governments. This war was called the Cold War, also known as the war of propaganda and words. The Cold War didn’t just end and the Soviet Union didn’t just fall, there were many causes of these events. The main causes were politicians and the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Why did modern communism fail? Is it because it did not fulfill its promises? Well, what exactly was it promising? In this essay, the reasons will be presented. Then we can decipher why communism did fall.
of the beginning of the fall of Communism in Poland. The Communist government saw that the
to assume the role of dictator. This was a phenomenon which was to become a
The collapse of communism in the Soviet Union also led to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe as the countries became democratic. Works Cited Holt World History of the Human Journey. Austin: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 2003.ebookhttp://myhrw.com/tabnav/controller.jsp?isbn=0030667186. Macro History and World Report. Frank E. Smitha, 2000-2011http://www.fsmitha.com/h2/ch33-5.htm.
Did Communism fail because of the lack of leadership or the lack of support. Vladimir Lenin’s ideology of was to gain control of the working class and create a more agrarian society. If we go back to the beginning to the creation of Marxism, Karl Marx had a dream to create a more utopian society. A classless society where everyone worked, and everyone shared in the fruits of their labor. Subsequently, Vladimir Lenin wanted to develop an economic plan that would take the Soviet Union further by granting states control of large industries but encouraged individual leadership, private enterprise, and the profit among farmers and owners of small businesses. Today, property would not have an important impact on the Soviet economy. Except for
Since 1991 the Soviet Union ended its own existence, mostly because of a failed Coup d’état and instability. Many people today think that god blessed the world with the collapse of this country, while some other people (mostly Russians, Vladimir Putin and communists) think that this was the worst political tragedy that happened on human history. Many opinions about communism are still mixed, many of them influenced by Cold War-era propaganda. But let’s be fair for a moment in order to understand whether or not the fall of this country and political system generally was really favorable to humanity. The Soviets were known for developing amazing technology on their side of the space race, mainly because of their outstanding education system and the privilege of having great minds on their side. They achieved adapting an entire different political structure based on the teachings of Marx and Engels to create one of the most influential powers
There were many events that lead up to the Bolshevik Revolution. First off, in 1848, Karl Marx and Fredrich Engels published a thought-provoking book. The Communist Manifesto expressed their support of a world in which there was no difference in class. A world in which the workers and commoners ran the show and there was no high and supreme ruler. Many intellectual Russians began to become aware of this pamphlet as well as the advanced state of the world compared to Russia. Other countries were going through an industrial revolution, while the Czars had made it clear that no industrial surge was about to happen in Russia. The popularity of the Czars further went down hill as Nicolas II’s poor military and political decisions caused mass losses in World War I. Eventually, the citizens could take no more and began a riot in St. Petersburg that led to the first Russian Revolution of 1917.
The alienation of intellectuals and the authoritative nature of communist regimes further contributed to the failure of communism in Europe. However, the collapse of the Berlin Wall would not have occurred had it not been for Gorbachev’s Glasnost, Perestroika, and the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine. Along with German official Schabowski, whose actions were the catalyst for the mass exodus of persons from the GDR into West Germany. The collapse of the Berlin Wall would not have occurred so swiftly had Gorbachev not tried to implement reforms to communism. Europe was divided into two blocks; the communist East and the democratic West was governed collectively by the French, British, and Americans, respectively.
Different forms of government have existed through the ages, including capitalism, monarchy, socialism, dictatorship, and theocracy. Communism is a government that developed in the early nineteen hundreds. The theory of communism is to create a government under which all people are equal. Communism hasn't achieved its goal to make all people equal.
As with many important historical events throughout history the dissolution of the Soviet Union had many contributing forces. However, most historians agree that the main contributor was Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev and the many radical reforms he implemented during the six years he was the leader of the USSR. Even though the official dissolution took place in December 1991, the Soviet Union’s demise began to take form in the 1980s. In order to understand why the Soviet Union dissolved it is important to have a clear picture of its history and political climate.
The NATO and Warsaw Pact were formed. This war inevitably led to destructive conflicts like the Vietnam War and Korean War. The Soviet Union collapsed due to its economic weakness. Berlin was destroyed and the two German nations were unified. The Baltic States and some former Soviet Republics gained independence.