Throughout the past 200 years, communism has affected the lives of millions upon millions of people throughout the world. Communism as a whole has been drowned out by all of the different types of governments that are prominent in all of the world’s countries. Communism has changed these past 200 years, and has given other governments something to compare themselves to, therefore shaping the world around us. Communism first arose from an article published in 1848 by Karl Marx titled “The Communist Manifesto” (Gascoigne). This article was the main building block for communist states. Russia was one of the first countries to become communist. The USSR was formed in 1923, long after “The Communist Manifesto” was written (Gascoigne). Soon after, …show more content…
This didn’t only happen in communist countries, it happened in the United States. During the Cold War, a conflict between the USSR and the United States forced mass panic for the people in the United States. An example of radical anti-communist actions happened on October 24, 1984 when Tania Zelensky was gunned down by an act of “patriotism” by an American who suspected Zelensky of being communist simply because of her ethnic background. Tania was born and raised in the United States after her parents moved there due to the rise of communism in the USSR. Tania was brutally murdered simply because she was of Russian descent. When Tania’s family was interviewed, her father was quoted in saying, “Communism is the Russian peoples’ enemy” …show more content…
Only a few countries remain communist. From 1989 to 2012, the percentage of countries who were electoral democracies rose from 41 to 61 (Mueller). Statistically, communism is failing, and this is because our world is understanding more and more about communism and the fact that it will not work with our society. In a perfect world, communism would be the best choice to give people equal and fair treatment, but our world isn’t perfect. The United States can never become communist because no one wants to be treated fairly, they all want to be treated better and have more money than anyone else. And that’s who we truly
America, throughout the ages, has always despised Communism and Communistic beliefs; however, during the 20s to around the 90s, there was a deeper hatred for Communism and a fear that lingered in most Americans’ hearts. Communism is a political theory that was derived from Karl Marx, advocating class war and leading to a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. The majority of Americans strongly disagreed with
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.
Communism is everywhere. And many people were involved in communism around the world especially during the 1950’s. One main person involved in american communism was Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy, although negatively, was very much involved in the search for communists in the United States of America.
Communism impacted the countries of Russia and China in both strikingly similar and different ways, for the better, or for the worse. During the time period of 1900 to 1945, communism in China and Russia were developed both differently and similarly by the audience to whom they appealed, the programs they sponsored, how they incorporated nationalism into those programs, how effectively they were resisted, and in how the Communist rules were structured. They both appealed to the peasantry, sponsored programs that would call for equal opportunity given to the people, and were resisted ineffectively but the Chinese altered their programs, due to the difference in politics, geographic location, and social problems. The audience in which they appealed to were similar, for they both appealed to the peasantry due to harsh times. They both rose to power due to the fact that the country wanted to end war but their opposing political party did not meet these needs. Nationalism was an important feature of both as China needed nationalism to fight the Japanese while Russia needed nationalism to pull out of the war. The programs they sponsored essentially were similar in many aspects although they did not match up perfectly because of the geological, social, and political differences of China. Communism affected both countries in a variety of different ways.
Ever since the beginning of the Cold War, Americans have held the word "Communism" to have many negative connotations. Our country has been focused on preventing the spread of that evil form of government. Wars were fought in foreign lands; American lives were lost protecting the world from Communism. Many Americans would be horrified, then, to find that the righteous system of Capitalism actually incorporates many Communist ideas. In fact, many of Karl Marx's radical ideas have reached the most fundamental establishments in the United States government; the government that did everything in its power to prevent the seeds of Communism from taking root in other countries.
While Karl Marx didn’t invent communism, his creation of the Communist Manifesto and other pro communist works as well as his philosophies helped popularize communist governments. To this day Communism is still popularized by these works, and many conflicts America faces are caused by our relations with Communist countries. The Russian government had two separate revolutions that lead to a communist government and a country called the USSR. Mao Zedong following Marxist principles created the People's Republic of China under a Communist government. The struggle between communist countries and capitalist countries have caused economic social political and military conflict.
Karl Marx never saw his ideals and beliefs, as the founding father of communist thought, implemented in the world and society because he died in 1883.1 The communist ideology did not rise to power until the beginning of the 20th century. Then it would be implemented and put into practice in the largest country in the world producing a concept that would control half of the world’s population in less than 50 years. The Manifesto of the Communist Party, written by Karl Marx and Fredrick Engels, searched for a perfect society living in equality and united in freedom. According to Marx this could only be accomplished in an anti-capitalist society.2 When their ideals where implemented in the 20th century, their message became warped and disfigured by the leadership of the worlds’ communist powers. Communism became in some ways more and in others less than Marx had first envisioned so many years before in 1848. Marx’s sought a social “Utopia,” while modern communist thought became a view of world domination.3 Many of the centralized governments of modern communism have fallen apart toward the end of the 20th century, confronted with concepts of self-government and revolution. Therefore, it is vital to document the rise and fall of modern communism throughout the world, and review the modern communist thought as it contrasted with that of Marx and Engels over 150 years ago.
During the late 1920’s up until World War II, the United States went through a period of severe economic depression, also called the “Great Depression”. Multitudes of Americans everywhere were inadequately clothed, nourished, and sheltered. As hunger and unemployment reached never before seen levels, despair reigned. During these times Labor Union enrollment dramatically increased and Americans were searching for a panacea to their social and economic problems. It was at this time that groups of citizens, jobless and hungry, looked upon Communism favorably. These individuals longed for what seemed to be a utopian society, which they viewed in the USSR, where everyone was employed and cared for. Communist political parties sprung up everywhere, literature and newspapers in support of Communism proliferated. More and more, seeing the success and the promises, the enrollment in Communist parties increased. Members of the American Communist party idealized the leaders of the USSR, Lenin and Stalin.
As a government, Communism was different from anything else and had distinctive goals. Though, as a whole and in simplified terms, what was Communism? Communism violently attempted to take over a country by eliminating all other political systems and the different classes of people in a socialistic way through the use of dictatorships (Ebenstein). Communism’s main goal was to spread Communism from country to country until the whole world was in a Communistic state. In their eyes, this made the world a better place, but it also removed the opposition of countries with different government systems (Overstreet). Communists did not mind going to war and losing thousands of lives if it would help to spread Communism (Communism, the Courts, and the Constitution). Under Communism, everything was owned by the government including farms and factories. This not only eliminated capitalism, but it also gave the government the power to control the countries’ food supply and other...
differences. One of the main tenets of communism is that capitalism is inherently bad and posed a threat to the working class. The communists view all capitalist nations as possible enemies. According to them, capitalism will eventually destroy itself and it is their duty to help it along. They refuse cooperation between themselves and capitalist nations ideologically. These extensive differences in beliefs widened the gap between the Soviet Union and the west.
... The Russian Revolution of 1917 succeeded in putting communism on the political map of the world. Governments across Europe and Latin America emulated Stalin and instituted their own brands of communism within their respective countries. Yet, what was to be the permanent revolution, has infected and affected the world for almost an entire century. Every year since 1917 has seen people revolt.
The United States is a democratic nation that allows its citizens to vote for their representative leaders. However, not every U.S. citizen has always been able to vote. For example, women and African-Americans had to work their way up to be able to vote through protests. Despite the United States being democratic, different beliefs of other forms of government have come along because of different practices throughout the world and immigrants. An example of this is communism, which is a practice that the U.S. does not want for its nation. The U.S. has experienced two periods in which it was highly afraid of communism rising in the U.S. The two periods were from 1917 to 1929 and 1939 to 1959 where the U.S. had anti-communist feelings. The reasons that led to anti-communism during these periods were significantly similar, but the impacts
Communism and Democracy are two different kinds of philosophies that impacted Poland. Democracy is a political system of government, which is ruled by the people who elect representatives that are relied on to fulfil the society’s needs. Communism, on the other hand, is a political belief that is mainly concerned with equality. In Communism, everyone is treated equally when it comes to pay and their opinions, which people cannot have many of. Also in Communism, everyone has food, shelter, and economic support. When comparing Communism and Democracy, the reality is that they both affect the economy and the personal freedoms of the people. Poland today is a Democracy which has a prime minister. A prime minister is very similar to a president
Communism is defined as a political and economical doctrine, the aim which is to abolish private ownership of property and for-profit enterprise and to replace these with public ownership and control of industry, agriculture, and resources (“Communism”). The product of this government is supposed to be a society free of class ranking based on wealth, property, and political power. The Soviet Union was the first country to test these governmental strategies and it did not take long for the regime to collapse. The inevitable collapse of communism led to the fall of the Berlin Wall; this started the domino effect of freedom that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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.