A Brief History of The Soviet Union

The Soviet Union; regarded as the “evil empire” by United States President Ronald Reagan was one of the most controversial country in the world. It operates as a single-party state with the Communist Party as the central government. From 1922 to 1991, Russia was enrich with the Marxist theory, attempting to promote social equality by resolving it through a series of practical and theoretical measures. The idea eliminated the social hierarchy and yearn towards a government that guaranteed low prices and fair wages which was impossible to adopt under capitalism. To achieve the ideas of the founding father of communism, Lenin and Stalin made social and economic development in the Soviet Union the primary reform to adopt social equality, especially among workers.

When the Bolsheviks established the Soviet Union in 1922, many reforms were made to make the Soviet Union the dominating communist state and most feared throughout Europe. In addition to reforms, reconstruction of the social, economic and political system was promoted for modernization. In attempt to boast communist ideologies, religion was eliminated. The Russian Orthodox Church which once held great powers in the old autocratic state was replaced by universal atheism. Based on Marx’s saying that: “religion is the opium of the people”, religion was controlled and suppressed. Science was often used as evidence and to justify the unrealistic world of religion. The Soviet government hope to convince people that what they believed in was false and instead should study and follow the guidelines of socialist ideas such as Leninism and Stalinism. Communism was never achieved in the 20th century, although political activist such as Mao Zedong and Fidel Castro strongly believed in...

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...ing to foreign invasion. The Soviet Union under Stalin, faced the largest military invasion in 1941 by Nazi Germany without any foreign support. With German forces nearing the capital of Moscow, Stalin vicious decision to forbid any city from surrendering and to carry on fighting became the turning point of war. Therefore, dealing with foreign countries required great caution for later successors of Stalin. Any foreigners who wish to explore the territory of the Soviet Union as business enterprises must have an existing agreement with the Soviet government. In addition, trading was regulated so that foreign vessels are prohibited from coasting between Soviet ports. The process of obtaining a visa or going through naturalization is fairly normal with an abundant amount of paperwork. However, foreigners traveling to the Soviet Union require numerous identifications.