Communism and Capitalism: Strange Bedfellows

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What is it about communism that makes many people scurry and cringe? In America, the mere word might as well be banned from the dictionary. The only time it is used is when talking about new aggressive movements by totalitarian communist countries. American’s tolerance level for communism is zero to none. Is communism so horrific that the thought of some forms being successful is out of the question? In society today, capitalism is the leading economic system. When compared to other systems, few meet its standards of living. Capitalists take this fact and hold it at the heart. They become close-minded to all other forms of government—especially communism.

Today, communism is most often associated with totalitarian governments. However, the principles of communism, set up by Karl Marx, are not similar to those seen in these governments now. Chris Routledge, freelance writer, editor, and teacher at a university near Liverpool in the United Kingdom says that “pure communism” was intended to be a utopian society where all the wealth would be equally shared and money would not rule people’s lives (569). Over the past half-century, pure communism has stirred up entire nations. For example, The Soviet Union threatened the world with nuclear weapons during the Cold War and North Korea has done the same. Richard John Neuhaus, prominent American clergy and writer, claims that the Soviet Union was responsible for much of the Cold War (75).

The United States has gone through many wars and spent billions of dollars attempting to contain unwanted governments and set up capitalist systems in countries. The nation fought along with South Vietnam to combat North Vietnam’s communist aggression. During the Korean War, America fought against the t...

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