The Soviet Union: Joseph Stalin and Communism

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It is not difficult to lay blame to either the United States or the Soviet Union for the causes of the Cold War; the blame is to be put on the Soviet Union. Joseph Stalin was not looking to do what was best for the economy or the people. His ideas of being a dictator became bigger soon after the end of World War II. He immediately looked to take control over Eastern Europe. His reasons for doing so were not for economic gain but for becoming a major world dictator.

There were many differences between the United States and the Soviet Union, the main being their political and economic systems. The United States was capitalist while the Soviet Union was communist. It was this political and economic difference among other things that led to the Cold War. Capitalism is a social system based on the principle of individual rights (www.capitalism.org), while communism a political theory derived from Marxism, advocating a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person is paid and works according to his or her needs and abilities. (ttp://teaching.arts.usyd.edu.au/history/hsty3080/3rdYr3080/Cuban/INDEX2.HTML)

The United States and Soviet Union also differed in every other aspect of politics. The US was in favor of free elections while the Soviets were not. The US had a democracy and the Soviets had a dictatorship. The US believed in personal freedom while the Soviet society was controlled by the NKVD (secret police). (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/coldwar.htm)

Although the United States and Soviet Union were allies during World War Two they were soon faced with many opposing views soon after the war ended. Joseph Stalin the leader of the Soviet Union had wanted to gain complete control of Eastern Europe most importantly Germany and make it a communist society. Here in the US Truman started to worry about the spread of communism in Eastern Europe. The anticipation of the spread of communism was concerning Truman as if it did proceed to happen it would be greatly affecting the United States economy. It would limit trade with other countries and it opposed everything the United States system of laissez-faire economics believed in. In the meantime the people in the Soviet Union were barely surviving, and it did not seem that it was Stalin’s major concern at the time; he was more interested in taking over Eastern Europe then taking care of the people in his own country. This continued fight over who was to control what parts of Eastern Europe put an even farther wedge between the Unites States and the Soviets.

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