Communism And Misconceptions
Arguably one of the most misunderstood political ideas is that of Communism, from Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ Communist Manifesto to the present day, it is a concept that has been distorted and feared for no good reason.
The first thing that should be said is that Communism has yet to actually physically appear as the main political government of any country, many will claim it has, but just because a nation proclaims itself to be Communist does not necessarily make it so, in much the same way that a person who declares that they are a scoop of ice cream is not necessarily so. Every state referred to as Communist, from Cuba to China to the USSR, have been Socialist (it’s in the name with the USSR – the United Soviet Socialist Republic) which is the stepping stone towards Communism. Marx and Engels intended Socialism to emerge as the governmental power in the ‘advanced’ Western European states of France, Germany and Britain before spreading throughout the rest of the world, the only true way for Communism to exist is when the entire world is Socialist and can then take the next step towards Communism. Marx and Engels’ Manifesto advocates the abolition of child labour and free education for every child (the Manifesto was written in the mid-1800s in England where children were still working to bolster their family’s income and education was a luxury reserved for those with a good income) something now in place throughout Western Europe and North America, though sadly not worldwide. The Manifesto also sought to abolish private ownership, not of modest housing as many believe, but of palatial estates, companies and the methods and means of production so as to avoid the exploitation of the working or labouring classes.
When Socialism took over Russia in 1917 it was not seen as too big of a threat across the world, but as the years went by, fear grew of what may happen, however Britain still saw France as the most likely opponent in any coming war before 1939. Were it not for the weather and troops of the USSR the war in Europe could have continued well beyond 1945, just in case you thought the movies were real and America defeated the Nazis all by themselves, granted the Soviet troops were guilty of a great deal of raping and murdering of East German civilians but they were performing that all too human act of revenge against the enemy that had done the same to their people.
Almost as soon as that conflict was over the split between America and the USSR occurred as the United States controlled West Germany and the Soviets controlled the East, with distrust breeding on both sides despite the fact they had just deposed one of the most ruthless regimes in the history of the world. As China ‘fell’ to Chairman Mao, America suddenly felt a very real fear as the two were now allies and could easily send a large fleet to America’s west coast, however they neglected to note it would take years as both countries were decimated by their respective battles within the Second World War, the Cold War was now effectively underway.
Through the 50s and 60s (and arguably right up the point that the USSR fell in the very early 90s) America was filled with anti-Communist feelings and propaganda, with movie studios churning out waves of alien and cowboy films designed to spread fear of foreigners and to almost boost the American psyche into believing that ultimately they were the world’s good and would ultimately triumph respectively. Senator Joseph McCarthy was the main fear monger in American society with all the country swept up in the hysteria of ‘Reds under the bed’ and the Red Menace. Thousands of political opponents and civilians with positions of power were placed in prison or blacklisted for showing any kind of support for the notion that America may be doing things wrong in countries such as Korea and Vietnam or their actions in South America establishing puppet governments to keep any left-wing politicians out. Even in modern day America there still seems to be a real fear within the supporters of the Republican party (and the ultra right-wing Tea Party movement within it) of Communism, with one of the criticisms of Barack Obama being that he is a Socialist and is trying to turn America into a Socialist country (however if you collected all the criticisms of Obama together he would be a Kenyan Al-Qaeda sympathiser who is a Muslim Communist that wants to bring Sharia Law and Socialism to the United States and abort babies wherever he can, which is perfectly sane).
Ultimately Communism cannot be accepted by a Capitalist society, it goes against its system of a ruling elite, the ability by fair means or foul to gain a lot of money and the notion of religion, not least religion mixing with government policies. In their ideal state Communism and Capitalism should both lead to perfect societies, but sadly humanity can’t seem to make either work due to our nature. In the end just try to keep an open mind and question what you are told if you do not trust it to be true, look further into issues that spark your interest and always try to remain objective.
(Picture source: http://kasamaproject.org/2009/12/31/a-london-pub-crawl-with-karl-marx/)
Last Updated on Wednesday, 22 June 2011 09:16