Analysis: The Fear Of Communism

After World War II the next threat was the Soviet Union and the growing amount of communism. The fear of communism breed the conformist 1950’s, which created suburbs, consumerism, “organization men”, domesticated women, car culture, and explicit gender rules (I&J, 43-58). Communism engulfed everyone so much that people were afraid to be different. The culture of the 1950’s was not only seen in their everyday lives but shown through advertisements.

Americans became very fearful of Communism and rightfully so. By 1950, fear of Communism was reaching a fever pitch as depicted in a staged communist takeover of a tiny Wisconsin town. American fears of Communism had dated back many years and by 1917 with the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia these fears were being realized. More recently however, by March 1945 U.S. government agents had secured classified documents belonging to Amerasia magazine, a pro-communist magazine. Generally, loss of the American dream was a driving force perpetuating fears of communist takeover. Specifically however each U.S. citizen had their own version of fears. For example a business person might fear wealth being distributed equally under a system of communism

The fear of communism in Australia spread concern throughout governments and citizens, thus undermining Australia’s plans for a secure future, from 1945 to the 1950’s. Following the world war epidemics, Australia, along with the entirety of the world, longed for security and peace within and between countries. There was a fundamental concern of this peripheral safety being taken away. Even though ‘post war’ Australia promoted the economic and political stability, it was certainly a time of alarm and tension. This ultimate fear of communism was intertwined with politics. Throughout this essay, it will asses three main impacts of the threat of communism on Australian domestic politics. These impacts will be: The Menzies propaganda against communism, the use of the Australian Communist Party Dissolution Bill, and finally the Petrov affair.

During the 1950’s, Communism was a major fear that Democratic nations such as America were afraid of because of its radical ideas. The actions taken due to the Red Scare and the rise of McCarthyism were necessary and completely justified to protect America’s freedom and government from Communist power. With an increase of Communistic nations invading other countries and forcing their ideas upon them there was an uproar of fear in the United States. The Domino Theory was a legitimate fear of if one nation falling to communism, every nation around it would fall as well. Focusing their attention to VIetnam especially, America increased military control in these regions. Multiple Legislative actions taken by the United States such as the creation of the HAUC and the Espionage and Sedition acts were necessary to stop threats to America’s freedom. The heated tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War contributed to the fear of an attack from the East. Senator McCarthy’s convincing accusations lead to many accurate accusations as well as the rise of McCarthyism. Valid points were brought up about president Roosevelt’s New Deal policies of having capitalistic characteristics. While some actions did take away the civil liberties of some Americans, and were not always accurate, they were necessary to protect American Democracy, as well as the safety of the citizens.

The United State’s Capitalistic and consumer driven way of life sat in contrast to the Soviet Union’s Communist and government centred economy. So much so, that the fear of Communists living in America began a panic known as the second Red Scare. Americans attempted to weed out Communists, with programs like the loyalty program which required government workers to state if they have ever been a communist; as well as the Congress of Industrial Organization (CIO). “...[The] (CIO) and United Auto Workers froze Communists out of leadership positions...” (Goldfield 805), along with this there were numerous trails and people assured of being a Communist. McCarthyism was another main reason the American public began exiling those assured of Communists; McCarthyism created a fear of these people, which allowed those accused to be black balled in their professions. One such example where the Hollywood Ten, which was a group of movie directors accused of being too soft on Communism.

Soon after the conclusion of World War II in 1945, Communism posed a threat in the United States. This threat, also known as the Red Scare, was triggered because of the tension between the Soviet Union and the United States. The tension between the two superpowers led to the beginning of the Cold War in the late 1940s. Because the Soviets were a communistic country, many Americans feared Communism because of the influence that it had in America. Many intellectuals supported Communism in the U.S. which led to more concern within the country. The communistic threat presented by the Soviets in the war led to the spread of Communism within the U.S. It was a fear that many Americans spoke out against in attempt to save the American

In this way, the Truman administration attempted to justify its hostility toward all communist states; the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War stems directly from the paranoia of communism that caused Truman to implement this policy. It is clear that the American government under the duress of the slow expansion of communism felt that using force to prevent the spread of an opposing economic and political structure was perfectly justifiable. However, this policy likely led to more disastrous military conflict, such as the Vietnam War, was based primarily on fears of a conflicting ideology, and had little evidence to back up the fears that may otherwise have been rational. The Western policies of containment exacerbated the issue of communism and its spread through Asia, perhaps even enabling it through worsening foreign relations with countries that otherwise posed no threat.

“In 1917 an anti-communist Red Scare gripped the United States (“Communist”).” Without a doubt the most important event in the U.S. battle against Communism was when America’s worst nightmare came true and Communism was invading the U.S. This event is known as the Red Scare. The Red Scare was a result of a popularity grab from U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy. He was trying to gain attention from the U.S. during his campaign. “On February 9, 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy made an announcement that he had a list of the members of the communist party” (“Communism”). This definitely got him the attention he desired as well as put the spotlight on him to share the list with America and end the terror. He proceeded to name names of people he was running against in election. He was very manipulative at removing the other candidates in election, but sadly he was not telling the truth. “By the end of the 1950s, the American public doubted McCarthy’s reliability and with a few court decisions these witch hunts came to an end” (“Communism”). This event took the U.S. by surprise. It showed them a glimpse of what it would look like if it were invaded by

Communism is a political theory that sets each aspect of society at an equal standard. This theory was created to provide the poor with an opportunity to rise financially and socially. Having a completely equal economy would mean that the bottom of the barrel and the high society will be crunched together in one. In order for society to reach this state of equilibrium financially, wealth would have to be redistributed so that the upper class can be brought down, while the lower class would be elevated (Yahoo). With that being said, a lot of people were in fear of losing their hard earned money. This was one of the main causes to the Red Scare. The Red Scare is rounding up of several hundred immigrants with communist views by the federal

The career of Joseph McCarthy took off in 1946 when he won senate, become the youngest member in senate at the time ever. McCarthy leaned toward conservation and the ideas it withheld. He believed that not only should we protect the U.S. but we should also preserve and restore it. Not long after being elected into office, in 1950 McCarthy suspected that over 205 communist had infiltrated the U.S. Government. He also claimed to have the names of 57 state department communist. After this McCarthy realized the charges necessary, and called for a wide-reaching investigation that would be known today as what we call the “red scare”. The Red Scare was the promotion of fear of a potential rise of communism and radical leftism. In the United States,

The red scare occurred during a time of the progressing communism in Russia. The American people were fed propaganda to believe that communism was evil and corrupt. Now if this is false advertisement that’s up for debate, but that’s a whole other story. The reason people are afraid of communism is because of its utter failure when practiced in Russia after World War II. In communist countries people did not have the rights to own land and have their own religious beliefs. This threatened the protected rights of the Americans. Since some Americans supported communism there was a fear of a Bolshevik revolution. It also created government turmoil. People

Americas main fear was the actual spread of communism and the fear that a domino effect would occur, especially the far east. In 1949, their fears were confirmed when communist China took power and North Korea consequently became a communist country and began to threaten pro-American South Korea. That same year, the Soviet Union developed and tested its first atomic bomb, which was years earlier than American scientists had anticipated. This chain of events began the Arms race between the Soviet Union and the U.S., which would continue until the late 1980s with each side trying to outdo the other. Against this background many other subsequent events helped to stir up suspicion and mass paranoia which only heightened anti-communist sentiment,

However, some level of caution by the American people was justifiable. The history of American Communism is not back and white, not from the view point of the communist sympathizers or anticommunists: numbers are exaggerated, motivations are altered, and stories will differ

During the time of the Cold War many American’s feared a nuclear strike. Both nations were building their arsenal of nuclear warheads so that they would be the strongest country. Many feared that if Russia won the war that Communism would spread through the country. It was no secret that there were already Americans who were fans of the system. Communism had already taken Russia and China at the time.

Karl Marx is arguably one of the most influential philosophers of the past two centuries, and his ideas of communism have inspired many different implementations in states over that time. However, the means of production available to those states has not been such that a communist regime would be practical or equitable. For this reason, I do not think communism can be forced into existence, and must constantly be evaluated in the current state of technology and international and domestic relationships to discern whether it can be successful.