Communism : An Intriguing Theory

The United States mission to eradicate and halt the spread of communism within Europe and Asia was a new challenge and a new responsibility. America hoped to effectively stop and fight against communism; which is had so vigorously fought against in WWII. The United States needed to control the communist ideas and influence it had on other countries; while preventing its influence ever coming to America. The United States planned on and hoped to stop the corruption of communism from the new threats; The Soviet Union and Asia.

Vietnam was split into two zones which contained a communist North Vietnam and a somewhat democratic South Vietnam. American involvement in the war became once the Cold War occurred. President Harry Truman created the Truman Doctrine (1947) which proposed that communism must be controlled. CONFLICT: Dwight D. Eisenhower made a special speech when he suggested that the fall of the French Indochina could create a “domino” effect around Southeast Asia. This was referred to as the “domino theory” and made the United States question their tactics against Vietnam for over a decade.

The Vietnam War is considered to be one of the most important events in the history of the United States. This event influenced the lives of millions of Americans because many citizens of the United States were enrolled in the army. According to statistical data, “Hundreds of thousands of U.S. soldiers were wounded and traumatized, and tens of thousands lost their lives”. The war began in 1955 and ended in 1975. This historical period was the era of the Cold War, which was characterized by a lot of tension between the United States and Soviet Union. The Vietnam War took place in Vietnam, and was extended in Laos and Cambodia. The Domino Theory that posited that if one country fell into the influence of Communist it surrounding

After the French gave in to communism, the US did not let that go. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s team instead decided to build a nation, known as South Vietnam, and fabricated their government. They then sent US troops to train South Vietnamese soldiers in order to fight against the North since the US didn't want to risk the North’s troops to beat the South and pull them over into communism. If the North were to take the South under their control it would make it easier for surrounding countries to be either beat by the big communist army, or be more accepting of the idea of being a communist country. This problem is known as the domino theory.

Before the war: Before the U.S. entered to war, President Truman decided to aid the French with economical and military support. Truman had sent a MAAG which is a Military Assistance Advisory Group to observe how the French were going to use the military equipment, total being a worth of $10 million. The Domino Theory: The Domino Theory is the belief that if one country falls to communism, the neighboring countries will follow and go under communism too. President Eisenhower said that if Vietnam fell to communism, it would lead to other countries falling under the influence as well, thus making the situation worse because the entire goal is to discontinue the spreading of communism.

According to the terms of the ceasefire negotiated between the French, a free election would be held in 1956, and the temporary demarcation line would be abandoned once the countries reunited following the election. However, it became clear that the communist leader of the north, Ho Chi Minh, would win the election, and the United States provided economic support and weapons to the regime governing South Vietnam, and ultimately prevented the elections and began a new war between the North and South Vietnamese (Hook and Spanier, 118). This lead to one of the largest changes in America's policy of containment: the "domino theory". The thought was that if communism won out over capitalism in Vietnam, other nations throughout Indochina, the Middle East, and finally Africa would follow, much like a row of dominoes falling. To prevent this, the United States entered into the conflict, known as the Vietnam War.

The Vietnam War was first derived from the gradual oppression of the communist party of the north over the region of South Vietnam. The North Communist party was supported mainly by China and the Soviet Union whiles the Anti-Communist party of South Vietnam was supported by United States and France. The communist party group, as known as the Viet Cong, was recognized for their guerilla war strategies within the region of South Vietnam, intended to fully expand and unify Vietnam under Communist rule. U.S. involvement with the Vietnam War starting in November 1, 1955, develops from the theory of the domino effect, stating that if one country falls into communism, a threat that can develop into the encouragement and spread of communism throughout the world in the future. It is basically viewed as a potential harm to the welfare of the United Sates. Therefore, due to the conflicting forces of the historical, political, economic and cultural nature of the war itself, it is known to be the longest enduring war in United States history that altered many lives of the Vietnamese and American community, leading to suffrage and acts of courage.

Communism as a political philosophy has had both its critics and nationalist proponents throughout recent history. As a tool for nationalistic movements in recent, one of the most compelling examples is how communism was introduced and used by Ho Chi Minh to help Vietnam become a unified and independent nation in the 1970s. Ho Chi Minh, a Marxist Leninist, charismatic and populist leader, adopted communism through his experiences, struggles, and challenges. Communism came to play an important role in bringing Vietnam independence and freedom from the French and subsequent colonialist rulers. Ho Chi Minh used communist to help the Vietnamese develop feelings of patriotism and nationalism toward the country. Ho Chi Minh created several

“Mankind must put an end to war or war will put an end to mankind.” John F. Kennedy, September 25, 1961

Communism is a system of social organisation which formerly consumed almost a third of countries in the entire world, having originated in Russia. The first official communist state was founded during the Russian revolutions in 1917, due to the inaugural communist political party ‘Bolsheviks’ gaining primal power. Afterwards, the influence of communism spread to other countries with the likes of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and East Germany to name a few. These countries that were governed on communist principles were known as the ‘Eastern Bloc’. Even countries in Asia were persuaded into the theoretically human equality system such as China, Laos and Vietnam. Communism was gathering strength to strength every year in the mid 20th century, but eventually its impact was wiped off in the late 20th century when the Berlin War was knocked down in 1989, ending the barrier between the Eastern and Western blocs. Communism arguably was the most influential social experiment in history, but also the most flawed and its failure to change the world permanently will always remain significant in history.

The Vietnam War was fought between North Vietnam communists led by their leader Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam anti-communists led by their president Ngo Dinh Diem. North Vietnam was trying to taking over South Vietnam to make it a communist country. That is when the U.S. came knocking on South Vietnam’s door and gave them much needed help in 1950. In Eric Foner’s and John A Garraty’s essay, “Vietnam War,” they explain, “from Washington’s perspective, . . . [a]ny communist anywhere, at home or abroad, was, by definition, an enemy of the United States” because of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “domino theory” (Foner). Eisenhower’s “domino theory,” was a theory that if communists took over Vietnam, they would gradually control all of Southeast Asia. The first aid given by the U.S. was to France. Willbanks explains in his essay that the U.S. provided France, a South Vietnamese ally, $2.6

     What is Communism? Communism is the doctrine of the conditions of the liberation of the proletariat. It also can be defined as a conceptualized system of government in which resources and production facilities are the property of the entire society rather than individuals. In a communist society, labor is shared equally as well, and the benefits of labor are distributed according to need (Communism.4all 1). No one person shall be ranked higher than another and there is to be one person in charge of the society in a communism government. There are still to this day many countries that fall under the rule of communism and the ways they were transformed under communist rule is quite interesting.

After the WWII, communism spread to countries through the world under the influence of the Soviet Union (USSR) and China. The recent occurrence of the Korean War heavily influenced the belief and importance of the Domino theory within the US. Beginning in 1950 and ending in 1953, the war between the north and the south of Korea resulted in the draw between the Republic of Korea, who sided with the US, and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, who sided with the USSR and China. America, in turn, failed to prevent the expansion of communist influence and North Korea to eventually fall into communist control. The failure within Korea exemplified the Domino theory and emphasized the idea that the US needed to support Vietnam in order to prevent further countries within Asia to fall into communism. Within published transcripts from 1964, President Johnson states Johnsons, when discussing observations of the Vietnam war with Robert McNamara, clearly states that the US had a strong commitment to South Vietnam and that it would fall into communist hands if they refuse to take action, relating back to the idea of the Domino theory. In an international history of the war, distinguished British professor Ralph Smith argued

Marx understanding of society shift into modernism lead to develop a form of communism that would come to be known as Marxism, communism is the economic thought of Marxism. Marx understands that Modernism calls for society to embrace equality for the betterment of society. Part of the problem with Capitalism comes from its exploitation of the working class; Marx understands this problem to be a vein of Pre-modernism and not a pillar of Modernism. Marx calls for the working class to rise up over their bourgeoisie oppressors and seize the equality that rightfully belongs to them. “Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two great classes directly facing each other – bourgeoisie and proletariat. (Communist pg. 9)” If society wants to embrace modernism, then society needs to shift its focus from fighting each other and one exploiting another to a classless society. Marx highly criticizes the bourgeoisie in The Communist Manifesto, and this stems from the problems they created for themselves and for the rest of society. In their attempt to gain more power, land, and resources, their material conditions, upon the prominence which their families had been formed, were dissipating due to the lack of foresight and selfish greed. If the Bourgeoisie continues to exploit the proletariat then society will head to conflict, as is expected of Pre-modernism, but if the Bourgeoisie cease its exploitation and relinquish its power for the group,

In the beginning Communism seemed to the people of Russia as a utopian ideal. The promise of the elimination of classes, of guaranteed employment, "The creation of a comprehensive social security and welfare system for all citizens that would end the misery of workers once and for all." Lenin's own interpretation of the Marxian critique was that to achieve Communism there would first have to be a socialist dictatorship to first suppress any dissent or protest. Through coercive tactics this new government seized power and in 1917 Lenin came to power. Under his "rule" Russia underwent radical changes in it's economic doctrines adopting a mixed which was termed the New Economic Policy, also referred to as NEP. This