Communism And The Soviet Union

Since the fall of the Soviet Union 1991 many changes have been brought to Europe. After the fall of the Soviet Union newly formed countries of Eastern Europe found themselves brought into a new era, many of the people had relied on the Soviet Union’s system of socialism to help them with every detail of their lives and to dictate their lives but with this newfound freedom citizens had many changes forced upon them. All they once knew had been taken away so suddenly most didn’t know what to do with themselves. The Government, Economy and Marxist Idealism had all fallen with the Soviet Union. Citizens had no choice but to move on with their new lives because it was as their past lives

The Cold War was based off of different political and economic views between the US and The Soviet Union. Soviet communists did not agree with the allies way of private ownership economies. Russian leaders felt as if capitalism was dying and that communism would spread through the world which caused a great tension, releasing a new kind of war, the Cold War. Winston Churchill described the separation of Soviet controlled countries in Eastern Europe and the Western Democracies known as the “Iron Curtain”. The Soviets wanted expansion and the retaliation of the US was containment. A form of containment was known as the Truman Doctrine, declaring that the United States would free people of communism, such as those in Greece and Turkey. Down the

-The Cold War is one of the most complicating yet interesting topics in history. It was an altercation between the Soviet Union and the United States over different ideologies concerning politics. Russia believed in communism which was the ideology of advocating class war and believing that all property was publicly owned (Sherman, 2004). Each person is given or gets paid however much they need. Everything was owned by the government and divided equally among the people who eventually worked for what they got. This was totalitarian. The United States had a capitalist economy. This was an economical system where a country's industry and their trade is controlled by a private owner for profit not by the state. It followed the idea that people

Throughout world history, communism has been practiced in some of the following countries, China, Laos, North Korea, Vietnam, etc. Communism’s significance comes from people’s hardships during the 19th century. But in order to understand more in depth we need to know where it originated from and what is it exactly.

The end of communism and the beginning of an era of capitalism in the Soviet Union finally led to the long-awaited feasting the Soviet citizenry had long been living frugally for. It took almost a century of enduring one to access the other. Substantially longer than what the peasants endured for their reward. Fast and feast, although motivated by different forces throughout Russian history have characterized Russian dietary habits for next to six-hundred years. Religious reasons drove pre-revolutionary Russian to forgo animal products (which they preferred to eat because they were a symbol of wealth and a delicacy) in the name of holiness and religious reverence. However, the Soviets had a much more practical, material, and ideological reason

The Cold War was a time of great tension between the Capitalist and Communist "worlds." The United States presents these tensions in the Truman Doctrine as the Communists trying to convert any country in need after the second World War to their type of government, which would then create a domino effect of other countries falling under Communism, therefore they need to help many countries get back on their feet as well have their governments Democratic and free. Nikita Khrushchev, leader of the Soviet Union during this time, explained in his "cult of personality" how Stalin made mistakes before he was in power and therefore pursues to ease

Communism refers to the economic and social system in which all properties and resources are owned by a higher power and not by individual citizens. Its purpose and main goal is to shape a society in which private property and social class do not exist and the government will own practically everything, so the society is equally distributed. This is exactly what happened in Cuba more than 50 years ago. This was a country, which was actually a very fairly affluent nation, before the communism seized power. This has not only affected the community in general, but also there has been a drastic change in culture, demographics, political, social, and even on the health of uncountable individuals who suffer and struggle every day, with the

The dissolution of the Soviet Union in the 1991 marked the fall of communism. Built with the idea of utopic society in mind, communism was supposed to be the end of inequality and despair for the Soviet’s. In theory, communism promises to provide more for the people and create a more prosperous economy than the capitalistic economies that exist in the US. Although seemingly a superior concept the Soviet’s soon discovered that a communistic economy has its faults. With a lack of incentives for businesses, and inefficient use of resources the Soviet’s soon realized they had a lower standard of living compared to capitalist economies, which led to the adoption of the market based economy you see in Russia today.

After the end of world war, the world was divided into two ideological blocks. The eastern bloc popularly known as the United Socialist Soviet of Russia (USSR) and the western bloc dominated by United States and European countries. Now the Soviet Union supported socialist economic ideology and was prepared to ensure that the socialist countries remained socialist-by all means. On the other hand, United States and allies were for capitalism and were determined to spread it as far as possible. They detest socialism and communism because it was against building of business empires by individuals. Building of commercial empires on exploitation of resources of other countries by private companies was the very foundation on which capitalism stood. You now see the conflict-private interests of capitalism versus state interests of communism. Therefore, since 1945, when the World War II ended and the world entered the Cold War period the need to protect communism by USSR and that of United States to spread capitalism pitted the two blocs. As the name suggests the two blocs were involved in proxy wars trying to show to the world that was stronger (Morone, pg 10).

Throughout most of the 20th century, Russia has arguably been the most dominant communist country in the world. Russia had created a socio-economic oder that gave the government control of everything from manufacturing, to the distribution of wealth, jobs, food and so forth. The communist ideology was greatly influenced by Karl Marx; a revolutionary communist who believed society functioned best when the governments intervened with markets (although the form of communism found in Russia was tweaked to what Karl Marx suggested) (Hauss, 2015). On the other side of the spectrum, Western nations like the US and Great Britain mainly believed that free markets, democratic governments and minimal government intervention were most effective when it comes to political and social systems.These economic and political ideas where inspired by great economists like Milton Friedman and Adam Smith, who both argued that markets work best when governments intervene less, and the invisible forces of supply and demand would help the economy prosper.

The mismanagement of resources and inefficiency of the system was a determining factor of the downfall of communism. Under the system, business owners were to donate a majority of the goods to the government in return for basic and essential goods being given to them. (Pollick, 6) Most countries did not have the resources to support the needs of every last one of its people, eventually this system began to fail and a supply shortage would usually arise. The health care of most communist regimes was badly inadequate, and this would also result in the dissatisfaction of the people. The ambulances would take days, or even weeks, to arrive on most

By definition, communism is “an international political movement and a political and economic system that has its origins in the philosophy of Karl Marx” (“Communism”). This system allows for the government to own and control all the land, capital, and means of production, with which the distribution was in accordance to need and limits how much each individual holds in comparison to others (Kennedy and Cohen 692). In theory, communism is a noble concept developed by two visionary philosophers who envisaged a utopian society– a new world where everyone within it is equally set in perfect conditions; there would be no poverty and no one who stands at the top to look down on people who weren’t economically favored by fate. Be that as it may, the perception of the word “communism” in today’s American society has become shrouded with fear and ignorance. It has developed into a common case: people are not recognizant of the important aspects of this ideology and are unable to distinguish between Marxism in theory and the subsequent European reality. Several events and figures of paramount importance have led to this culmination such as Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin, key Soviet communist leaders; the Russo-American Cold War, from 1947 to 1991; and the Army-McCarthy hearings, known as the witch hunt for Communists.

Almost twenty five years after the fall of the Iron Curtain in the late 80s and early 90s, a few countries emerged from the shadow of the former eastern bloc such as Estonia and Poland have quite successfully transformed themselves into modern democracies while others seemed to have simply failed to do so. The Russian Federation, the successor state of the Russian SFSR, is a particularly interesting case.

The 20th century was marked by a brutal struggle between two great powers, the United States, and the Soviet Union, but in reality it was a struggle between two, distinct ideologies: Communism and Capitalism. Communism was supposed to be the scepter against all the evils that the old world contained. The people of the world would be freed from the oppressive chains resulting from the few in power, and be lifted from the brutal, unfair world of capitalism. Millions of people across the world saw the enticing, heavenly lure of communism and seized the opportunity to revolutionize their communities. To the millions of disenfranchised citizens stuck in Capitalism’s underbelly, the chance to finally see the light, to finally escape from the

In 1921, the Russian Red Army conquered the majority of the Ukraine, while the rest became part of Poland. For years, Russia was in control and caused many problems, including the deportation of thousands of Crimeans suspected of being involved with the Nazi party. In 1945, after having been victorious in World War II, the Soviet Union annexed the rest of the Ukraine, formerly occupied by Poland. In 1954, the Soviet government gave the Crimean peninsula to the Ukraine as a gesture, while still in control of the entire area (Mehrish 2014: 1). Following the post World War II period, there was a growing Ukrainian desire to break away from Russia. Finally, in 1991, the Ukraine declared it’s own independence, following the collapse of the Soviet Union (“Ukraine Profile”). Since then, the Ukraine has been an independent state with historical ties to Russia, but a growing desire to be more closely linked to the European Union. It is clear that the relationship between Russia and the Ukraine is both complicated and tense, as Russia feels, in a sense, robbed of a land that is rightfully theirs. On the other hand, the Ukraine declared its independence and some think that Russia has been encroaching on the sovereignty of this nation (Stanglin).