American Communist Gathering Research Paper

During the 1930’s in response to the Great Depression and the rise of fascism thousands of Americans joined the Communist Party of the United States. After US allied with the Soviet Union during World War Ⅱ many Americans joined the C.P.U.S.A. An important figure and activist Dalton Trumbo, screenwriter pursued political activism for workers rights, he became a member of the party in 1943. When the Cold War began it influenced an era of suspicion against potential communist members. The government believed that communism movement was a conspiracy to overthrow the U.S nation. Communism stood for eliminating social classes, people wanted equal access to goods, money and property. Dalton and his nine friends became the face of communism during the 1940’s.

Imagine you are a soldier in the Vietnam war, you are fighting for your country. There are many occasions where you experienced life or death situations. In the war there are lots of drugs, death and disease. Thankfully you make it through the war now you are being sent back to America. When you arrive home people ignore you, treat you like trash and only occasionally you are treated respectfully. This is how many Vietnam soldiers felt as they got home. The Cold War was a war of threats and talk along with some competitions. The Cold War was between the U.S and the USSR through the years 1947-1991. In this essay I will write about one event in the Cold War- The Vietnam War: the cause, start of the war, life as a soldier during the war and life as a soldier coming home from the war.

I’m sure you all are familiar with the concept of communism, and perhaps how it is the staple of Russia and the society that was the Soviet Union (which failed). However, the Communist Manifesto was composed by two German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published in London in the year of 1848. It essentially says that our lives should be governed by us, and that all property shall be publicly owned. All citizens of the nation must work and are paid according to their abilities and needs. It sounds enticing, sounds like it’ll work. That was the basis of their philosophy. But, a society in which there is an absolute power, in this case the working class, is the fault. It simply won’t work. It breeds absolute corruption. We’ve all probably heard that

In the early 1920s’ America, threats of communism were everywhere. With the recent overthrow of the Russian ruler, panic started to set in. Americans were scared of this because the Communists showed how powerful they really were. Even though World War I in Germany ended, a new war started, turning in a new direction. It became a war against “... anything un-American - which in 1919 meant radical or red” (Palmer Raids). A communist party formed in the United States, reaching a peak of seventy thousand members. Almost immediately after the government found out about this, the Committee of Public Information started pouring out propaganda promoting the American way of democracy. This sparked the beginning of the Red Scare. Being a scary moment in American history, Alexander Mitchell Palmer tried to take matters into his own hands by killing and deporting thousands of Americans.

The Cold War was a pivotal time in American history. To a greater degree than most other wars, the Cold War affected American society in unfathomable and profound ways. More specifically, American culture transformed immensely during this time. From a constant state of anxiety, to changes in media and the arts, to McCarthyism; the Cold War fervently affected the quality of life, personal expression, and American politics. Predominantly, the Cold War inflicted fear and apprehension within the American people that was so overpowering that it affected every aspect of their lives and overall American culture.

The Communist Party USA (CPUSA) is a communist political party in the United States. It is the largest communist party in the country. Founded in 1919, it has a long, complex history that is mainly about the U.S. labor movement and the histories of similar communist parties worldwide. The CPUSA had a huge impact on the civil rights movement. It is known to have brought racial equality to the south. Senator Joseph McCarthy began hearings investigating the United States Army, which he charges with being “soft” on communism. These televised hearings gave the American public their first view of McCarthy in action, and his thoughtlessness, irritated rave, and bullying tactics quickly resulted in his fall from prominence and importance. The hearings were a complete failure for McCarthy. During the

Anti-communism became the language for a new more defiant vision of America. There was a strong influence in building national agreement originated from endless fear of communism in post war American society. Many American feared nuclear warfare and after the age of McCarthyism America tried to completely isolate itself from Russia (Schulman, 6). With the pressures between the free world and

The false truths and over exaggerations of the communist ideology resulted in a paranoid society which was essentially controlled by “The Red Scare.” Furthermore, the fear and suspicion which this propaganda evoked resulted in citizens suspecting that those closest to them were involved in communist activities. Americans did not trust one another, and often, essential members of society were fired from their jobs and publically humiliated after investigations of suspected communist activities – which provided poor evidence. In most cases, there was no truth to such investigations. After reports of corruption within American government establishments, such as HUAC and the FBI, Americans lost trust in their own government. Americans were programmed to blame communism for any issues within society, as this propaganda prohibited them from critically analysing the circumstances at hand. Additionally, the ‘American Way of Life’ which advertisements and other propaganda publications deceived Americans to believe they were so privileged to be living, was in fact superficial and oppressive. As a result of the fear in which Americans lived during this time, citizens were too afraid to question the capitalist system which their government promoted, but rather, conformed to it. Evidently, American government propaganda during the Cold War years bred a society which was ignorant of and naïve to the realities of their own lives, and the world around them. The American government failed to acknowledge that they were damaging their own country through these propaganda campaigns, rather than allowing them to experience what true freedom and respect for human rights felt like. America was a country which was unable to unite and therefore function as an effective unit both socially, economically and politically, as a result of their inability to think freely

During the 1950s, the United States was a nation struggling with panic and paranoia. Following World War II, the democratic United States and the communist Soviet Union became engaged in a series of largely political and economic clashes known as the Cold War, which led to the time period being nicknamed; “The Cold War Era”. Elected officials from both major political parties sought to portray themselves as staunch anticommunists, and few people dared to pass judgment on the questionable tactics used to persecute suspected radicals. Americans felt the effects of the Red Scare on a personal level, and thousands of people saw their lives disrupted. They were hounded by law enforcement, alienated from friends and family and fired from their jobs.

Karl Marx and Freidich Engels both raised the essential question of this study in the second chapter, “Proletarians and Communists.” Of the book, “Communist Manifesto” (1848) Karl Marx, he distinguished himself as a man of high caliber, and a philosopher of immense intellect. When Marx published his novel, “Communist Manifesto”, in the book, he underlined convincing ideas that detail theories of communism coexisting with multiple strategic solutions to capitalism. The author further distinguishes communism is the exceptional method of managing a government either politically and economically, in such a way no person is subjected to dealing

Fuelled by aversion and escalation of competition, the Cold War marks history’s height of political and military tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. Despite fighting alongside in the Second World War, tensions heighted and conflicting ideologies ripped these two nations apart. The rivalry, that consumed a large portion of the twentieth century, nearly brought the world to the brink of disaster. The strenuous relationship was characterized by the overwhelming sense of mutual doubt, animosity, and lack of communication. As two nations eminently divided by ideological differences, the mutual misperception between the US and the USSR is undeniably imperative to the development of the early Cold War in regards to Soviet

When Czar Nicholas and his family were killed by the “Red Army” the whole world was shocked. Americans became fearful of the Communist Party which is sometimes called the “Reds.” They saw communism as a threat to the capitalist economy of the U.S. There was a wave of fear that crossed the nation from coast to coast as the Communist Party gained members. During the Depression, the Communist Party was legal in the United States. There were many people who believed that communism or socialism would take over the American way of life. There were bombings and violence by people on both sides. Some Americans believed that only “true” Americans should live and work in our country. Those people who were immigrants, even if they had been in America

The Cold War changed American society by introducing both foreign and domestic fear into the lives of Americans. It brought neighbor against neighbor, and a trembling thoughts to all Americans. It gave an upper-hand to the men in the branches of Federal Government, and especially to the HUAC; moreover it

The primary warning USSR inflicted on the Americans was the alarm implanted in the American civilians. Directly after the triumph of World War II, America could be depicted as delirious in its accomplishments of post-war life. For the American nation the melancholy had concluded, upscale suburbs were springing up across the nation and the economic state was at its pinnacle. Material abundance had now proceeded to determine the flourishing way of life of the new America. The communist’s capability to obliterate America’s accomplishments and the constant warnings to do so impede America’s honour and faith dramatically. Consequently, creating terror and loss of mind all through the America society. This panic and paranoia eventually resulted to the deteriorating relationship between USSR and USA. In a speech composed by the American President Truman during 1947, he defines the distinguishing contrasts among Communism and Capitalism. He emotionally expresses that a capitalist nation is fuelled by the will of the majority and it is defined by “free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression.” It is clear through the regular use of the word ‘free’ and ‘freedom’ that Truman believed strongly about the theory of capitalism. On the other hand, he defined communism as a way of life based on the will of a minority effectively forced upon the majority. Truman’s speech focuses on the current fundamental debates over government capability and social structure and reveals how it separated the previously allied nations and caused a fierce battle for world authority. The ideological differences between USA and USSR were undoubtedly the most destructive factor to their

In the nineteen thirties conversion to the communist party was not a fashion or a craze, it was a sincere and spontaneous expression of our optimism born of despair: an abortive revolution of the spirit, a misfired Renaissance, a false dawn of history. To be attracted to the new faith was, I still believe, an honourable error. We were wrong for the right reasons. (quoted in Calder 199)