Communism And Eastern Europe : World War II

Following World War II, the United States was intimidated by the Soviet Union due to their lack of trust with the nation and the fear of the spread of communism. The United States feared that there was a potential that the communism could flow into the country and take away their freedoms. Following the war, the Soviet Union captivated Eastern European states as a way to provide a buffer zone if the Western States were to attack them, thus resulting in an additional, increased lack of trust from the West. “Much to the dismay of the Allies, the nations of Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Yugoslavia all had communist governments by 1948 (Linda Delaine).” Due to the countries being under communist control, the West had no access to resources, resulting in the hostility between the two States. The United States decided to combat the communist country with strategical approaches. Several policies were utilized by the United States to battle communism during this time. The first

Karl Marx was born in Prussia in 1818. Later in his life he became a newspaper editor and his writings ended up getting him expelled by the Prussian authorities for its radicalism and atheism (Perry 195). He then met Fredrich Engels and together they produced The Communist Manifesto in 1848, for the Communist League. This piece of writing basically laid out Marx’s theory of history in short form (Coffin 623). The Communist Manifesto is mainly revolved around how society was split up into two sides, the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat. I do believe that the ideas of the Communist Manifesto did indeed look educated on paper but due to the lessons of history communism is doomed to fail in the past, present, and future. Communism did not prevail in many different countries, two of them being Berlin and the Soviet Union.

In 1848, Marx, a German philosopher, wrote a supposedly scientific account of his perspective on history entitled The Communist Manifesto. As a materialist philosopher, he believed that economics was at the heart of history. He examined the tools and technology being used to understand the material substructure of how people were fed and clothed.

Following World War II disputes between soviet and the Western democracies kicked up, particularly dealing with the fate of Eastern European states and the Soviets influential takeover. The communist takeover of Eastern Europe clashed with the democratic rebuilding of Western Europe forming what Winston Churchill described as a “Iron Curtain” a political, military and ideological barrier set by the Soviet Union served to set a metaphorical boundary between the Soviet expansion and the Western democracies. With the fall of the “Iron Curtain” “The Cold War was a period of East-West competition, tension, and conflict short of full-scale war, characterized by mutual perceptions of hostile intention between military-political alliances or blocs.”

After World War II, the Eastern and Western Allies started to grow apart. The Eastern Bloc was led by the Soviet Union and promoted communism, while the Western Bloc was led by the United States and promoted capitalism, through democracy. Both wanted their country’s ideals to spread throughout the world, and at the same time, prevent the opposing superpower from taking over. In an attempt to stop the spread of communism, the United States created NATO and the Truman Doctrine, while the Soviet Union tried to stop democracy by creating the Warsaw Pact. At this point, the world was divided, and most third world countries became pawns in the fight of communism versus capitalism.

World War II was a tremendously impactful war which was fought during the forties. It had many turning points and great changes that turned not only the United States but the world. One of the first events that occurred was the rise of Communism. With the rise of communism it caused panic in the country of the United States. The panic was inevitable because anyone could be suspected of being a communist. Also, with communism rapidly spreading in Europe it was hard for the United States to stay in a state of isolationism. Therefore, a key factor of the United States abandoning isolationism and joining the war was the incidence of Pearl Harbor. The bombing of Pearl Harbor was sent by Japan. As a result, the United States declared war on Japan and World War II started. After the war, the impact continued. After World War II, the Cold War began; which was a start to a race in technology, space, and power. The Cold War lasted several decades and was a reaction to World War II.

relations with the West in the form of the Marshall plan nor the lack of

Emerging victoriously from World War II, America became the leader of the free-market capitalist world, and proved to be a military, economic, and political powerhouse. However, as one major war came to a close, another battle was brewing between the democratic United States and the communist Soviet Union. As the Soviet Union expanded farther West into Europe, America as well as its NATO allies worked together in an effort to contain the USSR’s expanding communist party. The Cold War went far beyond a battle between different ideologies. Rather, it developed into a global conflict where espionage, treason, and massive propaganda campaigns were inflicted on all aspects of individuals’ lives internationally. The plausibility of communism seeping into the confinements of the United States caused nation-wide fear to erupt. American businesses feared the idea of a communistic revolution on the basis that it would disturb the very groundwork that holds capitalism together. As a result, the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was formed to investigate communist and fascist organizations within America. Unfortunately, the controversial tactics used during the HUAC hearings contributed to the fear, blacklisting, and repression that existed from 1940 through the 1950s. In the midst of the Cold War, several American opinions materialized concerning the role of the HUAC, in which Americans either praised the committee for its patriotic ideals, applauded but recognized the

“We promised the Europeans freedom. It would be worse than dishonorable not to see they have it.” General George S. Patton believed this and was right to a certain degree. America didn’t declare war on the Soviets but they did play a major role in the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Americans didn’t fire a shot on Russian soil but they pressured them into doing acts that the Russian economy wasn’t capable of doing. Although the Soviet Union was a super power after World War 2, their power was cut short because of the involvement in the space race and arms race.

Karl Marx wrote the Communist Manifesto in order to give a voice to the struggling classes in Europe. In the document he expressed the frustrations of the lower class. As Marx began his document with "the history of all hitherto societies has been the history of class struggles" he gave power to the lower classes and sparked a destruction of their opressors.1 He argued that during the nineteenth century Europe was divided into two main classes: the wealthy upper class, the bourgeoisie, and the lower working class, the proletariat. After years of suffering oppression the proletariats decided to use their autonomy and make a choice to gain power. During the

Almost all narratives of Allied victory in World War II account economic output as a decisive factor. Overy concedes to this point as well, citing Soviet evacuation of civilians and industry as salvation for the Eastern front. (Overy, 181) As the Germans flooded into the Soviet Union in 1941 entire populations and industries fled to the east, destined for the Urals, the Volga region, and Eastern Siberia. Along with saving Soviet industry by relocation, the Soviets also destroyed what they could not move including food and manufacturing plants. Destruction denied the invading Germans valuable resources that could’ve assisted the Axis war machine. The relocation of industry in the Soviet Union forced hard conditions on civilians who endured scarce rations and appalling working conditions. (Overy, 187) However, despite the odds, Soviet war production actually increased after the relocation of its industry. Overy attributes this economic success to central planning and control of the economy as well as simple models that allowed for easy mass production. The Soviet Union operated under a command economy that was completely controlled by the government and were more easily able to direct the economy for wartime production. Centralized organizations such as the Manpower Committee allocated valuable resources to labor, reserving skilled men for the war industry. Additionally, the Soviet Union simplified tank and aircraft models to allow quick production. For example, Overy writes

Marxism is a conflict theory founded by German Philosopher and Sociologist Karl Marx in the 19th Century. It brings forth the idea that society is imbalanced and biased.

Many political beliefs exist. Everyone has the right to chose what to believe in, what ideas to have, what to seek and how to achieve his goals. Political science is not very defined and strict. Specific rules saying that if one believes in a certain idea he should join a certain party do not exist. Certain things match certain group of people and other things this group of people would not accept. The same principle can be applied for countries. Communism appears to be successful for China, but it failed for Eastern European countries. It is very important the proper way of government to be found and used by the government of a country. The failure of the government can lead to failure in

Communism is considered a reaction to the “evils of capitalism.” Another way of saying communism is “dialectical materialism.” Karl Marx borrowed many ideas from the ideas of Gregor Hagel. Karl Marx was a German professor and theoretician, he published 2 famous works The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1866). Before he could finish Das Kapital he died, Friedrich Engels finished the book. Frederik Angles was a collaborator of Marx’s and co-author of the book. Marx saw the exploitation of the common worker and predicted a revolution that would see the rise of the proletariat against the capitalistic suppressors. Proletariat is a term used by Marx to describe the working class. He also

Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels' Communist Manifesto is one of the world's most influential pieces of political literature. The manifesto was created for the purpose of outlining the aims and goals of the "The Communist League". The Communist League was made up of radical proletariats who were fed up with the bourgeoisie social order and sought to overthrow them. The manifesto is known to have been written by Marx and assisted and edited by Engel therefore the many ideas and theories expressed by this work are known as Marxism. Marxism has many poignant views on changing society and its class structure, and what needs to be done to achieve these changes. The Marxism theories do fall