“Every mother in Bulgaria can point to where communism failed, from the failure of the planned…
Lithuania's President Antanas Smetona fled from his country while nearly 150,000 troops from the Soviet Union invaded into Lithuania in 1940(Soviet Occupation). This selfish act left families like Lina Vilkas's to be captured helplessly a year later. Ruta Sepetys's book, Between Shades of Gray relates the journey and survival of Lina's family during over a year and half of being in captivity by the Soviets. As I read Between Shades of Gray, I learned that people will show great fortitude in circumstances unimaginable to normal civilians.…
The terrors of a totalitarian government presented in George Orwell's 1984 apply not only to the Party, but also to the Stalinist Russia of the 1930's. Frightening similarities exist between these two bodies which both started out as forms of government, and then mutated into life-controlling political organizations which "subordinated all institutions and classes under one supreme power" (Buckler 924). Orwell shows how such a system can impose its will on the people through manipulation of media, constant supervision as aided by technology, and the threat of pain, both physical and mental. Orwell also shows how the state has more subtle methods for imposing its authority, such as the manipulation of language and propaganda as they are used to achieve the goal of absolute power for the system. A key parallel between the Party and Stalin's Communism is the use of technology and communication to control the economic, social, and personal aspects of life.…
One evening in 1950 a Houston couple entered a Chinese restaurant. The woman, a radio writer, wanted the proprietor's help in producing a program on recent Chinese history. Overhearing their conversation, a nearby man rushed out, phoned the police, and informed them that people were "talking Communism." The couple was immediately arrested and jailed for 14 hours before the police concluded they had no case. At about the same time a policeman in Wheeling, West Virginia, discovered some penny-candy machines dispensing goodies with tiny geography lessons. One lesson, under the hammer-and-sickle Soviet flag, read: "USSR Population 211,000,000. Capitol Moscow. Largest country in the world." "This is a terrible thing to expose our children to," pronounced…
The primary internal reason how Australia responded to the threat of communism was by Menzies and the Liberal Party attempting to ban the CPA. Menzies tried to ban the CPA two times. The first time was in 1950, when the Liberal Party introduced the Communist Party Dissolution Bill (CPDB). Menzies tried to make it a law so that the CPA would become illegal. However, this was unsuccessful as the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and many other unions opposed it as this would lead to the Liberal Party to ban any minority group they wanted including the ALP. The second way Menzies tried to prohibit the CPA was by having a Communist Party Dissolution Referendum in 1951 which was narrowly defeated as Chifley stated his concerns to the public about how the Liberal Party would be able to ban any group they wanted. The Party in control of government, which was the Liberal Party, responded to the threat of communism by trying to ban the CPA.…
The 1950’s dealt with threats from the USSR and Communism which scared many people in the United States and soon became a full-fledged paranoia. There was fear of falling behind the advances of the Communist countries, especially among the Soviet Union, creating the Red Scare. As the Cold War with the USSR escalated, Americans increased their suspicions of Communist influences. Due to this, a special committee was formed in order to investigate Communists in America known as HUAC (The House Un-American Activities Committee). In 1947, HUAC accused ten people in Hollywood of supporting communist propaganda becoming blacklisted. As time went on, more individuals were being suspected of being Communists which eventually led to the act of McCarthyism…
Slavenka Drakulić’s How We Survived Communism and Even Laughed is an interesting and educational book about the struggles and dysfunction of communism in Croatia. I found this book incredibly personal because it showed the point of view of a woman who is experiencing life growing up in a country where communism had ended, but continued in the minds of it’s people. Not only does she speak of the lack of common luxuries that Croatia has, but she relates them to western culture in a time when America was progressing faster than we ever have. This book was interesting because while reading it, the reader is not lectured with facts about communism and World War II, but instead given a personal view of someone stuck in a country they feel oppressed in. Another interesting aspect is the author wrote that she was forced to recycle, collect and conserve everything that was possibly useful. However this recycling and collecting was not for environmental protection, it was because of fear, fear of running out of supplies and not being able to get more, something that civilians under communism would have to deal with everyday. If anyone had a problem with anything that involved the government including running out of basic needs like milk, it was their problem. Drakulic observed a friend who wrote articles about the problems of communism, she was later punished for it. She was shunned by society just for speaking her mind. This novel gives the reader a personal feel of civilians stuck in a communist country.…
A theocracy is a type of government in which God or a deity is the ruler, and whose practices, laws and teachings are led by a priest, or a minister. The most recent leader, Warren Jeffs, was a self proclaimed prophet who claimed that God was here to minister to the people through him. Communism is a type of government where everybody is treated as equals and every one earns the same amount of money. Goods and money are controlled in the FLDS society and only a particular group of people (the founding families) had luxuries. A patriarchal society is one where men take control and importance over women. The women in the FLDS culture are brought up to have the mindset that they are put on this earth to please men only. So, I would consider the FLDS culture to have similar or a…
As communism spread in the twentieth century, communist regimes initially enacted gender reforms in order to gain a female following. “While women struggled for freedom throughout the western world, communist revolutions were radically equalizing for females, helping the suffragettes everywhere.”However, as feminist movements became more radical, communist governments slowed this reform.While women struggled for freedom throughout the western world, communist revolutions were radically equalizing for females, helping the suffragettes everywhere. The Soviets even had a special part of the government devoted to women, whereas in the west, women struggled to vote, have jobs, or gain political voices. Women’s rights have been a struggle since the…
After World War II, the United States faced a malevolent philosophical dispute that had spread from within itself. Chapter nine in Thinking Through the Past is titled “Pop Culture as History: The War Comes Home” because it identifies America’s disposition over the subject of communism during the Cold War era. Historian Stephen J. Whitfield writes his secondary source entitled, “The Culture of the Cold War” which presents a detailed analysis pertaining to the lives of Americans on both sides of the political spectrum of anti-communism during the 1950s in United States. Questions arise that carry significance to cultural and social growth during the period: How was communism threatening the US and why? What did the threat of communism do to the culture of the US during the 1950s? Finally, does the secondary source written by Stephen Whitfield align with what is mentioned in primary sources or do they conflict with one another. Communism held a powerful grip on the United States’ cultural development during the 1950s. America was either too ferocious in its’ approach of defeating communism on the home-front as Whitfield suggests, or it’s necessity is overlooked and was prudent to end the political and social agenda of communism in the United States. In either case, communism held an astounding affect on the social aspects of the United States during the 1950s regarding motion pictures, novels, advertisement, music, and much more. Although, the majority of the population in the US sealed communism’s fate as they would not allow it to become apart of the popular culture during the 1950s.…
Despite how the 50s are painted as an idyllic time in American history, they were also a time when the nation was exploring the fear and exploitation associated with communism. Many people encountered the fear personally due to being forced out of their government jobs, and ideas were freely exchanged about what exactly it meant to be American.…
Watching the duck and cover makes one think, would hiding under a desk or jacket against a wall really save someone. Seeing this makes one think if living during the time of a nuclear war would be desirable, not that one has the choice but it would have to be a thought. According to this duck and cover video, a nuclear bomb warning can happen at any time and one would find somewhere that was considered safe and a good distance from windows to duck and cover. If one saw a bright flash then they were to duck underneath any clothing available and against any type of structure as soon as they possibly could to protect themselves. This era had to be extremely stressful, especially for the young children this video was being shown too. This video had to wreak havoc on a child’s subconscious.…
We are going to look at the life and problems of Comrade Yen a 40 year old teacher in china that has been on a gradual decline after the popularity fall of communism.From her background and her relationships with her family members currently.All of her medical and psychological seems to be connected to a very specific span of years in her life and choices she made.We will also…
The fear of communism extends into the US, Over 80,000 communists in the US after WWII, Some members of the government turned over documents to a pro-communist magazine.…
Why are people against Communist? J. Edgar Hoover, Sidney Hook, and William O. Douglas have written articles about their opinion relating to Communist expanding throughout our Nation. Communism is a social organization based on the ownership controlled all economic and social activities. J. Edgar Hoover, Sidney Hook, and William O. Douglas have numerous points of view on Communism. Their voices and minds reveals that Communist is not who they say they are.…