Since Karl Marx's radical proposition of establishing a new society based primarily around the elimination of the bourgeoisie and the uprising of the working class, there have been an innumerable advocates, detractors, and vehement debates surrounding both sides of Socialism and Communism. However, it wasn't until the Cold War that Socialism was seen as more than a mere political institution or idea, but a threat. With the Cold War, the US and the Soviet Union were two superpowers, and the rivalry between the two was heightened when the Bolsheviks seized power shortly after the Russian Revolution in 1917. When World War II began, the animosity between the two countries intensified, and the war grew to include a nuclear arms race, new breeds of violence, and military coalitions, but also a clash of ideologies.
[...] And thus it is tat the mere mention of Disney can rekindle decades- old controversies today.” However, other writers and philosophers maintain that the threat of Communism and Socialism has become a moot point. In his essay Downfall of Communism,” Jay Rogers writes, “after a decade of massive social upheaval in countries behind the Iron Curtain, the communist philosophy appears to have become an anachronistic system of a bygone era.” He goes on to say that Soviet Union, the nation with the world's largest land mass and the leader of the communist world, has suddenly had its political power base challenged and its economic system shaken to the core.” From Rogers' writings, it appears as if Socialism is about to undergo a change, a softening of its Socialist standards, and an adhering to more democratic endeavors. [...]
[...] The West was so concerned with quelling Communist dictators, pegging them as the uber-monster, that they failed to see the utopian ideals in Socialism, and how those utopias could disintegrate, meaning that not only was socialism hopeless, and the war against it nullified as well, but that any utopian endeavor was a frivolous act. As Ulam puts it, ideological legerdemain can abolish class struggle, no single revolutionary eruption can overnight transform society and reform human nature.” Yet Stalin was seen as that exact “ideological legerdemain.” And as Bland posits during his address to the Sarat Academy in London, ‘Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (the Soviet Union), which was constructed under the leadership of Lenin and Stalin, no longer exists. [...]
[...] Later during his lecture, Bland states that, word ‘democracy' means rule of the common people', and in this sense- the Soviet -Union in Stalin's time was infinitely more democratic than any Western country.” So then, perhaps the fall of socialism, and the degrading of the name of Stalin stemmed from the waning of any hope for a possible utopia. And perhaps, like Ulam suggests, there was never any possibility of a utopia to begin with, but now, the Western press focuses on the failure of a regime, and not on the disappearance of utopian ideals. [...]
[...] By researching Marx's initial vision and ideal, as well as examining a variety of essays, lectures, interviews, and quotes from poets, philosophers, and writers, we can provide a few reasons for the downfall of Socialism and Communism, as well as investigate the reasons why so many put their hopes in these government structures, despite the degeneration of its ideologies. In his now infamous Communist Manifesto, published in 1847, Karl Marx wrote, "Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. [...]
[...] In order to discuss the downfall or success of any government, one must weigh all of the perspectives surrounding it, which are endless and forever mounting in opposition against each other. Another reason the Western press has been so concerned with publicly lambasting communism, socialism, and particularly Stalinism, was that they didn't anticipate its failure. For much of the Cold War, Communism was seen as a political wave surging through the world, consuming every other government ideology in its path. [...]
APA Style reference
For your bibliographyOnline reading
with our online readerContent validated
by our reading committee
