Why is America so afraid of communism?

Question

We all know communism isn't a good government program, but why do we care what type of government other countries have, as long as they are not hostile towards us? It can't be because of humanitarian reasons; there are suffering people in many countries that I never hear about the government trying to help. So what is it about communism that scares us, as long as we don't do it here?

Answer 1

Firstly I cant agree with the first satement of yours, infact it is the best system, as long as it is followed up by its mature state socialism. Now, people can bring up stalinism and questions of corruption, and condemn communism to an eternal life of "darkness". But note this, Stalinism is not communism infact exactlky the opposite of it, that completely dimishes human ingenuity, while Kral Marx said, humanity has unlimited potentials and the corruption comes when the revolution is not completed through socialism. Communism is a continuous revolution until socialism is established, but when this completion takes too much time people eventually gets tired resulting in a rigid sytem, that gives birth to a police state, revolution doesnt remain people's any more. But when that happens, the state becomes communist only in name, not in core sense. In Soviet Union thats exactly what happened, the whole system relied on Yosef Stalin for its order in a full dictatorship style(this may be an understatement) when that was lost the system started collapsing, Stalin had basically crippled the revolution, by making himself the head of it, slowing it down to an absolute stop, which stayed that way for so long that by the time Gorbachevs tried to move the wheel of revolution from that deep mud, there was little left to be done. You cant blame that on communism.

Now Iam returning to your question, At first America was afraid of Communism, because it could not possibly accept it in its sphere given its corporate owned economy, same was right for most other western countries. Sometimes you can see in many vinatge Soviet propaganda posters and writings presenting non communist country's state heads as an international "evil" congregation of capitalists. Interestingly this wasnt too wrong in many ways, because ever since it came into existence all western countrys' heads had been trying to suppress it, to maintain the status quo or simply to stay in power. America could not be all that different. But today, honestly, America has little or nothing against communism. Cuba's Castro? old enemies, nothing to do with political systems. China? an emerging new opponent in global politics, communism is just being used agains China as a westren propaganda. North Korea? conflicting interest in the area also brings in China to an extent and America's old prestige in the Korean War political change. In under developed world? (third world as a term is not appropriate anymore), well the truth for them is, as long as they are not communist America will have some form of control over those country's governments and eventually their economical decisions, facilitating exploitation, but of course, they have always been unfortuante. For America, communism is not something to be afraid of in those countries, but something to be wiped out. And like you said, humanitarian reasons are not valid by any way.
I hope I didnt sound like a red head fanatic on communism, and also hope that answers your question. and, yeah, thanks for your patience on reading the whole thing, if you have!

Answer 2

True communism does not exist. It never has truely existed in anything more than theory. Communism is really true democracy. In the Marxist idea of communism, we are all equal. Sound familiar? Communism originally was a philisophy, not a rulebook to governing the people. Marx never even described what a communist government would look like. (Karl Marx was the first to present the idea of communism in the Communist Manifesto.)

Simply put Communism is government without preference for money and the public good is more important than personal wealth. The only way it could ever happen, according to Marx, is if the masses got so sick of capitalism, that they threw it down. It is less of a revolution and more of a natural progression for the masses. (when i say masses, I mean everyone but the 2% that own 85% of the world's money. If you make less than $3 million a year, the term "masses" applies to you.) In fact, if what Marx wrote is true, we are in a stage leading to communism right now.

Now what is capitalism and it's institutions credited with? Take a look at Iraq. Or how about the deaths, injuries, and suffering that capitalism was responsible for in America before unions and workers comp. People forget that corporations and capitalism treated the masses like **** in our own country until the we put a stop to it. These same enities repeat their ways in other countries that haven't had the same experieces developed countries have had that led us to limit capitalism.

okay, so now imagine that you're rich and, therefore powerful. You are presented with a philosophy that renders your billions of dollars powerless to the will of the people.

why would you want yourself to be all-the-sudden considered "equal" with the masses?

If you had the power to prevent that, would you?

now imagine if you and those like you owned all the major media outlets that reached those masses. wouldn't you vilify communism in an attempt to quell it?

Communism doesn't exist today. China is socialist. They tried communism only to realize they couldn't force it to work. It is ironic because it is exactly are Marx wrote, communism cannot be forced upon the people. The people must suffer through the worst of capitalism before coming to this natural conclusion. As far communist governments of the past, they were little more than dicators and facists using a more fashionable name.

don't take my word for it. stop believing the propaganda-filled mass media and read what the father of communism wrote. Study your history. You will come to realize what the people should fear isn't the philisophy of communism, it's those that abhor it.

P.S. John Locke, the guy who wrote the philosophy that our constitution is based off, was a communist.

And just so you know, I am not anti-capitalist. I'm not even anti-corporation. I believe, as Marx wrote, that capitalism and the part it plays in leading us to true equality is necessary. We may never live to see it, but to say communism is evil is far from the truth.

so when i see ExxonMobil making more money than ever thanks to war and it's continuation in the Middle East, I rejoice. Communism is a coming

Answer 3

My friend Yuri Yelenko's father was 52 years old in 1991. When the Soviet Union collapsed many older people were very dependent on government. I first met him one afternoon at 2:00. He was sitting in his arm chair with a bottle of vodka next to it watching his government issue 19" Phillips television. I asked him if he had the day off work. He said he had no job. Not since 1991, four years ago. I asked him if he was looking for work. He said it was the government's duty to give him a job. He was a welder. So he at on his butt and waited for someone to take his hand. Everyone got their 400 square foot apartment and their table for 2 in the kitchen. Some people did dishes in the bathtub. Women stood in line for hours getting food rations (like food stamps but specific). Then we watched government television for an hour and went to work at the factory belching black smoke. During breaks we would gather around and read the two communist newspapers, Izvestia and Pravda. They cost a kopek but we only made $20 a month. The babushka sweeping the floor, the engineer, the doctor assigned to the factory, $20 a month. But how can you complain when you have cabbage and potatoes and sometimes a ration of sugar and salt? And today, many of the old people still love the government taking care of them. Strangely everyone knew a common phrase, whether in Moscow, or Odessa, or Nizhnevartovsk, Siberia: I will pretend to work, as long as you pretend to pay me! So why don't you young "intellectuals" tell me why communism has never worked? That would be a better question. And while you are at it, perhaps you can tell me why communist and fascist States always kill about 10% of their population? And why did the Socialist Nirvana, Sweden stop paying people for work, when they actually stayed home from work? I don't know why your teachers and professors love communism, but they are liars!

Answer 4

You have sort of answered a small tip of it yourself. You said; "As long as they are not hostile towards us?" What if they were? We do have some dealings with China, but you know what? They are much better friends with North Korea than they are with the United States.
To be a free Country and support communism would be like having a "Buy American" bumper sticker on your foreign car. Just a comparison and maybe not the greatest but its late and I'm tired! I do not think it is so much a fear of communism, rather a defending of freedom, putting forth what our Country, the beautiful USA stands for!

Answer 5

Perhaps it's a leftover from the McCarthy era, when Senate hearings were conducted like witchhunts to find communists in government and 'root them out' and even Hollywood blacklisted people suspectd of being communist.

I only halfheartedly believe this, though, because nobody seems to remember that China is a communist regime, and that the communist Chinese government takes part in all business arrangements which gives them a lot of information about our businesses and processes.

So it must be that communism is pulled out as a bugbear or bogeyman only when convenient, as in with Cuba.

Answer 6

I don't think America is afraid of communism. The philosophy of communism is the creation of classless society. But this can't be brought into practice as long as the man's thirst of possessiveness quenches. Even in the classless society, 'might becomes right'. After the disintegration of the USSR, no country can be claimed as a communist one in this era of globalization. Even China and Korea are shedding out the communist ideas of yore and accepting the principles of democratic countries like USA, UK and other European countries.

Answer 7

"why do we care what type of government other countries have, as long as they are not hostile towards us?"

You answered your own question here. Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, and other socialist leaders ARE hostile towards the U.S. The only reason why they don't attack us is because their self-imposed communism has kept their countries in the dark age and incapable of creating the necessary power to challenge our might.

Answer 8

Because it is built on the belief that all people are equal in every aspect of society. America was built on the belief that different is good. We live in a capitalistic society where people lie and cheat their way to the top. Communism is a totally different system where government would be forced to interfere with personal goals and regulate people's success.

Answer 9

Because they cant make money off communism by exploiting other nations national resources.


To the guy above. How hostile was Vietnam to the United States?

Answer 10

Actually socialism has many better parts to it than ours does! They don't take care of the rich first at the expense of the poor!

Communism is another subject, but there are other regimes that are worse than most communist ones, who seem to be drying up!