by Lenna Gonya

Created on: March 18, 2010

Those of us old enough to remember the cold war, the Bay of  Pigs and the real possibility of nuclear holocaust, are still not that crazy about the term Communism. Unfortunately it has taken the deaths of millions to learn that it doesn’t work.

For most of the new generation, the horrors of the Communist takeover of much of Europe do not exist in current reality.  The complete control of people’s lives, the executions of dissidents, the restricted lives of those who couldn’t move about at will, work where they wanted, or say what they thought, are lost in history.  Somehow they died out with the demolition of the Berlin Wall, and the supposed dissolution of the Soviet Socialist Republic.

Communism was born out of the oppressive environment in Russia, where starvation, servitude, and ignorance were about all you could expect out of life.  Thousands of casualties in WWI  and famine pushed most peasants over the brink, and put them in line to follow the “intellectuals” that came up with a utopian idea.  The “equalization of mankind.”  No more rich people or poor people.  Everyone on  the same playing field.  A government to take care of your problems, make your decisions for you, and guide you from birth to death.  Understandably, in a society where 90 % of the populous were illiterate, and hungry, this seemed too good to be true.  

Unfortunately, in order to maintain this equalization, you have to do away with the rich, (they killed them), the instruments of free speech, (in case there were dissenters with differing points of view), and, the ability to “rise above your station”, (because, then, you would be one of the enemy).

They found that it was a fulltime job just sending out spies to listen in on comrades who might want to disagree with the powers that be.  It was an enormous task keeping track of those who spoke unwisely against the government, and , a big job shipping those people off to “rehabilitation camps” where they were taught to be good little Communists.  Those were the lucky ones.  The others were gunned down.

The Communist economy declined immediately, because those rich nasty manufacturers and land owners had either been killed off or run out  of the country, and no one knew how to run the businesses.  In Russia and China both, this led to the massive starvation of millions.  Eventually, government run factories and businesses grew, fueled by the limitless supply of the little people who did what they were told.

After awhile, people wanted to grow, branch out, try to improve their lot in life, and speak their minds, but this wasn’t possible, or safe.  Free thinking wasn’t advantageous to Communist regimes.  More people disappeared, or defected, or were shipped off to camps.

In recent years, both Russia and China have loosened their hold, (they have McDonalds and KFC now), allowed people to start some free enterprise, and even incorporate wicked capitalistic practices and goods.  Why?  Because Communism doesn’t work.  Not economically, not socially, not morally.  But, it took the deaths of millions of people to find that out.
    

 

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