Rise and Fall of Communism

It’s always interesting for me to reflect on the rise and fall of Communism. I was 9 years old when the Berlin Wall fell. I remember it happening, but it didn’t really register with me at the time about how it divided people between east and west. Those of us who grew up during the Cold War had the perception of life behind the Iron Curtain being very dreary and monotonous, as this video attempts to convey western perceptions of communist life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-AjzrnEgew Communism wasn’t really in a position as an ideology to be considered a real competitor with Capitalism on a world stage until after World War II according to the textbook.  It can be understood that while the Soviet Union and China wielded most of their power in Europe and Asia, they didn’t have military services outside of their respective spheres of influence. In Latin America, for example, the most that Russia or China might have contributed was financial aid, weapons, and diplomatic attachés. The Warsaw Pact countries were for the most part, “buffer states” to stand between the Soviet Union and the west to prevent further invasions into the Soviet Union.  There was also quite a bit of mistrust towards the west not only because Germany had invaded the Soviet Union, but also because the U.S. and other European powers had actually sent special forces into Russia following the Bolshevik revolution to aid czarist armies, to help them overthrow the Bolsheviks. The Warsaw pact countries saw the Soviet Union as their protector, and modeled their economic systems and governments after the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union promoted the idea of a global communist revolution partly because they believed Marx thought the fall of communism was inevitable. But, not everyone was keen on the Soviet Union being the highest model of communism because China and Russia almost went to war over ideological differences stemming from China not being treated as an equal partner in the spread of Communism. While The Soviet Union and China may have promoted world communism, some of the countries they supported such as Vietnam and Korea were more concerned with unifying their countries under communism rather than being focused on spreading it beyond their borders. Some states had agendas that were “national communism” in nature while others were internationally oriented. In many ways, although ideologies changed, imperial ambitions remained very much intact in that like their czarist predecessors, the Soviets had little interest in giving autonomy to countries like Ukraine, who were their vassals. In some cases they even “Russified” the populations by trying to move Russian immigrants into these countries, but these countries always managed to retain their identity, language, and culture despite these attempts.