(An essay I wrote a while back. Not edited for your enjoyment)
Karl Marx and his theories have been an unfortunate influence in American culture and this left a burden to our society. During the midst of the Communist Party of the U.S.A. in the early 20th Century, to fall of the Soviet Empire, it certainly left its mark. It certainly took a toll for those that witnessed the “McCarthy” era and Ronald Reagan’s “pro-liberty” policies. We have all heard the dreaded remarks of Senator Joe McCarthy or President Reagan in high school. I think these American leaders influenced our culture in a positive way, helping communism come to a dead stop on the political road…now curtailed into government cradle-to-grave thinking… I think it’s amazing how fast this uprising started, how fast it failed and how it’s dreadful legacy still exists within parts of America.
Even after the fall of the communism, it still appears throughout our country and goes by a different name (*possibly the socialist party). It is even possible that the Progressive Era was influenced by many of the ideals from Karl Marx. Many communists (and socialists) will argue that Karl Marx’s theories were meant to enforce a utopia, but his theories were implemented incorrectly (think of Mao and Stalin). Communism was meant to provide freedoms to the workers when history shows the opposite. These theories, which were meant to produce this type of paradise, were supposed to allow everyone have an equal share of the wealth within a country. This theory proposed a world without private property, a large tax burden to spread the wealth (via government programs), and immense government control and regulation. This massive amount of control over the people is the root of its problem. I will not point out the death toll caused be communist regimes but the economic or social issues it started/caused, mainly. Wait….just kidding.
*Socialism or Communism. One is more extreme than the other, in theory. So, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck and craps like a duck….it must be a duck.
History has shown the world of communism’s failures, time and time again, and that Marx’s theories were just that: illogical theories. It not only fails because over a hundred million people have died under communist rule, intentional or not, but also that the people become poorer and lost many freedoms. Whether it was Stalin’s slaughters or Mao’s famine (Great Leap Forward, anyone?), this is considered proof that when a government this powerful, it is also powerful enough to take everything away from you. No matter how innocent the “Communist Manifesto” sounds, Karl Marx’s attempts at making a better world only worsened some parts of it.
For a lot of politicians in the past, his theories were inspiring enough to try them out and now many of these revolutionary leaders are starting to realize that communism fails. Even Cuba’s former leader, Fidel Castro, recently criticized his own “Cuban model isn’t working” (Goldberg 2010). His son, Raul Castro, recently fired over 500,000 Cuban government employees for the sake of reducing their government’s budget problems. Even in America, we are seeing similar things when President Obama announced he will stop salary increases for American government employees starting in 2011. Take a step further and consider East and West Berlin, the side that was rule by the communists had less money and less freedom overall. Compare the Ivory Coast to Ghana: Ghana had more money in the 1960’s but the Ivory Coast adopted capitalism, which led to more economic diversity than Ghana’s socialist government. *Of course, both of these countries sort of flip-flopped their economic ideas and now Ghana is doing “better” and the Ivory Coast is not doing too well….
*Thomas Sowell goes into this nicely.
Capitalism: There is no other form of economics that has gotten a country and its people out of poverty. Of course, Karl Marx “coined” the term capitalism but to any lay person or other economist it just that…classical economics. There are arguments against capitalism, mentioning that it has destroyed the African union by exploiting its resources and leaving the people to die, or leaving them in poverty. This is not true because of all the nations that have adopted a free market, they have brought themselves out of poverty (though I will admit a few are not so lucky but it’s due to other reasons). If the African Union adopted these ideals, and provided economic freedom to its people (EVERY single country in Africa, mind you), poverty would wither away (Bruno 183). Many of these oppressive governments have understood the need to deter away from their communist ideals and totalitarian state and adopt capitalism. I suppose this is because these nations have seen the virtues of capitalism, realizing the importance of not oppressing their people. Simply put, a free market gives people freedom and truly free people have a free economy. You must have freedom run with it, of course…
If the list of disasters regarding socialism and communism is this large, when most of the successes of capitalism are proven, then why are people still discussing socialism? If communism or socialism really worked, in practical terms, then why aren’t these ideals being taught in school? No *credible institution will teach communism or socialism but it is possible that some instructors or teachers promote some of its basic ideals: government programs**.
*Update: Apparently not. Lee Doren has a book out on Amazon.com that mentions certain institutions with classes like, “Take Marx Seriously.”
**Please take note: this is the shadow that socialism will cast over the economy! Also to be fair: any form of government ran program could essentially be included in the “socialist” category (you name it). Be mindful that what I’m trying to advocate against is a federal government so powerful to hinder our economic freedoms. Also, I understand that Corporatism is a major issue as well and that I may write about in the future.
Anyways, I see a problem with this because although government intervention is needed time to time, the private sector is much more efficient in most cases. There is no simple answer as to how communism has influenced teachers or professors and it’s hard to obtain such data when it needs to measure and recorded.
This brings us to Joe McCarthy who was the most demonized and condemned Senator in all of U.S. history. This Republican Senator from Wisconsin accused many (57 NOT 205 as reported from the press) government workers for being affiliated with communism, the Communist Party of the USA, or working with the Soviet Empire. His role during the era of the 1950’s was to point out disloyal American politicians. He was ridiculed, exiled and later died due to complications from his drinking habits. In 1995, thousands of documents were recovered from the FBI and Russia proving that he was right in many of his accusations, though not all. Although thousands of documents were recovered, many were left “unrecovered” and never found. Despite having character flaws, or accusing quite a few innocent people, his role was paramount in pointing that there was actually disloyal Americans working for the government.
Communism is a government monopoly that essentially oppresses its people and for some strange reason, people are still advocating for its less extreme form: socialism. From my perspective, Communism is like a child that found his dad’s gun and now has the power to abuse such a destructive device, without knowing anything about it. For example, in it’s actual theory… how in the hell can you plan an economy so large? With trillions of dollars and millions of transactions? Impossible! Such a form of radical politics has proven deadly in many communist countries. Let’s not forget the destruction of nation-wide famine of China from Chairman Mao (or NOW starvation in North Korea), or the slaying of innocent people in Stalin’s Russia. These acts alone were not because of communism, but the abuse that it allows. This abuse stems from a very strong government, oppressing its people with the intention of not letting them free.
Works Cited
Brown, Archie. "SIGN POSTS: Why did Communism end when it did?." History Today 60.3 (2010): 60.MasterFILE Premier. EBSCO. Web. 16 Nov. 2010.
Leone, Bruno I. “Communism: Opposing Viewpoints.” Revised ed. Vol. Communism. St. Paul, MN: Greenhaven, 1986. Print. The Isms: Doctrines and Movements.
Adjibolosoo, Senyo. "A CRITICAL HUMAN FACTOR PERSPECTIVE ON WHY ECONOMISTS GOT IT SO WRONG." Review of Human Factor Studies 16.1 (2010): 7-35. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 20 Nov. 2010.
Goldberg, Jeffrey (2010a, undated). Fidel: ‘Cuban Model Doesn’t Even Work For Us Anymore.’ Atlantic. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/print/2010/09/fidelcuban-model-doesnt-even-work-for-us-anymore/62602 Nov 15th, 2010.
Klehr, Harvey, John Earl. Haynes, and Fridrikh Igorevich. Firsov. The Secret World of American Communism. New Haven: Yale UP, 1995. Print.
Sowell, Thomas. "Ch 2: Prices and Markets." Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy. New York: Basic, 2004. 10-14. Print.
