Transcript Intro to Communism

Intro to Communism
Terms: Bourgeoisie, Proletariat, Marx
Marx’s View on Capitalism
Communism was a theory by Karl Marx as
a way to organize society fairly.
 Marx saw that capitalism creates classes in
society.
 Bourgeoisie are the owners
 Proletariat are the workers
 These two classes will continually be in
conflict.

Marx’s View on Capitalism
Bourgeoisie own all the capital
(factories, tools etc)
 They also get all the profits.
 They can reinvest the profits in the
company or remove it and pay
themselves.

Marx’s View on Capitalism
Proletariat – These are the workers and
get paid a wage.
 They get no share in Company profits.
 At the mercy of the Bourgeoisies.
 The goal of the Bourgeoisie is to reduce
the costs of production and pay as little as
possible.

Term
“Dictatorship of the Proletariat”
A “dictatorship of the proletariat” will be
created to organize the country.
 They will ensure that the gains of the
revolt is secured from the capitalist.
 Most “Communist regimes” have only
achieved this.

Person
Vladimir Lenin
Lenin was leader of the Communist
Bolshevik party.
 Aided by Germany because he wanted
Russia to get out of the war.
 Party increased from 26000 to 2 million
 Created a military group called the red
Guards

November 1917
Lenin and the Bolsheviks seize power in a
revolution.
 Lenin gives all land to the peasants
 Factories are given to the workers who
elect a committee to run them.

Term: Dictatorship of the Proletariat
Lenin sets up a Dictatorship of the
Proletariat
 Kills all political opponents including the
tsar
 Education increased
 Religion banned in schools, priests
prosecuted
 Labour laws include 8 hour days, health
benefits, Holidays, pension mandatory

Term: Potsdam
Potsdam Conference
Occupation zones decided.
 Nazi party banned and were to be tried as
war criminals.
 For reparations each power was to collect
industrial equipment from its zone. USSR
zone was mostly agriculture.
 Germans living in Poland, Hungary, and
Czechoslovakia were to return to
Germany.

Term: Truman Doctrine
U.S. President Harry Truman believed that
is was the responsibility of the U.S. to
prevent the spread of Communism in the
world.
 Change in foreign policy from isolationism
which was practiced throughout the two
world wars.

UN Involvement
Term: Domino Theory
Truman was afraid that if Korea fell to
Communism than so would Japan and
other Capitalists countries. (Domino
Theory).
 16 countries supported the UN invasion of
Korea including Canada.
 Truman chose General Macarthur to lead
the force.

Korean War
Background
1945 after Truman dropped the bomb
Japan surrendered to the allies.
 Russia was fighting Japan on the Asian
continent as well.
 Korea was a colony of Japan.
 USSR invaded Korea in the North
 USA invaded from the south.

Background

They meet at the 38th parallel (latitude)
and divide the country in two.
United Nations
In 1945 the UN is formed.
 Had a general assembly that met every
year.
 A security council that met more regularly
on current issues.
 Security Council = Britain, USA, USSR and
elected representatives from other
countries.

U.N.
UN decided that Korea was to have
elections to choose a national government
for the whole country and reunify.
 The US set up a parliament in the South
based on Capitalism with the capital in
Seoul. (Republic of Korea)
 The USSR set up a communist regime in
the North with the capital of Pyongyang
(People’s Democratic Republic of Korea).

The US and USSR withdraw troops but
continue to fund and supply the Korean
Militaries.
 1949 a civil war in Korea’s Neighbour,
China, results in the formation of
Communist government under Mao.


Start of War
1950
Both sides believed their government
should rule the whole country.
 With the encouragement of USSR and
China, North Korea, under Kim Il Sung,
invaded the South.

UN Involvement
China was represented at the UN by the
former Capitalist regime.
 UN would not recognize the Mao
Communist government.
 USSR was absent from Security Council in
protest.

Since USSR was not there to veto, a
resolution was passed saying the North
broke peace and had to withdraw to the
38th parallel again.
 North refused.
 UN called on its members to us force and
the US was to lead the attack.

UN Involvement
Truman was afraid that if Korea fell to
Communism than so would Japan and
other Capitalists countries. (Domino
Theory).
 16 countries supported the UN invasion of
Korea including Canada.
 Truman chose General Macarthur to lead
the force.

Events of the War
1st phase
June – Sept.
 North Korea pushes
the South all the way
back to a small corner
of the country called
Pusan.

2nd phase
Macarthur organised
a landing at Inchon.
 Effectively surrounds
N Korean troops.
 Despite China’s
warnings they cross
the 38th parallel.

3rd phase
US ignore China and
push all the way to
the Yalu River.
 This borders with
China.
 Macarthur ignored
Truman’s orders and
began to approach
the Yalu.

China enters the war.
 Pushes the force back
past the 38th parallel.
 Un counter Attack
drives them back to
the 38th parallel.
 Armistice signed in
1953.

Cuban Missile
Crisis
Person Fulgencio Batista
In 1950, Cuba was
ruled by a ruthless
dictator Fulgencio
Batista.
 He killed all opponents
and used the military
to support his rule.

Batista Government
Capitalist government.
 Military supported by the U.S
 He and members of his government were
very rich while the rest of Cubans were
poor.
 Disliked Communists.

Batista Government
The capital, Havana,
was treated as a
playground for rich
Americans.
 It was controlled by
American Italian Mafia
Leader Lucky Luciano.
 Lucky set up a
cocaine operation and
ran casinos.

Batista Government
Was also used to hide money from illegal
activities in the U.S.
 Many Americans set up factories in Cuba
to take advantage of local resources like
sugar cane and tobacco. Ex. Palmolive –
Colgate.
 This resulted in many rich Americans and
very poor citizens of Cuba

Cuban Revolution
Person: Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro was a lawyer and was
appalled at the corruption for the Batista
government.
 Received support through educating the
poor on the corruption of the government.
 He joined forces with Che Guevara and
organised an army which overthrew the
Batista government.

Castro Regime
Castro’s first business was to execute all
the corrupt government officials that
abused the poor.
 Then he nationalised all the foreign
American assets.
 Wealth was to be invested in Cuba.
 With this money he set up free health
care.

Term: Bay of Pigs Invasion
Cuba has fell to Communism and Castro is
allied with the USSR because of the trade
embargo.
 Kennedy could not have a communist ally
50 miles off the coast of Florida.
 Many people who did not agree with
Castro and Communism fled the country
and became exiles.

Bay of Pigs 1961
Kennedy decided to get the CIA to train
the exiles and plan an invasion of Cuba.
 Exiles taking country back sounds a lot
better than a US invasion.
 The invasion was a great failure and
Castro captured and jailed many of the
exiles.

Results of Bay of Pigs 1961
Because of this Castro felt threatened and
allied closure with the USSR.
 He needed them for protection.
 Allowed Russia to install military bases.
 Russia began shipping weapons into Cuba.

Détente, Hotline, MAD
Détente – Time of peace or settling of tension
during a conflict.
 Hotline – direct line of communication which was
set up after the Cuban Missile crisis between the
USSR and the USA.
 MAD – Mutually Assured Destruction – Theory
which states that if one country attacks with a
Nuclear weapon then the other would counter,
this would continue until both countries are
destroyed.

Marshall Plan
Truman believed Communism grew in
countries in poverty.
 Many governments were struggling to
rebuild after the war.
 They realised that if they built up Europe
now, they could have a trading partner for
life and keep it from falling to
communism.
 Created by General George Marshall

Marshall Plan
The USA offered money, equipment and
goods to states willing to work together to
create recovery.
 Included cash machinery, food and
technology.
 In return, they would agree to buy
American goods and allow American to
invest capital in their in their industries.

Results
16 nations set up the Organisation for
European Economic Cooperation.
 In 1953 US gave 17 billion
 Increased tensions and divide between
East and West.
 Stalin prevented Soviet countries from
engaging in the plan.

Results
Stalin accused the USA of using the plan
for their own selfish interests
 Plan to dominate Europe and help the
American Economy.

Berlin Blockade 1948-49
Berlin Blockade
Political Divisions
After Potsdam Berlin was divided between
West (allied controlled and East USSR
controlled.
 West was capitalist democracy and East
was Socialist.

Berlin Blockade
Reconstruction Differences
Allies wanted to rebuild Germany to be a
strong country.
 Wouldn’t fall to Communism
 Create a trading partner
 Act as a shield against the spread of
communism in Europe

Berlin Blockade
Reconstruction Differences
USSR wanted a weak Germany that would
be incapable of an attack.
 USSR refused to let their zone trade with
the Western allied zone (West Berlin)

Berlin Blockade
Conflict
Since Berlin was in Soviet zone, they
controlled all access to city.
 Believed the Allies had no business in
Berlin since it was in the Soviet zone.
 U.S put up a military base.
 Capitalist way of life was on show as the
U.S tried to make their zone better.

Berlin Blockade
In protest, Stalin decided to restrict access
to Berlin by the Allies.
 Hoped to get the allies to pull out of Berlin
by starving the people.
 Abandon plans to develop Germany
 Eventually the people would turn to him
and switch to Communism and create one
city.

Berlin Blockade
Western Options
Ignore and drive through Blockade.
Advantages: 1)Show the Russians the U.S
could not be blackmailed.
2)They were the only ones with an A
bomb.
Disadvantages: 1)High risk of War
2)Russian forces outnumbered U.S forces in
Europe.

Berlin Blockade
Option 2: Pull Out of Berlin
Advantages:
1) Avoid any risk of War
Disadvantages:
1)Loss of prestige (positive reputation) for
the Western powers.
2) No one trust the Americans in the future
to stand against Communism.
Berlin Blockade
Option 3: Supply West Berlin by Air
Advantages:
1)Less risk of War than option 1
Disadvantages:
1) Risky Operation 4000 tons of supplies
required daily.
2) Costly to supply by two million people by
air.
Socialism v. Capitalism
Usually 1 party state
 Elections and more
than one political
 Industry and
party.
agriculture owned by
the state. People
 Most industry and
encouraged to work
agriculture owned by
for the common good.
individuals.
 Classless society with
 They employ workers
no profit making
and keep all profits
made.
 Profits create classes
of people.

Cuban Missile Crisis
Kennedy’s Options Cuban Missile
Crisis
Option 1 Do Nothing
He could do nothing and ignore the
missiles.
 This would have been political
suicide and if the Russians had seen
this as weakness on his part, they
could have taken advantage of it.
 Lose public support and be seen as a
weak president.

Option 2 Invasion
He could order a full scale military
invasion of Cuba.
 This would escalate the problem as
there were 22000 Soviet troops
there.
 Heavy casualties would look bad on
the presidency.
 Did not know where all the sites
were or if any were operational and
would be fired before they were
captured.

Option 3 - Air Strike
He could order an air strike against
the missile bases only.
 The problem again would be Russian
casualties.
 Air Force was not sure it could deliver
pin-point bombing raids on what
were relatively small targets.

Option 4 - Diplomacy
He could call on the Russians to remove
the missiles explaining the damage their
presence was doing to Russian/American
relations.
 However, the Russians were highly
unlikely to listen to a ‘polite’ request
especially as they even refused to
recognise the existence of the missiles at
the United Nations emergency meeting on
the matter.

Option 5 - Blockade
He could put a naval blockade around
the island - quarantine it - and not
allow any more Russian ships to
enter Cuba.
 This would still leave missiles on
Cuba but the negotiations would
continue in the background while
publically Kennedy would be seen to
be doing something specific.

Stalin’s USSR
Purges
Stalin was always fearful of losing power.
 Used terror in the form of Purges to get
rid of any opposition.
 This also helped with labour in mines

Purges 1930-40
Managers and workers that did not meet
the five year plans or talked bad about
them
 Kulaks that opposed collectivisation
 1934 Opposition party members
 1935 senior communists that may support
Other leaders (Trotsky)

Purges
Ordinary citizens – if someone suspected a
neighbour of not supporting the
government they could be arrested.
 Children were encouraged to tell on their
parents.
 People tortured to confession
 1 million people in Moscow killed

Purges and Results
1937 the Red Army – Most senior officers
and officials were killed or sent to Gulags.
 Left the army unprepared against Hitler’s
invasion.
 Executed = 1 million
 Died in Camps = 2 million
 In prison = 1 million
 Gulags = 8 million
 These are figures form one year.

Results Continued
Most of the advantages of Communism
was nullified after this.
 Expert scientists, administrators and
Engineers were usually sent to “Gulags” or
killed.
 People would tell on each other for self
interest.
 Stalin even killed members of his own
family.

The Later Cold War Vietnam
1964-91
Vietnam War
Before the war France controlled Vietnam,
Laos, Cambodia
 Called the area Indo-china
 People hated the oppressive French rule.

WW2
Japan invades Indo-China.
 Group called the Vietminh was set up to
resist the Japanese.
 Led by Ho Chi Minh who was a
communist.
 Allies worked with the Vietminh to get rid
of Japanese.

WW2
Two weeks after the end of ww2 the
French turn on the Vietminh and tried to
regain control.
 China and the USSR help the Vietminh
 French are defeated 8 years later at Dien
Bien Phu and pull out of Northern
Vietnam.

1954 Geneva Conference
Ended war in Vietnam
 Independence granted to Laos, Vietnam,
Cambodia
 Vietnam divided between Northern
communist Vietminh and Southern
Vietnam backed by France and U.S.
 South ruled by unpopular dictator Diem
who was opposed by a communist group,
the Vietcong

Vietcong was supplied by the USSR and
China through the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
 Popular with the rural people and the
force grew to 100,000 troops occupying
40% of the land.
 Communism was on the verge of
spreading throughout South East Asia.

Ho Chi Minh Trail
1964 North Vietnam torpedoes US ships in
the gulf of Tonkin.
 President Johnson starts bombing the
North and sends in US troops to the
South.
 Believes it will be a quick war.

Timeline
1964 Operation Rolling thunder
 Aims to destroy bases, ports and supply
lines through bombing.
 More bombs dropped here then in all
previous wars combined.
 Troops fight the Vietcong in the South.

1968 Tet offensive
 Vietcong conducts surprise attacks on U.S
bases.
 Shows the Vietcong can strike in American
held territory.
 Hurts American morale believe war cannot
be won.
 Johnson stops bombing and negotiates
peace.

1969 Vietnamization
 Nixon hand over fighting to the South
Vietnamese army and pulls out troops.
 1970 US invades Cambodia to sneak
attack North Vietnamese bases. Failed
 1971 South Vietnam fails to destroy Ho
Chi Minh Trail
 1972 North attacks the South, Nixon
reorders bombing of North.

1973 US agrees to ceasefire with the Two
Vietnams and Vietcong.
 Pulls out remaining troops.
 North invades South Vietnam,
 Cambodia, and Laos form Communist
governments.


Unpopular War
1.
 High level of casualties 50.000
 300 dying per week
 2. economic cost of 30000000 or half a
billion a year in today’s terms.
 3. Use of horrific weapons like Napalm and
Agent Orange.
4. Stories of drug addiction among US
troops.
 5. US atrocities – My Lai – US soldiers
attack an undefended village raping and
killing 300 villagers, mainly women and
children.
 6. Protests at Kent State University turns
violent when Nixon calls in National Guard
and they shoot on protesters. 4 Killed.

Why was US defeated?
Failed to respond to guerilla warfare
tactics by Vietcong.
 US troops were inexperienced, low morale,
avg age of 19.
 The South army was weak.
 US failed to win support of peasants who
then helped Vietcong.
 US support lost at home.

Why Was the Vietcong Successful?
High morale, believed they were helping
their people against invaders.
 Effective guerilla tactics.
 Backed by China and the USSR using Ho
Chi Minh Trail.
 Hide bases underground away from
bombing (300 kms worth)
