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Communism Part 1 of 3: Implementation

© Shawn Nicholls

As the economic and military superpower of the world, the United States serves as a model for Third World nations looking to reverse negative trends that plague their economic development. The United States sits at the center of the globalization debate, many times criticized for “nation-building” activities geared at their own self-interests. But the overwhelmingly dominant US impact is its efforts in the shrinking of the world into a single global market. However, before the major rise to power for the United States, Third World countries aimed their development strategies at successful communist ideals implemented by the USSR.

Years of noteworthy accomplishments such as industrialization during the 1930’s, a military domination of Nazi Germany, and the achievements of the space program added to the Soviet status as a superpower, thus increasing their influence on the Third World. According to “The Third World and the End of the Cold War” by Fred Halliday, the population of the world living under communist rule had increased to 1.7 billion people.

While this influence can be traced to areas of Africa as well as Cuba, it was heaviest in the Asian countries of China, Korea, and Vietnam. Each of these countries attempted to adopt variations of communist rule, but at the center was a desire to initiate an alternative form of development to capitalism, which leading Soviet writers and politicians felt was an inevitable occurrence in the evolution of the world. However, it wasn’t as powerful as predicted and times of positive development in these countries came crashing to a close with the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union in 1989. Some of the immediate backlash of this fall was felt in the areas of economic performance, political confidence, perception of communist rule, and international trade relations.

In Asia, Vietnam felt the pressures of the fall more than most, which would result in years of poor economic and social conditions. More specifically, Vietnam’s high dependence on the former Soviet Union for economic guidance, military arms, and monetary aid left them confused, powerless, and forced to suffer through years of international isolation, a fragile market, and shattered reform attempts after the end of the Cold War, while always sticking by communist ideals.

In broad terms, communism can be defined as a political theory based upon the ideals of communal property ownership, complete control of economic affairs and enterprises by the state, a push towards a society absent of class structures, as well as a general discontent with capitalistic practices. Communism has existed for centuries in different forms and by different names. Its origins can be traced to the German philosophers Hegel and Feuerbach. It was adjusted and adopted to present day situations by Karl Marx, who based his “Communist Manifesto” on the works of the German philosophers, as well as on those of Adam Smith and David Ricardo.