Page 31 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol Two

380 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

How to Spot a Communist

These instructions were developed for the American iron curtain police states as “democracies,” and any
public by the U. S. First Army Headquarters and dis- defensive move on the part of the Western powers is
seminated through the popular media in the 1950s. condemned as “aggression.” The Communist thus
builds for himself a topsy-turvy world with a com-
If there is no fool-proof system in spotting a Com-
pletely distorted set of values. For this reason, it is
munist, there are, fortunately, indications that may
practically impossible to win an argument with a
give him away.These indications are often subtle but
hard-core Communist....
always present, for the Communist, by reason of his
The Communist mind cannot and will not engage
“faith” must act and talk along certain lines. While
in a detached examination of ideas. Talking to a
a certain heaviness of style and preference for long
Communist about his own ideas, then, is like lis-
sentences is common to most Communist writing, a
tening to a phonograph record. His answers will
distinct vocabulary provides the...more easily rec-
invariably follow a definite pattern because he can
ognized feature of the “Communist Language.” Even
never admit, even hypothetically, that the basis for
a superficial reading of an article written by a Com-
his ideas may not be sound. This attitude is typical
munist or a conversation with one will probably
not only for the individual but also on a national
reveal the use of some of the following expressions:
scale....The answer is final and no arguments are
integrative thinking, vanguard, comrade, hooten-
permitted so far as the Communists are concerned.
anny, chauvinism, book-burning, syncretistic faith,
The Communist, then, is not really “logical.” The
bourgeois-nationalism, jingoism, colonialism, hooli-
finality of his arguments and the completeness of his
ganism, ruling class, progressive, demagogy, dialec-
condemnation marks him clearly, whether as a
tical, witch-hunt, reactionary, exploitation, oppres-
speaker, a writer or a conversation partner.
sive, materialist. . .
Source: U.S.A., An American magazine of fact and opinion. June 22, 1955 (supplement).
The “Communist Logic”. . . is diametrically op-
posed to our own.Thus the Communist refers to the
The End of the Cold War regimes in Eastern Europe was the dismantling of the
Although there were earlier improvements in the relations Berlin Wall in 1989 and the subsequent reunification of
between the United States and the Soviet Union and Germany in the 1990s. After an attempted Communist
agreements to limit nuclear weapons (SALT I and SALT coup in the Soviet Union in 1991, the Union of Soviet
II), real change occurred only with the collapse of Com- Socialist Republics also collapsed. Individual republics
munism in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union.When such as the Ukraine withdrew from the union and Gor-
Mikhail Gorbachev became premier of the Soviet Union bachev resigned as president of the union after an
in 1985 he began attempting to reform the Communist attempted coup by military and old-style Communists,
system. The two best-known aspects of his reform pro- which led to the rise of Boris Yeltsin as a political figure.
gram are perestroika, the attempted decentralization and With the collapse of Communism, the Cold War that
restructuring of the economy, and glasnost, a move had dominated European politics for nearly fifty years
toward free speech and a free press. Instead of the reform was essentially over. Although Communism itself still
and revival that Gorbachev hoped would transpire, rev- existed in China, Cuba, and a few other areas, the dis-
olutions occurred in Eastern Europe and when the Soviet mantling of the Soviet Union seemed to signify its decline
Union did not send troops to restore order, the Commu- and the victory of democracy. The decline of the rivalry
nist governments in Eastern Europe simply fell.The most between the United States and the Soviet Union eased
prominent symbol of the collapse of the Communist tensions and pressure on nations in Asia and Latin Amer-