Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Respnse to "Fear of Marxism"
While I believe there are multiple intellectual arguments that could be made against Marxism, it appears obvious to me that the overwhelming reason Americans reject the ideas are because of the relationship and connections Marxism has to the Soviet union. While most of these associations are false, or misinterpreted, most people are not aware of the mistake they are making in associating the two. I believe that Americans as a whole still can't separate the ideas and concepts of Marxism from the Soviet Union, therefore they can not objectively look at the theories.
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Very true. The problem is that a fear of Communism has been ingratiated in our society since the end of WWI. The First Red Scare of 1919 was one of the first instances of this fear with the Seattle General Strike and the Boston Police Strike, and Attorney General Mitchell Palmer`s actions to surpress radical uprisings. There was also the Red Scare in the late 40s and 50s in the aftermath of WWII with the rise of the Soviet Union as our rival superpower. The hysteria was so great at the time, people like Senator Joseph McCarthy were actively searching and trying to root out Soviet spies under certain doctrines as the Loyalty Order and McCarythism at the expense of personal liberty and freedom of political organization. With such a history of suspicion and fear of anything related to Communism and socialism, it is hard to bring it up without eliciting a response of fear, suspicion, and mistrust.
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