Why did the Communists and
Capitalists distrust each
other?
Ideologies
The USSR was a
communist State
this meant:
It was a one-party dictatorship,
elections WERE held but only
candidates from the communist
party could run.
All big industries and buisnesses were state
owned, this meant that its industry could grow
rapidly but the standard of living was higher, but
unemployment lower as the state employed
more people.
In the communist state the rights
of the individual were less
inportant than the rights of a
good society, which meant the
lives of individials were tightly
controlled.
Capitalism
The USA was a capitalist country, this meant:
Free elections where anyone
can stand for candidate.
Business and
property was
privately owned.
Its economy was strong but the
system had both extremes, great
wealth and great poverty
This ideological distrust was due to the differences
in systems, capitalists had more individual freedoms
with free elections and business but communists
had a more equal society a more equal wealth
distribution, though both had strong economies.
More distrust came from the beliefs of the
people and their leaders, the soviet leaders
wanted more countries to be run the 'communist
way', where as the America public wanted the
world to be run the 'American way'
Russian Civil War
During the Russian Civil war, western
forces were part of an effort to destroy the
Bolsheviks, this would have cause tension
between the countries and for Stalin would
have made his distrust the USA, UK and
France the most as they sent armies to fight
them.
The Red Scare
The Red scare would have caused distrust of
communists by Americas. In the 1920s waves of
immigrants created an anti-immigrants views in the
public, and when bombs were sent killing many.
The Red scare caused the Palmer raids, these were hugely supported by
the public, but also caused the public to fear and distrust the communists
and their way of life even though only a few out of 60,000 were actually
communist.
UK General Strikes, 1926
In 1926 Britain faced a general strike, the government at the
time reacted violently, this was because of British distrust of
soviets, and blaming their agents for causing them
Due to this the British government distrusted the soviets more
than before, and the soviets distrusted the British more because
of the blame they received.
Nuclear Weapons
The US were the first to use nuclear
weapons in a battle. Unfortunately
Truman was very secretive of the
project.
The US secretive manner of the project
shocked Stalin, increasing his distrust of
Capitalists further. In retaliation the
Russians Basically stole the secrets from
the US and tested their first in 1949,
destroying the US monopoly on Nuclear
weapons.
These Nuclear weapons caused massive distrust in each
other as the Communists feared the Capitalists, but the
capitalists feared the Communists, causing distrust and
tensions to rise further, leading to Nuclear weapons to
be placed in Turkey and Cuba
The Distrust of Capitalists increased when the
US used it on Japan in order to prevent Soviet
intervention. The Soviets saw it as a direct
threat to the Communist way.
Red Hunts
In response to the increased threats of
communists future US president R.
Nixon led the early Red hunts.
These Red Hunts had the same effect as the Red Scare of the
1920s, the public were made more distrustful and hateful of the
Communist way of life, unfortunately the hunts soon became witch hunts.
Korean War
The Korean War shows us the distrust of Communists and
Capitalists in action. Soviets backed North Korea and the US backed
South Korea. When the south pushed North Koreans near the
Communist China border, China felt threatened. The Communist
distrust of Capitalism in China led to a massive attack by the
Chinese, forcing the US back to the 38th Parallel, where the border originally was.
McCarthyism
Joseph McCarthy, senator for Wisconsin,
with increasingly negative views of
communists used his influence to cause
more distrust and fear of communism.
McCarthy, in the 1950s accused more than
200 federal employees of being communists,
mostly consisting of critics of the Red Hunts.
In the end there was no proof for
McCarthy's accusations but the damage
was done and the Capitalist public was
more distrustful of the Communists.
Appeasement
In the build up to the second world war
Britain were the main Capitalists dealing
with Germany. Stalin was massively
critical of the appeasement making him
distrust the British as strength was all Stalin saw.