What is Anti-Communism? Is it Right?

Anyone who’s looked at a history textbook about the twentieth century can tell you one thing: People hated communists. This belief is known as anti-communism, but why did/do people still support it?

You’d expect that many of these people would be the elderly- those who remember the threat the USSR and other communist countries posed. And whilst that is true, many young people are also anti-communist too! Albeit not as many!

We recently covered the concept of anti-capitalism, which shares many things with anti-communism, mostly that they are extremely polarizing concepts!

What is Anti-Communism?

Although the term “Anti-communism” has existed for a little over 100 years, the concept of it has been around for much longer. However, it became a widespread concept across the world, a little over 100 years ago.

Essentially, anti-communism refers to a political movement, often within right-leaning political parties that opposes communism and communist policies in almost every regard.

As with almost everything in politics, there are different viewpoints on this, with varying degrees of radicalness.

For some, it is to simply disgrace communism publicly and ensure that no one, at least no one of consequence, believes that it may work. This should be done very publicly, by any means necessary.

A few of them also believe that the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels should be made illegal, with some believing that they should be destroyed for the betterment of mankind.

Others believe that they should make communism illegal. At the very least, they should hamper their country’s communist party’s growth through the implementation of anti-communism legislation.

Then there is a small group of what most people would consider to be extremists. They believe that the only way to stop communists is for it to be completely eradicated, and all reference to communism, destroyed.

This should be done through anti-communist killings- something that has been practiced in many countries throughout history.

History

There is a long, drawn-out history of people not supporting, and being major detractors of communism, for numerous reasons.

Pre-1917

Karl Marx first published the Communist Manifesto in 1848. By the 1860’s, it had been translated into most major European languages and distributed to these countries.

By the 1880’s, mostly thanks to the rampant wealth disparity brought about by the Industrial Revolution, communist and socialist ideals were very common among the working classes.

Empowered by their beliefs, the communists were especially disruptive to early industrialists. Mostly, this was done through organizing strikes and protests for higher wages.

Initially, this was met with sacking those workers. If that particular industrialist also owned the house the communist lived in, they would be evicted from their house on short notice.

At the same time, communist newspapers were at their peak circulation, with communist parties the world over being more popular than ever before. Sensing that the tide was changing, the industrialists chose another path…

The mainstream media was consolidated into the hands of only a few people, all of whom were very anti-communist. This would be reflected in their editorial stance, with them often disgracing communism at any and every point.

Most major newspapers and magazines today (regardless of whether their modern editorial standards are liberal or conservative!) began this was.

Russian Revolution

The first official use of the term “Anti-communism” was used during the Russian Revolution. In 1917, Russia was on the brink of collapse, not only on the front lines, but economically too.

With this, the communists, under the leadership of famed communist, Vladimir Lenin, took power forcibly. From here, a communist state was established in the parts of Russia that the communists controlled.

However, the major world powers were not going to let this happen. They feared that if Russia could fall to communism, every other superpower might fall to it as well.

As such, they began the Russian Civil War. The European powers funded what was called the White Movement. They were the first organization who’s goal was to be explicitly anti-communist.

From 1918 until 1922/3, the Whites would attack the Reds in the hopes of beating them back and restoring the monarchy and the old capitalist system. However, they were ultimately unsuccessful in this venture.

With this, the Western powers became increasingly more fearful of communism. Instead of ridiculing it as they had done previously, communists were identified and followed.

If they broke the law, or were even suspected of having broken the law, they were arrested. Here, they were given the worst treatment possible, and were summarily beaten by police. They were also given the harshest prison sentences.

WWII

Prior to WWII saw several conservative and right-wing parties get voted into power across much of Central and Western Europe and North America. For the most part, this was their country’s conservative party.

In Britain, they had elected the Conservative Party, under the leadership of Neville Chamberlain. In France, they’d elected Charles de Gaulle. In the US, they’d elected Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt.

At the same time, Germany had elected the Nazis, under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. In Italy, former communist, turned-fascist Benito Mussolini had rose to power.

Whilst their views on most things differed greatly, they all had one main belief: anti-communism.

In Britain, France and the US, Conservative governments continued to pass pro-business and anti-communist legislation. In fascist-controlled countries, anti-communism laws were passed, and communists “disappeared” to say the least.

During WWII, communists from Nazi-occupied Western Europe refused to fight for the Nazi regimes. For this, they were sent to work camps or were executed along with others deemed to be “undesirables”.

Because of this, even despite their earlier anti-communist rhetoric, many European communists chose to join the Allies. Many of them would work alongside Soviet forces, due to their similar beliefs.

After the war, many would return to their birth countries, or would move to the USSR for fear that they would once again be “suppressed” by their nation’s governments.

Cold War

Following WWII, tensions between the US and USSR deteriorated, partly due to Truman’s staunch anti-communism. This began what many people have since called the Cold War, which lasted from 1948 to 1991.

The US and USSR were caught in a stalemate. Both sides had the ability to obliterate the other, but in doing so, would also destroy themselves and the entire world as a whole.

As such, the US and USSR fought one another in a series of proxy wars, most notably in Korea and Vietnam. Both countries also funded capitalist / communist aligned groups in many other countries.

In order to stoke public approval for these wars, the West created demonized communists and communism as a whole. Much of this was done from an extremely anti-communist viewpoint.

This was done through a variety of mediums, including on the TV, in books and in films. Many of these anti-communist books were read in schools, with so-called “Communism alerts” being watched in schools.

On top of this, anti-communist groups in the USSR were funded by the US in the hopes of overthrowing the communist regime. The US did this in the hopes of becoming the world’s de facto superpower.

Red Scare

The concept of a red scare was not a particularly new one. Indeed, red scares had happened on a local or statewide level across the world since the Russian Revolution in 1917. However, none had been on the national level.

In the 1950’s, infamous Wisconsin Senator Joe McCarthy began to stoke the fear of communism in the American public. To do this, he accused many in the military of either being communists, or as being sympathetic to communism.

Originally, it is likely that his fears were well founded. US-Soviet relations had deteriorated rapidly since WWII, leading to the Cold War and recently, the war in Korea. This established North Korea as a communist puppet state.

On top of this, the espionage carried out by Ethel and Julius Rosenberg in the Manhattan Project had helped the USSR develop their first nuclear weapon. They were subsequently put on a high profile trial in 1953.

Joe McCarthy wanted to prevent this from happening again. As such, he began his accusations. Naturally, the media ate these up and the entire American public feared communism.

Many of those he accused at first, were communist or did have communist sympathies. However, McCarthy did take this a bit too far, accusing anyone and everyone. Eventually, he lost all credibility.

Modern Day

If you read our article on anti-capitalism, you’ll know that once again, anti-capitalist sentiment is on the rise. Perhaps not to the same scale as before, but it is sadly increasing year-on-year.

With this, there is a decrease in anti-communism as well. As anti-capitalist sentiment increases, anti-communist sentiment decreases, and vice-versa. With that being said, it isn’t to the point that it once was.

Due to this, it is highly unlikely that there’ll be a communist or socialist uprising anytime soon. At least, not one that’ll have the backing of the majority of people as was seen in countries like Russia, Cuba and China.

In terms of demographics, the least anti-communist people are generally the young. From our research, 9/10 people who identify as anti-capitalist are under the age of 30.

There are several reasons why this is, including the fact that they don’t remember the threat the USSR and other communist countries posed to the West, both militarily and economically.

On the other hand, the more anti-communist generations are generally those who are older. The most anti-communist generation are actually baby Boomers- those who were born immediately after WWII.

This is mostly because they spent a lot of time with the USSR being the West’s primary enemy. Many of them are similarly skeptical of modern-day Russia and other formerly communist countries.

How Does it Differ From Country to Country?

We’ve seen how anti-communism has changed over time, how it has adapted to suit the times. However, it also differs from place to place, sometimes within just one country, but often across borders too!

For the most part, how it differs from country to country is mostly down to severity. Even today, there are places where anti-communist policies are commonplace, and are getting stricter with each passing year.

Major capitalist powers such as the UK, US, France etc. have relaxed many of their more restrictive anti-communist policies. Many of the policies previously enforced rules are also not as enforced as they once were.

With that being said, those extreme communists are still heavily monitored as they were 100 years ago. Communist rallies and websites are also monitored as well, for nothing more than national security (as are other extreme political groups).

Formerly communist countries on the other hand, have a completely different way of looking at it. for the most part, these countries have done a U-Turn, becoming extremely conservative countries.

Whilst they haven’t completely criminalized their country’s communist parties, they have restricted them in many other ways. They have restricted how many members they can have and how many rallies tehy can hold.

All in all, the once mighty Eastern European communist parties now barely get one or two seats.

Why Are Some Communists Anti-Communist?

It may come as a surprise, but many people who identify as communists do hold anti-communist views. Naturally, many people unfamiliar with the intricacies of communism will be quite confused by this.

The main reason that some communists hold rather anti-communist views is that there are several different forms of communism. For some of these communists, they are extreme socialists, whilst others are more extreme.

Due to this, many of them despise one another, believing that the others are either too extreme or too chummy with the capitalists. Due to this, they oppose one another, through both their campaigns and media outlets.

Even in many communist countries- which are supposed to be united in their communist beliefs, have passed anti-communist legislation. However, this has mostly been to restrict more radical members of the party.

With this, many socialists similarly hold anti-communist views as well. However, this is mostly from the point of view that they are socialists that are simply too extreme to ever be voted into power legally.

Is it Right?

This all depends on your views. If you identify as communist, or perhaps even a socialist, you’ll probably say no. After all, you only want an equal playing field, and to punish the rich for their perceived crimes.

However, if you don’t, you’ll probably say that anti-communism is indeed justified. After all, capitalism may not be perfect, but we’ve never had to build a wall to stop our citizens from leaving.

Here is where I undoubtedly annoy roughly half the people who read this: anti-communism is indeed justified. As someone who’s fairly young (mid-thirties) I do see why so many people like communism.

However, I am also a student of history. I may not have grown up with the USSR being the “big bad” so to speak, but I have witnessed its aftermath. Today, some of the poorest countries in the world are those which embraced communism.

One thing I haven’t mentioned in my demographics is that the countries who are the most anti-communist, are the countries that were formerly communist! Russia, Poland, Ukraine are among the most anti-communist.

And if they are anti-communist, with many of their citizens having lived under its brutal regime, we should indeed follow suit. We don’t want our kids to live in a backwater hellhole, we want them to do better than us.

This simply can’t be achieved in a communist utopia, no matter how appealing it may be.

What do you think about anti-communism? Should it be more or less widespread? Tell me in the comments!

Featured image courtesy of Etan Liam via Flickr.