Communism

4 Pages 1083 Words

Communism is a concept or system of society in which the major resources and means of production are owned by the community rather than by individuals. It was a vital part of what happened through the 1900s. It had various affects on many countries in just a century. Although the ideas were for the better, and some countries may have benefited in some ways, in the long run, it was defective. The worst victim of communism was, arguably, the Soviet Union. This was because they had numerous wars within their country, a destructive communist leader, and would later be involved in the Cold War followed by the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The worst thing a country could ask for would be a civil war. That is exactly what was happening in Russia from around 1910 to the early 1920s. The Bolsheviks, also known as the Red Army, were supporters of Lenin and were radical socialists. They wanted to immediately overthrow the czar. On the other hand, the people who opposed Lenin, and believed that the czar should be slowly overtaken, and that Lenin’s ideas contradicted with those of Marx, were called Mensheviks. The czar made serious mistakes, which heated the rivalry between the two groups. The worst, in my opinion, was the cold-blooded killing of nearly 1,000 unarmed peasants, which came to be known as Bloody Sunday. (Compton’s Interactive CD-ROM. 3rd ed)
After an unproductive decade, Germany sent Lenin back into Russia and he quickly became in charge. The Bolshevik Red Army and the Whites or Mensheviks, were destined to fight and that is what happened. From 1918 to 1920 the two sides fought deadly battles totaling up around 15 million Russian fatalities. Victory eventually went to the Bolsheviks, but not at a small price. Aside from the 15 million less people Russia had, including the czar and his family, everything Russia depended on was hurt. Trade was at a standstill, the Russian economy was in ruins, factories were destroyed and many of ...