What is Anti-communism?
Anti-communism is a political stance defined by opposition to communism as an ideology and as a system of government. It is less a single doctrine than a broad coalition that has included conservatives, liberals, social democrats, religious groups, nationalists and, at the extreme, fascists and military dictatorships. What unites them is the belief that communist movements and states threaten freedom, private property, religion or national independence. Anti-communism became one of the defining forces of twentieth century politics, especially during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union from the late 1940s to 1991.
Core beliefs
- Communist one-party states suppress political freedom, religion and private life.
- Private property and markets should be defended against collectivization.
- Communist expansion abroad should be resisted through alliances and military strength.
- Communist parties at home may be a security risk when tied to foreign powers.
- The human cost of communist regimes should be documented and remembered.
- Religious faith and national traditions should be protected from state atheism.
History
Anti-communism emerged in response to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the United States, the first Red Scare of 1917 to 1920 brought raids and deportations of suspected radicals. In interwar Europe, fear of communist revolution helped fascist and conservative movements win support. The Catholic Church condemned communism, notably in Pope Pius XI's encyclical Divini Redemptoris (1937). After 1945, the United States adopted containment, a policy named by diplomat George F. Kennan in 1947 to check Soviet expansion, and the Truman Doctrine pledged aid to Greece and Turkey. NATO was founded in 1949. A second Red Scare from about 1947 to 1954, later called McCarthyism after Senator Joseph McCarthy, brought loyalty investigations and blacklists. Dissidents such as Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn exposed the Soviet labor camp system. In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan's administration pursued a firmer policy toward the Soviet Union, and the communist governments of Eastern Europe fell in 1989, followed by the Soviet Union in 1991.
Variants
Liberal and democratic anti-communism opposed communism in the name of individual rights and elections. Social democratic anti-communism, found in many Western labor movements, supported welfare and public ownership but rejected Soviet-style dictatorship. Conservative and religious anti-communism stressed faith, family and tradition. Authoritarian anti-communism justified military rule and the repression of the left in the name of national security.
Criticisms
Critics argue that anti-communism was used to justify the persecution of innocent people, as during McCarthyism, and to support coups and dictatorships, including in Guatemala, Chile and Indonesia, where mass killings of suspected communists took place in 1965 and 1966. Some critics on the left argue that it served to discredit trade unions, civil rights activists and moderate reformers. Defenders reply that communist regimes were responsible for mass repression and famines, and that resisting them protected democracy in Western Europe and elsewhere.
In practice
Anti-communism shaped Cold War alliances, foreign aid, intelligence work and wars in Korea and Vietnam. Many countries banned communist parties for periods, including West Germany from 1956. After 1989, several Eastern European states passed laws to open secret police files, remove former officials and commemorate victims of communist rule.