Anti-communism

Anti-communism is the opposition to communist ideology, organization, or government, on either an ideological or pragmatic basis. Anti-communism is a catch-all phrase which defines any opposition to communism as a philosophical basis for a political and social alliance.

Communists in Power

Much of the contemporary- and historical- critiques of communism have been inspired by the actions of Communist governments around the world. Anti-Communists have long pointed to the history of internal repression in Communist-led countries as proof that the communist ideology is so contrary to basic human nature that it can only ever be implemented through the use of massive social engineering, police state tactics, and a generally totalitarian, undemocratic political environment.

Related Topics:
Social engineering - Police state

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For example, Joseph Stalin's Soviet regime presided over millions of civilian deaths in purges and famine, as later Soviet governments admitted. In China, Mao Zedong's regime is accused of more extensive bloodshed, compounded by the disruption of economic life through ill-judged revolutionary experiments (see Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution). Vietnam and North Korea have also made use of violence and reeducation camps to instill order.

Related Topics:
Joseph Stalin - Mao Zedong - Great Leap Forward - Cultural Revolution - Reeducation

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Communist parties (sometimes combined with left socialist parties as workers' parties) which have come to power have likewise tended to be rigidly intolerant of political opposition. Most communist countries have shown no signs of advancing from Marx's "socialist" stage of economy to an ideal "communist" stage. Rather, communist governments have been accused of creating a new ruling class (called by Russians the Nomenklatura), with powers and privileges far greater than those previously enjoyed by the upper classes in the pre-revolutionary regimes.

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It should be noted, however, that many Communists do not support or justify such repressive actions. In particular, Trotskyists have been virulent critics of the policies carried out by Stalin's Soviet Union and other nations who followed the same model. They refer to these nations as Stalinist rather than Communist, and sometimes call them deformed workers states. The anti-communists reply that the repression in the early years of the Bolshevik regime, while not as extreme as that during Stalin's reign, was still severe by any reasonable standards, citing the examples such as Felix Dzerzhinsky's secret police, which eliminated numerous political opponents by extrajudicial executions, and the brutal crushing of the Kronstadt rebellion and Tambov rebellion. According to them, Trotsky could hardly claim any moral high ground, having been one of the top-ranking Bolshevik leaders during these events. Trotsky was later to claim (unconvincingly) that the Kronstadt rebels were early harbingers of the bureaucratisation which he associated with Stalinism.

Related Topics:
Trotskyists - Stalinist - Deformed workers state - Bolshevik - Felix Dzerzhinsky - Kronstadt rebellion - Tambov rebellion - Trotsky

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Anti-communists will likewise argue that the contemporary communist/Marxist claim that any communist regime that perpetuated human rights abuses was not a "true" communist state is merely a convienient excuse that can be evoked to avoid taking responsibilty (and thus a version of the No true Scotsman logical fallacy).

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