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.

Repression and Anti-Communism

After the October Revolution, allied intervention troops tried to crush the revolution. In the summer of 1918, some 13,000 American soldiers, 44,000 British, 13,000 French, and 80,000 Japanese were fighting against Red Army. In addition, these countries provided significant financial and material help to White Movement (e.g., United States provided 500,000 US dollars, 400,000 rifles, etc.).

Related Topics:
Red Army - White Movement - US dollars - Rifle

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Communist political parties and organizations were actively opposed by conservative governments in Eastern Europe after the failed communist revolutions around 1920, in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe, in Japan during World War II, in China by the Kuomintang in the 1920s and 1930s, in post-war Taiwan and South Korea, in Latin America by various right-wing military regimes (Augusto Pinochet in Chile, Dirty War in Argentina, civil war in El Salvador, etc), and in many other places and instances.

Related Topics:
Eastern Europe - Nazi Germany - Japan - World War II - Kuomintang - Taiwan - South Korea - Latin America - Augusto Pinochet - Chile - Dirty War - Argentina - El Salvador

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

There was also some anti-communist political repression in the United States, most notably in the Red Scare of the 1920s and the McCarthyist era after World War II.

Related Topics:
Political repression - United States - Red Scare - McCarthyist - World War II

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Communists and communist sympathizers often emphasize the persecution of their political movement by "reactionary" forces, which they feel is being downplayed by capitalist governments. Anticommunists respond to this by pointing out that communist governments have often used similar methods to deal with their political enemies, including fellow communists (indeed, the repression of fellow communists is often brought up as an argument for the idea that such governments were not actually communistic). Regarding this issue, the opinions of Communists are divided: some of them support the actions of those communist governments on the grounds that they were necessary in order to deal with dangerous terrorists and criminals, while other communists agree that such actions cannot be justified and put in question the self-proclaimed communist nature of the governments willing to carry them out.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Little is known about anti-communist massacres after World War II, not least because of the efforts by the anti-communist regimes to cover up such events. Such a massacre happened on the island of Jeju (South Korea) in April 1948. The estimations about the number of victims range from 30.000 to 140.000. Another example is the 228 Incident in Taiwan in 1947, which until recently was considered a taboo subject even in private.

Related Topics:
228 Incident - Taiwan - 1947

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

During the Cold War many authoritarian regimes, often supported by the US, used the fear of communism as a means of legitimizing repression or as an excuse to persecute its opponents. Augusto Pinochet's Chile, for example, is often cited by critics as an example of this, although others argue that the threat of communism to Chile was very real. The worst case was probably that of General Suharto in Indonesia who, using the excuse of foiling a failed Communist coup d'etat attempt, seized executive power and killed about 2 million people in his mass purges arresting more than 200,000 other people on merely being suspected of being involved with the coup. Most communists, alleged communists and so-called " enemies of the state" were sentenced to death (although some of the executions were delayed to 1990). The alleged or demonstrated complicity of the CIA with these regimes seriously discredited anticommunism and the pretense of the US to represent a "Free World" in the eyes of critics. Others, however, have argued that extreme measures were needed to prevent the spread of communism during the height of its expansion.

Related Topics:
Augusto Pinochet - Chile - Suharto - Indonesia - CIA

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~