Communism's "Appeal"
To the West, we never really "experienced" communism, so it was very easy to judge it. To American outsiders, some thought that communism was "similar to a viral infection, spreading rapidly through all the internal organs, liquefying them, and breaking them down and apart". Gross. Who would EVER want communism? Let's examine.
Firstly, for many, communism was about the "sharing of the position
of the sufferers, of being an outcast." If you examine the map above, you'll see that all the nations that "adopted communism" after the War had been "victimized" and therefore "outcast" by Hitler's Nazi Empire! So, it's easy to see how they felt a "sense of suffering".
And if you examine the image above, you can see that "guides are needed who can help restore identity to individuals." Put simply, communism offered a "guide" to the "outcasts".
And if you examine the image above, you can see that "guides are needed who can help restore identity to individuals." Put simply, communism offered a "guide" to the "outcasts".
The man below is Hungarian Communist leader Mátyás
Rákosi. Below are some speech excerpts.
- "The Communist Party was hardened under a 25-year-long bloody harassment. But...the party has … been taught … not to fear any hardship, not to panic in crisis situations, and not to be corrupted by success."
- "The more work, sweat, and sacrifice is offered for the building of our future, the more long-lasting and dear it will be for all of us."
- "Let the comrades remember that spring of 1945 when the Hungarian workers and peasants took on the task of reconstruction without food and pay, in rags, among deadly dangers. What was the moving force of this enthusiasm? The conviction of workers that they build the country for themselves, and the understanding of the new farmers who obtained land sought for centuries that they too would build the country for themselves….We have to see that the result of the enthusiasm will be strengthening of work discipline."
It's actually quite easy to see communism's appeal: people have been "outcast", they share a "common suffering", and there are certain "guides" who emerge from the woodwork to lead the people onto the path of prosperity.
Except it didn't work like that...
