Did Containment Of Communism Work?
By: Amber Moore
Introduction
Communism is when a society in which all property is publicly owned and each person works and is paid according to their abilities and needs. Or to be more specific a type of government system where everyone is equal.(but the "good" equal. As where if a person did the best they could at a job and get paid $20 while a person who'd didn't work hard enough and is lazy but still gets paid the exact same amount $20. So communism.
The Long March (1934)
Nationalists Party leader Chiang Kai Shek & 700,000 of his troops out of southern China. Mao 's troops marched 6,000 miles west and north in order to escape. During the march of Mao lost 93,00 of his men, However they were able to get the support of many peasant farmers he met across China. Which states that many poor people liked the idea of communism.
The Great Leap Foward
Mao Zedong wanted China to become a powerful country in the world. But for that to happen it need to become more industrial. So Mao Zedong thought it would be a good idea use the peasant farmers and people of rural areas make them produce steel and work in factories. But because of the shortage of farmers that were needed to feed China's large population, there was poor harvest which caused the death of millions of people by starvation and people began to question Mao's leadership
Cutural Revolution
Mao brought change to China through communism and he also ued the powerful government to change the culture of china. He did not want the Chinese people to focus on the tradtions in the past, nor did he want the citizens to be influenced by "western ideas".So he wanted the people to only celebrate communism and its ideas. Religion was banned and expression through arts was also banned too. If a person mocked the government they were punished, if not killed.
Tananimen Sqaure
This protest in the Tiananmen sqaure dates back 25 years ago being April1989. During this day there were many protest held against the communist government. With people shouting democracy and a emd to communism. This protest left many people dead, injured, or arrested. Most were injured. By the police officers or army. A few months later on June 25,1989 a man with the name "Tank Man" got on top of one of the fully armed tanks and began to demand no violence to the protesters. Thisnwas very dangerous but this helped since the tank stopped running or driving. www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeFzeNAHEhU
North Korean and Vietnam War
The North Korean and Vietnam war both started by the effects of communism. But the main similarity is that they both had U.S. involvement. The Korean War was 3 years and it began on June 25,1950 through 1953. After the Korean war there was North Korea and South Korea. Although there is still troops there to this day to protect South Korea of invasion. After the war ended South Korea became "became a prosperous country embracing democratic ideas" While North Korea remains a Communist-led country that has had many issues with its economy over the years. The Vietnam War began in 1964-1975. Many people were killed during this war and many U.S. citizens were against this war too. But the reason why it started was because the U.S. feared of there being the "domino effect". The idea that when one country becomes communist, all the others will too. The U.S. used many tactics such as bombing but the more we bombed the more the Vietnmese people thought other wise. After the war ended South Vietnam surrendered to the North and North Vietnam turned it into one nation making it the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Vietnam remains a communist country to this day.
Conclusion
Did containment of communism work? Yes it did. All events that were discussed in this smore lead back to the idea of containment of Communism. Only 5 countries remain communist today. That being: China, Vietnam, Cuba, North Korea, and Laos. But also the U.S. has stopped a few countries from giving into the domino effect like South Korea. There were many more before this from the year 1910-1970 but afterward when the USSR was taken down in Russia in 1991 many countries began to fade away from communism. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldnwN8UsWdc