Communist Challenges to the Political Order

In the period 1900-2001, challenges to the existing political order led to conflict. Often,

these challenges arose from communist revolutionaries. Communism was developed by Karl

Marx in the mid nineteenth century as a response to many issues arising at the time such as poor

working conditions, growing wealth and equality, and a generally bad quality of life for the

lower class. Marx’s ideals were a challenge to the way of thinking in the new industrial world,

stressing workers’ rights and distribution of wealth. The idea of total equality and comfort of life

in communist society took hold and led to parties being established, who often had a

revolutionary outlook. In Russia, China, and Latin America, communist revolutions challenged

the existing political order and caused military conflict.

Russia was the setting of the first communist revolution. Tsar Nicholas II was the

monarchial leader prior to the revolution. Russians had a disdain for the Tsar and the communist

party formed a revolutionary force that took down the Russian government, as they were

weakened by the first world war. The Soviet Union, which emerged from the revolution was

involved in most conflicts in the world from 1939-1991, including a variety of proxy wars in

order to spread communism as well as participating in WWII. Their largest conflict, though, was

the Cold War versus the United States. Even though there was no fighting, the Soviet challenge

to democratic capitalism as the best political structure caused high tensions and a threat of

nuclear war. The Russian revolution can be compared somewhat to the American revolution

and especially the French revolution in that it was a model for other nations to follow when they

staged their revolutions. Both the Russian and French revolutions led to many other revolutions

with similar ideals.

 In China, there had been the dynastic model of government for centuries until there was a

revolution. The first revolution did not install communism, though. It took another revolutionary

movement to install communism in China. The Chinese communist movement caused one of the

first military conflicts that pitted the USA and USSR against each other. Starting in 1946, the

US provided Chinese nationalists with weapons and aid while the Soviets provided the

communists weaponry. This was the first of many times the US and Soviet Union helped their

respective side of a war in order to spread their political views. This took place in Vietnam, and

later it often took place in Latin America.

Latin American governments tended to be unstable during the period 1900-2001, in part

because of the huge amount of revolutionary movements taking place. In the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s,

and 80’s there was a large variety of communists challenging the existing political order in Latin

America, in countries such as Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala among others. These often

time resulted in a civil war. The US backed a great number of dictators and Guerilla warfare

groups to limit the spread of Communism. Communist movements in Latin America were met

with resistance from the US who used military power to stop them.

In the period 1900-2001, there was a large number of communist movements. This

happened in Russia, China, and Latin America. These movements were often met with military

force from Capitalist countries, like the US. In the case of Russia, the challenge Tsar Nicholas II

led to one of the most tense periods of history, during the Cold War. In China and Latin

America, there were bloody civil wars when the communists challenged existing governments.

Communist movements caused many military conflicts, due to “red fear” in the US and other

nations, as well as the civil wars that ensued when current governments tried to defend

themselves.