JohnEngelman
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In his book “The Struggle for the World,” James Burnham warns that an international Communist movement, with its capital in Moscow is trying to establish Communist dictatorships everywhere in the world, including in the United States. “The Struggle for the World” was published in 1947. The guns from the Second World War, which we won with the necessary assistance of the Soviet Union, had barely cooled.
Seventy-five years later, and thirty-one years after the fall of the Soviet Union one can claim that the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of Communism as a unified world movement is due to the fact that the American people and American leaders took Burnham’s warning seriously, and followed his advice. Alternately, one can argue that Burnham over estimated the danger of Communism at the time. That is what I will argue.
During the Second World War the Soviet Union lost an estimated twenty four million dead from German aggression. By contrast, the United States lost about 419,000. The Soviets also lost one third of its industrial and farm plant.
A country that had been so devastated was in no position to begin a campaign of world conquest. The Soviets needed at least ten years to recover. By then Stalin would be dead. The Soviets might have a more congenial ruler. Nikita Khrushchev was.
Just as Burnham over estimated the power of the Soviet Union, he over estimated the power of the American Communist Party. The high water mark for the CPUSA was reached during the election of 1932, when unemployment was 23%. The Communist Party presidential candidate won 103,307 votes. This was 0.26% of total votes cast. In 1936 the Communist Party presidential candidate won 79,315 votes. This was 0.15% of votes cast.
Contrary to Burnham’s assertions, the American Communist Party never controlled any major U.S. labor union. At most Communist Party members belonged to various unions and worked to improve the economic status of union members.
The only Communist Party members who passed military secrets to the Soviet government were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. At most the information they gave the Soviet government hastened Soviet development on their atom bomb by several months. The Soviets would have developed an atom bomb without the help of the Rosenberg’s. The vast majority of Americans who gave military secrets to the Soviet Union did so for financial reasons.
At the time Burnham wrote “The Struggle for the World” the Soviet government was as tyrannical as Burnham claimed. Moreover, it was probably true that Communists throughout the world took orders from Moscow, as Burnham claimed.
Large Communist parties competed for votes in Italy and France, but they did not attempt coups against the democratic governments there. In the United States the two constituencies that might have been receptive to Communist appeals were working class whites and Negroes of all income levels. These people never considered the Soviet dictatorship and the Soviet economy to be attractive alternatives to what they experienced in the United States. The vast majority of black soldiers captured by the Communists during the Korean War choose to return to the United States.
The Warsaw Pact, which was formed in 1955, was never really a defensive alliance of like minded countries united by socialist solidarity. It was an empire, conquered in war and held together by force. In a war between the Soviet Union and NATO it could not have been counted on to support the USSR.
When Burnham explains how the United States should counter the Soviet “threat” he advocates that the American Communist Party be outlawed, and the United States form a world empire. In other words, he advocates that the United States follow the same policy he accuses the Soviet Union of following.
Burnham advocates that the United States support every government that is anti Communist, even if it is unpopular, corrupt, and tyrannical. This was the policy that got us into the War in Vietnam, and kept us there for ten years. It should be obvious by now that Vietnam was never important to our security or our economy.
By the time we left Vietnam in 1975 there had been armed clashes along the Soviet – Chinese border between the Soviet Army, and the army of Communist China. When the Communist Pol Pot government began killing Cambodians, the Communist Vietnamese Army invaded Cambodia and stopped the killing. During the spring of 1979 the army of Communist China invaded Communist Vietnam. After several months, the Communist Vietnamese Army repelled the Communist Chinese Army, killing about 20,000 Communist Chinese soldiers.
By then it was obvious that Communism was not a unified movement, taking orders from Moscow. Currently, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chinese threats to invade Taiwan, and nuclear misbehavior by North Korea are not part of a unified plan to conquer the world. They are expressions of Russian, Chinese, and North Korean nationalism and militarism.
Contrary to Burnham’s assertions in “The Struggle for the World,” there never was a remote chance that a Communist dictatorship would be established in the United States. The danger was of a nuclear war that might have resulted from the aggressive foreign policy Burnham advocated.
Seventy-five years later, and thirty-one years after the fall of the Soviet Union one can claim that the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of Communism as a unified world movement is due to the fact that the American people and American leaders took Burnham’s warning seriously, and followed his advice. Alternately, one can argue that Burnham over estimated the danger of Communism at the time. That is what I will argue.
During the Second World War the Soviet Union lost an estimated twenty four million dead from German aggression. By contrast, the United States lost about 419,000. The Soviets also lost one third of its industrial and farm plant.
A country that had been so devastated was in no position to begin a campaign of world conquest. The Soviets needed at least ten years to recover. By then Stalin would be dead. The Soviets might have a more congenial ruler. Nikita Khrushchev was.
Just as Burnham over estimated the power of the Soviet Union, he over estimated the power of the American Communist Party. The high water mark for the CPUSA was reached during the election of 1932, when unemployment was 23%. The Communist Party presidential candidate won 103,307 votes. This was 0.26% of total votes cast. In 1936 the Communist Party presidential candidate won 79,315 votes. This was 0.15% of votes cast.
Contrary to Burnham’s assertions, the American Communist Party never controlled any major U.S. labor union. At most Communist Party members belonged to various unions and worked to improve the economic status of union members.
The only Communist Party members who passed military secrets to the Soviet government were Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. At most the information they gave the Soviet government hastened Soviet development on their atom bomb by several months. The Soviets would have developed an atom bomb without the help of the Rosenberg’s. The vast majority of Americans who gave military secrets to the Soviet Union did so for financial reasons.
At the time Burnham wrote “The Struggle for the World” the Soviet government was as tyrannical as Burnham claimed. Moreover, it was probably true that Communists throughout the world took orders from Moscow, as Burnham claimed.
Large Communist parties competed for votes in Italy and France, but they did not attempt coups against the democratic governments there. In the United States the two constituencies that might have been receptive to Communist appeals were working class whites and Negroes of all income levels. These people never considered the Soviet dictatorship and the Soviet economy to be attractive alternatives to what they experienced in the United States. The vast majority of black soldiers captured by the Communists during the Korean War choose to return to the United States.
The Warsaw Pact, which was formed in 1955, was never really a defensive alliance of like minded countries united by socialist solidarity. It was an empire, conquered in war and held together by force. In a war between the Soviet Union and NATO it could not have been counted on to support the USSR.
When Burnham explains how the United States should counter the Soviet “threat” he advocates that the American Communist Party be outlawed, and the United States form a world empire. In other words, he advocates that the United States follow the same policy he accuses the Soviet Union of following.
Burnham advocates that the United States support every government that is anti Communist, even if it is unpopular, corrupt, and tyrannical. This was the policy that got us into the War in Vietnam, and kept us there for ten years. It should be obvious by now that Vietnam was never important to our security or our economy.
By the time we left Vietnam in 1975 there had been armed clashes along the Soviet – Chinese border between the Soviet Army, and the army of Communist China. When the Communist Pol Pot government began killing Cambodians, the Communist Vietnamese Army invaded Cambodia and stopped the killing. During the spring of 1979 the army of Communist China invaded Communist Vietnam. After several months, the Communist Vietnamese Army repelled the Communist Chinese Army, killing about 20,000 Communist Chinese soldiers.
By then it was obvious that Communism was not a unified movement, taking orders from Moscow. Currently, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Chinese threats to invade Taiwan, and nuclear misbehavior by North Korea are not part of a unified plan to conquer the world. They are expressions of Russian, Chinese, and North Korean nationalism and militarism.
Contrary to Burnham’s assertions in “The Struggle for the World,” there never was a remote chance that a Communist dictatorship would be established in the United States. The danger was of a nuclear war that might have resulted from the aggressive foreign policy Burnham advocated.
