POL SCI 140L Chapter Notes - Chapter 3: Truman Doctrine, Georgy Malenkov, Warsaw Pact
19 Mar 2018
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Document Summary
Nikita khrushchev once boasted to western diplomats: history is on our side . Communism was the wave of the future. By 1971: soviet union economy was stagnating. By 1981: living standards had deteriorated in the ussr, life expectancy declining. But people still took ussr very seriously, jfk found their ideological confidence intimidating (1) Benjamin disraeli (would become british pm) warned in his novel sybil 1845 of the danger the two nations : the rich and poor. A state whose economic progress depends on exploiting some of its citizens for the benefit of others is headed for trouble. Marx warns of the same thing in his theories: capitalism unevenly distributes wealth and creates its own executioners. Engels said reaching communism was ascending from kingdom of necessity to kingdom of freedom . Most political leaders preserved capitalism by mitigating its harshness: social welfare state. Lenin moved theory to action in his coup d" tat , declaring war on capitalism.
