The Western nations, especially the United States, were terrified of the Soviet Union and their twisted version of Marxism. For starters, Marxism itself was the polar opposite of Capitalism, a major stigma of the West. Another reason was that Stalin was the epitome, at that time, of a dictatorship, the opposite of the democracy of the West. Not only that, the West was also pro-religion and Classism, something the Soviet Union and Communism itself did not care as much about. Because of these differences, plus the effects of nuclear weapon development, the West was rightfully terrified of how strong the Soviet Union had gotten in such a short amount of time, and did everything they could to root out Communism in their nations, including arresting people en masse because they were suspected supporters. This fear was dubbed, "The Red Scare," and has had a negative impact on the appearance of the Russian people ever since.
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The Communist Manifesto grew increasingly popular to those of the working class who could read, and its philosophies were soon spread around by word of mouth and propaganda spread by wealthier supporters, such as the group that commissioned Marx and Engels to create the Communist Manifesto. It also spread so quickly due to how accessible it was, being originally published in six languages. This accessibility eventually caught the attention of politicians, most importantly that of Joseph Stalin. Stalin saw how it was supported by the massive population of the working peasant class. He then proceeded to take Marxism and warp it into something of his own design: Communism. The people of Russia had no idea of the manipulation, due to most of them being illiterate mine workers. Because of this faux pas message of equality for all, Stalin rose to power and ended up creating the Soviet Union, and later on the Soviet Block for the satellite Soviet nations. He, instead of making everyone equal, in the beautiful words of George Orwell, "Everyone is equal but some are more equal than others."
Initially, the Communist Manifesto was a critique of Capitalism created by Karl Marx. It was very understandable for that to happen, as the economy in the 1840s were very factory centered, causing for the mistreatment of workers, who were primarily women and young children or anyone poor. It was created to show different ways the economic system could play out, as to save people from this abuse and give people their rights again. This book created Marxism. However, Marxism is just the theoretical belief, whilst the reality created the type of Communism used by the Soviet Union.
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