What We Can Learn from Failed Communist Nations

Every once in a while, some bright-eyed college student will wonder why communism hasn’t been tried the US...

In truth, the reasons can be seen painted across the pages of history. Other nations have tried and failed to implement communism successfully.

Let’s take a look at what we can all learn from those failed communist nations. Here's a roundup of the unfortunate countries who couldn't report communism success stories...

Venezuela

Venezuela used to be the wealthiest country in South America. However, things quickly turned around because of its socialist/communist government.

Here’s a quick recap: 1992 saw Hugo Chavez, a then-Lieutenant Colonel in the Venezuelan army, lead a coup against the government. Though the coup failed, Chavez was released after only two years in prison. After a trip to Cuba, Chavez returned and won the next presidential election. Though he campaigned on a platform of socialism, he began implementing traditionally communist policies as soon as he was in office.

Examples include stacking the Supreme Court with justices he got to pick, rewriting the Constitution, controlling the legislature, and beginning to criminalize dissent. Censorship and attacks on private property followed soon after.

In short, the Venezuelan model showed that the idea of handing control of private property to the government is always fated to fail. It’s an idea that might work in theory if government officials were perfect. But we all know that they’re not.

North Vietnam

The Communist expansion of North Vietnam is also well-known to Americans – after all, it’s the reason we fought in the Vietnam War!

The communist Vietnam government instituted reforms designed to help agrarian farmers, though what it really resulted in was executions in villages across the country. In total, over 100,000 people were executed during “land reform” movements spearheaded by the government.

North Vietnam also expanded to South Vietnam, leading to the beginning of the Vietnam War. As with practically all communist states, handing over too much control to the government led to sweeping dictatorial actions, even though they were ostensibly the best actions for the country’s citizens.

Today, Vietnam is a backwater without big metropolitan centers. It’s clear that communism failed them there, as well. 

The Soviet Union

The Soviet Union is perhaps the biggest example of the failure of the communist experiment. The cold war was fought and lost by the Soviet Union, and they lost largely because of logistical issues within their country rather than direct attacks by the West.

For instance, the Soviet Union lacked a clear national identity, even though they tried to pack all the myriad populations within their borders into the same proletariat class. Furthermore, the Soviet focus on providing more power and resources to the government meant that innovation and private enterprise were severely stifled.

The nation’s economy stagnated and has never caught up to the West to this day. The Cold War itself proved that the communist model was ineffective compared to the United States' capitalist model.

All in all, the Soviet Union was failed by communism because that political model failed to provide its citizens with the inspiration and economic momentum needed to compete in the modern market.

As you can see, no matter where communism crops up, it always fails. Today, China is the leading proponent of the communist model.

Time will tell exactly how communism leads to the country’s downfall. But you can be sure that it will fall, one way or another!

Thank you for reading, United We Stand...

Justin

Author