CHAPTER #1COMMUNISM VS CAPITALISM

Shtrakhman’s quote: “This class is not about history, it’s really about today!” The thing is, in order to understand the present moment, we have to understand how we got here. Only then, if we’re lucky, will we understand where we’re going. This is true for Global Warming, immigration, the economy, religious warfare, poverty, education, economic inequality…and the rest.

A person can look at any country, Russia, China, North Korea, and if he/she understands the history of that country, then they can understand why they’re acting a certain why and what their mindset is. Then can also see where that country is going. If we don’t study the history of a time or place then we are left ignorant as to the true motives or motivations involved. Never doubt the truism: history repeats itself, for it does!

CAPITALISM VS. COMMUNISMThere are 5 main communist countries of the 20th century:1. Russia

2. China3. Cuba

4. Vietnam5. North Korea

What do they all have in common? Something I like to call the 1%/99% PHENOMENON. That is to say, each of these countries was plagued by MASSIVE inequality for hundreds or even thousands of years. They either had Kings, Emperors or Czars that controlled all the wealthy while the majority of the population, the men and women that made up the peasantry, had virtually nothing. 1% of the population had 99% of the money and vise-versa. Karl Marx called this class warfare and predicted that it would eventually bring a worker’s revolution. He then felt that this revolution would spread to all the countries of the world and would rid them capitalism once and for all. He thought that the planet would be one big utopia where everyone had what they needed. There is a problem with this idea, however.

You see, capitalism is based on stuff like money and private property, but it really rests on the notion that greed and desire are the engines of the economy. Greed drives competition, which then leads to innovation and progress for a society. The problem is that this progress can’t leave 50-60% of the population poor or something’s not working properly.

The reason that you many are trying to do well in school, trying to get into the best colleges or universities, studying to do well on the SAT’s, is to get financial security or the accumulation of wealth. And for some of us financial motivation is the main driving force. This desire for money and the expertise that comes with it, however, will lead us to

becoming the best doctors, the best lawyers, the best engineers possible. It will lead you us work harder, wake up earlier, go the extra mile. We will then get the massive companies of today like Apple, Hertz, Ford, Delta, Microsoft, IBM etc.

People can buy whatever kind of car they want and whatever kind of house they can afford. They can travel, etc. Theoretically, this drive to make more money will push the economy forward because capitalists understand that greed is an underlying characteristics of human nature, and as a result, a major pusher of profit, innovation and improvement. All of our inventions, all of our technology, came out of the profit that they can generate. Prosthetic limbs, anesthesia, cancer research. Yes, the betterment of humankind is also involved, but the drive for profit plays a major role.

Unfettered capitalism does not work, however:1. The richest EIGHT (8) people on the planet have more money than the bottom 3.5

billion!2. The top 5% in America have OVER 50% of the money!

This was the case in Russia before it became Communist, China before Mao Zedong, Cuba before Fidel Castro, and Vietnam before Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnam War. Even France before the French Revolution.

*Here’s a secret: The KEY to a healthy country is a healthy Middle Class. Neither the rich nor the poor can make up TOO MUCH of a country. There MUST be a healthy middle. And this is what has historically separated the United States from the rest of the world, and made the US such a great destination for immigrants. It was the “land of opportunity” after all. Opportunity for what? To enter the Middle Class.

America was at its strongest after WWII when the Middle Class was about 60%. Today, it has fallen below 50% for the first time since Vietnam. It now stands at 49%. Good Luck!

Henry Ford was a genius not just for inventing the Assembly Line. He was also the 1st to pay his workers enough that they could actually buy a car. This was genius and revolutionary. You see, the wealthy in this county have a tacit or unspoken deal with the rest of us. We allow them to make as much money as they want, but they allow the rest of us to have a house, have a car, have some kids, go on vacation, go to Starbucks etc. If this tacit agreement is in jeopardy, so is America and the rest of the word.

Today the MIDDLE CLASS is in jeopardy. - The top 1% of Americans have 35% of the $$ and the top 5% have over 50%. This is not

good. The top 20% have almost 80% while the bottom 20% (60 million people) have almost nothing!

- In addition, the Poverty Rate is between 15-20% and WAY too many jobs are for the Minimum Wage.

- Finally, 30% - 50% of new college graduates are being forced to move back home. (This is known as the ‘Boomerang Generation’. In fact, it will be the 1st generation to have less money than their parents since WWII)

Plus, the 2016 election was the LOWEST voter turnout in 20 years. This is a toxic combination!

COMMUNIST REVOLUTIONNow, Communism states that the ONLY way to get rid of this Class Warfare is to GET RID OF MONEY altogether. That way there would be no RICH AND POOR, because in theory everyone would be equal.

As a result, they made PRIVATE PROPERY ILLEGAL! In theory, the State would own everything and then redistribute it as it sees necessary

As Karl Marx said “From each according to his ability to each according to his needs”.

- Born in Germany in the 1800’s- Wrote the Communist Manifesto (The Communist Bible)

**He honestly thought that be eliminating all private property and all money we would create a UTOPIA; a perfect world. Of course this exists only in theory, and in my classroom. BUT…………………………………………..

Communism has 2 problems:1. First of all, if 100 of us live on a Hippie Commune in the middle of Utah we would probably share everything and get along. For example, if each of us had 100 apples and Hannah Slone had none you would give her some, right? (I mean I wouldn’t but the rest of you would, right!?)

Anyway, Communism, which comes from the term ‘COMMUNE’ or ‘COMMUNAL’ meaning ‘TO SHARE’ works GREAT in small populations where everyone WANTS to share Hippie Communes Amish Villages

Kibbutzes in Israel My classroom where I get a cut of everyone’s lunch money

But as the population grows to let’s say, 100 million, people STOP wanting to share and want the FREEDOM to do whatever they want and make as much money as they can. Greed is tough to get rid of.This is why my father left the Soviet Union in 1979 when I was ___ years old.

As a result of so many people wanting to leave Communist countries (1100 people tried to leave Cuba last year), countries like Mao’s China or the Soviet Union had to take away:- The Freedom of Speech (cuz they don’t want you criticizing Communism)- The Freedom of the Press (cuz they don’t the media criticizing Communism)- The right to LEAVE (cuz they don’t want you leaving Communism)- The Right to Vote: My father, Papa Shtrakhman, used to have a saying: “Vote as many times as u want, but there’s only one name on the ballot!”

**Communism also hates religion because it divides people. Karl Marx called religion ‘The Opiate of the Masses’. And historically, religion has been the cause of more wars than gold, land or power.

P.S. My cousin was not allowed to have his Bar Mitzvah in Russia because he was Jewish. So he had his briss, his circumcision, when he came to America when was 15 years old. OUCH!!!

Anyway, this is why Communist countries become DICTATORSHIPS. They start out theoretically wanting to help the population but wind up become totalitarian governments. They say that this is to insure a Communist government, but the moment a leader needs a gun to keep people inside, that country is doomed!!

In other words, the idea of a UTOPIA, or a perfectly communistic world, is great in THEORY, but in reality greed gets in the way and the removal of all financial incentive hinders innovation and progress.

And that brings us to Problem #2:Greed is the driver of innovation. Without it half the people wouldn’t study so hard, wouldn’t start businesses, wouldn’t invent stuff, wouldn’t wake up early to go to work, wouldn’t go to Medical School for 8 years etc. Some people do it out of the goodness of their hearts, but by and large, greed and competition drive innovation and profit. Communism didn’t understand this.

THE APPLE ORCHARD PHENOMENON: Let’s say we each have an apple orchard.

- The harder you work, the more apples you pick. The more apples you pick, the more money you get. You can sell these apples and then buy a BMW, or send your kid to college, give money to charity, or take a trip to Paris. - Now let’s say all the Apple Orchards became Communist. Everyone got THE SAME amount of apples regardless of who picked how many. Some people woke up at noon, some people came to work drunk (the Soviet Union had a MASSIVE alcoholism problem), some people didn’t water the trees, and THEY STILL GOT EXACTLY THE SAME AMOUNT OF APPLES.

THE RESULT:People would stop waking up early, they would top inventing new fertilizers, would stop carefully watering their trees everyday etc. because they saw that EVERYONE GOT THE SAME 2 APPLES NO MATTER HOW HARD THEY WORKED.

Why would you invent a new tractor when the Government would just take it away?. Of course, altruism and the desire to “do good” would account for some progress and hard work, but it would only be a matter of time B4:a) People would STOP working so hardb) People would leave to come to a place where the harder you work the more $$ you

got…………………..Americac) The ECONOMY would collapse (Russia, Cuba etc.)

BUT CAPITALISM HAS A PROBLEM TOO.Capitalism left unchecked can create a catastrophic situation of massive global inequality.

Ideally, a healthy country looks like this:1. UPPER CLASS- 10%2. MIDDLE CLASS-80%3. LOWER CLASS-10%

But we look like this:

EVEN AMERICA GETS A LIL’ BIT SOCIALISTFDR really changed America. During the Great Depression, in the 1930’s, unemployment in the United States was 25%!!!! That’s catastrophic . Capitalism was having a problem! If we left capitalism to its own devices, America would fall!(It was at 10% when Obama took office after the Great Recession of 2008).

FDR knew he had to do something. As part of his New Deal he created Social Security (which forces people to put $$$$ aside which they then get when they’re 65 years old) and a national work program to give people jobs. In the 1960’s President Lyndon Johnson (LBJ), who took office after JFK was assassinated, added on Medicare and Medicaid to give older people and poorer people health care. Of course, WWII jump started our economy as well, but we cannot ignore the New Deal.

Finally, in 1938 FDR introduced the MINIMUM WAGE. Sure, it was only 38 cents but it made sure that businesses and factories were not exploiting their workers.

This IS NOT pure capitalism, it is a country responding to the FAILURES of capitalism. This happened again in 2008 when we loaned our own banks 700 BILLION DOLLARS to stave off world-wide financial collapse! America became Socialist for a few months instead of letting our banks fail as the law of capitalism would suggest should happen.

Social Security: Guaranteed savings accounts for seniors (not freshmen)Medicare: Health care for people over the age of 65 Medicaid: Free basic health care for the very poor

The Minimum Wage is a source of great debate because many say that it is not based on pure capitalism, that the government should “stay out of it” and let businesses and the market decide what workers should get paid. The Federal Minimum Wage is only $7.25 but 9 states have increased it (Washington and Seattle are the highest at $9.00) and Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest private employer just raised the average worker’s starting wage to about $8.50. This is huge!

America cannot have so many employees making too little money to live off of. That is where we get crime and all of the socio-economic consequences of poverty. The upper

and middle class need to take acre of everybody, or the whole country suffers. If 20% of a country is broke, the WHOLE country gets sick!

Now let’s look at Canada, France, England or ScandinaviaThe tax rate is closer to 50% , and luxury items like jewelry or expensive cars have a luxury tax of close to 75%, BUT.. you get certain benefits, such as: 1. you get to go to college for free!!!!!!!!!!2. You get Health Care for free!!!!!!!! (for everyone)3. Some countries give new mothers time off to be with their babies, and Sweden even gives time off to new fathers! This is called maternity leave and paternity leave.4. But your taxes are a lot higher!!!!!! What kind of country do YOU want?

Long Response Question: In which country would you rather live?

Country A- 10% drive a Ferrari- 50% drive a Honda

- 40% are broke

Country B- 100% drive a corny yellow Smart Car

- No one has a Ferrari!!!!- No one is broke!!!!

LONG RESPONSE QUESTION: Which country would you rather live in and why?

The MAIN IDEA here is that there is a MIDDLE GROUND between pure capitalism and communism. And there are many countries around the world all over the spectrum.

What’s the best choice?

PART 2 :HISTORY OF RUSSIA

There is a reason why Russia became ‘Communist’.

Did u know that Russia is the BIGGEST country in the world?! It is 3 1.2 times bigger than America and it represents 1/6 of all the land mass. And now with Vladimir Putin in the mix you better know what’s going on over there, right?! - The main problem in Russia, as with many countries, was of course the 1%/99% phenomenon. Russia has always been a peasant culture with the Royal Family, the Czars, and the Russian Orthodox Church, holding all the power, while a majority of the population starved and froze to death in winter.

HISTORY OF RUSSIA- Russia has been backwards for 700 years!!! That is because first they were taken over by the Mongols in the 1300’s. (AP WORLD ) The Mongols were a brutal enemy enslaving many and raping and killing others.

Sad Fact: Genghis Kahn is said to have raped so many women that 7% of all the men in Asia have his DNA!

As a result of the Mongol Hordes, Russia was separated from the rest of Europe - So when Europe got the Enlightenment, Russia didn’t!- When Europe got the Scientific Revolution, Russia didn’t!- When Europe got the Industrial revolution, Russia didn’t!

- Eventually, the Russian princes who decided to work with the Mongols became Kings and started to call themselves Czars (Pronounecd ZAR, It comes from the Latin term ‘Ceasar’!) Queens are called Czarinas. The children of kings are called Shtrakhmas.

CZAR #1: Peter the Great- 1600’s Started the first Russian navy Created the beautiful city of St. Petersburg near Finland (I was there in the summer during ‘White Nights’ when the sun never sets so it was like dawn at 3:00 a.m.) Made all the nobles learn French (That’s why my dad made me take French in college even though I already spoke Russian)

CZARINA #2: Catherine the Great: The 1700’sOTHER CZARS: Alexander II, Nicholas I, Prince Vladimir and the Romanovs with daughter Anastasia.

The people were poor, illiterate and hungry. This is where COMMUNISM comes in.

FAST FORWARD TO WORLD WAR ONE (1917)One thing you should NEVER forget about Russia is that they lost WAY MORE people than anyone else in BOTH World War 1 and World War 2. They lost about 10,000,000 in the

Great War and then almost 30,000,000 in WWII. Compare this to the 450,000 America lost in WWII and you get an inkling of Russia’s view: “Don’t talk to us about WWII because you DON’T UNDERSTAND!!” (My Grandmother lost 4 sisters to the Nazis and my Granddad lost a leg fighting in Germany)

Vladimir Lenin saw all of the people dying in WWI and asked them “For whom do you die, for the Cazrs and the Cazrina’s?” “Why” he continued, “should you fight for them? So they can get a new palace or a new dress for their kids?”

He saw World War One as the opportunity he’d been waiting for, the opportunity for REVOLUTION. The Communists, and Vladimir Lenin, saw their chance.

Vladimir Ilych Lenin (looks a little like Jacob)

- Lenin was born in Ulyanovsk, Russia, in 1870 (Ulyanovsk is about 1000 miles East of Moscow)

- He spoke 7 languages- He was kicked out of Russia by the Czar for being a troublemaker

- He was then exiled to London- When WWI broke out Lenin saw HIS CHANCE

Vladimir Lenin (My Dad is named Vladimir), saw 1917 as an opportunity to put the writings and the teachings of Karl Marx into practice. He came into Moscow with his Communist supporters and assassinated the ENTIRE Romanov family of czars, even the kids (That’s where the movie Anastasia comes from. She was one of the Romanov daughters)

From this point on Russia would be known as …..the Soviet Union(USSR: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics).

Their FLAG has a hammer and sickle on it. The sickle represents farming but the hammer……….

The Communist Revolution in Russia will forever be known as ‘Red October’ because it all happened in October, 1917.

DON’T 4GET: Communism is also about ‘SPREADING’ Communism. It has a duty to bring the ‘Worker’s Revolution’ to all 4 corners of the globe.

So, Russia immediately starts takes over:1921: RUSSIA TAKES THE UKRAINE (where I was born)1922: RUSSIA TAKES BELARUS, ARMENIA, GEORGIA AND AZERBAIJAN (THE TRANSCAUCASES)1924: MULSIM TURKMENISTAN1924: Muslim UZBEKISTAN1929: Muslim TAJIKISTAN1936: Muslim KAZAKHSTAN1936: Muslim KYRGYSZTAN1936: Muslim OIL RICH AZERBAIJAN ON THE CASPIAN SEA

As soon as Lenin won, he began implementing the basics of his new Communist philosophy. All private Property was abolished. Everything would heretofore be owned and controlled by the government. All privately owned farms would be collectivized.

This means that all the farms would be merged into one large state owned farm. Everyone had to give up their land and give up their animals so that everybody would be EQUALLLLLLLLLL. Historically land has always been in the hands of the few, so to remedy this Communist leaders like Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Castro aimed to collective or re-distribute it. This is NOT intelligent because you run into the ‘Apple Orchard Problem’.

COLLECTIVIZATION………Collectivization is when you force every single farm owner in the country to consolidate all of their farms into one large state owned, and state run, nationalized farm. The State would now grow the food; they would decide what to grow and how much. The State would be in control, not the actual farmers. Your land no longer belonged to you.

Can u image what happened when a bunch of bureaucrats in Moscow started deciding what to grow and how to grow it?! A famine, that’s what!

EVERY time someone has tried COLLECTIVIZATION it has failed miserably:1. Stalin in 1932-1933---------------------7 MILLION DEAD2. Mao Zedong in 1958-1961-----------40 MILLION DEAD

A word about Collectivization. It is true that the world has been split up between serfs and landowners for the longest time. If you were born a serf, you died a serf, and if your father was rich chances are you would be rich as well. In order to try to reverse this, Communists from Stalin in Russia, to

Mao Zedong in China, to Fidel Castro in Cuba, and other Latin-American leaders, tried to take all the land and then consolidate it under the state’s ownership. In theory, there would then be enough food for the State to distribute to everyone equally. In theory, yes. But we do not live in theory.

This is also known AS LAND REDISTRIBUTION (if land is given from the rich to the poor but remains privatized) and is the hallmark of any Socialist/Communist regime. It will be part of EVERY chapter that we read.

Can you see any problems with this? Think of the “APPLE ORCHARD” Individual farmers will not want to work hard. Removing profit and ownership as an incentive lowers quality. Farm owners lie about productivity to avoid getting shot! People start to starve because revolutionary bureaucrats in Moscow, or Beijing, or Havana are making all of the decisions.

After Vladimir Lenin tried this, PEOPLE ACTUALLY STARTED SHOOTING THEIR ANIMALS INSTEAD OF GIVING THEM OVER TO “THE STATE”. CAN U SEE WHY?! These people nurtured and raised these animals since birth, they didn’t want to give them away.

BUT LENIN WAS NOT A STUPID MAN. When he saw that the farmers were killing all their animals, he quickly reversed course and in 1922 (The Soviet Union was born in 1917), he started what was the known as Lenin’s NEW ECONOMIC POLICY

LENIN’S NEW ECONOMIC POLICY1. He got rid of collectivization and just gave farmers a tax instead! Wow!!!!!2. Small businesses would be allowed!!!! (WOW!)

The State would still control large factories, the banks and international trade but people could actually own SMALL, PRIVATE BUSINESSES. This is a MAJOR departure from Communist theory and the only way Russia could survive! He also allowed other countries to invest foreign capital in Russia (Even though we were Capitalist-Imperialist Pigs!)

- Whaddayaknow, as soon as Russia gave farmers incentive to grow more food cuz they can keep it, sell it, and then buy other stuff, agricultural output SHOT UP!!!

- Of course, Lenin got a lot of criticism for this. People argued that he was not a true Marxist and all that, but he knew that “It doesn’t matter if a cat is red (Communist) or white (non-Communist), the only question is whether it can catch mice?”

This means, ladies and gentlemen, that Vladimir Lenin GAVE UP ON COMMUNISM within 3 years of taking over the Soviet Union.

Yes, he kept all large industrial businesses in the hands of the State, as many countries do even today, but with small businesses and farms he let controlled capitalism run its course.Unfortunately, Stalin and Mao will forget all this and will bring the horrors of collectivization, and famine, back into the world.

JOSEF STALIN (looks like………Blake Hughes)

“Josef Stalin is one of the worst demons in history, killing more people than even Hitler. But he did save Russia in World War 2.”

Anonymous (Really, it’s Mr. Shtrakhman)

First of all, we cannot confuse ‘Communism’ with ‘Stalinism’. Communism is a theoretical understanding of the relationship between money and people. Again, Communism comes from the root word ‘commune’ which means to share. It must be voluntary and it must be open to change.

Stalinism was a brutal suppression of life, liberty and justice. A murderous rampage by one of the biggest demons in history. A paranoid, schizophrenic man named Josef Stalin who used the IDEA of Communism to justify murder and death.

‘Stalin’ was not his real name.He was born Josif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili.

Stalin is Russian for ‘Man of Steel’. (And I’m not talkin’ Superman here.)He was born in the Soviet Republic of Georgia in 1878. Georgia is now an independent

country world renowned for their wine and nothing else.

Stalin was one of Lenin’s most fervent revolutionaries, but when Lenin was dying in 1924 he famously told all of his advisors “Do not let Stalin take control, he is a maniac!” Unfortunately Stalin was no fool. He beat everyone to it by killing all of the Generals who opposed him.

*In fact, when Stalin gave a speech no one wanted to be the first guy to stop clapping because you never knew if he was going to have you killed. Like in my class when I tell a

joke and someone stops laughing…

**And when Hitler captured one of Stalin’s sons, a Corporal, he called Stalin and told him he would trade his son for a Nazi General. Stalin famously said “A Corporal is not worth a

General!” and he let his son die!!!

He even killed Vladimir Lenin’s best friend Leon Trotsky, the man who should have taken control. Stalin chased Trotsky all the way to Mexico City where he hired a girl to pretend to like him. The girls’ real boyfriend then snuck in the apartment and bashed poor Trotsky’s head in. Because Stalin was a paranoid schizophrenic, he then had every single photograph of Trotsky removed from Soviet archives!

Stalin then began to rape Russia of its people and its dignity! Next to Hitler, Pol Pot of Cambodia, and Genghis Kahn of the Mongols, Stalin is one of the world’s most ruthless murderers.

Stalin was responsible for 3 bad things:1. The forced Collectivization of all the farms in Russia (leading to a 7 million person famine in 1933) thereby FORGETTING Lenin’s lesson!

2. EXECUTING millions for being anti-revolutionaries (1000 executions per day!!)

3. STALIN’S PURGES: Sending millions of Russians and Ukrainians to the Gulags, or prisons, of Siberia.

On the other hand, he was also responsible for a few positive developments:1. He did turn Russia into one of the most industrialized nations on the planet in order to fight the Nazis2. He did defeat Hitler after the Battle of Stalingrad and started to push the Germans all the way back to Berlin.

**A WORD ABOUT WRITING IB ESSAYS. In order to write a really high-quality essay one should always mention the opposing argument, if only to refute it. There are usually two sides to a story and even if one is overwhelmingly true, you will get IB points if you show the reader (ME) that you are aware of the opposing argument, have given it great thought and can see why it might seem valid, but is ultimately wrong. And whn u refute the other guy’s argument you have written a ‘complete’ and perfectly circular essay.

FOR EXAMPLE: Can you write about any of these issues without giving due credit to the other side:

- The Death Penalty- Illegal Immigration- NASA funding- Gun Control

STALIN EXAMPLE: Can you really write about communism without providing a wide historical context. Or can you write about the horrors of Stalin without giving at least due attention to the czars and the inequality of Russian history?!

Stalin was a MONSTER, but he did help defeat Hitler for Russia AND he did industrialize the countryside. Now could he have done both of these things without being an as%h^&*? For sure one probably outweighs the other, but if you can mention both sides you will show the IB readers in London that you know what you are talking about and have given the matter great thought and its due attention. Finally, you will get more points on IB essays.

In the years leading up to WWII Stalin undertook a MASSIVE industrialized effort through the entire Soviet Union. Sure this was done with no freedom, no freedom of the press, no freedom of the speech, no trials, no juries, no lawyers etc. As a result, however, Russia was more prepared when Hitler came AND he turned a country built on peasants and serfdom into an industrialized nation. Does that excuse his executing 1000 people for day and sending 10,000,000 to the gulags? No, or….

Just to illustrate how bad, and how dangerous, life in Russia was during Stalin I have two stories:1. A man was sent to Siberia because another man heard him make a “joke” about Stalin

on a train.

2. My dad- All of the news in Russia was censored. You couldn’t get CNN, BBC or anything else. The government controlled the media; the newspapers and television stations.

My father, who saw through Communism from very early on, would sit by the window and listen to Air America, an illegal radio station that the Americans broadcast from West Germany. It was the only station that actually told you the truth.

My Grandmother used to come into his bedroom and tell him “If they catch you, and you know there are KGB spies everywhere in this apartment complex, they will send you, a 14 year old boy, to the Gulags of Siberia never to be heard from again. What do you choose?” Well, let’s just say that when I was 2 years old he packed us all up and we came to America. By the way, the ONLY reason we were allowed to leave the Soviet Union was that my mom is Jewish and Russia is fiercely anti-semitic. Especially the communists but not only.

SIDE NOTE: There are 2 debatable and potentially helpful characteristics of communism1. They treated women the same as men (Gender Equality)2. They viewed religion as poison in the sense that it separated people that should be

working togetherKarl Marx quote: “Religion is the opiate of the masses”

You see, people have been fighting over religion for a long time. Karl Marx thus saw it as divisive. In addition, he felt that religious institutions have been PARTNERS of the ruling class:

1. The Catholic Church in France was allied with King Louis XVI2. The Christian churches in the South allowed slavery and segregation to

continue.3. The Catholic churches in Spain, Portugal and Latin America have always been

part of the massive racial and economic inequality in both Europe and the New World

4. The Eastern Orthodox Church in Russia and Greece was always allied with the Czars or the King.

5. Christians and Jews have always seen themselves as separate.6. The Islamic faith has always had massive slavery and economic inequality

So because my mom is Jewish we were ‘allowed’ to leave the Soviet Union in 1979, just as they were invading Afghanistan.

STALIN’S PURGES An average of 1000 executions per day for 10 years! (In one year he executed

750,000 poor Russians!!) He murdered 63,000 opponents of farm collectivization He forced 1.2 million to leave their homes and go to the barren waste land of

Siberia He sent 3.6 million people to prison for being “Capitalist-Imperialist Spies”

**Prisoners were sent to Russia’s famous gulags, or prisons. These were brutal places, like our cafeteria, where once you went in you were never heard from again!

**Siberia is in northern Russia and is extremely cold, often reaching 50 below zero. They even have a lizard that freezes itself in a state of suspended animation and stays that way for up to 4 years (The Siberian Salamander).

LIFE IN SIBERIA…………..- There were about 50 gulags in Siberia

- It was like the death penalty cuz you either died on the way, once there, or on the way home.

- Ten percent of the entire population of the Soviet Union lived in the camps.- At least twenty million people perished in the labor camps during Stalin’s

rule.’- It has hit -79 degrees in Siberia (that’s -100 with wind chill and freezes skin on

contact)

STALIN’S PURGE OF THE SOVIET MILITARY (He killed anyone seen as a threat)

Stalin killed five Marshals (equivalent to five-star generals) He killed 50 out of 57 Army Commanders

Killed 8 out of 9 Navy Admirals If you lost a battle during WWII you were expected to commit suicide, or you

would be shot anyway. Also, if you ran away during WWII, your own Russian officers were ordered to

shoot you in the stomach as you ran towards them.

**Again, however, one of the biggest mistakes that the United States will continue to make, in Cuba, in Vietnam, in Africa and Latin America is CONFUSING Stalinism with Communism. Stalinism was a repressive dictatorship but communism is an economic model. If Stalinism spreads we have to STOP it, but if communism spreads………………..

KARL MARX: Another part of the story

Karl Marx said that the Industrial Revolution ruined the world. How so? Well, it used to be that one woman would sew one shirt per day, or one man would build one desk or one

chair per week. That ONE individual could thus support himself by filling a need that everyone had (making shoes, clothing, etc.) It might take that man/woman 6 months to make one high end bed, but at the end of those 6 months he/she had enough money to

live on.

Now, however, all the workers were being replaced by machines. That means that factory owners were gonna get richer, but everyday workers would become EXPENDABLE.

We can see this even today, especially playing out in the political debate. Both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump blame things like Free Trade for “taking jobs away”, but actually

it is automation that took the most jobs away, not Mexico or China.

Not only were the workers expendable but when Henry Ford created the Assembly Line, each worker was now completely mindless and interchangeable, and that means they

were REALLY EXPENDABLE.

This is also why you kids are in advanced classes. So that you can get an education that allows you to complete for HIGH-SKILLED jobs. Because low skilled jobs are giving way to

machines.

*Some fast food restaurants like Wendy’s are even replacing waiters with at-table iPads to order from. Will the Minimum Wage debate impact this??

Fun Fact: The word ‘sabotage’ comes from the French word ‘sabo’ meaning shoes. The French workers would throw their shoes into the gear of the machines to ‘sabotage’ them!

Even on farms, machines did almost all of the work/ One machine could replace 100 farmers.

Examples of new farm technology:1. The Tractor

2. Mechanized Plows3. The reaper

With the invention of factories, farming machinery and the assembly line Karl Marx said 3 things would happen:

A) People would lose their jobs to factories and farmers to machines.

B) Only the factory owners would ever have any money. Individual peasants would always be broke because they were so easily replaceable.

C) The 1%/99% phenomenon!

Once this happened Karl Marx saida) Workers of the world will unite in revolution!b) They will spread this revolution with gunsc) They will take over the ‘means of production’; the factories, farms, etc.

d) They will create a utopia where everyone has enough but NOONE has too much

Russia: Communist in 1917China: Communist in 1949

North Korea: Communist in 1950Cuba: Communist in 1959

Vietnam: Communist in 1969

Latin American nations that flirted with communism:A. NicaraguaB. El SalvadorC. GuatemalaD. Chile

African nations that flirted with communismA. AngolaB. The CongoC. EthiopiaD. Somalia

They simply did NOT think that pure capitalism would solve their problems!

In fact, one more reason why Russia and China became communist (and many other smaller countries in Latin America and Africa) is that traditionally these countries had no social mobility. That is, if your dad was a serf, so were you. If your dad was poor, so would you be. In America, however, you had the whole ‘rags to riches’ story where you were completely free to become whatever you wanted. This is also where the public education system comes in: everyone theoretically has a free education and thus at least a basic opportunity to rise up. You can move past your parents! Social Mobility did NOT exist in Europe for hundreds of years and so…..people wanted change. Of course, capitalism gives you this as well, though things have gotten a little worse lately.

THE 21 ST CENTURY!!! 50% of college students cant’ find a job that requires a college degree 40% have started to default on their Student Loan 50% of High School Freshman are not reading or doing math on grade level and

America is like 27th in Science!

LOOK AT HOW RETAIL IS BEING REPACED WITH ONLINE SHOPPING- Sports Authority-bankrupt

- Staples- bankrupt- Payless Shoes -200 stores closing

- JCPenny- 138 stores- Circuit City- bankrupt

- Macy’s - closed 67 stores- Target- worst quarter in history because of online shopping.

- Bebe- bankrupt- Sears-K Mart- doubtful to survive

- All in all 2017 will see 8600 retail stores CLOSED!

I gave you this to better help you understand the historical context within which Karl Marx was operating. The Industrial Revolution transformed the world, some ways better than others, and now in the 21st century, the Technological Revolution is continuing to change things, again, better for some and worse for others.

What does the future hold? We’ll have to wait and see, but low-skilled workers will perhaps be permanently under-employed, in the United States and around the world!

A UTOPIA is a perfect world where everyone is equal. Alas, it exists only in theory, on hippy communes and in my class where I am the happy dictator!

This is what Marx and Engles were talking about when they wrote the Communist Manifesto:- Workers’ revolution spread by gunpowder!

This is also why the United States always looked at communism as a virus; because of its inherent nature to want to spread, and especially through armed revolt. But as IB students you must understand the WHOLE PICTURE!!!!

Homework Questions:COMMUNISM VS. CAPITALISM1. Can u summarize the difference between Capitalism and Communism?

2. How does the concept of greed complicate matters?

3. What is the historical context for the birth of Communism? How is the 1%/99% problem related?

4. Scandinavia, England and Canada differ from America. How so?

RUSSIA AND STALIN5. How did Russia’s history influence its development?

6. How was WWI the spark that lit the powder keg of Communist Revolution?

7. What are the philosophies and problems behind collectivization?

8. What is the New Economic Plan and why is it so IMPORTANT?

THINKING QUESTION #1: How is Stalinism NOT the same thing as Communism?

THINKING QUESTION #2: Do you see any parallels between the year 2017 and the time before communism? Are there any lessons for today that studying history can teach us?

PLEAZ MOVE ON TO CHAPTER 2: THE COLD WAR (1943-1949)!!!

P.S. there will also be a crossword puzzle or a Fill-in-the-Blank Quiz you’ll have to complete. All completed work should be stapled together (no loose papers), make sure ur name’s on it, and place it on the wall for your Hour