Communism, The Ideology Of A Broken Spirit Essay, Research Paper

Communism, The Ideology of A Broken Spirit There are effects to any ideology. An ideology in the most common terms is simply a belief. The question is howdoes ideology effect people? The communistic ideology has greatly affected millions of people. Under communistideology the individual had to work for everything he received. A man could not keep a draft horse, which he foundbecause that was considered to be an, “unlawful source of enrichment without work.” (Drakuli| 2-3) Incommunism everyone has to be equal for the governmental ideology to work. This could put greatheartbreak on ones soul. Although, there are many good points to communism they still are not worth theheartache an individual must inure to be “equal”. Think about all of the good things that the planned communism ideology throws out at you. They make itlook like it so good that people considered communism a great service to the people. There would be noworries about money, about buying food, clothes, or anything else, because everyone received equally.There would be no worry about what job to get, because your job was chosen for you from thebeginning, no worries about the best HMO plan to select, because the government would take care of allof the hospital bills. There would be no fighting to get to the top of the ladder. There would not even be a”glass ceiling” for women to fight, because everyone is theoretically treated equally. No worries, becauseeveryone is taken care of by the government. This all sounded all good and well, from the outside, butwould it work? Would it work like the common person wanted it to work? The people sure thought so. All of these thingssounded wonderful, but we know they did not work! You can not have pride in something you neverworked for. The people’s motivation to work was not realized, because they were never rewarded forexcellence, achievement, effectiveness, quality of work or productivity. Theoretically communism offeredeverything you needed. Since everything was shared equally, when you work harder to get a little extra,you were not rewarded or allowed to benefit. So what would be the use working harder? Let’s take a scenario. We will take two people and give them each the same salary for sixty years. Thefirst employee went and spent everything he (she) had, his (her) money afforded fun things like going tothe park, eating candy, and partying all sixty years away. The second sacrificing individual saved all of his(her) money so that when he (she) retired he (she) could go live on the most luxurious neighborhood andhave money to spare. Under communist ideology he (she) was penalized and discouraged from beingdifferent or raising himself (herself) above another because everyone is “equal”. At retirement witheveryone being “equal” the state would need to give half of the money saved by the second individual tothe first individual or the ideal of equality would be defeated. The communist ideal would reduceeveryone to mediocrity. The only way they could do this is to brainwash them to believe in somethingthat would give the communist rule. The recipe for keeping everyone in communist rule is described in the book, 1984 by George Orwell,”War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.” This is a powerful quote. It sends chills downyour back if you think about it too long. If war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strengthwhat would this world come to? I am not sure if it would be good or bad. If an ideology were to causeyou to accept that war is the only way to peace, that freedom results is slavery, and ignorance produces aworld of strength, then we are limiting the natural initiative for a creative individualism based society oftrue freedom, creativity and individual expression. Communistic ideology destroys the heart of theindividual limiting motivation and success. Do you know that just words can change everything in an ideological planned communist party? “Wecannot assume that others know the meaning of the words they use,” Jill Glazer says, “But we can teachthem.” (p.191) Communism knows that words can tear them down. So they teach the people that certainthings which are said are not a good thing to use hears, understand, or learn. They will even go as far asputting them on a black list–censoring and note allowing free expression communism forced people toaccept a specific set of belief’s without any explanation or alternate philosophy in order to protect andpromote their own ideology. Therefore you could not speak out with words, or writing. So, if you were to make a fuss about anything, you should be prepared to be put on a blacklist like Tanja,when she wrote not about “pinball machines, but about the privatization of the economy.” (p.3) She made

the people think about how they were forced to live, and God forbid, if the people tried to do anythingabout it, it would be the worst for them and the control of communist government. So they put them on ablack list. If she persisted, “She could write and even get her monthly pay, but nothing got into a print.”(p.5) All she was doing is being herself, speaking out about what she thought was wrong so that justmaybe it would be changed, and as a result she was punished for it. In communism, “To be yourself, to cultivate individualism, to perceive yourself as an individual in a masssociety is dangerous. You might become living proof that the system is failing. Make-up and fashion arecrucial because they are political.” (p. 26) If they can keep you in their hold, they can keep you undertheir rule. If you are too much an individual, you might speak out and have an effect against thecommunist party just as Tanja! When you can not speak out about things that are getting to you thegovernment will walk all over you. Another strange thing is that, “Nobody seems to mind the paradox that even though fruit growsthroughout Poland, there is no fruit juice yet Coke is everywhere. But here Coke, like everything comingfrom America, is more of a symbol than a beverage.” (p.13) Do you suppose that the government putCoke into the country so that the people would think that they were going to be successful and havefreedom of choice like America one day, and that they were slowly progressing? It was almost like thecommunist government was attempting to prove to the people who were against the communismgovernment, that by having Coke they were keeping up with the rest of the world, and the people wouldbe blind to what was really happening in real life under communism. Just as Coke was a symbol so was traveling. Ulrike said that a symbol describing personal freedom was”Traveling, being able to travel, this is why I escaped, and what I enjoy more than anything in the world isthe fact that nobody is stopping me.” (p. 36) She gave up even her family for freedom, to travel, becauseshe had a need to experience and feel something her communist ideology was robbing from her, a basicand personal right in life. The United States also has some ideologies that hinder advocates for freedom one must not overlook.Have you ever thought about allowing the government control in the raising of your children? Theyassume responsibilities in some strange ways that destroy the rights of families and parents. Take forinstance the government telling you when and what for you can punish your children. If your child set fireto the kitchen purpose, don’t you think that the child should be punished for his/her crime? So, you go togive your spanking, and someone sees you spanking your child. They run and tell the police that you areabusing your child for no reason, that they know this for a fact, because they have seen you do thisbefore. When how would they know this when they have never seen you in their life, they just want to,”save the life of a child!” So you go to prison for punishing your child for setting the kitchen on fire! How about the government telling your children that they can have and abortion without you even givingconsent, better yet, even knowing about it! All of this is happening. If this is a little hard fetched you havegot to know this one, they are to telling your children when, where, and with whom they can drive theircar? They can not even go to a movie with a friend, with your permission, all because the government hasan ideology of what should happen and what shouldn’t. These ideologies will effect us in our everydaylife, because we now have to stop and think before we can permit our child to do some things. We haveto ask ourselves, “What does the law, our forced governmental ideology say about this?” In America we can speak out about these things. All we have to do is propose that a law be changed andeveryone will vote on it, and it shall be done. In a communist country you can not speak out about any ofthis. You have to live with it. Governmental intervention in the laws of individuals can be good if it builds, liberates, encourages, andstrengthens the individual. But when a political ideology limits personal development, overwhelms andcrushes the motivation and innovation of the individual, changes most occur. Freedom fosters andencourages the individual. Dominating, oppressing ideologies like communism results in broken spirits thatyearn for freedom. Cherish and preserve the ideology that all are created equal and have value, worth,and deserve freedom. By: Sarah Elizabeth Hanford June 3, 1998

Atwan, Robert. America Now. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997. —. Glazer, Jill. On Politically Correct Speech. Colgate University: The Colgate Maroon-News, 1996. Drakuli| , Slavenks. How We Survives Communism and Even Laughed. New York: HarperPerennial, 1993. 2, 3, 5, 13, 26, 36. Orwell, George. 1984. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1950.