Communism is an idea that's become highly distorted in the eyes of the American people. Much of this comes from a point of view that demonizes it as being responsible for the rise of Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. There are many forms of communism, but the true form as Karl Marx saw it did not involve tyranny, gulags, or concentration camps. The parties that created these diabolical governments didn't even call themselves communist. Rather, they referred to themselves as socialist yet more accurately fit the definition of a totalitarian state, a repressive dictatorial regime that institutes massive surveillance with an intolerance for outside opinions. It is necessary to split hairs about these ideologies because there are socialist states that have worked in the past, and even communist ones. The ones that failed ultimately did so because of worldwide trade embargoes set against them by capitalist countries like the United States. Globalization in a broader sense has almost put an end to both ideologies, with a few lingering countries still clinging to the isolationism required to keep them running. However, it wouldn't surprise anyone if they soon succumbed to the global order of free trade in our increasingly connected world.
Nowadays Ronald Reagan is frequently championed as bringing down the Soviet Union by the right, which in turn is thought to have crushed socialism all over the world. Though if we examine the facts, this is hardly the case. The Soviet Union fell due to its own inner turmoil, not because of any outside forces. During the rule of Stalin, its population was urbanized after many agrarian workers were forced into gulags, creating an imbalance in the economic supply. The lack of agriculture crippled the Soviet Union's development, because it was forced into trading with foreign countries in order to supply itself with the farm crops needed to feed people. A similar trend was seen in China during the 1960s. Intense urbanization, coupled with a worldwide embargo on trade (lead by the United States), lead to an enormous imbalance between urban and rural growth. The communist giant was forced into submission by its own inability to keep up with foreign technology in a world surrounded by free trade. The isolation required by totalitarian states like the USSR and China was like a suffocating blanket of stagnation; their growth was so dependent on their output that they fell behind in a capitalist world that was globalizing right before their eyes. A radical shift was needed to keep up with globalization, one that forced them into adopting capitalist paradigms in order to embrace the rise of world trade.
An example of a successful communist state would be Cuba. This small country has managed to survive both U.S. sanctions and the fall of the Soviet Union, meaning it has functioned without any aid from capitalist countries in a globalized world. Nor is it as totalitarian as many its predecessors, as many Americans have been led to believe. While it's true that Fidel Castro ran a revolution that didn't show any tolerance for alternate political views, he had succeeded a dictatorial government that was far harsher in its views on civil rights than his were. Then after he gained power, Cuba became one of the most progressive nations in education and health care, things that don't usually come to mind when you compare them to traditional totalitarian states. Despite the lack of freedom in that country, we must still call it a successful communist state because it never had to immerse itself with the capitalist agenda behind globalization. Would I rather live in Cuba than the United States? No. But just because it's a worse place to live doesn't mean it's a failure.
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