![\"joseph-stalin-quotes-wallpaper-2400x1350\"](\"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/communism-spring-2015\/files\/2015\/01\/joseph-stalin-quotes-wallpaper-2400x1350-e1421112492250.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nHere is the simple story for this\u00a0 course:<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were two great challenges to liberal democracy in the Twentieth Century\u2014national fascism and world communism.\u00a0 The\u00a0first was defeated in World War II.\u00a0 In contrast, when Soviet tanks moved into Berlin on May 2, 1945,\u00a0 the second challenge had only begun to take hold. \u00a0This challenge was the product of a combination of novel ideas and distinctive institutions that had already been in gestation for over a century. \u00a0As a result, forty years after the end of the war,\u00a0there were as many countries in the world that looked like the Soviet Union, the People\u2019s Republic of China, and Cuba as those that looked like the United States, West Germany, and Great Britain.\u00a0 Yet paradoxically, at the point of its greatest impact, the phenomenon of world communism ceased to be viable.\u00a0 In\u00a0a shockingly brief period\u00a0between 1989 and 1991, almost all of the communist-led governments in the world collapsed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Was not world communism destined to fail?\u00a0 Should it have taken us so long to recognize that the phenomenon of world communism was destined to fail? \u00a0The problem with questions like these is that many of the great moments in history, such as the French Revolution, seem self-evident in retrospect. \u00a0Yet, Louis XVI did not know that he was going to have his head cut off until January\u00a0 21, 1793. \u00a0If so, he might have decided to act differently before he got into trouble.<\/p>\n Similarly, Michael Gorbachev did not know that he would preside over the dissolution\u00a0of the Soviet Union until 1991. Yet ironically, he set in motion the events that would lead to this unpredicted and unpredictable event.<\/p>\n I\u00a0have\u00a0built\u00a0this course around four simple\u00a0questions:<\/p>\n It would be impossible to cover the entire communist world in a single semester.<\/p>\n Thus, I draw upon the experiences of a few select communist states to provide you with a perspective for\u00a0understanding all of them.<\/p>\n My primary cases will be the Soviet Union and China. \u00a0A number of other countries–Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Cuba, North Korea, and Poland, among many others–will make cameo appearances.\u00a0 Please feel free to ask me<\/em> to lecture about\u00a0a case of your own choosing.<\/p>\n To get ready for my first lecture,\u00a0WATCH<\/a>\u00a0this inspirational video.<\/p>\n .<\/span><\/p>\n I request that you not use electronic devices of any kind, including laptops, i-Pads, cell phones, video cameras, Kindles, MailChimps, and other personal digital devices, in our classroom.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Welcome to my course! I love to tell stories, especially simple ones. Here is the simple story for this\u00a0 course: \u201cThere were two great challenges to liberal democracy in the Twentieth Century\u2014national fascism and world communism.\u00a0 The\u00a0first was defeated in World War II.\u00a0 In contrast, when Soviet tanks moved into Berlin on May 2, 1945,\u00a0 … Continue reading INTRODUCTION<\/span> <\/a>\n
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