It is easy for us to say that the communist dream was destined to fail. \u00a0But, communism was a viable form of \u00a0state formation and ideological inspiration until the later half of the Twentieth Century. Why did the dream survive for so long? \u00a0A large part of the answer is that communism changed, first in the Soviet Union and East Europe and later in China, into a phenomenon the great Czechoslovak dissident, Vaclav Havel, called “post-totalitarianism.” \u00a0It’s not the greatest concept in the world, but as you see when you read Havel (below), it is a useful way of distinguishing between the extremes of Stalinism and Maoism and the types of regimes that came afterward.<\/p>\n
21. \u00a0Wednesday, November 12<\/strong><\/p>\n Discussion<\/em>: \u00a0Could Communism be rescued? \u00a0Could it be renewed?<\/p>\n Death is not only a time for mourning. \u00a0It is a time for renewal. \u00a0(LISTEN<\/a>) \u00a0 In 1953, a single event changed the communist world forever: Stalin died! \u00a0In 1976, another communist leader performed the same heroic act: \u00a0Mao Zedong died.<\/p>\n Stalin\u2019s and Mao\u2019s successors, Nikita Khrushchev and Deng Xiaoping, attempted to renew the communist dream by returning to its essentials. \u00a0Two questions: \u00a01) how did they propose to renew the dream? and 2) could the dream be renewed?<\/p>\n\n