Recently, after the escalation in the Russo-Ukrainian War (which started in 2014 with Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine), I realised whilst conversing with my peers, that many people do not know anything about the USSR (or the Soviet Union). Those who have heard of it often use it interchangeably with the modern day Russian state. Personally, I believe it is imperative that we do not forget history, as once said by George Santayana and repeated by Winston Churchill: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.
In 1921, after a civil war and centuries of Romanov monarchy, Russia re-emerged as the world’s first Marxist-Communist state, the Soviet Union. It went on to become one of the most powerful states in the world, occupying nearly one-sixth of Earth’s land mass and even after its dissolution in 1991, its legacy has left a profound impact on the world as it currently stands.
After WW2 and a fractious allyship between the western world and the USSR, the wartime alliance collapsed and the already hostile relations culminated into a period of history known as the Cold War. This era was defined by the threat of nuclear war, the space race and widespread fear of communism in the western world.
Following the war, both the US and USSR began to build up huge stocks of nuclear weaponry. As a result of this, the stakes of a potential war were incredibly high and had an impact on domestic life in the western world, especially America. Attack drills were practised in schools and other public places and much of the popular media in the 1950s and 60s explored the themes and repercussions of potential nuclear warfare. It became a prominent part of life for many Americans and westerners.
It also became prevalent in other aspects of daily life. In 1947, the House Un-American Activities Committee was formed to investigate communist subversion in the US itself. They worked across Hollywood and the federal government to make people renounce left wing beliefs and testify against each other. This led to many hundreds of people losing their jobs, and even more being blacklisted. This anti-communist hysteria became so vicious that people were asked to testify against colleagues and to take “loyalty oathes.” Famous public figures such as Charlie Chaplin and Leonard Bernstein were accused of being communist sympathisers and subsequently blacklisted. Orson Welles was considered such a threat to the government that he was put on the list of people to be detained in the event of a national emergency. The FBI considered his film, ‘Citizen Kane’, evidence of a smear campaign instigated by the Communist Party.
Of course this growing concern about Soviet power extended out of America and abroad, being mirrored in much of the western world. The lingering legacy of this poignant fear, even after the dissolution of the USSR in 1991, has remained an important part of western culture and a key factor in how global politics play out today.
