Introduction IB History: Communism in Crisis

About the Unit... In the unit we will compare how the two largest communist countries in the history of the world, the Soviet Union and China, dealt with problems that challenged both communism and thus their existence. Topics Introduction Soviet Economy and Politics Soviet Economy and Politics under Gorbachev Gorbachev, Cold War, and Eastern Europe China and Struggle for power after 1976 Chinese Economy and Politics under Deng Xiaoping Communism from Crisis to Collapse

Communism Communism = A political and economic system where all wealth is commonly owned (owned by government) and where society is absent of social classes. Inherent problems = Communism is well intentioned and great in theory but it makes too great of an assumption that humans will have the same values and act the same way.

Soviet Union v. China Soviet Union = not longer exists Refused to follow anything but a more strict communist ideology until it was too late China = one of most powerful countries in world Abandoned strict communist economic ideology for components of capitalism after Mao Zedong’s death

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Summary Communism = great in theory, not in practice Soviet Union is gone because it couldn’t compromise communist ideology China is still here because it did compromise its communist ideology