Unit 5:
The Cold War

1. The World Divides into Blocs

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1.1 The Capitalist Bloc and the Communist Bloc

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In 1945, the Second World War ended. Among the victors, who had been allies until that point, there were two powers with antagonistic political ideologies. Furthermore, they sought to maintain and even increase their power and influence, drawing the rest of the world's countries into taking positions for or against them. These countries were the United States (capitalist system) and the Soviet Union (communist system). The polarization was so pronounced that Winston Churchill, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, stated that an "iron curtain" had descended across Europe.

Both the USA and the USSR implemented measures to consolidate their power and gain allies. These were:

On the part of the USA:

• The Truman Doctrine (1947): President Harry Truman committed to providing economic and military aid to any country wishing to combat communism.

• The Marshall Plan (1947): The USA granted large sums of money to the countries of Western Europe for post-war reconstruction. Through this, it gained allies, economic partners, limited the influence of communism, and revitalized the European economic market, from which the USA also benefited.

• The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, 1949): This is an alliance for mutual military assistance between member countries. It was created specifically with the possibility of a Soviet invasion of a Western European country in mind.

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On the part of the USSR:

• During the Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam conferences, Stalin demanded that the USSR have a "security buffer" against potential attacks from Western Europe. Thus, the governments of the German Democratic Republic (GDR), Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Albania, while independent, were sympathetic to and dependent on Moscow.

• The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON, 1949), through which member countries provided each other with financial aid and traded among themselves.

• The Warsaw Pact (1955): A military alliance between member countries. It is the communist equivalent of NATO.

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1.2 Politics and Economy of Both Blocs

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In the capitalist bloc, governments are republics or parliamentary monarchies, constitutionalist and multi-party. There is, in general, respect for fundamental liberties and rights:

• Right to life

• Right to marry

• Right to property

• Right to information

• Right to education

• Right to strike

• Equality before the law

• Freedom of expression

• Freedom of association in trade unions

The economy is mixed, though with a predominance of free-market capitalism.

Spain and Portugal were dictatorships and did not respect all these rights and freedoms, but they were allowed to belong to this bloc for being openly anti-communist.

In general, the capitalist bloc encompassed all of the Americas (except Cuba), Western Europe, Japan, Oceania, and some countries in Asia and Africa—continents where it disputed spheres of influence with the communist bloc.

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In the communist bloc, governments were dictatorial republics, ruled by communist parties that were highly dependent on, or directly puppets of, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). The liberties and rights of citizens were subordinate to the "interests of the working class," which in practice meant the policy of the single party.

The economy is planned: the state is the sole owner of key enterprises and decides how much and what to produce according to the country's needs. The state ensured everyone had a job, so unemployment did not officially exist, but there were also few opportunities for occupational mobility or advancement. In general, society was very egalitarian because wages did not differ greatly, though prominent scientists and artists could earn considerably more than a common worker.

In general, the communist bloc consisted of the USSR, Eastern Europe, China (though its case is very particular, as we will see), Cuba, North Korea, plus some countries in Southeast Asia and Africa. In Asia and Africa, it maintained disputes over spheres of influence with the capitalist bloc.

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1.3 The Non-Aligned Countries

 

There existed, and still exists, a third bloc of countries that refused to adhere to either the capitalist or communist bloc. They are known as the Non-Aligned Countries.

The organization emerged at the First Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) in Belgrade (1961), promoted by leaders such as Josip Broz "Tito" (Yugoslavia) and Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt). Some of the Non-Aligned Countries were: India, Egypt, Yugoslavia, Indonesia, Ghana, Algeria, Mexico, and Argentina.