How did Soviet alternative to Western Europe's system influence Western political,economic,imperial decisions?

[greatballoon798]

How did Soviet alternative (rejected capitalist relations and privileged social equality over individual freedom) to Western Europe's system (freedom which included capitalist market) influence Western political,economic,imperial decisions during the interwar period?

I know the differences between the two system, but how did Soviets systems influence the Wests' decisions? (economically, politically, imperially)
Do you have specific examples from the interwar period? Perhaps like, an economic example is Hitler incorporating some ideas from 5 year plans into Germany.

[Dick Turnip]

Welfare state, union power, National Health Service. All good communist ideas

[Mencken]

First of all, Stalinism was exactly the rise of a privileged elite. Stalinism was the counter-revolution to the Bolshevik Revolution. Those who line Stalin's infamous mass graves are all the leaders and members of the revolution. Stalin killed off the left opposition, including Trotsky, the architect of the revolution.

But Stalin wasn't free to completely overthrow the revolution at the time. As such, the west felt compelled to pay workers better wages and to provide some social benefits (quality wages, national health care, retirement plans, etc.) since they were forced to compete with another alternative. With the demise of the Soviet Union, we have seen the western capitalists aggressively moving to take back all of those gains of the working class.

International policy in the west was developed around the concept to not let any more nations leave the capitalist system. That was the foundation of the "cold war." U.S. imperialism was contained to a degree during the period since the Soviets offered a counter force. But as soon as the Soviet Union fell, and contrary to all claims at the time, the U.S. war machine kicked it up a notch as U.S. imperialist sought to use its military power to force the wants and needs of America's capitalist elite upon all corners of the world.

[ranger_co_1_75]

Many countries began giving job protection and basic care to the people in an attempt to prevent expansion of the communist philosophies.

Now that the Soviet Union does not exist anymore, Western Countries are taking away the job protections and basic care the people need.

[imperialpoetpurple]

During the Great Depression, Stalin liked to propagandize that the USSR had already achieved 'Socialism' which was a really bold<but untrue>statement. The World's Fair for example was a great show off of USSR achievements...and the happiness of the workers. For example, the new train system in Russia, especially the gand Moscow station which featured a welcoming female voice and a male voice that said good bye. It was a state of the art train system. There were huge building projects in the USSR that were part of the USSR's rapid industrialization. The USSR's propaganda was that there was so much work in the USSR that the USSR was constantly having problems related to a shortage of workers... During the Great Depression, the scale of the USSR's industriakization abd buikding projects tended to shock the West.

I would say that many building projects in the USA such as Hoover Dam and the development of the Conservation Corp were a kind of emulation of USSR projects. A later classic example, would of course be the space race -and today the Russian Federation likes to boast that it has the largest and best commercial space program. I would say that even the Great Society was a copy of USSR
programs in a broad sense - as the competition between the USSR and the USA tended to humanize US social reform efforts. Remember the Civil Rights Activist Angela Davis? The USSR awarded her the Order of Lenin Medal - so the USA was always in a competition with the Soviets - not just in building projeccts, but in social reform/human rights claims....On the world media stage, segregation was a huge embarrassment to the USA,which even Stalin exploied via films about the working conditions of black Amercans, and even a film about a white woman in America being blackmailed by for hiding the fact that she had given birth to a black bab. In the film, she comes to the USSR where the people readily acept her and do not care about the color of the baby's skin.

I would agree that Franklin Roosevelt used a rather mild but hefty form of Socialism to save America for capitalism. The Social Security System and a host of regulatory agencies were created in those years and they were socialistic - and they saved America from falling down even harder during the Great Depression. I don't see Spellbound on the board but I think he can give a better or as good n answer... There is an irony which some people argue in that the USA is actually in function more socialistic than the hoary state capitalism achieved by the old USSR. It's a debatable topic.