Sources of Soviet Conduct

The sources of soviet conduct (1947)

George kennan (American diplomat on the soviet front)

In 1916, communist thought may be summarised with a) that the central factor in the life of man, the factor which determines the character of public life and the "physiognomy of society," is the system by which material goods are produced and exchanged

(b) that the capitalist system of production is a nefarious (wicked/ criminal) one which inevitable leads to the exploitation of the working class by the capital-owning class and is incapable of developing adequately the economic resources of society or of distributing fairly the material good produced by human labour

(c) That capitalism contains the seeds of its own destruction and must, in view of the inability of the capital-owning class to adjust itself to economic change, result eventually and inescapably in a revolutionary transfer of power to the working class

(d) That imperialism, the final phase of capitalism, leads directly to war and revolution.

Consequently, there was much social unrest prior to the RR (Russian revolution). People were coming to realise the limits of Tsarist autocracy. Soon revolutions found rationalisation in Marxist theory for their own distinctive desires. Allowed the representation in inadequacy for the tsarist regime; a yearning for social power and the rise of the proletariat. Leads to lenin- Marxist theories. Despite core ideas of equality and communist revelations; foreign intervention, post revolution civil wars and only a tiny portion of the population being communist or supporting, dictatorial power became a necessity.

NSC 68: United States Objectives and Programs for National Security

Background:

Within the past thirty five years, the world has experienced two global wars of tremendous violence, two revolutions (Chinese and Russian) collapse of multiple as well as the international distribution of power has been redistributed.

Distribution of power has be...