To What Extent did American Materialism Lead to the Soviet Union's Research Proposal

To What Extent did American Materialism Lead to the Soviet Union's Negative View of Western Capitalism during the 1970s and 1980s - Research Proposal Example to have a highly negative view of the United States in particular and Western Capitalism in general due to its opinion of American materialism as well as other factors detailed below. In many respects the Soviet Union’s negative view of Western Capitalism whether or not it was caused by American Materialism predated the 1970s and also the 1980s. The Soviet Union was supposed to represent the great communist alternative to Western Capitalism, and its alleged shortcomings including American Materialism and the suppression of the working masses. Reasons for the Soviet Union’s negative view of Western Capitalism were linked to the dislike of American Materialism and the other factors mentioned below as well. The communist ideology that formed the basis of the Soviet Union’s doctrines undoubtedly owed a great deal to the ideas and theories of Karl Marx, the co-author of the Communist Manifesto and sole author of the volumes Das Kapital. Both the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital demonstrated the strong link between Karl Marx and historical materialism in his attempts to promote the rise of the proletariat at the expense of the capitalist classes. Officially the Marxist – Leninist ideology of the Soviet Union always hated American Materialism and its Marxist worldview makes that easy to understand.1 Economic status, class positions, as well as material factors should be the only things, which actually mattered for communists on the road to the inevitable victory of the proletariat over their capitalist oppressors. Karl Marx stressed that historical materialism was the only valid method of understanding the past, the present, as well as the future of the human species. It was the key to a communist present as well as a communist future until the end of time. Karl Marx and historical materialism as the Soviet leadership pointed out officially stressed that the ultimate victory of the proletariat would mean the end of organised religion and poverty as