Why don't totalitarian communist states have insurgencies?

Oppressive right wing regimes often have communist or other extremist insurgencies (e.g. Vietnam, Colombia). In fact even peaceful, prosperous free market democracies have been subject to violent intimidation by left wing extremists (RAF in West Germany).

But why not places like Cuba? Or North Korea? Or the Soviet Union? There are some exceptions, but generally totalitarian left wing regimes don't get have active resistance movements.

Is it because the left is uniquely talented at repression? Is is because the natural opposition to communism is democractic capitalism, an ideal which doesn't seem to inspire the same kind of revolutionary violence?

Any theories?

 

Maybe they are happier? Maybe the media gets in the way? I don't know.

 

You know, this is actually a very good question I need to ponder now

 

I suggest "communism" has never exsisted. I also think an OP trying to open a discussion like this without using the word socialism is somewhat odd.

Refering to the "left" or "right" in the way the OP does is damm near close to trolling, in a political forum. When the question is word in the manner it has been.

 

Left and right are constantly used in political forums, it doesn't matter what is technically what, there's a general agreed up concensus, i.e. Cuba, East Germany, Ethiopia, ect, have gone through are still are left wing totalitarian governments, just like Chile, Argentina, Spain and ect have gone through what most of the world will call right wing dictatorships.

 

You ignored the " when the question is worded in this manner" part.

and there I shall end it.

 

Because it's the end of history and everybody's happey!

 

You failed to point out what you disagree with in the wording though

 

I don't like you.

 

They do have insurgencies. They just don't go on the books. The militaries do not make them public, because as soon as you do - it gives cause for more rebel uprisings.

 

OMG!!!

i'm about to ~ GULP ~

AGREE with Ari?!?!?!?!?!?

:rofl:

Exactly, Ari!

 

oop's

 

Ditto. :gnorsi:

 

They must have done an incredible job of keeping them secret, so good that even after the regimes fell these insurgencies still remain a secret.

I don't think there are any insurgencies in North Korea or Cuba. I don't think there were any in Russia or Czechoslovakia or Poland or Hungary. They might have had one or two uprisings, but no real resistance movements.

 

1. It is not as easy to gather a resistance against an ideal (or an abusive party that claims to be fulfilling that ideal) that gives power to the working class which is the majority of most populations, compared to an ideal that promotes exclusive ownership and the rich get richer while the poor get poorer.

2. Maybe the media gets in the way and people are actually happy as pointed out before?

3. Totalitarian regimes often have a tight grip on all their countries' resources, media, military and police so it gives very little room for any organized "insurgents" to be effective or even make headlines.

 

But why? The working class in North Korea starve by the millions.

I don't think any country promotes that ideal.

Media: yes, I guess communist regimes have better media control. But for the second part, I don't think North Koreans are actually happy.

But my question is about totalitarian communist regimes. Is it that left wing regimes are better at being totalitarian?

 

You are missing the point. If I was in charge of a totalitarian communist regime this how I will portray the capitalist ideal and this how the population under my control will see it.

And I don't think the North Korean population is a valid thing to discuss, NK is one of, if not, the most secretive state in the world.
If the world has any information on NK it is only through spy satellite images, rocket launches/bomb tests and NK released photographs which are instantly poured on by journalists and photo doctoring experts.
So we do not really know that much about North Korea and its people since the fall of the eastern block and the famine in the early 90s, we only see what the NK regime allows us to see, and the rest is just speculation by the media as far as I am concerened.

I think it is the matter of who can provide the best believable propaganda to sustain the totalitarian regime as long as possible (and if you have read about Stalin, it was basically his mission to control the media and propaganda because he realized how important it is), and totalritarian communist regimes have a head start as their main focus and appeal is the common and often poorly educated working man.
The history of the countries must also be considered. For example, Russia's Tsar regime was an elitist totalitarian regime so it made perfect sense for a Bolshevik worker revolution to take place and start spewing propaganda to the poor and underprivileged with promises of quality living and bringing the elitists down.

 

Throwing in a monkey-wrench...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/article608605.ece

Not SO secret...

Cuba?

http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA236488

Russia?

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=4691

So they ARE "on the books"

but none of us has ever heard much of anything about them...

Hmmm...

THERE are some History Lessons that might have come in handy.

 

This:

 

I'll take a throw....................

The classic Right wing dictatorships: Pinochet in Chile, Marcos in The Philipines, Duvalier,and then Raul Cedras in Haiti The Shah in Iran, allowed for the free exercise of religon. The Right wingers did not seek to replace religion with goverment, they did not seek to own the inner workings of the mind of the citizens. Religion had a place in civic life. Religion contributed to the overthrow of the above regimes.

The classic Left wing dictatorships: Mao in China, Fidel in Cuba, Kim in N. Korea, perhaps Stalin's Russia The goverment replaced religion as a focus for worship and veneration, goverments seek authority over the innerworkings of the human mind. This freedom from religion allowed goverment functionaries to toss reflection and introspection on the value of human life allowing greater repression than in a structure that gives even nominal place to organized religion.

Religous expression and competition with the goverment helped communist Poland to break the chains of dictatorship. Religion showed an intelectual life apart from the machine.

France's Louis XIV stated his concern for a final judgement by the Almighty.

No such concerns from Adolph Hitler who was seeking to promote pre-christian wicca to Germany.