Deck 7: Current and Former Communist Regimes

Question 1

Under communist governments, most productive capacity was owned by

A) individuals.
B) cooperatives managed by their workers.
C) the state.
D) the military.
E) private corporations.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The general philosophy and organizational framework used by communist countries was known as ___________.

A) Menshevism
B) social democracy
C) totalitarianism
D) Marxism-Leninism
E) plutocracy

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Under the Leninist state, the communist party called all the shots; they were led by a group of self-selected and self-perpetuating officials who sat atop a vast hierarchy labeled as __________.

A) Bolshevik
B) totalitarian
C) anarchism
D) majoritarian
E) None of the above is true.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Under the leadership system developed by Lenin, communist countries controlled

A) the media.
B) education.
C) most leisure activities.
D) the economy.
E) All of the above are true.

Question 5

The communist world began to unravel shortly after _________ became general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1985.

A) Mikhail Gorbachev
B) Leonid Brezhnev
C) Leon Trotsky
D) Boris Yeltsin
E) Nikita Khrushchev

Question 6

The person who developed a strategy for winning a revolution (which was then used as the basis for organizing the Soviet Union and most other communist countries) was ___________.

A) Marx
B) Engels
C) Lenin
D) Stalin
E) Trotsky

Question 7

According to Marx, immediately after the anticipated workers' revolution, there would be a transition phase as capitalism was destroyed and resources were redistributed equally. What was Marx's name for this transition period?

A) Anarchy
B) Opiate of the masses
C) Dictatorship of the proletariat
D) Empire of the bourgeoisie
E) Communism

Question 8

Along with Karl Marx, which individual wrote The Communist Manifesto that first set out the ideas later known as Marxism?

A) Vladimir Lenin
B) Josef Stalin
C) Friedrich Engels
D) Leon Trotsky
E) Mao Zedong

Question 9

As a result of central planning, by the 1950s communist countries were among the world leaders in the production of which of the following?

A) Steel
B) Gold
C) Computers
D) Oil
E) Cars

Question 10

Cuba became a Soviet ally and adopted Marxism-Leninism in __________.

A) 1898
B) 1961
C) 1945
D) 1939
E) 1970

Question 11

After World War II, the Soviet Union imposed regimes over all of the following countries EXCEPT

A) Czechoslovakia
B) Romania
C) Bulgaria
D) Albania
E) Poland

Question 12

Socialism can be traced back to which seventeenth-century English movement?

A) Protestants
B) Anglicans
C) Catholics
D) Levelers
E) Communists

Question 13

In addition to Mongolia, which country had the only other communist government prior to the end of World War II?

A) China
B) the Soviet Union
C) North Korea
D) Cuba
E) North Vietnam

Question 14

To varying degrees, socialists generally agree that

A) providing for public ownership and control of a substantially more egalitarian society will improve human relations in general.
B) private property cannot be permitted.
C) democracy cannot be allowed to prevent the creation of an egalitarian society.
D) "freedom from" hunger, disease, and poverty must be earned.
E) equality of opportunity is a sufficient goal.

Question 15

In transitioning from communist rule, the Eastern European and former Soviet States had to

A) create new government institutions and shift to a private ownership economy.
B) maintain the communist government and shift to a private ownership economy.
C) create new government institutions and maintain a state-owned economy.
D) maintain the communist government and maintain the private ownership economy.
E) maintain the communist government and maintain the state-owned economy.

Question 16

In Marxist thought, profit

A) requires exploitation of the working class.
B) will pull the working class out of poverty.
C) gives owners resources that they can use for the common good.
D) will be the driving force in a socialist economy.
E) is the proper reward for entrepreneurial activity.

Question 17

Marx borrowed which idea from Georg Hegel, who believed that societies shift from one stage to another?

A) Proletariat
B) Bourgeoisie
C) Nomenklatura
D) Historical materialism
E) Dialectic

Question 18

Marx believed that the socialist revolutions would first occur in

A) advanced industrial societies.
B) agriculturally-based societies.
C) countries with repressive governments.
D) countries with a small working class.
E) countries with small, but committed, socialist movements.

Question 19

The communist countries were said to have "command economies" because

A) they were centrally planned by the state.
B) workers told their bosses what to do.
C) the military ran the whole economy.
D) the market determined how the economy operated.
E) consumer demand determined economic goals.

Question 20

After World War II, the majority of countries that became communist did so as a result of

A) democratic elections by their citizens.
B) returning to their form of government from before the war.
C) a vote by the national government.
D) having the system imposed as satellites of the Soviet Union.
E) revolutions by the proletariat.

Question 21

Which country was the only Eastern European country to experience serious violence, including the executions of the former ruling family, during the 1989 transition from communism?

A) Hungary
B) Poland
C) Czechoslovakia
D) Romania
E) East Germany

Question 22

In the Soviet Union, almost every child in the country joined what Communist Party-dominated organization, similar to the American Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts?

A) Young Soviets
B) Hitler Youth
C) Red Army
D) Young Pioneers
E) Cadre

Question 23

The 1980s program meant to promote more openness in the Soviet political system was called __________.

A) ostankino
B) sarbonis
C) perestroika
D) glasnost'
E) nomenklatura

Question 24

During the Cold War, countries like Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria were known as Soviet __________.

Question 25

The organization that Lenin set up to control worldwide socialist revolutions was known as the __________.

A) Comintern
B) Politburo
C) Secretariat
D) Warsaw Pact
E) NATO

Question 26

The 1980s attempt to restructure the Soviet economy was known as ___________.

A) ostankino
B) sarbonis
C) perestroika
D) glasnost
E) nomenklatura

Question 27

The movement that was largely responsible for defeating the communist regime in Poland was

A) the Velvet Revolution.
B) Solidarity.
C) the Democracy Movement.
D) the Greens.
E) Catholic Renewal.

Question 28

Which ethnic conflict in Eastern Europe introduced the world to the term "ethnic cleansing"?

A) Chechnya
B) Armenia
C) Tibet
D) Tiananmen
E) Bosnia-Herzegovina

Question 29

The person most responsible for the repressive policies that earned the Soviet Union the term "totalitarian" was ___________.

A) Marx
B) Engels
C) Lenin
D) Stalin
E) Trotsky

Question 30

Countries that retained communist governments in 2013 were those that were

A) poorer than the countries that abandoned communism.
B) more open to international trade and ideas.
C) less willing to use repressive force.
D) most affected by Marxist rather than Leninist ideas.
E) most well-endowed with natural resources.

Question 31

Authorities in Stalinist states

A) commanded the demand side but not the supply side of their economies.
B) tolerated political opponents and co-opted those who won elections.
C) endeavored to control even the social lives and recreational activities of citizens.
D) allowed freedom of the press, but controlled news sources carefully.
E) promoted individualism.

Question 32

After Stalin's death, the Soviet Union moved away from focusing on the cult of personality as part of the process of

A) glasnost.
B) de-Stalinization.
C) perestroika.
D) cultural revolution.
E) balance of power.

Question 33

Under Stalin, prior to World War II, the socialist movement focused on

A) worldwide expansion.
B) socialism in one country.
C) forceful expansion into neighboring countries.
D) creating free and open societies.
E) opening new markets for Soviet goods.

Question 34

Joseph Stalin was followed by __________ as the leader of the Soviet Union?

A) Mikhail Gorbachev
B) Boris Yeltsin
C) Nikita Khrushchev
D) Leonid Brezhnev
E) Leon Trotsky

Question 35

The Soviet leader who spearheaded the reforms before communism collapsed there and in Eastern Europe was __________.

Question 36

Reforms under Khrushchev allowed criticism of

A) current party leadership.
B) Lenin.
C) Communist Party rule.
D) socialism.
E) Stalin.

Question 37

The post-war military alliance led by the Soviet Union was known in the West as

A) NATO.
B) the Third International.
C) Comintern.
D) the Warsaw Pact.
E) the Budapest Alliance.

Question 38

Which individual emerged as the leader of Russia immediately following the collapse of the Soviet Union?

A) Nikita Khrushchev
B) Leonid Brezhnev
C) Boris Yeltsin
D) Vladimir Putin
E) Yuri Andropov

Question 39

The late 1980s were significant for communist nations because of all of the following EXCEPT

A) the Berlin Wall came down.
B) communist reformers took power in Hungary.
C) protestors occupied Beijing's Tiananmen Square for a month.
D) the communist government in Poland collapsed.
E) Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba.

Question 40

The peaceful reform movement in Czechoslovakia in 1968 that eventually led to a Soviet invasion of the country was known as

A) the Czech Rally.
B) Prague Spring.
C) the Tiananmen Square demonstration.
D) the Slovak Challenge.
E) the Velvet Revolution.

Question 41

What factors explain why some postcommunist countries have been more successful than other in transitioning to democracy and/or capitalism? How might those countries that are lagging in democratization catch up or is it now too late?

Question 42

Under Marxist theory, in communism there is no need for government structure because people would be free from exploiting each other. Do you agree that this is possible? Does government serve functions beyond preventing exploitation?

Question 43

Why did the centralized systems, especially in the industrial economy, prove less effective in the 1970s and 1980s than they had been earlier?

Question 44

Are the challenges facing the former communist countries of Eastern Europe more serious than the challenges facing the industrialized democracies of Western Europe? Why or why not?

Question 45

In Leninist states, appointments to key positions had to be drawn from the __________, a list of approved names, maintained by the Central Committee.

Question 46

The communist parties in communist states were run according to the principle of __________ that gave all power to a small, elite group.

Question 47

Rather than the equality of opportunity stressed by liberals, Marxists tend to emphasize equality of __________ instead.

Question 48

Marx and most Marxists called the workers the __________.

Question 49

During communist rule, any internal conflicts (ethnic, religious, etc.) were suppressed by the government. Now that many of these states have collapsed, what has the impact been on the level of violence and conflict in these now-former communist countries? Use specific examples to illustrate your arguments.

Question 50

How did Mikhail Gorbachev's programs of glasnost' and perestroika, which were designed to "fix" the Soviet Union, lead to its collapse?

Question 51

Karl Marx believed, as did German philosopher Georg Hegel, that societies shift from one stage to another in a wrenching process known as the __________.

Question 52

The reform launched by Mikhail Gorbachev to allow more openness in the political system in the Soviet Union was known as __________.

Question 53

How did the decision to "open" the Iron Curtain in Hungary lead to the collapse of European communism?

Question 54

Marx and most Marxists called the owners of property and wealth the __________.

Question 55

Marx developed his ideas, assuming that the revolution would occur first in a mature capitalist society. It did not happen that way. How do the adaptations made to Marxism affect the way the countries that became communist evolved?

Question 56

Lenin and Stalin in the Soviet Union, Mao in China, and Castro in Cuba are just a few examples of the "cult of personality" that appears in communist societies. Why do these societies seem to produce this "cult of personality"? Do we see the same in industrialized democracies? Why or why not?

Question 57

The majority of governmental systems in countries that used to have Marxist-Leninist regimes are best described as: A) Hybrid regimes
B) Democratic regimes
C) Theocracies
D) Military dictatorships
E) Failed states

Question 58

Given how few Communist states remain, why study Communism in an introduction to comparative politics course?

Question 59

The two critical institutions within the Soviet "party state" were the Secretariat and the __________.