Deck 9: Communism and Postcommunism

Question 1

For Marx, which of the following was most important in understanding all human action?

A)Religion.
B)Gender.
C)Economics.
D)Culture.
E)Geography.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

The inability to recognize one's own exploitation is known as:

A)the matrix.
B)false consciousness.
C)pseudoawareness.
D)illegitimate identification.
E)mesmerism.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

For Marxists, socialism represents:

A)the enemy that has to be overthrown.
B)the final end-stage of human history.
C)a temporary period before communism.
D)the stage of human development before capitalism.
E)the enemy of communism.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

One of the challenges in putting Marx's ideas into practice has been that:

A)he left no specific outline for how communism would be built.
B)his guidelines for how to build communism were too costly to realize.
C)his guidelines for how to build communism presumed technological innovation that has not yet occurred.
D)he only provided a guideline for how to build communism in small agricultural countries.
E)most of his writings have been lost.

Question 5

Immediately after the revolution, Marx argued that there would need to be:

A)a utopian paradise.
B)a capitalist economy.
C)a dictatorship of the proletariat.
D)free elections.
E)a global war.

Question 6

Lenin and Mao differed from Marx because they believed:

A)that revolutions did not have to be Communist.
B)that elections did not have to be held.
C)that revolutions could take place in less advanced countries.
D)in a socialist economy.
E)in the need to retain religion under communism.

Question 7

Which of the following has served as a major source of attraction for followers of communism?

A)The promise of the separation of powers.
B)The promise of economic equality.
C)The promise of environmental justice.
D)The promise of religious freedom.
E)The promise of individual wealth.

Question 8

Under capitalism, Marx argued that all economic power and other forms of power were held by the:

A)proletariat.
B)bourgeoisie.
C)aristocracy.
D)religious elite.
E)military.

Question 9

The bourgeoisie are the:

A)working class.
B)Communist revolutionaries.
C)property-owning class.
D)aristocratic elites.
E)military.

Question 10

Lenin's term for those who would need to carry out revolution is known as the:

A)proletariat masses.
B)conscious activists.
C)vanguard of the proletariat.
D)counterhegemon.
E)avant-garde.

Question 11

Marx argued that once socialism had triumphed, the state would eventually:

A)grow in power.
B)become highly centralized.
C)grow despotic and have to be overthrown again.
D)wither away.
E)become confederal.

Question 12

The individual typically associated with articulating the theories of communism is:

A)Mao Zedong.
B)Vladimir Lenin.
C)Karl Marx.
D)Karl Kautsky.
E)Adam Smith.

Question 13

The body that served as a weak "legislature" inside Communist parties is known as the:

A)Politburo.
B)general secretary.
C)command center.
D)Central Committee.
E)glasnost.

Question 14

_________ is the name Marx chose for the system of economic production, including the level of technology (the "means of production").

A)The superstructure
B)The determination
C)The base
D)The proletariat
E)The bourgeoisie

Question 15

The "cabinet" of the Communist Party is generally known as:

A)nomenklatura.
B)Politburo.
C)general secretary.
D)bourgeoisie.
E)glasnost.

Question 16

For Marx, what is crucial about human beings is their ability to:

A)write.
B)form communities.
C)create objects of value.
D)create culture.
E)hunt.

Question 17

Marx called all noneconomic relations in a society, including religion and culture, the:

A)surplus value.
B)superstructure.
C)dialectic
D)bourgeoisie.
E)base.

Question 18

The first Communist revolution took place in:

A)Russia.
B)China.
C)Hungary.
D)Cuba.
E)Mexico

Question 19

Marx generally argued that Communist revolution was most likely in:

A)Asia.
B)advanced capitalist countries.
C)poor countries.
D)Africa.
E)Latin America.

Question 20

The term used to describe Marx's understanding of historical change is:

A)episodic revolutionism.
B)graduated materialism.
C)dialectic materialism.
D)dialectic gradualism.
E)graduated episodism.

Question 21

Which of the following represented the peak of political power in a Communist country?

A)Legislature.
B)President.
C)Politburo.
D)General secretary.
E)Prime minister.

Question 22

The leader responsible for the widespread purges and rapid industrialization in the Soviet Union was:

A)Lenin.
B)Gorbachev.
C)Marx.
D)Stalin.
E)Castro.

Question 23

Under communism, religion and nationalism were:

A)embraced and "socialized."
B)suppressed.
C)tolerated as relics that would fade in time.
D)merged into a single belief in an earth goddess.
E)willingly abandoned by the public.

Question 24

Central planning was weakened by:

A)its emphasis on consumer goods over infrastructure.
B)its inability to create incentives and competition.
C)its overreliance on market forces to determine prices.
D)its overreliance on international trade.
E)the lack of computers to crunch data.

Question 25

Mikhail Gorbachev was associated with:

A)the Cold War and détente.
B)glasnost and perestroika.
C)Stalinism.
D)Hungarian communism.
E)the 1917 Russian Revolution.

Question 26

Given all the changes that Communist countries have undergone, how would one measure their progress toward democracy and capitalism?

Question 27

Economic reform has been most successful in:

A)the Balkans, such as Romania and Bulgaria.
B)Eastern Europe and the Baltics, such as Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic.
C)Russia.
D)the Caucasus, such as Armenia and Georgia.
E)Southeast Asia.

Question 28

In creating new executive structures, most postcommunist countries have opted for:

A)presidentialism.
B)semi-presidentialism.
C)parliamentarism.
D)monarchy.
E)military rule.

Question 29

Politically sensitive or influential jobs in the state, reserved for people approved by the Communist Party, are known as:

A)nomenklatura.
B)proletariat.
C)party-state.
D)dictatorship of the proletariat.
E)perestroika.

Question 30

Why was communism able to spread across such a large part of the globe? What explains its attraction?

Question 31

Gorbachev's perestroika was concerned with:

A)economic and political reforms.
B)military disarmament.
C)devolution and federalism.
D)political openness and liberalization.
E)religious freedom.

Question 32

Which of the following can be seen, in part, as a legacy of communism?

A)Al Qaeda.
B)Global warming.
C)Iranian Revolution of 1979.
D)Famine in Africa.
E)Arab Spring.

Question 33

Gorbachev's policy of glasnost was concerned with:

A)economic restructuring.
B)military disarmament.
C)devolution and federalism.
D)political openness and liberalization.
E)religious freedom.

Question 34

Which of the following best describes the role of political parties in Communist countries?

A)The state is dominated by a single Communist party.
B)Several Communist parties compete for power, but non-Communist parties are banned.
C)All members of society belong to a single Communist party.
D)All parties are banned as a relic of the prerevolutionary era.
E)Agrarian parties dominate the political system.

Question 35

The two main challenges in economic change after communism have been:

A)fiscal reform and budgetary reform.
B)marketization and privatization.
C)decentralization and monetarization.
D)soft-budget constraints and deflation.
E)agricultural and technological progress.

Question 36

Is communism dead? If so, could it be resurrected as a political force?

Question 37

Communist political-economic systems relied on a system known as:

A)decentralized planning.
B)central planning.
C)economic voluntarism.
D)spontaneous production.
E)anarchism.

Question 38

Could communism have been reformed and preserved in the Soviet Union? Why or why not?

Question 39

Why was communism unable to provide the benefits that it promised in theory? Are there inherent flaws in this line of thinking, or did those in power misapply its principles?