Clash of Ideologies:
Communism, Islam, and the West
by John Walker
5th December 2015
Islam and CommunismFor much of the 20th century, and especially after the end of World War II and the emergence of the Cold War, an ideological struggle existed between communism in its various forms (Soviet, Maoist, etc.) and the Western ideals of consensual government, economic freedom, and individual liberty. This conflict was waged in many ways and on many levels: in explicit military confrontation in conflicts such as Korea and Vietnam, in proxy wars in Africa and Latin America, in quests for prestige such as the space race, and in propaganda and efforts to influence popular opinion.
defeated was the ideology of communism. By whatever means, individual liberty, self-determination, and economic freedom must triumph in every way over collectivism, tyranny, and enslavement to the state.
To this end, a wide variety of strategies were employed, all with the goal of demonstrating to those in the unaligned world that the Western model was superior and, by all means available, discrediting the communist model within the nations it enslaved. The goal was destroying the communist ideology, as it was fundamentally incompatible with the enlightenment values of the West.
This brings us to the present day, and to Islam. “We aren't at war with Islam”, Western politicians say. Fine, but that isn't the question, is it? For most of the Cold War, the West wasn't at war with communism, either. But the West recognised communism as an ideology which, if it triumphed in its stated goal to spread around the world, would forever extinguish Western values. Many argued that the best that could be hoped for was a stalemate where the West and communism could co-exist, but others feared a ratchet effect where territory which fell to communism was forever forfeit and the light of freedom would slowly gutter and die as darkness encroached.
Others saw the internal contradictions in communism: that it impoverished its people, stifled their creativity and spirit of enterprise, and was inherently uncompetitive. They believed that, with a sufficient push, the entire corrupt structure would collapse and, in the end, they were right.
