Student Question
Why did communism appeal to Latin American and African countries during the Cold War?
Quick answer:
Communism appealed to Latin American and African countries during the Cold War primarily because these regions were economically disadvantaged and could attribute their hardships to capitalism, which had exploited their resources and labor for capitalist gain. Additionally, since capitalist nations were often former colonial oppressors, aligning with communism offered a means to oppose these historical adversaries. Communism was attractive as it was untainted by colonial exploitation in these regions.
Communism appealed to these Third World countries for two related reasons.
First, it appealed to them because they were poor countries who could reasonably blame their troubles on capitalism. Capitalism had, one could argue, exploited them and used their resources and their labor to make the capitalists rich. In such a situation, an anti-capitalist ideology would sound good.
Second, the capitalists who exploited the Third World countries were the ones who were opposing communism in the Cold War. If a country had once been exploited by Great Britain, for example, it might well want to take the opposite side in the Cold War. This was especially true because the communists had never colonized and exploited any Latin American or African countries.
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