In the 1950s, the word "communist" was essentially used to describe anything americans didn't like. The USSR's previously friendly attitude towards the United States was gone by this point, although you could argue they never liked us to begin with. In this half hour film from the 50s, we learn how Soviet Russia was really not much different from Germany under Hitler, and was even worse than him in many respects. The early part of the film shows a snake oil salesman, meant to represent people like Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin. The salesman claims what he's selling is like magic and will make all your problems go away, strikingly similar to what dictators in the 30s and 40s were telling their citizens in regards to their policies. The film argues that despite Hitler saying Communism was his regime's ultimate nemesis, there's very little difference between the two ideologies. Nazis believe that everyone should work together for the betterment of the whole country (just like communists), and both parties had offshoot organizations in the USA, such as the German American Bund. These people were living in America under its protection but were still preaching about how Hitler will make things right. It's also worth pointing out that many people in Hollywood in the 30s were actual communists, as they wanted to take a stance against Hitler. Both communists and nazis were treated with equal disdain by the FBI, who shut down many of their meetings and arrested their members. The film then goes on to draw comparisons between Nazi Germany and the USSR, saying how both countries banned free speech and people voting in elections had their choice of only one person: Hitler or Stalin respectively. The most interesting part of the film comes when the narrator says the Soviet Union changed its attitude towards America 7 whole times in the 30s and 40s. He says they hated America at first because they viewed us as dirty capitalists, but then changed their attitude when they noticed Germany becoming more and more powerful. Later, Stalin changes his mind again and accepts a peace deal with the Nazis, hoping to bide his time long enough until his country can achieve military parity with Germany. Once Hitler invades the USSR, they have no choice but to once again change their thoughts on America, as they desperately need vehicles and weapons. Finally, after the war is over, the Soviets decide to be hostile to the US since they see them as an adversary with a different, non-socialist mindset. Russia is once again America's enemy, but during ww2, we put our differences aside to defeat the common threat of national socialism. I thought this film was interesting, but it didn't tell me much I didn't know already. Anyone with a brain in their head should be aware of the fact that Stalin was more evil than Hitler, but for whatever reason he is still widely venerated in Russia, alongside other human garbage like Trotsky and Lenin. Even the biggest mass murderer in history Mao Zedong, whose industrial and agricultural policies killed around 70 million Chinese, is held in high esteem today. Every single chinese bank note has his face on it. It's a good example of the winners writing history, since if Stalin lost world war 2 (or if Mao lost china's civil war), they would probably be just as hated as Hitler is now. The USSR was also a horrible place to live for much of its existence, and only started to improve towards the very end of its life in the mid 1980s. Even then, saying anything bad about the government was liable to get you in prison. Overall, this short brings up some good points about how the Soviet Union used many of the same tactics the nazis did, such as crushing free speech, getting rid of political adversaries, and silently disposing of troublemakers via a secret police force. It goes to show that most dictators are all the same, despite their differing beliefs.
Review of The Hoaxters
