Did the USSR have a 'Blue Scare'? (Short Animated Documentary)

[@BigBeakEntertainment]

"The USSR didn't have 'scares' it had 'purges'". Well, there's something to be said about being proactive.

[@Yora21]

"Comrade General Secretary, now is the time to get scared." "That's my secret. I'm always scared."

[@drakron]

Oh there were purges alright, Hollywood had a blacklist and they were hardly the only ones and that affected everyone that worked with the people that were on the list and that is the one after WWII ... there was a first one that happened after WWI that among other things included the expulsion of elected members of the New York Assembly by a vote of 140 to 6. I mean, the Comics Code wasnt "officially" censorship either ... just "self regulation".

[@ecurewitz]

but at least the public was calm

[@dylanwarner7009]

@@drakron yeah but that’s tame considering that the purges led to mass executions and imprisonment in the gulags. Not defending the red scare, just pointing out the difference in severity.

[@ajcossey]

@@drakron good, commies deserved it. Mccarthy did nothing wrong.

[@craig5322]

"Should I pause it to read that thing?" Yes, always worth it

[@davidsugijanto6935]

Iceland just messacared the British

[@marijndeleede2156]

Went back just to check the print. Wasn't disappointed. Later, I read your comment wasn't disappointed, again.

[@ecurewitz]

YESS!!!

[@andrew7taylor]

@@davidsugijanto6935 There was a single casualty in the Cod Wars and even that was an Icelandic engineer who died when the sea swept over him while he was repairing a ship. But Iceland "beat" the UK, that's true.

[@Andrea-ov5yu]

I went back and read every one. "The pliers of Marxist-Leninist kindness" was my favorite

[@rl9217]

“We’ve got our eye on you Dave” -Everyone during the Cold War “I’m literally just watering my plants please stop staring at me” -Dave for the majority of the Cold War

[@VincentGonzalezVeg]

Our water

[@Jan_Koopman]

*our plants

[@gabespiro8902]

Sure you are Dave

[@gwho]

Sir, this is a plant watering session.

[@twilightgryphon]

Dave always has acted hella sus....

[@brandonlyon730]

I love that newspapers actually had stuff written on the smaller sections, rather then it being straight lines or random gibberish.

[@ethank5059]

Also a reference to the Cod Wars when tiny Iceland went 3-0 against the great British Royal Navy.

[@ZagrebBundist]

I would subscribe to that publication

[@simonsvendsen5644]

theres so much effort being put into these

[@DR-re8tp]

Holy crap I never noticed 😮

[@Florious420]

For those who don't want to rewind: Senator Joseph McCarthy has claimed in a speech that the State Department has been infiltrated by those pesky communists who hate America and want to ruin it for everyone else. Does he have any proof of this? None that we've seen but we're gonna run the story anyway because it's a slow news day. I mean, what is going on right now? France has basically admitted defeat in Vietnam and the other two that no one remembers but barring that, it's bee a slow year. Remember when the USS Missouri got stuck? Ships aren't supposed to get stuck. Anyway, there's apparently a bunch of people who want to destroy America and usher in a Soviet-style government which we're not for at all. More on Page 2.

[@ChessedGamon]

America: Watch out! Communists are hiding among us! Stalin: Watch out! There are different Communists hiding among us!

[@joshuacarre06]

Lmao

[@92HazelMocha]

Stalin secretly working with the US to eradicate communism lol.

[@dimamatat5548]

There is one revisionist amogus.

[@BrutusAlbion]

@@92HazelMocha Well Stalinism is just Total Autocracy with Communism as propaganda and brainwashing for the masses. The people never got any real communalism as marx dictated. Look at North Korea ... a Totalitarian Absolutist Monarchy that uses Communist titles to make it palpable for the populace. But then again neither is America the real bastion of Capitalism either ... it's complicated ait?

[@ChessedGamon]

@@92HazelMocha Stalin was actually a staunch anticommunist - just think about how many communists he killed

[@TheHowlingEye]

In Poland we didn't have a blue scare per se, but we sometimes had statements like "the Americans are dropping Colorado Beetle on our potatoes to sabotage socialism", which is ridiculous (and now considered an euphemism for making stupid things up to shift your blame to someone else) but, given CIA other known activities, wouldn't be completely out of picture. The state claimed multiple times that the USA is sabotaging socialist countries, which *it did,* but because it was in fact state propaganda, which was shoved into people's throats and wasn't really up to discussion, people were really skeptical about such claims. Nowadays talking about CIA's involvement into Solidarność is generally considered taboo and a domain of some far right groups, even though they despise the USSR, but they also despise *the West*, but they also adore Reagan. Eastern Europe is complicated

[@blazoraptor3392]

The only consistent thing about right-wingers is inconsistency.

[@singami465]

@@blazoraptor3392 It would be more inconsistent to resist Russian USSR imperialism, but not resist American imperialism at the same time. The domain of secular nationalism is kind of a "leave me alone" attitude.

[@paulbedichek5177]

I liked Reagan also.and I usually vote democrat, he was a good leader. Poland will forever be known as the country that helped the collapse of the evil USSR. Poland is on the right of a lot of issues I'm on the left on, but their heroism in helping the Ukrainians overwhelms the balance. No country has capitalism,all have socialist features, communism is just dictatorship, but wether they use market signals, determines wether they can have some success.

[@TheHowlingEye]

@@paulbedichek5177 You don't know shit about poland then, buddy

[@2hotflavored666]

@@blazoraptor3392 Wait until you hear how consistent, or should I say inconsistent, left-wingers are.

[@crusader7659]

Dave could never, would never, be a communist, not even for a Scooby snack

[@daisukeds85]

Well I would have gotten away with it, if it weren't for those meddling kids!

[@DOSFS]

@[The Red Studios] OH NO!!! DAVE NOOOOO!!!!!

[@Salty_Dog1]

@[The Red Studios] he wouldn't even do it for three.

[@kentvesser9484]

He might have been seduced by the renowned honey pot Daphne.

[@garlkurzer]

@@Salty_Dog1 five scooby snacks and a cup of apple juice?

[@eamonquinlan8345]

The little headline on the newspaper "Iceland defeats Britain again" hilarious reference to your previous video

[@WaterShowsProd]

And something that's about to be repeated, but this time with France.

[@ktbffh_cf]

@@WaterShowsProd?

[@kcmisulis425]

@@ktbffh_cf 2021 France - UK Cod War. Because two sequels weren't enough. 😂

[@mk_gamíng0609]

@@WaterShowsProd France just lost a battle in that , Jersey threatened to take France to the UN court of Human rights due to France threatening to cut all power to the channel Islands And the UK gov threatened to back Jersey so France has backed down. Also France has no real power in this Because well the Fighting is over UK waters and if France ever tries anything major the UK can threaten to sue France for all the fish lost to French Trawlers overfishing there quotas for YEARS this would amount to no small size of money. (France will also have no defence for this because well, France signed a legally binding document , that they have broken) Also the simple fact that if France continues to try and throw its weigh into this Britain can just go and say "Well now you have done it, Instead of only your smaller fishing boats we are going to allow none of them in" France fishing industry relies heavily on access to the great fishing spots in UK waters. So its better for them to have some boats allowed in rather than none.

[@dairebulson7122]

@@WaterShowsProd The question is, would it mainly be "cod" in the English Channel?

[@jacktaylor148]

"Pravda: printed in English for some reason" is proof alone that incredible detail goes into these fantastic videos

[@ishaanmalhotra3008]

100% of people's lives are perfect!

[@Abenteuerlich77]

I love all of the Easter eggs in his videos. If you screenshot the newspapers, you can actually see he took time to write "articles." Or things like toward the end, there is a stop sign that says "стоп", which spells out the English word s-t-o-p using the Cyrillic alphabet.

[@warrenlehmkuhleii8472]

Dave? A communist? Oh darn, I just gave him a promotion.

[@maxlostchild7187]

*HOW COULD YOU DAVE!!! I THOUGHT I COULD HAVE TRUSTED YOU!!!*

[@whatonearth9809]

Dave gonna get firrrrrrrred

[@warrenlehmkuhleii8472]

@@whatonearth9809 “gonna” mate, he is already gone.

[@oscarstrokosz2986]

@@warrenlehmkuhleii8472 it's illegal to fire someone for their political views, and Dave knows his way around labour laws, as he's a union rep.

[@In_Our_Timeline]

good

[@antoninuslarpus7107]

"The media went a bit overboard as it is wont to do and everyone panicked" Ah nothing ever does change eh.

[@Dave_L913]

In summary, free and open press is good in general but also propagates moral panics.

[@brandonlyon730]

@@Dave_L913 Yeah as much as I hate how the media is now (in both spectrums with Fox News and CNN) , but I would never want to see the government control the media like some advocate for.

[@tranidite]

@@brandonlyon730 At this point I'd rather see it because atleast there'd be actual news to parse from the propaganda compared to US media.

[@lalehiandeity1649]

@@brandonlyon730 Damned either way. Might as well flip the switch to avoid stagnation.

[@brandonlyon730]

@@tranidite All you would get is constant praise from the government all the time, with certain items never getting any exposure. Just look what the Soviet government did when Chernobyl happened.

[@genseek00]

Oh, yes, the USSR had it. Even when I was small i remember parents toasting to "not being attacked by NATO/US". A lot of people executed in the Great purge were suspected by their neighbors for being spies, who also reported them.

[@pwnmeisterage]

Accusing people of being enemy spies is better than admitting you have no real reason to execute them other than purging (suspected) political discontent.

[@bluesteel8376]

If you paid attention to the video you would know that he mentioned that and that is different than the topic of the video.

[@justanotheranimeprofilepic]

The difference between a red scare and a purge is staggering. In the west we didn't fear commies invading, we feared them gaining power from within. We also had nothing we could do as our government didn't (openly) execute suspected communists meanwhile soviets had the secret police who were all willing to make spy's disappear. So like the video said, the threats that the soviets worried about were external

[@genseek00]

@@justanotheranimeprofilepic okay, thanks. Got it.

[@justanotheranimeprofilepic]

@@genseek00 oh sorry, was I long winded and over explaining? I do that a lot without noticing

[@tbuddy888]

James Bissonette was what scared the Reds.

[@089roblox1]

Kelly Moneymaker too. Their name seems very capitalist.

[@jamesbissonette8002]

Not sure I’m that intimidating

[@tbuddy888]

@@jamesbissonette8002 not with that attitude buckaroo

[@Jacobi9685]

@@jamesbissonette8002 you are a living legend

[@SevenHunnid]

People think it’s a joke when i tell them that i smoke weed on my KZbin channel lmao😶‍🌫️😶‍🌫️

[@zippofeldman1734]

”Lenin, Stalin and Mao are some of the biggest communists” Dave: Hold my hammer and sickle

[@pee_0656]

Whose Dave

[@man3665]

karl Marx???

[@PainForYou]

@@man3665 Karl Marx was the person that wrote The Communist Manifesto.

[@man3665]

@@PainForYou the biggest communist

[@man3665]

he invented it

[@utmbunderground]

The Soviets didn't have a "Blue Scare" because there was never a time where they weren't afraid of infiltration.

[@jd9119]

If there wasn't a "blue scare," Perestroika never would've happened.

[@dfmrcv862]

"Did the Soviets have a blue scare?" "No." "Oh, cool, that's-" "They had silent purges." "...oh..."

[@dfmrcv862]

@chicken uh... No?

[@programmingboy7737]

@chicken Commie-understander has logged in.

[@DreamWalkerVl]

Even in this video, his show that the commies are still bad, by taking an event from the past that has nothing to do with the "red scare" and the Cold War in general, and shows it as an analogy. This is a typical example of propaganda.

[@Thomas-qy3ox]

@@DreamWalkerVl he more shows that the USSR is bad

[@Thomas-qy3ox]

@@dfmrcv862 pretty sure they’re a Nazi. Best to ignore them

[@deadlydiamond]

Newspaper: "Ships aren't supposed to get stuck." Ever Given: "Observe."

[@SkepCakes]

Evergreens or Ever Given?

[@vladiiidracula235]

@@SkepCakes probably auto correct

[@USSAnimeNCC-]

@@SkepCakes evergreen is company ever given is actual namw

[@SkepCakes]

@@USSAnimeNCC- ah okay

[@Vario69]

Everbrown

[@JA432123]

The “even Dave…” bit is one of my favorite mini jokes that you do

[@LedosKell]

US govt: "If it's red it's dead." USSR govt: "If it's blue gulag for you."

[@deathrouter3443]

Blue is the imposter

[@Tonyx.yt.]

no, urss was more egalitarian, gulag for everyone

[@charlie8344]

@@Tonyx.yt. ussr?

[@Tonyx.yt.]

@@charlie8344 typo

[@spiffygonzales5899]

@@charlie8344 Eh. I guess United Republic of Soviet Socialists is basically the same thing.

[@ictoan4271]

okay i feel like kelly moneymaker is sometimes underappreciated for how great their name is

[@KasumiRINA]

Could be a Bond girl easily.

[@mrmangoberry8394]

I love the reference to “Is this Tomorrow?” on the thumbnail. It’s actually a great read if you like comics, and is a great guide on how to easily enact a coup.

[@harleylowe3574]

"Wife Developing Feelings? Ignore them. Its the fifties." Ouch.

[@thunderbird1921]

Depended on the person honestly. Some couples back then actually had very mutual loving marriages, etc. Heck, the other day I saw a 1962 street interview where the younger generation men were already talking about mutually sharing burdens, etc. That attitude started earlier than people think.

[@harleylowe3574]

@@thunderbird1921 Thanks for the info

[@ManiacalForeigner]

Where did this ridiculous idea that it was somehow perfectly OK to abuse your wife in the 50s even come from? Sitcom slapstick of the time taken seriously?

[@thunderbird1921]

@@harleylowe3574 You're welcome! I think the misconception comes from the fact that it was older generation men more often making comments in that era, and they often were the "Lost" or even Victorian generations. Younger men like the World War II generation and the Silent Generation especially were more likely to hold what we would consider "progressive" views on marriage, etc.(though obviously there was a vocal minority).

[@thunderbird1921]

@@ManiacalForeigner I have NO idea. I've known many folks who remember that era, and if you EVER laid a hand on a woman, many of those guys would probably be more than happy to beat you up on her behalf (there was even a song about it in the early 60s, "My Boyfriend's Back").

[@Dominic_LaSalle]

“Among us” -Joseph Stalin

[@daktilo9232]

sussy

[@playerxz6485]

Trotsky is a sussy baka - Joseph Stalin

[@Nietabs]

sussy

[@sooryan_1018]

When the imposter is not a communist

[@gamermapper]

ඩඩඩඩ

[@AustinGamingXD]

I like how HM just depicts Dave as the most unimportant human possible

[@archiespencer6555]

The 50s. The Red Scare is a win-win for Uncle Sam, especially a for certain company called United Fruit Company.

[@williamgandarillas2185]

I like bananas produced with blood, sweat, tears, and more blood

[@arbxx338]

A Sam o nella watcher I take it?

[@KrypandeNej1]

Bringing freedom and democracy as always

[@atakorkut5110]

Facts

[@jerryeskridge4798]

Yes!!! I sold secret to the Communist but that would make me a capitalist...

[@CorbSchnorb]

Every episode, the dry British humour is becoming more and more apparent and I bloody love it

[@scintillam_dei]

Londonistan is a joke now, and I bloody lovev it.

[@gladys2563]

Bro was turned into British

[@nairpic7360]

0:40 funny thing, there are no primary sources which confirm that the senator ever produced that list. All of them have mysteriously vanished from the archives. McCarthy himself said something among the lines that he never produced such a list. There is a great book written by investigative journalist Stanton Evans regarding the incident. He tried to uncover the truth about McCarthy's list and went to all the archives which theoretically had the original news about it, however in all those places, the original sources of the claims were missing. The book is called "Blacklisted by History", for those curious enough to delve into the enigma which was senator McCarthy.

[@lawrencedoliveiro9104]

Something could not have “vanished” if it was never there. Instead of the source of those reports having “vanished”, more likely those reports were “planted”.

[@meganegan5992]

I heard it was a laundry list or a dry-cleaning receipt in his first speech, though i never found a real source about it.

[@jackmccool9911]

Mccarthy probably hid it after so many years, then let the media say he never said that.

[@angrydragonslayer]

​@@lawrencedoliveiro9104 a tree is planted If my grandpa planted a tree back then, i would expect there to be a tree there now If there wasn't and i had no idea why it was gone, i might wonder where (or why) it had gone

[@KasumiRINA]

I wish current McCarthy did his ONE JOB, deporting russian sympathizers, instead of whatever the MAGA wing of Republican party is doing now (clown show).

[@sofieselene]

Worth noting that the soviet economic system would've also made it nearly impossible for Capitalists to infiltrate as a mirror to the Red Scare. While petty officials could and did often enrich themselves at the expense of those below them, the lack of private property and the domination of all industries by state enterprises left no real opportunity for any "seed" of Capitalism to be planted and grow, except in the minds of its citizens. Naturally, the fierce State control of politics and the media prevented that last one as the video discussed, but the economic conditions were also relevant.

[@esochibuike8477]

💯💯💯

[@samrevlej9331]

... We're not talking about discreetly implementing capitalist policies in the USSR. "Capitalists infiltrating" would've simply meant people with economically liberal or capitalist opinions being present in everyday life, government and workplaces, and slowly turning people's minds toward capitalism.

[@esochibuike8477]

@@samrevlej9331 Slowly turning people's mind how? It's not like people changing their minds will make the strictly government controlled quantity of cars or toilet paper to change or anything. The government was still fully in charge and any extreme "change" of mind would have been met with force, like the Gulag or being shot. Wether the people's mind change or not it doesn't change the fact that capitalist and private enterprises would have been impossible there. Heck the currency (Ruble) was a closed one. Hope you understand me.

[@boozecruiser]

@@samrevlej9331 No it wouldn't, you don't convince workers that they're better off under capitalism because they aren't. Capitalism came in through violence and repression, not poor people deciding it was for them. There have never been capitalist revolutions

[@Ромыч-х7и]

@@boozecruiser But the reality kicks ins and the people who said they're there to liberate you from muh evil capitalism are starving you and taking away your possessions, and if you were the upper political class, purges. There absolutely was resistance to communist occupation, and to deny that is ignorance.

[@brownstonecustomcabinetry5309]

I absolutely love that they actually wrote two front pages for a fraction of a second worth of screen time

[@Underestimated37]

3*

[@garcjr]

Printed in English, for some reason.

[@matthewjones39]

@@garcjrI’d imagine it’s because the guy who made this video speaks English

[@parisianham9251]

Soviet Citizen: "I wonder what life would be like in a capitalist society.." KGB: "No, you don't."

[@nathanhiggers4606]

Oh, really? This information was everywhere.

[@TomorrowWeLive]

@@nathanhiggers4606 not accurate information, only commie propaganda

[@nathanhiggers4606]

@@TomorrowWeLive Information in any society IS propaganda, so it differs only whose it is. Soviet propaganda almost never lied about things, it just roughly commented it from commie point of view. You could make your own opinion anyway. Maybe it did hide things sometimes, but it never frankly lied as capitalist propaganda did and still does today.

[@marinodezelak1180]

@@TomorrowWeLive It's an interesting topic on how Soviet and U.S propaganda differed (that also depends largely on which era we talk about, every decade was different from the last... for instance Stalins USSR was a completely different beast compared to the USSR in the 70's). The Soviets liked to zone in on negative aspects of the U.S or whatever they perceived as negative aspects, and painted what the U.S though of as a positive thing, in a negative light. Negative aspects they liked to zone in on was the social divides based on income and race, one popular thing they liked to point out when criticized was about the segregation of Black Americans. The pride of the U.S, the extremely wealthy private enterprises were portrayed in the U.S.S.R as exploitation of the worker class, as surely, one man can not attain such wealth without exploiting the hard work of underpaid and repressed workers. But the economic success of the U.S was never really hidden. In the U.S, propaganda was quite different, because everyone could make up their own stories, and the most outrageous of them all would be the ones that get the most attention, For instance, things like "60 million Soviets died in Gulags", something we now know is complete nonsense with a slight grain of truth at the center, people did die in Gulags for political reasons, but nowhere near that number, just a fraction of it... Another thing was propaganda depicting Soviets as constant agressors, out to attack the U.S at any moment... This was sanctioned by the government and fullfiled it's purpose of growing the military industrial complex and making more money, it was only partially about any real threat, and majorly about keeping the people happy with throwing money at the government to keep them safe from a threat, real or perceived. It's really a very interesting topic to study, there's a lot to it... But to be able to study it, first one must rid himself of the naive notions that one or the other side was honest, or did not engage in propaganda. In reality, they did it equally, just differently.

[@pmv2015]

@@marinodezelak1180 That's cause the US was ultimately way better and more successful, than the now dead USSR.

[@wariodude128]

Stalin holds up a sign that reads "Ima head out" *Stalin falls over with a death thud* Classic History Matters Humour

[@PROVOCATEURSK]

These dictators keep ending themselves.

[@conradhauser4814]

I also liked the sign that just said you dun goofed

[@Mae_Dastardly]

Nikita be like: finally now i can plant some corn

[@Otterly_luna]

"Even Dave" My man Dave was thought of as a communist? Poor dude just wanted to get by :(

[@بِلَادٱلرَّافِدَيْنبِلَادٱلرَّ]

Dave is based

[@spiffygonzales5899]

Dave was actually out to expose the communists in his city council. So he decided to tell the governor. Little did he know California had already been infiltrated. Sadly, Dave was doomed from the start.

[@craydussy]

@@بِلَادٱلرَّافِدَيْنبِلَادٱلرَّ alright boys, we found the genuine commie. Point and laugh

[@Sarahbryson321]

@@craydussy 👈🤣

[@k.umquat8604]

@@craydussy nah I don't think they are a commie

[@thelasthandbook6704]

There were very legitimate concerns about Soviet infiltration of the US government. They were far more successful than the US ever was in infiltrating the USSR. For a while in the 1940s the # 2 man in the Treasury Department (Harry Dexter White) was reporting to the USSR. For some odd reason this this fact tends to get glossed over, that there were in fact very real reasons to be concerned. Unfortunately what McCarthy did in the Senate and what HUAC did in the House was such a clown show it is unlikely they'd have been able to identify an actual Soviet spy if they'd had a Hammer and Sickle tattooed on their forehead. What they did must have hurt rather than helped, ironically.

[@bananaboyTS]

yeah sure that was the reason

[@sleeper1855]

One way I've heard this phenomena summarized is "while the CIA was busy trying to figure out mind control rays and overthrowing democratically elected governments in South and Central America, the KGB was planting agents deep into the American government and intelligence agencies to do actual useful spying" I'm not sure how much that's hyperbole, but it's a funny contrast.

[@connorgolden4]

Another question that ever crossed my mind but I’m glad I got the answer!

[@thorthewolf8801]

I thought it was obvious that the communists were always scaring the public with western imperialists

[@thorthewolf8801]

@@JK-oq9cl Pardon me, but I am not sure about what your point is

[@charlie8344]

@@thorthewolf8801 he's talking about how the free press scares people

[@404Dannyboy]

@@charlie8344 Yet he gave an example of non free press scaring people more.

[@dogfrosinos70]

@@thorthewolf8801 the censored press woudl only show what the Soviet Union would’ve wanted the people to see. But free media, groups can spread whatever they want and can spread shit that scares and angers people

[@chrisnation1432]

Yeah, her name was Margaret Thatcher.

[@AG-yc7vt]

Bernie Sanders

[@thepowerofsand6180]

If you're Irish

[@joshuacarre06]

@@thepowerofsand6180 or Welsh or Scottish

[@chrisnation1432]

Oh dear, the Celtic fringe have arrived. How they've waded through all the sheep so quickly we'll never know.

[@williamroberts9374]

@@joshuacarre06 ppl from Liverpool got fucked the worst

[@cepavrai]

The panel "Days since last injury" got me off guard, cheers !

[@sanhcman666]

Once i read a phrase from a russian "everything they told us about communism was a lie, but sadly everything they told us about capitalism is true"

[@planescaped]

Good quote sadly...

[@ecurewitz]

both communism and capitalism suck

[@KouNagai]

İts best to mix them and make a hybrit economic system or be like european nations.

[@Danheron2]

Lol I always think about about that Winston Churchill quote about democracy to describe Capitalism “ it’s the worst system ever, except every other system we’ve tried”

[@thunderbird1921]

That's why the whole Marxist idea is flawed from the start. Let's trust the most corruption prone people on earth (the government) to redistribute money and resources. That's like asking a bank robber to help stop bank robberies.

[@dukeofdepressed3980]

And welcome to today’s episode of, “Question I never had but am now fiercely interested in”

[@rayh6118]

Same i thought there was propaganda about this every where

[@acctsys]

But why?

[@GreatGray8790]

Thatcher in the background of "the blue scare" is pretty awesome. 2:54

[@nematolvajkergetok5104]

As someone who grew up in a Commie country, I must say this is wrong. Between 1949 and 1989 the governments of all Eastern European countries were super scared about Western infiltration, and it was a common theme everywhere. In the 1950s, "Stay vigilant!" was perhaps the most common slogan, painted on fences and walls with huge letters everywhere. Anyone suspected of some activity against the "rule of the people" (like: breathing) was always also accused of spying for some Western government. Ideological training at workplaces always emphasized the importance of looking for infiltrators and spies. Even in the 1980s, when oppression was a tad milder, people were still encouraged to report if they thought someone was in contact with foreign governments. Possession of Western currency, such as US dollars or German marks, was a crime. So yes, there definitely was a blue scare!

[@abcdedfg8340]

All authoritarian govts are paranoid about the opposition, and need a label to arrest them with. HK now has "national security day" where they talk about being aware of foreign agents. I hope this channel does better research...and doesnt use wikipedia as a primary source...

[@abdulmasaiev9024]

Right. And while like the video says riling up the populace into a frenzy wasn't useful, having a "the CAPITALIST SPIES surely did it!" as a stock excuse for whatever failure that couldn't be covered up was. Crops failed? It wasn't the state farms being run crap, the capitalists just snuck in potato beetles to destroy them. Economic plans not fulfilled? Capitalist saboteurs at work. And so on, and so forth. There wasn't a "blue scare" in the sense of a sudden huge wave of anticapitalist paranoia, but honestly that's more because of the low level paranoia that was constantly there in the background.

[@nematolvajkergetok5104]

@@abdulmasaiev9024 Not really low level. Many people, particularly the authorities, genuinely believed that every citizen is a potential spy. In Hungary the Communist dictator outright believed that we're the country of "10 million fascists", even complaining to Stalin about how difficult it is to build Communism with such hostile people. Commies just loved conspiracy theories, probably because they themselves were an endless conspiracy.

[@frentz7]

Yes, I don't think the person who made this video was very well informed. They just kind of assumed, based off a bunch of cliches ..

[@Diedwhilemakingwaffles]

I think it is more that the governments were scared and not the people

[@charliecussans7638]

Reading the small print on the paper made me laugh, great work.

[@rottik3327]

"North Korea 'too North' - Kim Il Sung" Your humor is absolutely brilliant

[@rogerdines6244]

Short as they are, your videos are always priceless and peerless-incisive wit and lateral thinking-how much duller the world would be without them. Thank you.

[@rohitde4089]

1:22 “‘It’s way better than before,’ said one survee, who unfortunately died of natural causes shortly after this confession of love had been extracted by the pliers of Marxist-Leninist kindness.”

[@ivanbond5209]

2:22, I love uncle Sam standing there. Made me chuckle.

[@darianr.6143]

2:17 this is why I absolutely love this channel, this tiny background detail is the funniest shit I've seen all day.

[@alexandrearaujo2877]

Now THAT is, in fact a question I don't see ANYONE talk about, but one that should certainly be talked by EVERYONE.

[@flybeep1661]

Really? Who gives a shit?

[@Delightfully_Witchy]

Yet, I'm willing to bet a lot of people instinctually said "no".

[@lars9925]

Why should that question be talked by everyone? The purges are well known and the people of the USSR were not allowed to interfere in politics anyway.

[@2hotflavored666]

@@lars9925 Because the amount of tankies today is just sad.

[@lars9925]

@@2hotflavored666 Yeah, but the topic at hand is the non existence of the 'Blue Scare' not that communism is dangerous.

[@ianshaver8954]

As an American, I find it strange and incredible to have a government that broadcasts its own failures and mistakes to the world.

[@Hongobogologomo]

That aged poorly

[@123MoMama]

This is actually good, it ensures accountability and transparency within the government

[@mentalmans_6561]

You don’t though. You have a relatively free press which reports the governments mistakes when it can. The government can also influence what is broadcast through shady deals, fearmongering and other kinds of manipulation of the public, and in extreme cases will try to kill or arrest journalists who succesfully gain traction speaking out against your governments crimes against humanity (Julian Assange, Gary Webb and Edward Snowden, to name a few big ones)

[@fullmetaltheorist]

For better or worst, transparency is good for the people.

[@cabellones]

the government never states wrong... party politics states wrong.... politics change and the other side always like to point fingers... That being said.... is hard to say this about USA now...

[@mikesmyth8330]

One of my favorite little details in these videos is the era-specific amount of smoke coming out of the guns during the numerous depictions of shootings.

[@hydraclientdotcom]

1:32 I can't take it anymore it's everywhere when will it end

[@briclel3840]

AMONG US

[@matthewheald8964]

Omgosh those mock newspapers slew me. I had to pause to read them, but I appreciate your commitment to them and now I won’t leave a single one unread. One of the best channels I’ve ever come across.

[@realhawaii5o]

0:04 interesting alt history DDR that keeps Pomerania, Silesia and Prussia.

[@HellenicMapping]

Ah my poor east brandenburg being forgotten

[@MrInnerCircle]

Also Finland has its Pre-WW2 Borders back. Someone screwed with the Timeline again...

[@ggwtakes3077]

I think it's supposed to show both West Germany and the Weimar Republic

[@realhawaii5o]

@@ggwtakes3077 I figured that out but I wanted to make a meme.......

[@quedtion_marks_kirby_modding]

West germany cliamed tjose lands all the way up until the unification.

[@googane7755]

I remember my grandfather used to tell me about life in mongolia under communism, if you were found with anything associated with the west, you would get into real trouble. He used to tell me how a doctor he knew secretly read a book written in english in his spare time and one day when the authorities searched his room and found that, he was never heard from again.

[@normanclatcher]

I wonder which book?

[@NorthernNorthdude91749]

@@normanclatcher Does it matter? You can't allow the enemies of the proletariat to gain any sympathizers. Risks need to be dealt with for the greater good of the Socialist dream and the workers.

[@normanclatcher]

@@NorthernNorthdude91749 It might not matter to the State, but it would matter for human interest purposes.

[@madmonkeys88]

​@@NorthernNorthdude91749not sure if you're being legit or not 🤨.

[@NorthernNorthdude91749]

@@madmonkeys88 I'm dead serious. Enemies to the Socialist revolution deserve no sympathy.

[@Sean12248]

The newspapers in these videos make them stand out and even more enjoyable. Love the British humor and I've been subbed for years

[@angelb.823]

1:28 You can see Stalin's eyes moving into different directions while making that frown. A nice detail to animation.

[@aspectofhades]

Dunno about Russia but for me I too, am scared of the people from Avatar

[@TheZachary86]

Toph is hot

[@brandonlyon730]

Which Avatar are you referring to?

[@Nietabs]

@@brandonlyon730 Roblox avatar

[@raptorfromthe6ix833]

@@brandonlyon730 xbox live avatars are spooky

[@howtoappearincompletely9739]

@@brandonlyon730 Presumably the Naʼvi from James Cameron's film, "Avatar".

[@NEOGANE]

I like how the characters are extemely basic, yet we can always recognise who they are, even Boris Yelstin.

[@Hijinx1997]

I love this channel so much. The only uploads that make me smile nowadays.

[@JonathanColegrove]

I've laughed out loud multiple times for about every video of yours you've posted @HistoryMatters ! Keep up the amazing work! PS: love the newspaper tidbits.

[@Hannodb1961]

Like everyone panicing about rising profits. 😄

[@Keasarr]

”The USSR did purges.” US: ”And we didnt! …….” //quickly sweeps the entire south american continent under the rug

[@arandommemer9926]

Yeeeah. . . not their proudest moments

[@SenorGuina]

That's not what a purge is

[@victordarkreapewr444]

@@SenorGuina yeah it was even worse, implementing military dictatorships in most of latin america with millions being tortured and killed by the USA backed goverment.

[@SenorGuina]

@@victordarkreapewr444 thousands yes, millions is a number you made up

[@BlazingFlame69]

U could also add a Hella lot of more countries

[@nijkasumov]

Haha loved the “pliers of Marixist-Leninist kindness”

[@ShinSheel]

I couldn't disagree more. Up until Stalin death the concept of "contra"(counter-revolutionary) got so engrained it almost became a slur. Literally anybody from the last peasant to the minister could be contra and could get prosecuted as one. Even more, in 1948-1953 it was a very alike to McCarthy anti-cosmopolitan campaign that had the exact same premise, expecting big part of society to be actually loyal to the West. Even some of your general reasoning is factually wrong, it was Stalin's own concept that "while advancing to communism the heat of the class war would rise" that justified exactly that - ever increasing number of traitors literally everywhere.

[@supaasandy9807]

0:12 Sadly, in Chile we still have a big drama with our “red scare”. Some people still argue that they were listed in the Plan Z, even when all implicated revealed that it was a psychological manipulation of the masses. That’s because it still gives some status in the economical elites. Fortunately, it is decaying. But it will reappear this Sunday if the Social Christian Front, a Pinochetist-backed coalition, have some elected seats in Congress or even their candidate in the second election to decide the presidency. Let’s hope that not.

[@napoleonibonaparte7198]

Poor James Bisonette, can’t use his wallet in the USSR to make a blue scare.

[@anarchyorslavery1616]

who is he? why is everyone talking about him?

[@Morgenstern505]

@@anarchyorslavery1616 3:10

[@CarthagoMike]

1:22 _"...with the way Papa Stalin was the running the country"_ Little typo there ;)

[@rexblade504]

USSR calling someone else an empire is extremely ironic

[@davidspiller7977]

Congratulations on a million views so quickly. Your videos are insta-clicks for me. No baiting, just 3-5 minutes of learning and entertainment. My one issue with your channel is I only get one video a week. I need like 6 more videos a week from you.

[@rubywest5166]

"Iceland Defeats England again" When was this written, 2016?

[@adambaker8689]

No, it's in reference to the 'Cod Wars'. I think he did a video on it

[@islamwatch6776]

@@adambaker8689 it’s called a joke m8

[@adambaker8689]

@@islamwatch6776 okay, it's not clear mate, thought I was helping you mate.

[@rubywest5166]

I figured it was about the Cod Wars from looking closer, I just couldn’t resist a Euro 2016 reference!

[@jimmyofthesea1883]

The guy with "The Wealth of Nations" in his hand had me rolling. Because while I went over it (I couldn't get past his obsession with corn) I too walked around with a giant book in my hand.

[@mattdavis9601]

It's a shame Khrushchev never read it. Or maybe he did.

[@darreljones8645]

I love how the copies of Pravda shown in this video were labelled "Printed in English for some reason". (BTW, the title is the Russian word for "truth", another sign of how into propaganda the Soviet media was.) Also love the way Gorbachev, at 3:01, is depicted holding a stop sign showing the Cyrillic letters (not the Russian word) for "stop".

[@TheRifild]

what's wrong with Стоп?

[@mattpotter8725]

That's so much nuance in these videos, they really are a joy to watch, and analyse as I don't think a single part of any video is not done on purpose with some thought behind it.

[@darreljones8645]

@@TheRifild Nothing; I just don't think it means "stop" in Russian, any more than (say) the Russian word "OB" means "son" in English.

[@Longinus_Ulyanovsky]

@@darreljones8645 Gorbachev is not holding it; it's just a road sign.

[@orbit5311]

you do realize pravda was around way before the soviet union right? all of the revolutionaries wrote in it, it just became the official state newspaper after they took power years later.

[@NotQuiteAllHere]

And by “didn’t have a list” we mean “actually did but it looked bad for Truman so they buried him”

[@kemarisite]

Venona had a list.

[@steviecomebacks5541]

2:11 I actually laughed out loud at my desk

[@AlexBigShid]

My grandparents lived in Ukraine during the USSR, and they said something similar happened there, only you were arrested instead of being blacklisted like the USA.

[@forcerawr]

plenty of communists & socialists have been arrested & executed by the state in america, hell they've used false flag attacks like that of the haymarket affair. from organizers like fred hampton who was murdered by the state apparatus to countless activists thrown in jail for both their associations & critiques of the state. america has an incredibly rich history of killing, jailing, enslaving, & silencing dissenters. it's just ignored & rarely shows up in history lessons unless you're in college or studying the specific events.

[@ShasOSwoll]

0:18 "Where people feared that any one of their compatriots, even James Bissonette could be a communist."

[@alexeyklimenko4387]

3:01 The octagon road sign СТОП is a nice detail, but both USSR used and Russia uses the Latin alphabet STOP here :)

[@Ypog_UA]

"There's an Imposter among us" *-Iosif Stalin, 1952*

[@ng.tr.s.p.1254]

When the comrade is sus

[@aperson22222]

The newspapers have full-on articles now. This compelled me to keep pausing the video and squinting at the phone screen.

[@NikoPeludo]

1:51 for real, his head did came offscreen

[@Alex_FRD]

0:02 East Germany WISHES it had a border like that.

[@kostek4430]

Fortunately DDR's dead baby, DDR's dead.

[@yeezyyankie324]

​@@kostek4430 but Germany did lose its eastern land 😭😭

[@rebelfriend9006]

That was originally supposed to be the East German border.

[@ludvigholst4767]

Make a video about the Polish-Soviet War of 1920 please! It's an important war that many haven't heard about, and I also don't understand it all to well.

[@Elstrecho]

More Poland videos in general!

[@brandonlyon730]

@@Elstrecho Another interesting video idea: How did Lithuania get so big prior to there Union with Poland?

[@connorh2215]

@@brandonlyon730 I second that

[@run2fire]

Dziekuje!

[@cv4809]

Why is it hard to understand it? Soviets wanted to force communism on Europe, and were beaten in Poland

[@lancetison5856]

'even dave' and '0 days since last injury' classico!

[@Privatex112]

the "Imma head out" thwomp had me laughing so friggin hard.

[@Alusnovalotus]

“A burning house isn’t afraid of a smoker passing by” -Kong zi

[@boozecruiser]

What a retarded quote that has nothing to do with history

[@boozecruiser]

If you replace "house on fire" with "house standing just fine" and "smoker" with "serial arsonist" then sure

[@tuckd0g356]

@@boozecruiser didn’t the Soviet Union collapse?

[@Ромыч-х7и]

@@boozecruiser You seem to have very americanised view of history, educate yourself.

[@Solaire_au_Frohmage]

@@tuckd0g356 won't humanity some day go extinct?

[@Oscar92839]

1:08 “everything is great, your all happy” :)

[@thatoneguy7781]

Dave can't be a communist. He's always so nice and polite asking questions about how far away the police department is from his job and when rush hour is and who we hypothetically assume is a secret communist

[@nowhereman6019]

1:29 When the comrade is Sus "PURGE TIME!" *They were not the Imposter*

[@AxeGrinder0]

Are you saying that Stalin made a mistake? That is very unrevolutionary of you comrade...

[@milorules2729]

Are you saying that Stalin made a mistake? Uh huh, Yep there's gonna be a tax for that!

[@ng.tr.s.p.1254]

Red sus

[@MidlifeCrisisJoe]

The thing about the Red Scare though, is that it was well founded in the fact that Communists really *were* attempting to undermine capitalist countries and the US in particular. The declassified Venona project demonstrated several attempts at Soviet or Communist-sympathizer subterfuge and intelligence gathering/subversion, including much of the efforts on how the Soviets stole nuclear secrets so they could jumpstart their own nuclear program. There were also a number of college professors and public figures who really were linked to Soviet intelligence services who were in public, merely "soft" on communism (aka a "pinko") and were never charged with any crime. And that's just one declassified Western intelligence effort (which is corroborated by declassified counterpart Soviet intelligence documentation after the fall of the USSR), which is to say, it demonstrates only a small part of what we know about what the actual scope of Soviet espionage and intelligence operations in western nations actually were. So while the Red Scare is often depicted as some wild panic in the US and the West based on nothing . . . it was well founded in the fact that the cold war was ongoing and was very much an actual war in a very real sense as far as the intelligence services of the US and USSR were concerned. There was very active and aggressive activity going on in the shadows of both nations, and the fact that so much of this was only partially known by the public and by public servants means that there was bound to be some reaction to it based on the half-truths and rumors that filtered to them.

[@axelpatrickb.pingol3228]

It would be nice if the Red Scare targets actual Commies and not "Commies" like your fourth cousin removed is related to you...

[@MidlifeCrisisJoe]

@@axelpatrickb.pingol3228 It did though! There were a bunch of people in the US State Department that were communists that were rooted out during McCarthy's push and the subsequent trials and hearings. People who plead guilty once found out with overwhelming evidence against them. You can look up the court and hearing transcripts and you'll be surprised as to what a bunch of these traitors were up to. The problem wasn't actually with McCarthy or a lot of what was going down in Washington - frankly, that effort probably could have gone a lot further than it did since lots of people linked to communist spies tied into upper echelons didn't get prosecuted when they probably should have been. The problem was that on a much lower level there were a lot of people who had dabbled in leftist movements prior to and during world war 2 who weren't really committed to them that got cancel cultured of the era by their neighbors and there was a large amount of fear that such minor associations were enough to get arrested or worse. (that being said, it really was basically just that - cancel culture - and not some existential threat that most people of the era faced) That's kind of the thing about the HUAC/"Red Scare" era - people *portray* it as if it was this unfounded witch hunt . . . but there were actual witches that were found during it.

[@Adsper2000]

Why were Soviets so much better at infiltrating the US than the other way around?

[@pmv2015]

@@Adsper2000 Because we have generally provided the freedom of being able to follow any political ideology and this has weakened us. We must realise that there are certain ideologies like socialism and communism which use the freedom provided in The US to spread their ideologies through fear and misinformation with the ultimate goal of subverting the very freedom of speech that allowed these cancerous ideologies to spread.

[@TheRealZeke2003]

When people talk about the Red scare they usually talk about people literally losing their means of living on flimsy accusations with no evidence. Of course Soviet spies DID exist, like CIA. But I don't think Doug who works in Accounting is a secret commie spy.

[@mneglay]

It might be worth pointing out that China did have something akin to a "blue scare," particularly during the Cultural Revolution. ...and the punishment for those fingered as counterrevolutionaries (often by their own family members) was usually much worse than losing their careers.

[@attiepollard7847]

That's what also makes me sick about communism in China the cultural revolution. The killing spree that chairman Mao allowed is rival to the French revolution in the purges.

[@Mr_M_History]

I don't know about the USSR but the Cookie Monster sent a blue scare right throughout our prep school!

[@eggy6815]

Missed a golden opportunity to call the blue scare the “Blue boo”

[@wyattmcgee1]

This sent me into a giggling fit.

[@salderomacedonia3840]

2:54 I really like how the worker's look scared of Economic Growth

[@attiepollard7847]

That's what really kills me about the USSR they say that they care about the working class what at the same time their GDP growth what's going down in the negatives and all the state benefits that they gave the workers was actually making them lazy and no productivity in that country was happening. This was never about workers rights this was about full control by the state

[@gamermapper]

@@attiepollard7847 healthcare is a human right. The Soviet Union respected human rights more than America.

[@attiepollard7847]

@@gamermapper lol respect for human rights? I mean I know the United States did some shady s*** back in the day but did you not see what they did to the Germans post World war II and did you not see how they handle the civilian population in Afghanistan when they were there? I mean if you're going to defend the USSR at least be honest about it.

[@mrgud2636]

@@gamermapper The Ucranians say otherwise

[@tomlxyz]

​@@attiepollard7847GDP growth was actually massive compared to the time before the communists took over, quality of life also increased massively. Before that Russia was very far behind the rest of Europe, still mostly a feudal society, and compared to feudal European countries much more repressive with a history of basically treating the vast population like slaves. In that sense the USSR just continued the "tradition". Pre communist china also was often violent like that and many of those tactics still used by the CCP. The economic struggles of the USSR were only coming in the later stages when the ruling ones got old and too conservative themselves. I find it funny that people keep saying that the USSR made people lazy but at the same time they were suppressed so much, the laziness making them not produce anything working but at the same time being a global threat. Start to actually look at history and what build up to it instead of just using it to justify your world view Just for clarification,i don't think the USSR was something we should strive for to replicate but there are certainly aspects where it still beats some Western countries today

[@heresyhunter4100]

2:17 I love the newspaper. In fact, I love pausing the video and finding hidden easter eggs.

[@Donerci_Pikacu_Usta]

0:46 Ah. Never stop writing these news papers. I know most people dont read em. But you know what? I do.

[@Vikram787]

love the Indira Gandhi cameo at 2:28

[@josevalenzuela7096]

"Successful farmer called kulaks" HAHAHA HAHAHA mate, you couldn't possibly get it more wrong

[@Qualityrubbish]

I was looking so far for this comment

[@grimwaltzman]

Mind if I ask who kulaks actually were then?

[@TheZerech]

We had a "Red Scare," but they had a "Red Terror."

[@welisdwayne8281]

since the Gandhi's have been appearing a lot on your videos , the conquest of the malayan peninsula, Indonesia and Philippines by the cholas of India is an interesting topic you can consider doing

[@dannypipewrench533]

1:05 Ah, yes, the propaganda truck. The City of Buckeye, Arizona, drives those around, but with messages about how much you love Buckeye, and how you should go to city activities and use city facilities, like the public pool and the library, because they are so great. That, and how to sort your recyclable waste. Apparently, that is too complicated for the average Arizona resident, which is by no means surprising. The best part about all of this is that I am not making any of this up. Buckeye just really wants you to like Buckeye.

[@imshawnnotshaun]

Not to be rude but whats this gotta do with the video? And 1:05 specifically?

[@BountyFlamor]

2:54 I like the way the citizen is scared at the graphic showing things improving.

[@erherbert1969]

Good topic....keep up the good work

[@jabezjoee.6757]

Yeah man good topic

[@hannahjoy2199]

Well its like red scare but the opposite of it