Combating Communism with Consumerism

Total war was politically, socially, and economically exhausting. At the conclusion of the war the global economy was determining how to best readapt and rebuild. The eastern and western political giants (USSR and the USA) were divided on how to best handle economic redevelopment. Meanwhile, countries such as Germany, France, and Japan found themselves stuck in the middle searching for common ground. The USA strongly believed that the way to reconstruct the postwar world was through the economy. That is, if the economy was corrected and an active, free-market, Keynesian economy was operating then the war-time economic depression would right itself (James 296). 

One underlying theme in the 1950s was that the threat of spreading communism could be combated with consumerism. More generally, a robust, free- market economy could prevent socialism from becoming appealing in western nations. There was also a line of political thought amongst the western nations that raising the global standard of living would allow  for global reconstruction postwar (De Grazia 340).  A higher standard of living would mean more disposable income amongst the middle class and therefore more purchasing power. This purchasing power could be used on consumer goods rather than goods deemed necessities of life, namely, food, water, shelter, and sanitation. A greater purchasing power of income in the post war era correlated with political autonomy. The United Nations hoped that if individuals could afford to spend money on leisure activities then they could also afford to choose their political doctrine, and hopefully they would pick a democratic one (De Grazia 347).

Tied closely to a nation’s economic stability in the 1950s was political stability. Naturally the losers of the war, Germany and Japan, struggled the most. More surprising, France, who had been a victor in the war effort struggled to find political unity and rebuild after the war. France had been steamrolled by Germany in a few short days during the war. Although, they technically emerged from the war as allied victors, politically they felt as if they had lost. Alexandre Kojeve describes the France’s situation in his article, “Outline of a Doctrine of French Policy“. Kojeve writes, “She [France] will end, fatally, by being politically absorbed by the Anglo- Saxon Empire, which stands to become a Germano-Anglo-Saxon Empire” (11). This Anglo-Saxon Empire consists of Great Britain and the USA and their respective colonies. Kojeve also speculates that Germany would more likely join a Anglo-Saxon bloc than a Slav-Soviet bloc.

This assumption makes sense with the speculation that individuals would openly choose a democracy if provided with an access in capital. Real wages world wide increases in the decade follow the war as did the the global standard of the living. Therefore capitalism became proportionally more appealing than communism because it was affordable. This argument supports Kojeve that the Germans would be more likely to join a Anglo-Saxon (capitalistic) bloc. Excluding social and political ramifications, economics of the 1950s drove the cold war debate. The USA pushed consumerism and manufacturing as a means to flood European markets with american goods to combat communism, not with nuclear weapons, but with refrigerators and washing machines.

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