Since the birth of communism in the early 1840s, the idea has created turmoil and instilled fear in both the Western and Eastern worlds. This philosophy, created by Karl Marx in his novel The Communist Manifesto, has started wars, created a massive decline in productivity, and destroyed the freedom of many deserving citizens. Communist leaders, including Hugo Chavez and Joseph Stalin, perfected the art of mind exploitation through mob mentality, or the human tendency to engage in certain emotional and violent behaviors in large groups. Arthur Miller in the play The Crucible and Ray Bradbury in his novel Fahrenheit 451 criticize the negative effects of communism, especially the mass mentality that its leaders create by referring to a similar past, a historical event and a possible future consequence. A unique characteristic of mass mentality is decline of thought and reason. Communist leaders often took advantage of this lack of thinking and reason and used it as a method to gain more power among their followers. These followers then spread their fraudulent ideas, which often added further heat to their passionate causes. This characteristic, exemplified in their time period by McCarthyism, inspired both Miller and Bradbury to create their works. Bradbury, troubled by the McCarthy trials, criticizes the negative effects of communism in his projection of the near future. This near future involves a suppression of knowledge rooted in the banning of all books. Government leaders repress citizens by creating a “safe bubble” free of poverty, boredom and hunger. In this bubble, people are unaware of both the rest of the world struggling with various hardships, and of their past, what has also suffered from these… middle of paper…: Del Rey Book, 1991. Print .Marino, Stephen. “Arthur Miller's 'Weight of Truth' in The Crucible.” Modern Drama 38.4 (Winter 1995): 488-495. Rpt in dramatic criticism. Vol 31. Detroit: Gale, 2008 Literature Resource Center. Network. January 6, 2014McGiveron, Rafeeq O. “What 'did the trick'? Mass exploitation and the decline of thought in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. Extrapolation 37.3 (Fall 1996). 245-256. Rpt in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Jeffrey W. Hunter. Vol 235. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literature Resource Center. Network. January 6, 2014Miller, Arthur. The Crucible. New York, NY: Penguin, 1953. Print.Sisario, Peter. "A Study of the Allusions in Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451". English Journal59.2 (February 1970): 201-205. Rpt in Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Deborah A. Stanley. Vol 98. Detroit: Gale Research, 1997. Literature Resource Center. Network. December 19. 2013