Dystopian works published in Eastern Bloc during the Cold War were typically disguised as critique of the West, or otherwise not getting published would be the

Dystopian works published in Eastern Bloc during the Cold War were typically disguised as critique of the West, or otherwise not getting published would be the least of author's worries. Still it was rather obvious for the readers what experience they favorite writers are drawing on in their visions of totalitarianism and allienation (and they didn't really need much of the "mega" prefix). For this reason I'd take terms such as "mega-McCarthyism" with a grain of salt in this context. Evil and bloodthirsty as he was, it's not really senator McCarthy you'd be uncomfortable about in People's Poland AD 1961.