 These suggestions derive in part from Heinlein's view that in the 1950s the U.S. government was being too conciliatory in its dealings with communist China and the Soviet Union.Heinlein draws an analogy between the human society in the novel, which is well-to-do but needs to be vigilant against the imperialist threat of the Arachnids, and U.S. society of the 1950s.Reviewers have suggested that the Arachnids are Heinlein's analogue for communists.