International Victims of Communism Day

[ndrosen]

The estimable Ilya Somin is striving to have May First, or at least to have some day, celebrated as Victims of Communism Day, which I think is an excellent idea. Cicero observed that to be ignorant of history is to remain a child one’s whole life, and without the Soviet Union as a live enemy, many younger people are unaware of just how much evil was done by Communist regimes. Meanwhile, the temptation of Communism remains; people can look at the many imperfections of our society, and of other societies, and dream of how much better things would be without poverty and exploitation, and with a beneficent government applying all of society’s resources to good and vital purposes.

Comments

[warriorsavant]

The key word in your last sentence was "beneficent."

Communism killed more people than any other "-ism" in history, yet even in it's heyday and immediately afterwards, there were apologists for it throughout the West.

Come to think of it, even saying "after Communism" is a very Euro-centric; Communism collapsed in Europe, but still going strong in Asia. Although, on a related note, I don't see a functional difference between Tsarist Russia, Communist Russia, and Whatevertheyhavenow Russia, other than that the Communists were better at repression and massacre, but that's a difference of degree, not type.