Anti-Communism Could Use A Holiday
I'm with Ilya Somin -- on a subject I usually don't give a bent crap about or think about at all: the subject of holidays.
So many Che-shirted useful idiots waving the flag against capitalism keep popping up in the millennial generation and beyond that I would like to see Somin's idea, turning May 1 into international Victims of Communism Day, become a reality.
Somin writes at Reason:
May Day began as a holiday for socialists and labor union activists, not just communists. But over time, the date was taken over by the Soviet Union and other communist regimes and used as a propaganda tool to prop up their [authority]. I suggest that we instead use it as a day to commemorate those regimes' millions of victims. The authoritative Black Book of Communism estimates the total at 80 to 100 million dead, greater than that caused by all other twentieth century tyrannies combined. We appropriately have a Holocaust Memorial Day. It is equally appropriate to commemorate the victims of the twentieth century's other great totalitarian tyranny. And May Day is the most fitting day to do so....Our comparative neglect of communist crimes has serious costs. Victims of Communism Day can serve the dual purpose of appropriately commemorating the millions of victims, and diminishing the likelihood that such atrocities will recur. Just as Holocaust Memorial Day and other similar events promote awareness of the dangers of racism, anti-Semitism, and radical nationalism, so Victims of Communism Day can increase awareness of the dangers of left-wing forms of totalitarianism, and government domination of the economy and civil society.
While communism is most closely associated with Russia, where the first communist regime was established, it had equally horrendous effects in other nations around the world. The highest death toll for a communist regime was not in Russia, but in China. Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward was likely the biggest episode of mass murder in the entire history of the world.
Whether there is or isn't a holiday, what I think needs to happen is more education about the horrible realities under a communist regime -- as well as the (unchic-with-progressives) reality of how capitalism has fished countless people around the globe out of grinding poverty.
Difficult to do.
Communism and its cousin, socialism, couch every bit of their dogma in the cloak of "for the people" or "for the workers." That makes it difficult for anyone who has not experienced it or studied it to understand how making anything the government and its police do "for the people" is greasing the skids for authoritarianism.
A government that takes care of you and smoothes the harsh edges of reality for you is tempting. Best to keep in mind the worlds of Paul Harvey, "A government big enough to give you everything you want, is a government big enough to take away everything that you have." [Remember These Things, 1952]
Given a choice and no checks on its power, which do you think a government will do, give you everything it has or take everything you have?
Conan the Grammarian at May 3, 2019 7:53 AM
It is understandable that people want free stuff, but being anti-capitalism? Wearing a Che or communist flag shirt? Tear down wall street? Deny how many communism killed? There is no justification for such ignorance except pure emotion over-riding facts and reason. No place on earth has ever made so many people so well-off as the US and yet they hate it? No system of gov has ever killed so many as communism yet they fly the flag? argh
cc at May 3, 2019 8:20 AM
My take on Che tee-shirts: You are free to wear one, but if you do, you have no right to complain about the skinhead wearing a Himmler tee-shirt.
markm at May 3, 2019 10:09 AM
That makes it difficult for anyone who has not experienced it or studied it to understand how making anything the government and its police do "for the people" is greasing the skids for authoritarianism.
Ask them how or why Hugo Chavez's daughter became one of the wealthiest people in Venezuela? since socialism is supposed to eradicate the wealth gap. Ask the same about Fidel's jet setting grandson.
One could ask the same question about the nomenklatura in the Soviet Union. Or why, sometimes, parents would send their teenage daughter (or son, I suppose, but homosexuality was frowned upon in the Soviet) to sweet talk the housing commissar into giving them somewhat better housing? *wink*wink*nudge*nudge*
That would require them to think rationally, instead of in terms of "free shit". What they forget is two things: you don't know how expensive something is until it's "free", and you don't know how little you need to live on until someone else makes those decisions.
I R A Darth Aggie at May 3, 2019 1:42 PM
"Given a choice and no checks on its power, which do you think a government will do, give you everything it has or take everything you have?"
What makes you think it isn't happening - or hasn't happened - to you?
Radwaste at May 3, 2019 6:22 PM
There is only one Che shirt that you should wear and it's this one:
https://imgur.com/py8GUiG
Sixclaws at May 3, 2019 6:37 PM
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