From Ilya Somin at The Volokh Conspiracy:
Today is May 1, May Day. Back in 2007 and 2008, I advocated the idea of transforming this long-time communist holiday into Victims of Communism Day — a day of remembrance for the victims of history’s bloodiest ideology. This year, several bloggers are joining in an effort to commemorate the occasion. Jonathan Wilde of Distributed Republic deserves credit for organizing this effort.
I think that the rationale I offered for turning May Day into Victims of Communism Day in my first post on the subject still holds true:
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 regimes. 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. I suggest that May Day be turned into Victims of Communism Day....
The main alternative to May 1 is November 7, the anniversary of the communist coup in Russia. However, choosing that date might be interpreted as focusing exclusively on the Soviet Union, while ignoring the equally horrendous communist mass murders in China, Camobodia, and elsewhere. So May 1 is the best choice.
More here from Jules Crittenden:
Sounds good to me. There are so many millions, several tens of thousands of them ours and millions more the shared responsibility of our political leadership who deserted them. They deserve a day. The “happy” part is that it is largely, if not entirely in the past, discredited and significantly less of a threat. But not gone. Russia and China never quite walked away from totalitarianism, and there are those there who would polish up the communist hardware. In North Korea, Cuba and Vietnam, millions remain imprisoned, even dying yet.
Communism is an evil ideology that inevitably leads to tyranny and the death of innocents. Its victims deserve a Day of Remembrance.
Recent Comments