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November 7: National Day for the Victims of Communism
On 7 November 2018, Americans dug through election results, slung and deflected stones, and fretted over the future of our country, or not. Almost all of us, including the White House press scrum, failed to note the day’s solemn and deadly significance. But, President Trump did not forget, and he had something to say, worth our reading.
Presidential Message on the National Day for the Victims of Communism
Issued on: November 7, 2018On the National Day for the Victims of Communism, we honor the memory of the more than 100 million people who have been killed and persecuted by communist totalitarian regimes. We also reaffirm our steadfast support for those who strive for peace, prosperity, and freedom around the world.
Since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, we have witnessed the effects of the tyrannical communist ideology—anguish, repression, and death. Communism subordinates inherent human rights to the purported well-being of all, resulting in the extermination of religious freedom, private property, free speech, and, far too often, life. These horrors have included Ukrainians deliberately starved in the Holodomor, Russians purged in the Great Terror, Cambodians murdered in the killing fields, and Berliners shot as they tried to escape to freedom. The victims of these and many other atrocities bear silent testimony to the undeniable fact that communism, and the pursuit of it, will forever be destructive to the human spirit and to the prosperity of mankind.
Today, we remember all who have been denied the great blessings of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness under oppressive communist regimes. Together, we mourn the unbearable losses so many have endured under communism, and we renew our pledge to continue advancing the cause of freedom and opportunity for all.
Last year, President Trump solemnly marked 100 years since the Bolshevik Revolution took place in Russia. His words stood in marked contrast to the whitewashing and thick gauzy portraits, to outright fond remembrances offered in too many quarters of a supposedly civilized world. Some even ran the leftist lie that counting communism’s mountain of skulls, on a day of remembrance for the victims of communism, was “white nationalist.” Note that the Trump-Russia hoax is once again given the lie in this year’s proclamation, as President Trump punches Putin in the face with the Holodomor. This weekend, our President will join other world leaders in France to mark the end of the Great War, in which America saved Europe, for the first time.
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Thanks for this. I had not known about it and haven’t seen other reporting. The President’s statement seemed pretty strong – almost Reagenesque.
I never knew there was such a Day. Thanks for the heads-up . . .
I wish he would have mentioned the more than 20 million who died in Mao’s Great Leap Forward. Otherwise, it is a solemn reminder to anyone who is ignorant of the cost of communism. Unfortunately, no one seems to care, and heaven forbid this be widely reported.
Thank you for this post, Clifford. I didn’t know about this commemoration. Communism is a scourge. May it never reign again.
I noticed this too. It must have been deliberate. Why?
Would not have had that from Clinton
There is an ad running on Fox from Poland thanking American veterans for saving Poland – have you seen it?
Cliff,
Didn’t you know Karl Marx was just a philosopher, says Juncker.
However, the record doesn’t quite match up to history.
As long as Socialism/Marxism can exist as a parasite on a healthy democratic capitalist society, nothing too bad happens. Once it takes over fully, the economy collapses entirely, people start to starve as the pseudo-economy can’t even produce food, and then a brutal repression takes over to silence the complaints of the people. Genocide is the result. When Stalin’s regime was ready to commit genocide against a particular group it was announced in Pravda that the group was “on the wrong side of history”. This was the code phrase to release all hell on earth against the target. When Obama’s first press secretary used this phrase over and over again I almost threw up. This was as tone deaf as Adolf Eichmann on holiday.
Regards,
Jim
I’ve seen the guy that heads the organization by the same name on TV. He’s really excellent.
Same here, and I spent almost all my working career during the Cold War. I was on active duty at Fort Bragg during the Cuban missile crisis so the evils of communism are never far from my mind. I’ve been feeling good the last couple of years after the previous eight not so good.
Wednesday was my 80th birthday.
Yes. Very smart, using Polish military members, identified as having served in Afghanistan, to express Poland’s gratitude and inform us of their century of independence.
The ad was produced in the context of renewed Russian expansionism. Both the Afghanistan service, by our side, and the thank you, tell us that Poland is worth aiding if the Russians come after them.
Because North Korean nukes and Chinese economy plus military maneuvering. But, they know the statue at the Victims of Communism Memorial is a recreation, from photographs, of the Goddess of Liberty statue erected by the Chinese students in Tiananmen Square. That memorial was dedicated by President G.W. Bush in 2006.
I was surprised that he didn’t.
I didn’t either. It looks like President Trump initiated this day last year, which was the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. I, for one, am grateful to President Trump for this remembrance.
Reason # 4,857,384 for Barry to get pimp-slapped into the ashbin of history.
Thanks for your service, B.
Glad the years are turning around. I was getting a bit tired of 8 years of sissy-pants fella lecturing us, almost daily, on his ignorance of history and how we should feel bad about it, because Barry.