“A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of communism.”
So wrote Karl Marx in the opening of his 1848 “Communist Manifesto.”
In the century and a half following, communism grew from the mere mutterings of a few political outcasts to a cold and hard reality, a political power that, one step at a time, seized control of roughly a third of the world’s land mass and nearly half of the world’s population.
Thankfully, a triumvirate of resolute leaders — America’s Ronald Reagan, Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II — stood firm against communist expansion, and the Soviet Union imploded around 1989. And as liberals said, “I told you communism was no threat. " Communism was relegated to a footnote in the history books, all but forgotten today.
But communism remains a threat. The Communist Party controls China’s 1.4 billion people, North Korea, North Vietnam, Laos, and Cuba, and is a major force in many other nations. Intellectually, Marxist thought is a major influence on college campuses throughout the world, including in the United States.
While academics dabble in the theory of communism, we’ve forgotten the evils of communism in practice. Few school children, even in Alabama, are aware that:
Communism, or dialectical materialism as it is often called, is atheistic at its core and proclaims itself the enemy of all religion. The suppression of religion and religious persons, especially conservative Christians, has been the practice of every communist state.
Whenever communists take power, they liquidate those they cannot brainwash, branding them as “enemies of the people.” Communist regimes have killed more than 100 million people, with some estimates as high as 168 million. This does not include deaths by war, disease, famine or mismanagement.
Communist regimes rule by terror and force, abolishing civil liberties to advance the “dictatorship of the proletariat.”
Communists use American liberals to spread the lie that communism is a benevolent form of government, and American liberals have turned a blind eye to the horrors of communism, believing they were necessary to create the socialist “workers paradise.” Stalin contemptuously referred to such liberals as “useful idiots.”
As J. Edgar Hoover documented in his 1958 classic “Masters of Deceit,” the Communist Party USA has made a concerted effort to infiltrate American institutions, including labor unions, schools, media and even churches.
Although the Communist Bloc has not always been monolithic, it has always been expansionist, with world domination as its goal. “Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution,” Marx wrote in closing the “Communist Manifesto.” “The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win. Working Men of All Countries, Unite!”
These facts were well-known while I was in school, thanks to books like “Witness,” by Whittaker Chambers, and “Workers’ Paradise Lost,” by Eugene Lyons. “The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression,” by Stephane Courtois and Mark Kramer, brings this information vividly up to date. Victims of Communism is an organization dedicated to fostering public awareness of the evils of communism. To ensure that we don’t forget and thereby repeat the mistakes of the past, they have established a Victims of Communism Museum in D.C. two blocks from the White House.
But as Lloyd Billingsley demonstrated in “The Generation That Knew Not Josef [Stalin]: A Critique of Marxism and the Religious Left,” new generations of educators have tossed this information aside. Some were ignorant about communism, some didn’t care, and some, although not communists themselves, were sympathetic to the professed goals of communism and were, therefore, all too willing to suppress communism’s dark side. Over a decade ago, a Rasmussen poll essentially found that 11% of likely U.S. voters thought America would be better off under communism. I’d like to believe many of these individuals would change their minds if they knew the facts.
To remedy this ignorance, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a 2024 bill requiring that public school children be taught the history of communism. Good for Florida, but what about Alabama?
That brings me to the heart of my story — and it involves a friend and personal heroine, Diana Crews, from Geneva, Ala., and a member of the Alabama Republican Executive Committee.
Near the close of the Committee’s September meeting, Diana presented a resolution for consideration. Part of it read:
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the members of the Alabama Republican Executive Committee call upon the Governor and Alabama Legislature to pass a bill such as Florida’s bill where the history of communism must be included in instructing in grades K-12. The legislation would include ‘the history and lineages of Communist thought, including cultural Marxism’ and for the creation of museum of history of Communism.
The resolution passed with 82% of the vote. At least one legislator is currently drafting a bill to enact this resolution. I hope others will join him.
Readers, where do your legislators stand on this vital issue? Please urge them to sponsor and vote for this bill.
Colonel Eidsmoe serves as Professor of Constitutional Law for the Oak Brook College of Law & Government Policy (obcl.edu) and as Senior Counsel for the Foundation for Moral Law (morallaw.org). He may be contacted for speaking engagements at eidsmoeja@juno.com.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to Commentary@1819news.com.
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