Wednesday 1 May 2013

Yes, it’s May Day. Remember the fallen. [updated]

[UPDATE: Ilya Somin argues May 1 should be proclaimed internationally as a Victims of Communism Day. Discuss.]

When, at the age of twelve, at the time of the Russian revolution, I first heard the
Communist principle that Man must exist for the sake of the State, I perceived that
this was the essential issue, that this principle was evil, and that it could lead to
nothing but evil, regardless of any methods, details, decrees, policies, promises
and pious platitudes. This was the reason for my opposition to Communism then—
and it is my reason now. I am still a little astonished, at times, that too many [adults]
do not understand the nature of the fight against Communism as clearly as I
understood it at the age of twelve: they continue to believe that only Communist
methods are evil, while Communist ideals are noble. All the victories of Communism
since the year 1917 are due to that particular belief among the men who are still free.

- Ayn Rand, in the Foreword to her novel We the Living

Back in pagan times, May Day was a time for barely-dressed young maidens to dance around a 40-foot phallus, celebrating fertility and the dawn of spring. At least that was the way that I remember it.

In the last century or so, it’s become instead a day to commemorate a political ideology responsible for more than 100 million murders—a day when communists used to to announce their moral superiority to the world with day-long march pasts of tanks, guns and nuclear missiles. These days, now that their ideology has been exposed as bankrupt, they just dress up in black and head downtown to break retailers’ windows.

Those who take the deadheaded apathy of today's communists for granted should however use May Day as a day to commemorate the 110,000,000 people it murdered, and the hundreds of millions more it enslaved.

Everybody should know as much about communism as they know about flu viruses and lethal bacteria, and for the same reason: Communism is a killer. A Red Plague.

Isn’t it fortunate that full-blown communism now only exists in Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, and the bedrooms of Martyn Bradbury’s friends.

To remind yourself of the size of the communist tragedy, begin by reading The Red Plague by R.J. Rummel.

And add these short pieces to your May Day reading. (Hey, send the links to dear old Lenin-loving Robyn Malcolm.)

[Links from the old Catallarchy blog, which used to host a May Day link-fest every year as part of its annual May Day commemorations.

3 comments:

Libertyscott said...

"Isn’t it fortunate that full-blown communism now only exists in Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, and the bedrooms of Martyn Bradbury’s friends"

You mean BOTH of them?

Anonymous said...

I knew you were old, but remembering your days when maidens danced around a 40 ft phallus ~well!
The Green party currently on about 12% indicates softness towards socialism as does Labour support. Reading NZ Herald paper of Auckland can't help education about Capitalism and the evils of socialism
Peter

Peter Cresswell said...

"I knew you were old, but remembering your days when maidens danced around a 40 ft phallus ~well!"

Ah! Such memories as are made of this ...