The strong rejection of fascism – and determination to ensure it doesn’t return – is a good thing. It must now be paired with a strong rejection of Communism.
As we know, World War Two started with fascist Germany and the communist Soviet Union working together to destroy and divide Poland.
While they are often portrayed as being polar opposites, there were significant similarities between them.
Both were centered around dictatorial personality cults.
Both despised free market capitalism.
Both despised democracy.
Both despised individual freedom.
Both wanted the ‘Western capitalist democracies’ to fall.
Both built their societies around hatred towards ‘enemies of the state’ and scapegoated minorities.
Both orchestrated massive state-run campaigns to deliberately murder millions of innocent people.
Both combined a ‘utopian vision’ with a willingness to butcher people to ‘achieve’ that vision.
All of these comparison are notable.
The Soviet Union wanted to let Germany destroy the capitalist powers, and the Soviets even mused about joining the Axis at one point.
Clearly the German fascists and the Soviets were more similar to each other than they were to the Western capitalist democracies.
It’s why the temporary Western alliance with the Soviet Union turned into a decades-long Cold War almost immediately after WW2 was over.
And let’s not forget about the Chinese Communist Party, an organization responsible for tens of millions of deaths, and which is still operating in a totalitarian matter to this day.
Yet, while there is a fully-justified taboo around fascism, we don’t always see that same taboo around communism.
Just look at this news headline, calling Stalin “polarizing”:
“Polarising”
Excellent example of the way we continue to downplay the evils of communism.”
"Polarising"
Excellent example of the way we continue to downplay the evils of communism. https://t.co/OSlXduci3A
— Sam Ashworth-Hayes (@SAshworthHayes) March 4, 2023
The same is true of how China is treated:
“TIL: Pierre Trudeau took a guided tour to the PRC in the midst of the Great Chinese Famine. He then returned to Canada and wrote an uncritical 1960 travelogue saying that everything was great. That travelogue was proudly republished by the Trudeau family in 2005.”
TIL: Pierre Trudeau took a guided tour to the PRC in the midst of the Great Chinese Famine. He then returned to Canada and wrote an uncritical 1960 travelogue saying that everything was great. That travelogue was proudly republished by the Trudeau family in 2005.
— Tristin Hopper (@TristinHopper) March 4, 2023
“15-55 million killed”
15-55 million killed pic.twitter.com/zlXBKuNdW9
— Tristin Hopper (@TristinHopper) March 4, 2023
Free Democracies should oppose all genocidal ideologies
There are real consequences when we downplay ruthless genocidal ideologies.
For a long-time, Eastern European democracies have been largely ignored as they warned about Russia.
For years, Russia has been rebuilding the cult of Stalin, in what we can now clearly see as an effort to get the Russian populace ready for a war of conquest against Ukraine.
Countries like Poland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania were warning that the attempt to rehabilitate the Soviet era in the minds of Russian citizens was a prelude to aggression.
Many Ukrainians are also pointing out how ignorant it is for people in countries that were never part of the Soviet Union to be praising communism:
“So many of the westerners simping Stalin’s USSR would be dead under Stalin’s USSR. You dudes are incomprehensible to me.”
https://twitter.com/OlgaOfUzhhorod/status/1631977035097620480
“And the funny thing is – ALL you have to do to understand this is to just listen to some people that actually lived under USSR. There are still plenty who can tell you their family history & how that was. You don’t even need to read any books, to begin with. The bar is SO LOW.”
https://twitter.com/OlgaOfUzhhorod/status/1631982205932060676
https://twitter.com/juliavkril/status/1631696029023100928
People displaying, parading, worshipping, &/or defending the Soviet hammer and sickle should be seen no differently from those who treat the Nazi swastika with the same kind of reverence.
They’re celebrating a truly evil, genocidal, imperialist, terrorist, authoritarian regime.
— ArianaGic/Аріянॳць (@GicAriana) March 4, 2023
That this even needs to be said in 2023 is a sign of MASSIVE Russian disinfo successes, and even bigger failures on the part of the West to educate its citizens that the USSR was pure evil, and that its symbol represents pure evil.
— ArianaGic/Аріянॳць (@GicAriana) March 4, 2023
A dangerous nostalgia for the most ruthless aspects of communist history is also resurgent in China, where there is a return to the era of Mao, with more centralization of power in the Communist Party, cultural genocide, and a massive military buildup.
Here in Canada, we are simultaneously dealing with aspects of the far-left and far-right who have fallen for Russian Soviet-style propaganda, and a federal government that appears at least partially compromised by Communist China.
So this isn’t something that’s happening ‘elsewhere.’
It’s happening here, and we need to stand up against it.
We have to stand up for the principles of democracy, individual freedom, economic freedom, and a strong national defence to protect ourselves and our allies.
And we need to build up a much stronger taboo against communism, just as we have with fascism. We should give no quarter to those who want to destroy our way of life, and we should speak out against anyone who pushes for the return of the genocidal communist ideology.
Spencer Fernando
