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Written by Administrator
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Thursday, 01 May 2008 03:37 |
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Millions of people around the world gather every May 1st to celebrate the social and economic achievements of the labor movement. Sadly, those societies that were organized in the name of workers and the equality of all individuals were forced to create a new class of individuals responsible for enforcing equality. This new class not only made themselves "more equal" than the workers they were supposed to be representing, they committed mass murder on a scale that has never been replicated in human history.
The costs of the experiments in utopia were staggering. They took a huge toll on human lives. R.J. Rummel estimates that over 169 million human beings were killed at the hands of communist governments in the 20th century. The cost in lives of the two world wars was less than half this amount. Some defenders of this system viewed the purging as necessary in order to achieve the final, good and just outcomes envisioned by the ruling class. That nothing resembling utopia ever emerged from this fiasco should never be forgotten.
In remembrance of the hundreds of millions who suffered under the crippling, despotic, oppressive regimes known as Communism, National Socialism, or Fascism, and to protect the liberties of all people who walk the earth today, we reprint in full below a review of Communism, A History, by Richard Pipes - the world's foremost expert on the history of the Soviet Union. This review originally appeared in our November 12, 2001 issue of Research Reports. To become a member of AIER and receive Research Reports, please go here.
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