Why history is so important!

I ran into a sign from a place called ProtestWarrior.com that said "Communism has only killed 100 million people, Let's give it another try!" It was in reaction to a poster on socialism sitting to the left.

I felt compelled to staple this statement next to it:

Dear poster of “Protest Warrior” sign,

I am not quite affiliated with this Socialist poster that you seemed to be so upset with, but whether socialism is right or wrong your belief is terribly flawed.

First and foremost, the original poster seemed to confuse communism with socialism. There is actually a distinction between the two. Communism is a stateless, classless society in which ownership of all goods is common. Socialism itself is a fragmented doctrine, and there are many different interpretations of it. The gist of it is the state controls the economy in order to prevent unfair distribution of wealth. So there have been many killed, but not by communism, and you certainly cannot blame an ideology whose interpretations are so vast its hard to nail down.

To further piss on your “Protest Warrior” parade, the website makes the statement that “Except for ending Slavery, Fascism, Nazism, and Communism, War has never solved anything.” Let me take a deep breath, OK, here we are.

The African slave trade began in war, as most African slaves were war captives from rival tribes. I’m assuming that this comment refers to the American Civil War, but just because the end of the war was met with freed African Americans, does not mean war shook off their fetters. In the beginning of what was eventually known as the “Emancipation Proclamation,” Lincoln freed slaves in the territories they didn’t control, but allowed slavery in any lands with slaves held by the Union. Why? Lincoln was all about the preservation of the union, not necessarily the ending of slavery.

Fascism (including Nazism) was born in harsh economic toil. Germany’s currency in 1923 had reached 4.2 trillion marks to the dollar. Whew, if money is that worthless, poverty must be rampant. Furthermore, when poverty reigns supreme, “basic” needs are no longer fulfilled. Potential autocrats who desire power have the luxury of promising to fulfill these needs where the current state has failed, and in Hitler’s case, rest the blame in cultural antagonisms. Furthermore, Hitler’s platform including repealing the harshly felt restrictions placed on Germany in the Treaty of Versailles, you know, the peace treaty for World War I.

Communism was not destroyed by Reagan, it was well known at that time that the state economy of the USSR was stagnant, not failing. The USSR (which were socialist republics, by the way) fell apart due to Gorbachev’s misguided reform policies. His lack of direction and inability to garner support from other party members brought the end of the USSR, not war.

Now, I’m not saying that I hate war, I certainly don’t. What I do hate is misinformation, and the belief that someone can sum up complicated historical movements in a few short sentences. Hopefully this will clear it up for you and the people who saw that sign.


This fellow who put up the original poster is currently in written fisticuffs with me. Tonight I finish my third paper on the subject.