A day late, but worth it

[elfs]

Yesterday was May Day. For those of us who celebrate our beliefs freely, some of us celebrated in ancient pagan fashions a fertility ritual that has kept humanity going since the last ice age.

However, all over the world those who are not free are given this day to parade about in mock celebration of their governments. In some, tanks roll and steely-eyed soldiers mark in lock-step, demonstrating their power. It is all not nearly as impressive as it was in the days of the Soviet Union, but it is still reality for too many people, in too many places.

Catallarchy commemorated May Day 2005 with a series of articles to remember those who have died at the hands of communists and collectivists worldwide. We are asked to remember the 110 million people killed by Marxists, and are reminded that Che was not cool:

Crazy with fury I will stain my rifle red while slaughtering any enemy that falls in my hands! My nostrils dilate while savoring the acrid odor of gunpowder and blood. With the deaths of my enemies I prepare my being for the sacred fight and join the triumphant proletariat with a bestial howl!

Scott Schule spends a lot of time quoting Eric Hoffer but ultimately, I think gets a well-deserved last word:

When given the chance between respecting humanity too much and too little, err on the side of too much. Once men become livestock, they are simply waiting for the slaughter.

Reading Jonathan Wilde's essay, however, makes that more true that you can imagine. During the great Soviet Famine caused by Stalin's farm colletivization project, government posters in Ukraine had to remind citizens: Eating your children is an act of barbarism.

Comments

It's still a tender subject.

[murbin.livejournal.com]

A young Ukrainian woman I worked with last summer was quick pointed out that the famine in Ukraine was a product of Soviet planning, designed to kill Ukrainians.

I wonder if someone who casually wears a Che shirt would wear a shirt with Adolf Hitler's picture to a synagogue?

[antonia-tiger.livejournal.com]

When you discover the things which provoked Marx, and his successors, into preaching revolution, the idea of revolution; of breaking the old system, seems almost sane.

But the people most likely to preach revolution, and break the old systems, are not the people you should ask to create a new system. The successful revolutions have been led by people who had a stake in a stable society -- printers and farmers, for instance, active in the political system that existed.