The Patriot Post® · May Day, Communism, and Unemployment

We noted yesterday the abysmal state of the American workforce. That just happened to come a day ahead of May Day. As Ilya Somin wrote years ago, “May Day began as a holiday for socialists and labor union activists, not just communists. But over time, the date was taken over by the Soviet Union and other communist regimes and used as a propaganda tool to prop up their [authority]. I suggest that we instead use it as a day to commemorate those regimes’ millions of victims.”

Thus, as 30 million people have lost their jobs in the last six week under the heavy hand of what is, arguably, a centrally planned economy, we pause not to be thankful for communism but to remember the catastrophic human toll it has taken over the last century. It’s putting it far too mildly to say we’ve had it incredibly good compared to the 100-plus million people murdered by tyrannical communist regimes.

And yet American leftists have long flirted with socialism, idealizing it with the modifier “democratic” in front of it. Whether it’s the Marxist socialism of the Soviet Union, the national socialism of Nazi Germany, or the smiley-face democratic socialism of Western village idiots, there’s little substantive difference in the ideology. Western socialism has simply had a far smaller death toll because Liberty lovers have successfully held it in check. We must continue to do so.