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Via InstaPundit, I learn that Karl Marx died on this day in 1883. I concur with Glenn Reynolds’ suggestion that March 14 should therefore be a holiday:
Marx performed the difficult feat of being wrong about everything. Most people are right about some things and wrong about others; the law of averages sets in. But if you are an ideologue, like Marx, and if your ideology is stupid, you can be wrong across the board. Marx’s historical analyses were either recycled conventional wisdom or wildly off the mark. He knew nothing about economics, which is why his labor theory of value–the lynchpin of his entire philosophy–is absurd. (Even Marx recognized that; he never finished the key section of Capital, leaving that inglorious task to Engels.) And he pontificated endlessly about workers and the means of production, without even once, as far as is known, setting foot in a factory.
Marx survives in historical memory for two reasons. First, hardly anyone has actually read Capital or his lesser works. Even a person of moderate intelligence could hardly do so without recognizing their foolishness. Second, Marx’s philosophy has served as a pretext for sadists to seize control of governments around the globe. Which is exactly what Marx intended.
Marx was a bad man, equally so in his private and public lives. He should be remembered only as an exemplar of how much damage a single-minded and hate-filled man can do.
As John noted recently, members of “The Squad” recently snuck off to Cuba, a one-party Communist dictatorship and massive violator of human rights. The woke Democrats seem unaware of films and books that document the repressions of the Stalinist regime. Consider, for example, Improper Conduct, by Cuban cinematographer Nestor Almendros, who in 1979 won an Oscar for Days of Heaven.
Improper Conduct shows how Fidel Castro tossed homosexuals into forced labor camps, which were rather inclusive. As New York Times film critic Vincent Canby noted, “Playwrights, doctors, poets and painters as well as more ordinary folk such as tour guides and hairdressers, spent time in one or more of the country’s forced-labor camps.” Consider also 8-A, a documentary by Cuban exile Orlando Jimenez Leal.
When Gen. Arnaldo Ochoa returned from Africa, Castro spotted a potential rival and staged a show trial for Ochoa and fellow officers. 8-A showcases the actual trial, in which Castro appears, and adds a dramatization of the executions.
In Heroes are Grazing In My Garden, Cuban poet Heberto Padilla exposes the repression of writers and intellectuals, along with the general privations of the people. For example, diabetics sell samples of their urine, so others can get extra rations of milk and meat. In Against All Hope, Armando Valladares documents Castro’s torture of political prisoners. Consider also Paul Hollander’s Political Pilgrims, which recalls glowing accounts of the Cuban regime by foreigners.
“Fidel sits on the side of a tank rumbling into Havana on New Year’s day,” wrote New Left icon Abbie Hoffman (Steal this Book). “He laughs joyously and pinches a few rumps… Fidel lets the gun drop to the ground, slaps his thigh and stands erect. He is like a mighty penis coming to life, and when he is tall and straight, the crowd immediately is transformed.”
For novelist Norman Mailer, Castro was “the first and greatest hero to appear in the world since the Second World War.” For Angela Davis, Communist Party USA candidate for vice-president in 1980 and 1984, “Fidel was their leader, but most of all he was also their brother in the largest sense of the word.” In reality, the white Stalinist plunged the nation into sub-Haiti levels of poverty, and thousands fled on anything that would float.
As Saul Bellow explained, a great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep. The Squad is either ignorant of the record or, like Angela Davis, fully approves of the Cuba’s Stalinist regime. As Cubans might note, in 2021, Squad members Pramila Jayapal and Ilhan Omar were among 40 Democrats who voted against a resolution supporting peaceful demonstrators protesting against the Cuban government.
Josef Stalin died on this day in 1953. In his sleep; so, like Lenin, Mao and Castro, and unlike Hitler, Mussolini and Ceausescu, he never paid a price for his crimes. The Victims of Communism remember:
Stalin died on this day in 1953.
He left behind a legacy of terror, famine, and mass murder.
Remember the victims. pic.twitter.com/HUBBYUZMwh
— Victims of Communism (@VoCommunism) March 5, 2024
Stalin ranks second only to Mao among history’s worst mass murderers. Those who knew him best understood how evil he was: his wife committed suicide and his daughter defected to America. Stalin’s malignant legacy lives on, as Russia has never fully emerged from his dark shadow. It is unfortunate that he wasn’t strung up like Mussolini or shot like Ceausescu. At this point, all we can do is revile him.
There was a time when, if you said that liberals suffer from Communism envy, they would deny it. Is that still true? Perhaps not, as to the Squad, two members of which were among a delegation that made a more or less secret trip to Cuba:
A delegation of the U.S. Congressional Progressive Caucus traveled to Cuba last week in a trip that has not previously been disclosed by the legislators nor reported in Cuban state media.
The group of about a dozen people was led by Democratic U.S. Reps. Pramila Jayapal of the state of Washington and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. It included a congressional staffer from the office of California Rep. Barbara Lee’s office, sources with knowledge of the trip told the Miami Herald.
Jayapal and Omar, members of the informal left-wing group of lawmakers known as “the squad,” did not reply to emails and messages seeking comment. Lee’s office also did not reply to a request for comment.
After the Herald published this story, the Congressional Progressive Caucus, comprising more than 100 lawmakers and chaired by Jayapal, confirmed the trip.
Odd. No press releases, no Cuban state media trumpeting the support it is getting from American liberals. So what was up with the visit?
“Representatives Jayapal and Omar traveled to Cuba last week, where they met with people from across Cuban civil society and government officials to discuss human rights and the U.S.-Cuba bilateral relationship,” said a Caucus spokesperson.
Oh. Okay. But the Squad is not in favor of human rights, so it would be interesting to know what the discussion was about:
Jayapal and Omar have been vocal critics of the U.S. embargo against Cuba and have supported bills to normalize relations with the island’s communist government. They were among the 40 Democrats who voted against a symbolic resolution supporting peaceful demonstrators who protested against the Cuban government in July 2021 and “calling for the immediate release of arbitrarily detained Cuban citizens.”
Well, they don’t want arbitrarily detained American citizens released either, so I guess that is consistent. All in all, the story is a valuable reminder that, while the rest of the world has given up on Communism, it still has a certain cachet with American liberals.
Vaunce News 