Free Republic

In the heart of Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, a larger- than-life man positioned in front of guns and flames sternly surveys the streets. Depending on the time of year, he might be dressed in a colorful outfit to celebrate Pride or wearing a large, brightly lit star for the holidays. But recently, his decorations have been a bit more pointed: A thick coating of bright red paint covers his open hand.

A statue of Bolshevik communist despot Vladimir Lenin has been erected in Germany– as statues of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and other historic figures are torn down in the United States, the United Kingdom, and the wider West. Lenin, born Vladimir Ulyanov, was the inaugural leader of what later became the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), or Soviet Union, after his Bolshevik faction failed to win a democratic majority in the All-Russian Constituent Assembly but came out on top in the brutal civil war which they plunged the Russian Empire into in 1917. Despite posing as a champion of...

While a global row rages over the controversial background of historical figures immortalized as statues, on Saturday a divisive new monument to Soviet leader Lenin will be unveiled in Germany. More than 30 years after the post-World War II communist experiment on German soil ended, the tiny Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) will install Lenin's likeness in the western city of Gelsenkirchen. The MLPD says it is the first such statue ever to be erected on the territory of the former West Germany, decades after the eastern German Democratic Republic communist state and its deadly Berlin Wall and Stasi secret...

The Radical Left is exploiting the legitimate outrage of many Americans over the brutal killing of George Floyd on May 25th by Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer who has been charged with murder. George Floyd’s murder was shocking enough to millions of Americans to become the spark leftist revolutionaries were looking for to mobilize the masses. As Trevor Loudon, who has researched the radical left for more than 30 years, wrote on June 10th: The killing of George Floyd was a gift to the communists. It was so egregious and so public that it was bound to provoke outrage. The...

The Black Lives Matter movement (BLM) casts itself as a spontaneous uprising born of inner city frustration, but is, in fact, the latest and most dangerous face of a web of well-funded communist/socialist organizations that have been agitating against America for decades. The Black Lives Matter movement claims that only whites can be racists. And while justifying violence to achieve “social justice,” the movement’s goal is to overthrow our society to replace it with a Marxist one. Many members of the black community would be shocked to learn that the intellectual godfathers of this movement are mostly white Communists, “queers”...

A former hippie guru who lived the high life in Europe for years after murdering his ex-girlfriend in Philadelphia in the 1970s has died in prison. Ira Einhorn, 79, died early Friday in a state prison in western Pennsylvania of natural causes, according to Susan McNaughton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections. The death at SCI-Laurel Highlands was not related to the COVID-19 virus, she said.

Since 1970, Earth Day has provided an opportunity for all Americans to come together to celebrate the majestic natural beauty of our Nation and the world. The United States is blessed with breathtaking and plentiful natural wonders and resources, providing recreation and sustenance to millions throughout our country. On the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, we pay tribute to our Nation’s long history of environmental stewardship and conservation, and we reaffirm our commitment to protecting our natural treasures for the benefit and enjoyment of all Americans. Following in the rich tradition of environmental leaders like Gifford Pinchot and President Theodore...

MOSCOW -- When the 100th anniversary of Vladimir Lenin’s birth rolled around in 1970, the Soviet Union pulled out all the stops to mark the occasion. Commemorative stamps were printed; coins were minted; medals were struck. A vast new wing was opened at the Lenin museum in Ulyanovsk, the Volga River city where he was born and raised. In Kurgan Oblast, a vast grove of trees was planted to spell out “Lenin 100,” a living monument that can be seen from space 50 years later. Lenin’s image also suffered as a result of the “archive revolution” that occurred in the...

The Religion of Immoralism By MAX EASTMAN The notion of Karl Marx as a noble brooder over man's hopes is dispelled in this account of his invention and philosophic justification of the ruthless methods of modern Communism.With Stalin gone it has become necessary to find a new focus for our hostility to the unscrupulous and inhuman behavior of the Communists. I wish it might be focused on the real cause of the trouble: Marxism. Much force of argument is wasted among Western intellectuals through a wish to exempt Marx from responsibility for this return to barbarism. Realpolitik in the evil...

On the pernicious legacy of Vladimir Lenin.Editors’ note: The following is an edited version of remarks delivered at The New Criterion’s inaugural Circle Lecture on September 25, 2019.Lenin was more severe.—Vyacheslav Molotov, the only senior official to work for both Lenin and Stalin, when asked to compare them. Lenin “in general” loved people but . . . his love looked far ahead, through the mists of hatred.—Maxim Gorky When we are reproached with cruelty, we wonder how people can forget the most elementary Marxism.—Lenin Beyond DoctrineAn old Soviet joke poses the question: What was the most important world-historical event of...

Gelsenkirchen’s administrative court lifted city orders to halt construction, allowing the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (MLPD) as owner of a city land plot to proceed with erecting its depiction of the Soviet leader who led Russia’s 1917 armed revolution. The city had argued Lenin’s effigy would spoil the heritage value of an adjacent former communal Sparkasse savings bank building in the 260,000-population city otherwise famed for its Schalke football team, perhaps fittingly sponsored by Russian state energy giant Gazprom. But judges said the architectural objection and controversy over Lenin’s historical role were irrelevant because the statue would be placed more...

As the talk of socialism becomes more widespread on the Left, particularly within Democratic party politics, and as anger at President Trump boils over, the advocacy of political scientists will become even clearer: first, Progressivism, then socialism, and ultimately, Leninism.... A contrary example both of the theory and practice of politics, because its focus is on advancing the principles of the Declaration of Independence, are the panels and scholarship sponsored by the Claremont Institute—recently honored at the White House with the National Humanities Medal. So Claremont has its work cut out for it. How far will the Left take political...

To understand communism, it’s important to look at the man who was the first to institute a government dedicated to Karl Marx’s ideals: Vladimir Lenin. When I was in college, I recall a conversation with several classmates who joked about throwing a get-together and naming it “The Communist Party.” They mocked the idea that anyone would fear this supposedly well-meaning ideology. I wonder if they would have been laughing if they were in the presence of gulag survivors. This Nov. 7 marks the 102nd anniversary of Lenin’s rise to power in Russia, and Nov. 9 will mark the 30th anniversary...

In October 1917, Lenin's Bolshevik Party seized power and inaugurated the first communist workers' state, founded on the principles of Karl Marx's “Das Kapital.” Almost immediately, the race was on to turn antiquated, almost feudal imperial Russia into a communist utopia. It was a tall order in Russia: the vast majority of the population of the nascent Soviet state were illiterate peasants, for whom the traditions and tenants of Orthodox Christianity were the sole cultural and spiritual bedrock. Replacing it with the more complicated economic and social principles of Marxism took ingenuity, dedication and ruthlessness. The state embarked on a...

Does the Religious Left Know What Lenin Said About Christians and Socialism? There's no escaping it: Socialism is anti-Christian. “If someone calls it socialism,” said Rev. William Barber at the August meeting of the Democratic National Committee, “then we must compel them to acknowledge that the Bible must then promote socialism, because Jesus offered free health care to everyone, and he never charged a leper a co-pay.”Barber’s statement brought secular progressives to their feet in thunderous applause. That included DNC chair Tom Perez, who says that democratic socialists like Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez represent “the future of our party.” That’s a...

Are Democrats Channeling Their Inner Lenin? COMMENTARY . By Frank MieleAugust 05, 2019 Are Democrats Channeling Their Inner Lenin? AP Photo/Paul Sancya As we approach November 2020, Democrats are having their “October 1917” moment. Just as the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party back then was divided between the moderate Mensheviks and the more radical Bolsheviks, so too the modern American Democratic Party is divided between the moderate socialists like Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar and Steve Bullock and the radical socialists like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders.

Why is Communism relevant today? Ignorance! Just ask around. You may be shocked to find that nearly no one under twenty-five has ever heard of Stalin, whose genocide exceeded Hitler's by a factor of five. Communism is being repackaged in this atmosphere of ignorance. Films like “Motorcycle Diaries” and “Young Marx” portray Che and Marx as wise, prophetic figures fighting for mankind's betterment. Idealistic youth is responding enthusiastically in their need for heroes. If you travel abroad, say to India or South America, you can see full-scale marches complete with red banners and portraits of Stalin. How do you get...

Ukraine's Constitutional Court has upheld a law that equates communism to Nazism and bans the dissemination of its symbols, a law that has prompted angry protests from Moscow. In the July 16 ruling published on its website, the court said the "communist and Nazi regimes" used similar methods of "implementing repressive state policies." The legislation was passed by Ukrainian lawmakers in May 2015. That law paved the way for the removal of all communist monuments not related to World War II and renaming public places and landmarks bearing Soviet names. Since then, dozens of statues, plaques, and other monuments --...

When a dozen of conservatism’s best minds take on Socialism and expose it for the utopian fraud it is, attention must be paid. In a brief foreword to a special issue of National Review, Editor-in-Chief Richard Lowry admitted that many conservatives thought socialism in America had been “vanquished” after the collapse of Soviet Communism 30 years ago. But as T. S. Eliot insisted, “There is no such thing as a Lost Cause because there is no such thing as a Gained Cause.” The experts examine socialism in its many guises, beginning with Charles Cooke’s blunt assessment that socialism is not...