This week saw the anniversary of one of the greatest events in world history; 20 years since world wrestling champion Bret Hart successfully defended his title against Shawn Michaels at WWF’s Survivor Series. Incidentally, this week also marked the 100th anniversary of the October Revolution in Russia. A hundred years ago, Vladimir IIyich Lenin and his band of Bolsheviks overthrew the Russian Republic, creating a glorious socialist workers paradise that would be the tyrannical hell hole known as the USSR. Which means it’s also 100 years since hippies, UWI intellectuals and trade union leaders started using the world's most popular excuse for the failure of socialism; "That's not real socialism".
The October Revolution of 1917 had its roots in the writings of German philosopher and economist Karl Marx, who like all socialists knew little about philosophy or economics. Marx, however, came from a wealthy middle class family, sported a hipster style beard, and spent his days getting drunk and sponging off his friend Friedrich Engels. All traits which make him popular among university students and pseudo intellectuals to this day. In his famous book, ‘Das Kapital’, Marx made a slew of bold predictions; including the impending death of capitalism, none of which ever happened. All of which doesn’t matter because being a Marxist entails not actually reading Marx’s books.
With his socialist revolution, Lenin had promised to liberate oppressed working class Russians from the clutches of the Bourgeoisie, creating a utopia where everyone was equal and treated fairly. And like all socialist leaders, to accomplish this, he figured he needed to murder all those that disagreed with him. Across the countryside thousands of Russian peasants rose to oppose Lenin and his cohorts. They were instantly cut down. Those that weren't gassed or burnt alive were sent to death camps. By 1920, thanks to Lenin’s Marxist inspired ideas, the Russian economy was in ruin and famine ensued. Lenin then ordered food be forcibly confiscated from the countryside to starve those opposing his regime into submission. Hey, does any of this sound familiar, Venezuelans?
The Russian Famine of 1921 would eventually claim 5 million lives, but the socialist penchant for genocide was just getting started. Lenin's successor, Joseph Stalin, set out to top Lenin’s death toll score. In 1920’s Russia, the Kulak’s; well off peasants, were the ‘one percenters’ of their time. Declaring them a class enemy of socialism, Stalin had over 1 million Kulaks either deported to Siberia or simply shot. And he didn't stop there. Stalin would preside over the genocide of thousands of ethnic Cossacks, the state enforced famine in Ukraine, where 7 million people starved to death, and the Great Purge, where half a million "counter revolutionaries" were killed by the state. All in all, over 20 million people would perish as a result of the events of the October Revolution.
The intellectuals who cheered Lenin and Stalin from the safety of capitalist countries came up with an ingenuous way to wash their hands clean; they proclaimed that the socialist revolution was in fact not real socialism. It was a plan so stupid, it actually worked. This is the true legacy of the October Revolution. During the 20th century, whether it was the genocide of 60 million people in China by Mao, or the genocide of millions in Cambodia by Pol Pot. Or the bloodshed of the Grenada revolution. Or the continuing brutal repression in Cuba or North Korea. Or the fact that Venezuelans are now invading zoos in the hope of finding animals to eat. It was all to be chalked up to some quirk of the ruler, or nefarious actions of the CIA or Colonel Mustard in the den with a candlestick. According to the black book of communism 100 million people have died under communist/socialist regimes in the past 100 years. Imagine if KFC killed a 100 million people and then said, "Sorry, that wasn't real KFC."
There was another anniversary this week though. Thursday marked the 28th year of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The symbolic moment the iron curtain across East Europe fell, signalling the end of the USSR. The moment millions of people declared they had had enough of the Russian Revolution. And they didn't care to listen to anymore excuses.
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