Actions of past socialist governments should not be justified

Noah Smith not only missed the forest for the trees but also made some misguided claims. Yes, Lenin and Stalin share the murderous implementation of Marxism, but Lenin was dead before the dekulakization. The official Soviet policy of July 1929 was the non-harassment of the kulaks, but it was specifically Stalin who said “Now we have the opportunity to carry out a resolute offensive against the kulaks, break their resistance, eliminate them as a class and replace their production with the production of kolkhozes and sovkhozes”. That replacement of those successful farmers led to the deaths of an estimated 6-7 million in the bread basket of Europe. Is it the suggestion that we temper condemnation of Stalin’s atrocities because he had a harsh mother and an alcoholic father? That Noah Smith condemns our (Western) view of ‘Red’ affairs is only a report on the failings of our current Universities. Socialism was equally condemned by Stalin’s contemporary countrymen.

It is ironic that Noah Smith champions facts and laments the propaganda war, yet only two paragraphs earlier he contradicts both of those positions with the heart-tugging example of one person’s story.

Let’s examine facts then; between the years of 1900-1987 totalitarian democide accounts for approximately 138 million people, where democracies murdered about 2 million. Socialism leads the worst of those statistics: the Soviet Union (over 60 million dead) and Mao’s China (approximately 35 million). It is an undeniable fact the totalitarian governments in general and socialist governments of the 19th century in particular were the most murderous in history by more than an order of magnitude.

It isn’t clear if Noah Smith is attempting to justify the means or the ends, but either way the actions of past socialist governments cannot be justified. He would like a criticism of modern day socialism? Should we have hope that this time it might work because some champion of Marxism is smarter than the majority of voters? How many more deaths should we tolerate until we get it right? Perhaps we should celebrate the progressive freedom of the one child policy of China (now two if you can afford it).

Here was my point, which was sorely missed; we tend to think it is always us who are oppressed. However, there will always be class disparity simply because some people have more abilities than others and will produce more. It is a fallacy to believe that we are exactly equal in every aspect of life. There will always be inequality of outcome. We scoff at the idea that a farmer with more than one cow could be an oppressive class, but that was Stalin’s enemy of the day. Marxism is an ideology implemented through socialism with the goal of communism – which treats people as an economy rather than a dignified individual with inherent value. Socialism always needs an enemy to justify its existence as a champion for the oppressed. That enemy will be you someday. 

Brent Heit, St. Albert