NOTE: This post largely reprints last year's Victims of Communism Day post, with some modifications.

Today is May Day. Since 2007, I have advocated using this date as an international Victims of Communism Day. I outlined the rationale for this proposal (which was not my original idea) in my very first post on the subject:



Our comparative neglect of communist crimes has serious costs. Victims of Communism Day can serve the dual purpose of appropriately commemorating the millions of victims, and diminishing the likelihood that such atrocities will recur. Just as Holocaust Memorial Day and other similar events promote awareness of the dangers of racism, anti-Semitism, and radical nationalism, so Victims of Communism Day can increase awareness of the dangers of left-wing forms of totalitarianism, and government domination of the economy and civil society.

While communism is most closely associated with Russia, where the first communist regime was established, it had comparably horrendous effects in other nations around the world. The highest death toll for a communist regime was not in Russia, but in China. Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward was likely the biggest episode of mass murder in the entire history of the world.

November 7, 2017 was the 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia, which led to the establishment of the first-ever communist regime. On that day, I put up a post outlining some of the lessons to be learned from a century of experience with communism. The post explains why the lion's share of the horrors perpetrated by communist regimes were inherent flaws of the system. For the most part, they cannot be ascribed to circumstantial factors, such as flawed individual leaders, peculiarities of Russian and Chinese culture, or the absence of democracy. Some of these other factors, especially the last, probably did make the situation worse than it might have been otherwise. But, for reasons I explained in the same post, some form of dictatorship or oligarchy is virtually inevitable in a socialist economic system where the government controls all or nearly all of the economy.

While the influence of communist ideology has declined since its mid-twentieth century peak, it is far from dead. Largely unreformed communist regimes remain in power in Cuba and North Korea. In Venezuela, the Marxist government's policies have resulted in political repression, the starvation of children, and a massive refugee crisis - the biggest in the history of the Western hemisphere. The removal of President Nicolas Maduro has so far done little to change the nature of that regime.

In Russia, the authoritarian regime of former KGB Colonel Vladimir Putin has embarked on a wholesale whitewashing of communism's historical record. Putin's brutal and indefensible invasion of Ukraine owes more to Russian nationalist ideology than communism. But it is nonetheless fed in part by his desire to recapture the supposed power and glory of the Soviet Union, and his long-held belief that the collapse of the USSR was "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century." It is also telling that most communists in Russia and elsewhere have joined with far-right nationalists in backing Putin's line on the war.

In China, the Communist Party remains in power (albeit after having abandoned many of its previous socialist economic policies), and has recently become less tolerant of criticism of the mass murders of the Mao era (part of a more general turn towards greater repression).

China's horrific repression of the Uighur minority is reminiscent of similar policies under Mao and Stalin, though it has not - so far - reached the level of actual mass murder. But imprisoning over 1 million people in horrific concentration camps is more than bad enough.

Far-left support for Hamas since the horrific October 7, 2023 terrorist attack is yet another reminder of the inherently evil nature of communist ideology. Backing terrorism is part of a long history of support for repression and mass murder. Not all extreme socialists of the type who support Hamas are communists. But the latter are a subset of the former.

In the West, the popularity of "democratic socialism" in some quarters is a sign that many have failed to learn the lessons of the communist experience. Democratic socialism has many of the same flaws as its authoritarian counterpart, and - as the Venezuelan case shows - is unlikely to stay democratic for long, if implemented.

Victims of Communism Day is also a good time to remember our duty to help those victims. Among other things, it is unjust to deport migrants fleeing oppressive Marxist dictatorships, like those Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela, as the Trump Administration seeks to do to hundreds of thousands who entered the US legally under the CNVH program. Trump has recently ramped up efforts to deport Cubans back to their communist oppressors.

In a 2012 post, I explained why May 1 is a better date for Victims of Communism Day than the available alternatives, such as November 7 (the anniversary of the Bolshevik seizure of power in Russia) and August 23 (the anniversary of the Nazi-Soviet Pact). I also addressed various possible objections to using May Day, including claims that the date should be reserved for the celebration of labor unions.

But, as explained in my 2013 Victims of Communism Day post, I would be happy to support a different date if it turns out to be easier to build a consensus around it. If another date is chosen, I would prefer November 7; not out of any desire to diminish the significance of communist atrocities in other nations, but because it marks the establishment of the very first communist regime. November 7 has in fact been declared Victims of Communism Memorial Day by three state legislatures.

If this approach continues to spread, I would be happy to switch to November 7, even though May 1 might be still more appropriate. For that reason, I have adopted the practice of also commemorating the victims of communism on November 7.

I would also be happy to back almost any other date that could command broad support. Unless and until that happens, however, May 1 will continue to be Victims of Communism Day at the Volokh Conspiracy.

China didn’t just lose face in Venezuela and Iran. It lost something much more important: credibility.

That matters because modern arms sales aren’t really about steel, explosives, radar signatures, or glossy brochures. They are about confidence. They are about prestige. They are about whether foreign governments believe your weapons will work when the shooting starts, your doctrine will hold when it is tested, and your regime knows what it is doing.

When those things fail in public, the damage doesn’t stay on the battlefield. It spreads into diplomacy, deterrence, alliance politics, and global arms exports.
The word is out: China won’t show up for its allies. And the weapons it sold them are junk.

The CCP has spent years trying to persuade the world that China is the coming military superpower, that its systems can hold America at bay, and that countries wanting something cheaper, simpler, and less politically encumbered than U.S. weapons should look East. Russia has long run a version of this play, making itself the world’s third-largest arms supplier, with weapons sales its second-largest export.

China has been trying to imitate that as it grows its own arms exports. Its pitch is the same: America is tired, decadent, expensive, and overcomplicated; we are rising, smart, capable, and ruthless enough to win.

But that pitch has been taking on water for some time. Ukraine already showed Russia’s much-vaunted strength to be a Potemkin village. China’s own vulnerabilities received unwelcome scrutiny during last year’s Operation Sindoor, when India’s clash with Pakistan tested Chinese systems in combat and punctured the aura Beijing has tried so hard to build. Venezuela and Iran have now made the problem impossible to ignore for both Russia and China. Chinese systems that were supposed to deter, blind, protect, or complicate American operations were annihilated in the opening minutes of combat.

The result was not merely embarrassment. It was a live demonstration. Bad weapons do not just lose wars. They lose customers, and allies.

Arms exports aren’t just a source of revenue. They’re a source of influence. They create dependencies, long-term relationships, maintenance pipelines, training arrangements, intelligence opportunities, and diplomatic leverage. A country that buys your fighters, missiles, or integrated air defense systems buys a relationship as well. The seller gains a foothold.n

But they’ll only buy if they think your stuff is good.

The deeper question is why China’s weapons failed so spectacularly....

The Trump administration is demanding answers from Spain a week after 25-year-old sexual assault victim Noelia Castillo was permitted to die by euthanasia.

A leaked diplomatic cable, obtained by The Post

, shows the State Department instructed the US Embassy in Madrid Tuesday to open an investigation into the Spanish law enforcement’s handling of repeated sex attacks, including gang rapes, against Castillo leading up to her tragic death.

Top US Embassy officials were also told to convey to the Spanish government the Trump administration’s “serious concerns” with the “many systemic human rights failures” that led Castillo to seek out assisted suicide and allowed the terminal act to be performed even after she reportedly “expressed hesitancy” in her final hours.

“We are deeply concerned by allegations that Ms. Castillo was repeatedly sexually assaulted while under state care and that no perpetrators have been brought to justice,” the cable reads.

“We are also aware of reports that Ms. Castillo expressed hesitancy to undergo euthanasia in her final hours, but that these indications were ignored,” it continues. “This case raises serious concerns about the application of Spain’s euthanasia law, particularly in cases involving psychiatric conditions and non-terminal suffering.”