Stalin

Sixty-six years ago, on June 6th, 1944, “Operation Overlord”, the allied invasion of Europe began. The purpose of the invasion was to gain an allied foothold in France, from which allied forces could eject the Nazi armies from conquered Europe. Allied forces included the Free French, Free Polish, Free Belgian, Free Netherlands, Free Norway, Free Czechoslovakia, Free Greece, Australia, and New Zealand. The vast majority however were soldiers, sailors, airmen, and merchant seamen from the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada. Approximately 160,000 soldiers were landed on French beaches from over 5,000 ships and landing craft, manned by over 195,000 allied sailors, and supported by nearly 12,000 military aircraft. By July 24th, when the invasion phase of the liberation of Europe had officially ended, the allies had suffered a combined total of 120,000 killed and wounded.

You might note that of the allied forces at Normandy, Russia was conspicuously absent. (Granted that the Red Army was rather preoccupied with the Eastern Front at the time.) Russia however was represented… by three “Ost-Bataillone” of the German Wehrmacht’s 716th Infantry Division. These Battalions were comprised of former Soviet prisoners-of-war who had volunteered to fight for the Germans rather than endure the conditions in German POW camps, and were of somewhat dubious loyalty. (At the end of the war, Russian POW's in German hands were executed by Stalin, so volunteering didn’t help these unfortunates much.)

Bedford, Virginia, is the location of the National D-Day memorial, where the United States honors those American’s who stormed the Normandy beaches on D-Day, in an effort to rid the world of Nazism. Yet on the 66th anniversary of D-Day, the memorial board quietly erected a monument to an even greater evil, a political system and a tyrant who murdered even more innocent people than the Third Reich ever thought of. Specifically, a monument to Iosif Stalin! Yes, Stalin and the Russians were a crucial part of the final victory over Nazi Germany, but Russian forces were not present at Normandy, and there is no reason to erect a bust of Stalin in the National D-day Memorial! FDR, Churchill, and several other Allied leaders certainly deserve to be there, but Stalin? To my mind this is tantamount to erecting a statue honoring Heinrich Himmler at the Holocaust museum!

According to the Wall Street Journal, “Lee Edwards, chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, minced no words about what he regards as this inexplicable addition: “Since the fall of the Soviet Union, statues of Joseph Stalin have been torn down all over Europe. The world is closer than ever before to a consensus on the evils of communism and Stalin’s primary role in the worst crimes of the last century.” Karl Altau, head of the Baltic American National Committee added: “No matter what they do to explain Stalin’s presence, it’s still going to put him on the same kind of level as the other leaders and their troops who were there at D-Day.” A plaque was finally added mentioning Stalin’s many crimes, as well as his role as a WW II ally, but critics still wonder what can justify the presence of a tyrant whose troops didn’t even play a role in the D-Day landings. William McIntosh, president of the D-Day Memorial Foundation, hasn’t been returning calls from reporters either, but had previously said that his group wanted to note Stalin’s role in winning the war. That “answer” isn’t likely to calm the uproar, and certainly doesn’t sooth my anger either!

Actually, Stalin’s addition should come as no surprise. Americans have forgotten what it was we fought, and our leftists have effectively rehabilitated the ideals of Socialism and Marxism. A Rasmussen survey of 1,000 American “Adults” conducted April 6-7, 2009, indicates that only 53% of Americans believe capitalism is better than socialism, and 20% disagree, saying socialism is better. Twenty-seven percent (27%) aren’t sure. Adults under age 30 are divided with 37% prefering capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% undecided. Adults over 40 on the other hand strongly favor capitalism, and just 13% of those older Americans believe socialism is better. On the partisan side, Republicans favor capitalism by 11-to-1, while among Democrats 39% say capitalism is better, while 30% prefer socialism. As for those with no party affiliation, 48% say capitalism is best, and 21% prefer socialism. Interestingly enough, 15% of Americans say they prefer a government-managed economy.

Throughout the Cold War we resisted a foreign power bent on the expansion of “scientific socialism”, and we won, or at least Soviet communism finally collapsed thanks to its own shortcomings and western pressure. Our victory has been short lived however, as it now seems we have lost the war at home. Only marginally softer socialists came to power in our schools, our churches, and our media during the 1950’s and 60’s. They worked long and hard to convince our youth that free enterprise is evil and corrupt. They did this by pressuring our government to pass laws and regulations that severely restrict capitalism. They then blamed our problems on the “failings” of capitalism! Now of course they teach people that they are entitled to a free ride as well. In actuality, they have created a system somewhat similar to that of the Nazis. Government policy, lawyers, and special interests have warped the system, and that is because government (courtesy of the Progressive efforts), can strangle any business that does not “cooperate”. Fascism worked much the same way, where private citizens could own and operate their own businesses, but they had to be operated in a State approved manner, and their markets were controlled by state central authority. While it’s true that large numbers of Americans oppose Obama’s steady destruction of free enterprise, the fact is that a large number of Americans favor government control of the U.S. economy, despite the failures of such economies throughout history and all over the world.

Socialism is on the ascendancy in America, which is why we probably shouldn’t be surprised to see America honoring one of the world’s most evil men.