|
|
|
R E S O L U T I O N
|
|
WHEREAS, In 2017, President Donald Trump designated November |
|
7 as a national day of remembrance for the victims of communism; and |
|
WHEREAS, The date commemorates the anniversary of the |
|
Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917, when the first communist |
|
regime, led by Vladimir Lenin, initiated decades of oppression and |
|
violence around the world; despite promises of equality and |
|
liberation, communist dictators such as Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, |
|
Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot, Nicolae Ceausescu, Fidel and Raúl Castro, and |
|
the Kim dynasty of North Korea have murdered vast numbers of people |
|
in genocidal purges, persecuted others for speaking out, and |
|
suppressed freedom of thought, cultural life, and |
|
self-determination movements in more than 40 nations; and |
|
WHEREAS, Based on the theories of Karl Marx, this political |
|
ideology has been responsible for the deaths of more than 100 |
|
million people, and it has subjected countless others to some of the |
|
worst human rights abuses in history; as the bipartisan |
|
U.S. Congressional Caucus for the Victims of Communism has stated, |
|
"Marx's defenders often say he cannot be held accountable for what |
|
communist regimes did long after his life and death, but Marxist |
|
dictators who massacred their own people were applying communist |
|
ideology to political practice"; and |
|
WHEREAS, The United States Congress has established the |
|
Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, D.C., a |
|
nonprofit organization tasked with the dual purpose of educating |
|
Americans about the history and legacy of communism and honoring |
|
those who have suffered and died under it; and |
|
WHEREAS, For more than a century, communist regimes have |
|
deprived their own citizens of the freedoms of religion, speech, |
|
and association, and their official policies of coercion, |
|
brutality, and fear have proven incompatible with the ideals of |
|
liberty, prosperity, and the dignity of human life; now, therefore, |
|
be it |
|
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 86th Texas |
|
Legislature hereby recognize November 7, 2019, as Victims of |
|
Communism Memorial Day and commend all those associated with the |
|
Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation for their important work; |
|
and, be it further |
|
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be |
|
prepared for the foundation as an expression of high regard by the |
|
Texas House of Representatives. |