President Trump marked a national observance on Wednesday for the millions victims who died as a result of international communism.
“On the National Day for the Victims of Communism, we honor the memory of the more than 100 million people who have been killed and persecuted by communist totalitarian regimes,” the president said in a White House statement. “We also reaffirm our steadfast support for those who strive for peace, prosperity, and freedom around the world.”
Communism, or Marxism-Leninism, is a political ideology whose adherents first seized power during the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. Often referred to by the euphemism “scientific socialism,” communism sought to reshape societies through collectivist systems that seek to change human nature through labor.
A main feature of communism is an implacable hostility to capitalism, the economic system that has produced the most advanced and freest civilization in human history.