While the horrors of Nazism are well known, who knows that the Soviet Union murdered 20 million people? Who knows that China's dictators have slaughtered an estimated 60 million? Who knows that the Communist holocaust has exacted a death toll surpassing that of all of the wars of the 20th century combined?
Just as we must grasp Communism's brutality, we must understand the true cause of this era's most significant event: the fall of the Soviet Union. While we believe that Vaclav Havel was right when he saw the fall of the Communist empire as an event on the same scale as the fall of the Roman Empire, it was not the end of Communism. Its specter still haunts the world. In Russia, one-third of the people believe that Stalin "did more good than bad for the country," according to a recent poll. In China, thousands of dissidents are imprisoned in the slave labor camps known as the laogai. In North Korea, masses starve as the leadership threatens to unleash nuclear war. In Cuba, dissidents are routinely imprisoned for peacefully petitioning for democratic reform.
Because of this, the Cold War victory remains incomplete and we must do our best to make everyone recognize the true nature of this mad ideology. A free society must not allow itself to be content until everyone recognizes Communism is a road to terror and oppression.
We the undersigned support the building of a Monument to the Victims of Communism, in Ottawa. The building of this monument is long overdue, and we respectfully request that the House of Commons in Parliament Assembled commit to its construction as soon as possible. Communism is not a thing of the past, but rages in many countries today, and poses a threat to the free world of the future. We must seize the opportunity now to not only commemorate past crimes, but to educate new generations on the dangers of losing democracy