Marxist communism is alive and well, said Chairman of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation Elizabeth Spalding in a speech on Monday. 

“Widespread ignorance about communism prevails,” she said. “Many Americans are uneducated, have forgotten, or have chosen to disbelieve truths about communism and the destruction it brings.”

Spalding pointed to the ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels as the foundation of communist ideas and highlighted several countries, including China, Iran, North Korea, and Russia, that have embraced these ideas in recent history. Her speech was part of this week’s Center for Constructive Alternatives and discussed the history of communism as well as the hold it has on Americans currently.

Spalding said 44% of Americans aged 18-29 today have a positive view of communism despite the cultural destruction caused by those ideas in societies.

“Communism denies human nature and rights,” she said. “It turns men into blank slates, ready to be socially engineered.” 

According to Spalding, communism has four principles it aims to destroy in societies.

“Private property, religion, family, and country are the things communism wants to abolish most of all,” she said. “In a communist society, there is limited scope for human flourishing and no real freedom.”

Spalding highlighted figures such as Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky, and Joseph Stalin as some of the biggest names in the spread of communism, which has been the political system responsible for the most deaths in recent history.

“Communism has killed more people in the 19th and 20th centuries than any other political system,” she said. “There have been 100 million deaths in communist regimes worldwide since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, which is more than both of the world wars combined.” 

Communism not only aims for physical death, Spalding said, but it advocates for the death of personal freedoms.

“In communism, there was and is no rule of law, no self-government, no free press, no rights of association, and no petition,” she said. “Communism aims to repress, eradicate and destroy what we in the West take for granted.”

Spalding said it is important to not only fight for these rights and to stand up against communism, but also to support the work of those who do.

“We should bring attention wherever possible to those who dissent,” Spalding said, referring to the recent death of Russian dissenter Alexei Navalny. “What is correct, right, and ultimately in our own interest are things worth defending.”

The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation is a nonprofit organization that aims to remember the lives lost to communism and encourage those still fighting against it.

Senior Mary Clare Hamilton attended the speech and said she is thankful for the opportunity to hear Spalding speak.

“It is definitely an honor for her to come and talk to us,” Hamilton said. “She is a giant in the world that is fighting the Communist Party, and it’s an honor to listen to her.”

Hamilton said Spalding’s discussion of communism in youth today is an important topic to keep discussing.

“I think that the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation is doing a lot of really awesome work, especially in Washington, D.C., to counterbalance this narrative,” she said. “Because communism is definitely something that 18 to 30 year olds are for.”

Sophomore Dylan Hughes said he enjoyed Spalding’s balanced presentation of communism in history as well as its presence today.

“She was very well-spoken and it was just a really well done presentation — very informative and numbers-driven,” he said. “She did a good job of mixing the ideas of, ‘the reality is, communism was and is really bad,’ but also not like ‘we’re doomed, this is happening again.’”

Hughes said he appreciated Spalding’s warning against communist ideas in today’s society.

“It was good to be reminded of just how dangerous these ideologies can be when they’re implemented,” he said.

Spalding said that moving forward, it is important to continue to fight against the spread of communism as many have been doing for decades.

“The opposite of evil is good,” she said. “If we look to the highest good, then we must then call out and reject the evils of communism as Reagan worked to do.”