Title: Expressing support for designation of November 7 as annual "Victims of Communism Memorial Day".
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
This resolution recognizes the victims of communist regimes and requests that the President issue a yearly proclamation declaring the National Day for the Victims of Communism.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 679 Introduced in House (IH)]

<DOC>






116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 679

Expressing support for designation of November 7 as annual ``Victims of 
                       Communism Memorial Day''.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 5, 2019

  Mr. Lipinski (for himself, Mr. Smith of New Jersey, and Mr. Duncan) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                        on Oversight and Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Expressing support for designation of November 7 as annual ``Victims of 
                       Communism Memorial Day''.

Whereas the year 2017 marked 100 years since the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia 
        resulting in the world's first Communist regime under Vladimir Lenin, 
        which led to decades of oppression and violence under Communist regimes 
        throughout the world;
Whereas the people of the United States should always remember the crimes 
        committed by Communist regimes in the past century, and which are still 
        being committed today;
Whereas based on the philosophy of Karl Marx, communism has proven incompatible 
        with the ideals of liberty, prosperity, and dignity of human life, and 
        has given rise to such infamous totalitarian dictators as Joseph Stalin, 
        Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh, Pol Pot, Nicolae Ceausescu, the Castro 
        brothers, and the Kim dynasty;
Whereas Communist regimes worldwide have killed more than 100 million people and 
        subjected countless others to the worst and widest spread human rights 
        abuses known to history, with victims representing many different 
        ethnicities, creeds, and backgrounds;
Whereas through false promises of equality and liberation, Communist regimes 
        have as a matter of government policy robbed their own citizens of the 
        rights of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of 
        association through coercion, brutality, and fear;
Whereas the bipartisan Congressional Caucus for the Victims of Communism stated 
        publicly in 2018 that ``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 President Donald Trump declared November 7, 2017, as National Day for 
        the Victims of Communism, condemning communism as a political philosophy 
        ``incompatible with liberty, prosperity, and the dignity of human 
        life''; and
Whereas President Donald Trump issued a statement on November 7, 2018, honoring 
        the ``memory of the more than 100 million people who have been killed 
        and persecuted by communist totalitarian regimes'' and reaffirming 
        ``steadfast support for those who strive for peace, prosperity, and 
        freedom around the world''; and
Whereas the States of Alabama, Illinois, Missouri, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, 
        Texas, Utah, and Virginia have either established or introduced bills 
        designating November 7 as ``Victims of Communism Memorial Day'' on an 
        annual basis in their respective States; and
Whereas the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, DC, is a 
        nonprofit organization, authorized by a unanimous Act of Congress that 
        educates people about the ideology, history, and legacy of communism and 
        honors the people who have suffered and died under Communist regimes: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
            (1) supports the designation of ``Victims of Communism 
        Memorial Day'' to recognize the 100 million victims of 
        Communist regimes; and
            (2) requests the President of the United States to issue a 
        yearly proclamation declaring the National Day for the Victims 
        of Communism, commemorating the victims of communism, and 
        condemning the crimes of Communist regimes, past and present.
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