EXCERPT
This week marks two widely ignored, yet important, anniversaries. One hundred years ago, on Aug. 25, 1920, Vladimir Lenin’s invasion of Europe was defeated as the Battle of Warsaw came to a decisive end, a victory known in Poland as “The Miracle of the Vistula.”
Eighty-one years ago, on Aug. 23, 1939, the Soviet Union began to succeed where it earlier had failed, with the signing of the infamous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany. The agreement between Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin set forth a division of the free nation of Poland between the two totalitarian regimes — a division made real after the outbreak of World War II only weeks later — and set in motion a chain of events that led to the descending of the Iron Curtain across Europe within a decade.
Far from being historical curiosities, these anniversaries deserve renewed attention. They are an enduring reminder that communism is fundamentally expansionist, seeking to swallow its neighbors and snuff out democracy, its mortal enemy. At a time when communism is growing in power and popularity, it would be wise for Americans and all freedom-loving people to remind ourselves about the mortal danger of the ideology of Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao.
At the time of publishing, Marion Smith was executive director of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation.
Originally published in The Hill.