Following a vote (at a recent meeting of Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe), August 23rd will be a day of remembrance for the victims Naziism and Stalinism. Russian delegates voted against this resolution; they walked out in protest, after the resolution was approved. Describing this event at:
http://www.empirechronicles.co.uk/2009/07/06/osce-equates-stalinism-and-nazism
Sten wrote,"Russia, naturally, isn't too happy about the resolution." I do not think that this is NATURAL. Russia (actually the entire Soviet Union) made essential contributions to the defeat of the horrible Nazi regime. Some numbers are summarized in my OpEd at
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Red-Army-During-World-War-by-Ludwik-Kowalski-081106-838.html
And Russian people (actually Soviet people) suffered enormously from the Stalinist regime of proletarian dictatorship. Numbers and references can be seen in my short and easy-to-read book on Stalinism:
http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/excerpts.html
It is not a scholarly book; I am not a historian. The book, published last fall, was written for those who know very little about the Soviet history. A review and comments can be seen at
http://pages.csam.montclair.edu/~kowalski/revcom.html
That book, by the way, is dedicated to my father, one of millions of victims of Stalinism. He died in GULAG, several years before most of his relatives, in Poland, were exterminated by Nazis.
It is natural to remember all victims of Naziism and Stalinism on the same day. It is not natural to oppose this. Take a random sample of ten Russians. What is a probability that at least half of their relatives were victims of Stalinism and victims of Naziism? My guess is that the probability would not be very low. In fact, I strongly suspect that family members of some delegates (who protested the OSCE resolution) were also victims of both regimes. I am glad that the overwhelming majority of delegate approved the resolution.
