Why are the horrors of Nazism so well-known and widely condemned, but not those of socialism and communism? What goes untaught and possibly is covered up is that socialist and communist ideas have produced the greatest evil in mankind's history.
One answer can be seen in those who rant against war while calling for bigger government. The number of dead caused by all of the wars in the past five centuries is less than the total the number of murders modern totalitarian governments committed against their own people in just the last century. The totals cited by Professor Williams should shock every so-called pacificist out of their cherished benevolent-government fantasies:
Between 1917 and 1987, Vladimir Lenin, Josef Stalin and their successors murdered and were otherwise responsible for the deaths of 62 million of their own people. Between 1949 and 1987, China's communists, led by Mao Zedong and his successors, murdered and were otherwise responsible for the deaths of 76 million Chinese.
The most authoritative tally of history's most murderous regimes is documented on University of Hawaii Professor Rudolph J. Rummel's website, at
Freedom, Democide, War: Home Page, and in his book "Death by Government."
How much hunting down and punishment have there been for these communist murderers? To the contrary, it's acceptable both in Europe and in the U.S. to hoist and march under the former USSR's red flag emblazoned with a hammer and sickle.
Mao Zedong has been long admired by academics and leftists across our country, as they often marched around singing the praises of Mao and waving his little red book, "Quotations From Chairman Mao Tse-tung." President Obama's communications director, Anita Dunn, in her June 2009 commencement address to St. Andrews Episcopal High School at Washington National Cathedral, said Mao was one of her heroes.