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The history department hosted a student research presentation, Ideology, Identity, and Memory in American History: A Panel Discussion April 12 in Bellarmine Hall.

Organized by Melissa Chakars, Ph.D., chair and professor of the department of history, the event featured the work of graduating history students who presented their ongoing theses for feedback from history department faculty andaudience members.

The three presenters, Max Moyer 23, Connor Mignano 23 and Maura Burrell 23, chose their topics based on academic experience and interest, which ultimately decided the theme and title of the panel.

Moyers thesis, From Enslaved to American: Analyzing Changes in Black Identity in South Carolina during Reconstruction, focuses on the identity of African Americans during the Reconstruction period in South Carolina.

The main thing I found during my research, my initial research, was that people look back upon this period with a sort of racial bias, with a bad taste in their mouths, because the gains that were made, whether it be through legislation, through social movements, whatever it is, were rolled back 10 years later, Moyer said.

Christopher Close, Ph.D., associate professor of history, said the panel was an opportunity to celebrate the students research and present it in the format of what it would be like at aprofessional conference.

The panel is really just a chance for the students to present the research theyve been doing all year, to talk about the findings, Close said.

Mignanos thesis, Myth and Memory: The Lost Cause in Philadelphia, focuses on the Lost Cause, the idea that the Confederate States of America went into the Civil War for other reasonsbesides slavery.

The primary objective of my thesis is to present a side of American history that is often left rarely explored, Mignano said. Histories of the Lost Cause focus almost exclusively on the South, and while I think that this is a fair point of analysis, I dont think it captures the full story.

Burrells thesis, US Catholic Institutions between Anti-Communism and Central American Solidarity, focuses on how the Cold War affected Catholic universities throughout the decades, and St. Joes in particular.

I think its important as members of the St. Josephs community [to know] a little bit about the history of St. Joes and how it was affected by the Cold War in general or just the world in general, Burrell said. I think we dont tend to think about those things actively when we attend school.

Burrell said the panel served as a great way for students working on their theses to gain insight and advice on how to move forward with their research.

I think its just a good opportunity to be like, Hey, this is what Im doing, I think its really cool, and this is where Im struggling and get pointers on how to make it better, Burrell said.

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History students present theses research at panel discussion - The Hawk

Communism may not be knocking at your front door, but it isspying in our backyard. Why, then, are our children not being taught the truth about the deadliest ideology the world has ever known? After all, students deserve the facts about communism, both its brutal history and the ongoing oppression of those still living under such regimes.

Communism emerged in the 19th century as a political, societal and economic ideology. Karl Marx, in his Communist Manifesto, established the goals and measures necessary to achieve communism that included the abolition of private property, abolition of the rights of inheritance, the establishment of a classless society, and the centralization of power in the hands of the state. It also specifically called for the destruction of all aspects of the old system through violence and revolution.

Demonstrators in China wave copies of Mao Zedong's Little Red Book while carrying a poster of Karl Marx during a rally on Sept. 14, 1966. (The Associated Press)

To date, more than 100 million people have been killed by communist regimes around the world in their desire to reach this utopian fantasy.

The first attempt to install communism occurred in Russia in 1917, as Vladimir Lenins initial promise of peace, land and bread quickly devolved into terror, collectivization, famine and civil war leading to the deaths of almost 7 million people. Things only got worse under Josef Stalin who killed upward of 20 million Soviets. Those who dissented or stood against this cruel system of rule were sent to the Gulag a system of forced labor camps or were executed. Many tried to escape; most were unsuccessful.

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Millions of innocents held captive behind the Iron Curtain at the conclusion of World War II, like their Soviet counterparts, lived secret lives, fearful of being reported by their neighbors and punished by the regimes terroristic security services. This everyday fear was compounded by food rationing, poor medical care, and propaganda and indoctrination, as well as a lack of basic necessities.

Russian dictator Josef Stalin, left, with Soviet politician Nikolai Bukharin, Nov. 21, 1930. (The Associated Press)

The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, but communism did not. Today, one-fifth of humanity still lives under its brutal rule. North Korea threatens nuclear war from a sprawling, 21st-century gulag; Cuba continues to jail, torture and murder dissidents who dare to dream of democracy; Vietnam arrests citizens for simply posting messages critical of the party; and China commits genocide in mass "re-education" camps, separates families, forcibly sterilizes minority women, uses forced and child labor, and harvests organs of political prisoners all while it crushes liberty in Hong Kong, threatens to invade Taiwan, spies on us at home, and steals billions annually in global intellectual property theft.

By ignoring the continued existence of communism, we are failing to understand the challenges that the United States faces at home and abroad.

China's President Xi Jinping, who serves as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, greets the media before a meeting in Brasilia, Brazil, on Nov. 14, 2019. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, Pool, File)

Alarmingly, a 2020VOC poll found that 40 percent of Americans have a favorable view of socialism. That figure rose to 49 percent in Gen Z, with a third of Gen Z supporting the gradual elimination of capitalism in favor of a more socialist system. Even more shocking, 18 percent of Gen Z and 13 percent of millennials reported that communism is a fairer system than capitalism and deserves consideration in America.

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These results are only possible in a generation whose education was devoid of the true history of communist regimes and their deadly ideology. The history and social studies K-12 academic standards in one state failed recently to even mention the Russian revolution, Lenin or the gulags in the entirety of its over 400 pages. Sadly, many other states standards are similar.

So, what can be done?

Education is the first and most important step. Unfortunately, some in themedia as well as forces on the ground inVirginia andFlorida are opposing efforts to teach our children about the enduring legacy of communism. This is a tragic disservice to Americas students and a blatant dismissal of the 1.5 billion people still suffering under communist regimes. It should not be controversial to talk about historic facts and prepare our students for the world as it exists outside the classroom.

This is why the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC) applauds the numerous state-led efforts to ensure that the truth about communism is taught in all our schools. But more needs to be done.

To answer this call, VOC opened the United States firstmuseum dedicated to the victims of communism. We launched adigitalcurriculum, as well as an in-person and an onlineteacher certification program that includes lesson plans and other educational resources. We also offer awitness speaker series that provides the testimony of those who suffered personally under communism. All of this we provide to students and teachers at no cost.

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We ignore historys warnings at our own peril. The truth about communism is readily available to all through the historic record, but future generations will only learn if they are taught. As the great Soviet dissidentAlexander Solzhenitsyn wrote in his famous "Warning to the West":

"It is astonishing that Communism has been writing about itself in the most open way, in black and white, for 125 years yet somehow no one wants to understand."

We must ensure our students understand.

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Ken Pope is CEO of theVictims of Communism Memorial Foundation, an educational, research and human rights nonprofit organization devoted to commemorating the more than100 million victims killed under communism and more than 1.5 billion people still livingunder communist regimes.

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Students deserve to know this shocking truth about communism - Fox News

This article contains some spoilers.

HBOs latest hit series The Last of Us, based on the 2013 video game of the same name, depicts a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Cordyceps one type of which, Ophiocordyceps, is known to infect insects like carpenter ants and control their behavior evolves to be able to infect humans. It is suggested that this is caused, in part, by global warming. A rapid spread of the virus worldwide paired with a futile government response (deja vu!) results in total societal collapse.

For the first five episodes of the season, the main characters, Joel and Ellie, fight tooth and nail as they travel west from a Quarantine Zone in Boston to Jackson, Wyoming in search of Joels brother, Tommy.

When they find him in episode six, theyre surprised to find a thriving community in Jackson. After seeing the repressive authoritarianism of FEDRA the official authority of what remains of the U.S. military that imposes backbreaking labor on a permanently-impoverished underclass in the Quarantine Zones and the senselessly violent post-revolutionary terror of the gang in control of Kansas City, Jackson is a welcome relief.

As Joel and Ellie walk through Jackson, decked out with Christmas decorations, schools, and even movie theaters, Tommys partner, Maria, explains how their community operates. Everything you see in our town, greenhouses, livestock, all shared. Collective ownership. They make impressive use of hydropower for renewable energy. Work is shared. Government positions are appointed democratically and regularly rotated to create the widest possible participation in the administration of society. So, communism, Joel teases, which Tommy denies. Maria corrects him: This is a commune. Were communists.

Is this actually communism as Marxists would describe it? Not really. But many experiences in the history of the communist movement, whose lessons live on today, bear resemblance to Jackson. Attempts at creating cooperative villages were undertaken by philanthropic capitalist Robert Owen in the early 17th century. Later in 1871, the Paris Commune saw the armed working class driving off the French state to establish a workers state which survived for a short period. The Paris Commune left a lasting mark on consciousness with its example of what a communist society could accomplish, as the workers of Paris rapidly implemented progressive reforms like separation of church and state, equal pay for women, and the requirement that state officials take only the average workers wage.

A genuine communist society, which would take shape through a period of socialism and transitioning away from capitalism would need to be truly global. While the people of Jackson make the best of what they have, they dont have enough. The democratic organization of production would need to be coordinated locally, regionally, and globally to ensure everyone has what they truly need, from the best medicine to technology and production techniques. Furthermore, theyre under constant threat from the outside: the people of Jackson nearly killed Joel and Ellie when they first arrived, aware that hostile forces could come in and destroy everything theyve built. There can be no socialism in one country or in one town, city, or parish for that matter that wont immediately suffer hostility and sabotage from the rest of the capitalist world hell-bent on eliminating any threats to their system.

And the good news is, it wont take an apocalypse that turns the population into zombie-like monsters to achieve. On the other hand, we wont be able to rely on a freak accident of nature to wipe the billionaire class off the planet and render useless their wealth and the institutions that defend it.

While we cant say episode six of The Last of Us was genuine socialism or communism, many young people watching the show, the majority of whom prefer socialism to capitalism, were no doubt pleasantly surprised to see a positive depiction of a non-capitalist, collectivist society. But for this type of society to be won, to survive in the long term, and to truly flourish, it will take a fight. This fight wont look like the Fireflies tactics of underground networks and terrorism, but a broad movement of working people and the oppressed united in solidarity to overthrow the regime of capitalism, seize the wealth and means of production from the ruling class, and build from the ground up a society of our own.

The Last of Us, starring Bella Ramsey as Ellie and Pedro Pascal (who is related on his mothers side to Chilean socialist leader Salvador Allende) as Joel, is an exciting watch. While the story of The Last of Us, in the show and the game, ultimately puts forward nihilistic theses on violence and human nature, the post-apocalyptic setting provides for interesting depictions of how society might be organized without the fetter of capitalism. With Season 1 wrapped up, HBO watchers can now look forward to the dysfunctional antics of the wealthy megalomaniac Roy family in the final season of Succession!

Read this article:
Communism Gets a Cameo in The Last of Us - Socialist Alternative

Official trailer for Big Jake starring John Wayne

John Wayne, who stars in the 1947 flick Angel and the Badman on STZEN from 3pm on April 2, was once the target of death threats by Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin, who believed the Hollywood pin-up would be detrimental to his communist crusade. Stalin led the Soviet Union between 1924 and his death in 1953, and accused Wayne and his close associates of using anti-communist rhetoric. Among the others also targeted was Orson Welles, the acclaimed actor, director and producer of the 1941 film Citizen Kane.

The details of Stalin's desire to kill one of the world's most recognisable faces was laid bare in the 2001 book John Wayne - The Man Behind The Myth, which was written by film historian Michael Munn.

According to Munn, Stalin became aware of Wayne's influence during conversations with the Russian filmmaker Sergei Gerasimov. He himself learned about Wayne when attending a peace conference in 1949, in New York.

As the pair talked, it soon became clear that Gerasimov believed Wayne embodied ardent anti-communist beliefs, and the actor was on Stalin's hit list.

Munn recalled being told of this plot by Welles during a dinner in 1983, and that the actor said: "Stalin had decided that he would have [Wayne] killed."

While admitting that Welles was a "great storyteller", the tale itself was offered to him without a prompt.

Stuntman Yakima Canutt, Munn detailed, also saved Wayne's life, the actor once told him. Munn continued: "Yakima told me that the FBI had discovered there were agents sent to Hollywood to kill John Wayne.

"He said the FBI had come to tell John about the plot. John told the FBI to let the men show up and he would deal with them."

Wayne reportedly carried out a scheme with his scriptwriter Jimmy Grant to abduct the assassins, drive to a beach and then mimic an execution in a bid to frighten them. Munn was unsure if this actually happened.

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He added: "Afterwards though, John shunned FBI protection and did not want his family to know. He moved into a house with a big wall around it."

In a bid to stay away from communists looking to kill him, Wayne's stuntmen came to his aid. "He then gathered all the stuntmen, went to the communist meetings, and had a huge fight," Mr Munn said - the moment Canutt "saved Wayne's life".

The order for Wayne's death was reportedly cancelled by Nikita Khrushchev following Stalin's death. Khrushchev and Wayne met to discuss the scenario in 1958.

Khrushchev, the book claims, said the death threat was "a decision of Stalin during his last five mad years... when Stalin died, I rescinded that order".

Wayne was renowned for detesting the values of communism, so much so he even played a prominent role in creating the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals (MPA) in 1944, becoming President five years later.

Its membership included the likes of Ronald Reagan, Walt Disney and Clark Gable.

For a man so intrinsically linked to stereotypical personas of what a man should look like in the Thirties and Forties, it is a surprise that, unlike his fellow Americans, Wayne did not fight in World War Two.

His contemporaries, such as Gable, Jimmy Stewart, Mel Brooks and Kirk Douglas, all served, but Wayne was excused on medical grounds and instead continued his film career.

JUST IN:

Being unable to serve was a "terrible embarrassment" for Wayne, Carolyn McGivern's 2000 book John Wayne: A Giant Shadow argued. The star reportedly said: "Mine became the task of holding high and ever visible the value that everyone was fighting for."

However, there were counterclaims that Wayne could have served, including by author Marc Eliot, who discussed the topic in his 2014 book American Titan: Searching for John Wayne.

He claimed Wayne did not want to fight Germany on account of his relationship with Marlene Dietrich, a German actress he reportedly had an affair with. Unwilling to end the bonk, Wayne instead just vetoed taking part in the war.

In 2014's publication John Wayne: The Life and Legend, by author Scott Eyman, Wayne, who won the Best Actor Oscar in 1970, described how one encounter affected him while he grew up.

He wrote: "Duke Morrison [Wayne]'s learning experiences were not always pleasant, but deeply imprinted on his ethical compass. He remembered catching a bee, and tying a thread around the creature so all it could do was fly in circles. A boy who was about three years older and had recently arrived from Poland walked by and said, 'Don't do that.'

"Morrison ignored him and kept tormenting the bee, at which point, he remembered, 'The roof fell in.'"

He added: "[Wayne] found himself lying on the ground with the Polish boy standing over him. With a heavy accent, the boy said, 'I've just come from a war, from Poland. Don't ever be cruel to animals. Or people.'

"'It was quite a lesson,' Duke said. 'I'll never forget it.'"

More:
John Wayne's death was 'ordered' by Joseph Stalin because of star's threat to communism - Express

Justin Hendrix is CEO and Editor of Tech Policy Press. The views expressed here are his own.

The hearing was billed as an opportunity for lawmakers to get to the bottom of issues ranging from data privacy to national security to consumer protection. One lawmaker referred to alarming revelations in recent months, including how foreign actors abuse the social media platform to take millions of Americans personal information without their knowledge in order to manipulate public opinion, while another worried about how it might hurt peoples mental health, especially young people. Yet another brought up the platforms racially discriminatory practices.

The CEO, in a dark suit, crisp shirt and blue tie, extolled the values of free expression, but reassured the lawmakers that when violative content is discovered, it is removed. He defended the companys use of personal data, and suggested he would welcome new privacy regulations. He promised lawmakers he took their concerns seriously, and committed to changes that would better protect the American people. And on numerous occasions, he promised hed have his staff follow up on questions posed by lawmakers for which he did not have an immediate answer.

Of course, that CEO was Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, in his 2018 testimony before the Senates Commerce and Judiciary committees. That there are so many obvious parallels to the dialogue between lawmakers and TikTok CEO Shou Chew in this weeks hearing in the House Energy & Commerce Committee underscores a crucial fact that was lost in the blizzard of pointed questions, open disdain, and at times xenophobic vitriol directed at him: Congress needs to accept its share of blame for the harms of TikTok. The failure of lawmakers to pass any significant statute to address the dangers of social media is what created the conditions for TikToks extraordinary growth.

There were glimmers of self-awareness from the lawmakers during this weeks hearing, to be sure:

Yet especially when it comes to privacy concerns, the reality that this is a problem for social media companies generally undercuts the primary logic for a TikTok ban. As Washington Post staff writer Will Oremus pointed out, reams of data on Americans shopping habits, browsing history and real-time location, collected by websites and mobile apps, is bought and sold on the open market in a multi-hundred-billion-dollar industry. If the Chinese Communist Party wanted that data, it could get huge volumes of it without ever tapping TikTok.

Indeed. TikTok is not a product of Chinese communism, it is a product of American surveillance capitalism. If Congress wants to address the apps underlying harms, it should ban surveillance advertising, not TikTok.

One lawmaker who appears to understand this most clearly is Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who is not a member of the Energy & Commerce Committee. In a video (on TikTok- her first on the platform), she explained the crux of the matter:

Some of the arguments about banning TikTok have come with respect to discussions around Chinese surveillance and utilization of data that is tracked, and the enormous amount of tracking on U.S. citizens and data that is harvested by TikTok. And they say because of this egregious amount of data harvesting, we should ban this app. However, that doesnt really address the core of the issue, which is the fact that major social media companies are allowed to collect troves of deeply personal data about you that you dont know about without really any significant regulation whatsoever. In fact, the United States is one of the only developed nations in the world that has no significant data or privacy protection laws on the books.

Energy & Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) and Ranking Member Pallone, of course, are two of the primary architects of a potential solution, along with Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-FL). But in the last Congress, lawmakers failed to advance their American Data Privacy and Protection Act, despite bipartisan approval in the House Energy & Commerce Committee and overwhelming public support for its key provisions. If they want to truly protect the U.S. from the harms of TikTok, then the leaders of both parties should focus their members less on whether Xi Jinping is using TikTok to propagandize Americans and more on how to move such legislation forward.

Our first priority should be in protecting your ability to exist without social media companies harvesting and commodifying every single piece of data about you without you and without your consent, said Rep. Ocasio-Cortez. That calls for less hearings, and more action. No more theater with contrite executives in dark suits, crisp shirts, and blue ties; weve heard enough promises. If Congress cant deliver on that most basic priority, then it must accept its portion of blame for all the harms that follow.

Justin Hendrix is CEO and Editor of Tech Policy Press, a new nonprofit media venture concerned with the intersection of technology and democracy. Previously, he was Executive Director of NYC Media Lab. He spent over a decade at The Economist in roles including Vice President, Business Development & Innovation. He is an associate research scientist and adjunct professor at NYU Tandon School of Engineering. Opinions expressed here are his own.

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Congress Deserves Its Share of Blame for TikTok's Harms - Tech Policy Press