crimes committed by totalitarian regimes - Ministrstvo za pravosodje

Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes
I believe that open objective discussions organized at the European level, with evaluation and
condemnation of the Soviet totalitarian regime, its crimes and ideology, should be the next positive
example of critical thinking and will strengthen the grounds of European democracy. “Resolution
1481” (2006) of Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe and these hearings are first steps in that
direction.
European political leadership and value-based decisions are in greatest importance. But it seams
that most of these leaders do not recognize the importance of this process for Europe’s future. Some
because they and their countries were happy not to experience Soviet atrocities and these “historical
questions” are not simply important for them. But some, mostly left wing politicians, usually do not
support the idea of condemning Soviet-Communist system because of their ideological proximity.
Political proximity of the Marxist-Communist ideology to the Western democratic left-wing
parties most likely contributed to it. I must stress that on one hand, Western social-democratic ideology
and principles of social solidarity and the welfare state have nothing to do with pseudo-scientific
Communist ideology and the totalitarian anti-human practices of the Soviet totalitarian state. But on
another hand, some theoretical-ideological proximity exists. So, softly speaking, the sceptical attitude
of the representatives and leaders of left-wing parties in international organisations and forums when
trying to suspend the initiatives to evaluate the ideology of the communist regime and its crimes leads
us to this conclusion.
The position of the post-Soviet States also adds to the fact that thus far the communist regime, its
ideology and crimes have not been properly evaluated yet. A large part of the political and economic
elite of these countries has been rooted in that time period and they are not interested in raising similar
issues.
Furthermore, “young democracies of Europe” lack maturity – they clearly fail to identify themselves
in the historical process and are at a loss within the geopolitical context; issues of the long-term state
strategy and values are practically not discussed in policy and public discourse; their elite is mainly
concerned with material issues – solving short-term economic problems. Though value-based issues are
difficult to grasp, it is in this sphere that the most intense competition, and even a struggle, is going on
between the most powerful of the world for the brains of individual people, communities, entire states
or even regions. Mature Western States understood it a long time ago and devote special attention to the
value-based issues in their policies – dozens of institutions and “think tanks”, hundreds of ideologists
who carry out the state commissions, are at work. Long-term strategies and conceptions are being
devised for the implementation of which services of total administrative capacities of the state, and the
diplomatic corps, in particular, are requested. When observing Russia’s policy, one can unambiguously
state that it also clearly positions itself in this value-based space devoting special attention to the use of
history within the geopolitical context.
Summarizing this part of my presentation: Europe is lacking determination and political leadership
based on moral grounds. In my view, politics that are not based on moral considerations are, at the end
of the day, not practical politics at all.
5. The concept of genocide
One of the arguments that Nazism and Soviet Communism cannot be treated at the same level
relates to the concept of genocide. The “United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide of 1948” is taken as the standard of this concept. The Convention enumerates
those groups against whom the activity committed is considered as the crime of genocide – they are
national, ethnic, racial and religious groups. However, it should be noted that the definition of the very
term genocide by its author Raphael Lemkin involved also attacks against political and social groups.
Political groups also appeared in the “United Nations Resolution No. 96” (I) of 1946, in the draft of the
“Convention” prepared by the Ad Hoc Committee. It was only at the last moment that with efforts of
the Soviet Union and its satellites – other puppet communist regimes – no place was left in the final text
of the Convention for repression against political groups. However, did dozens of millions of victims
of the Soviet-Communist regime suffer less, or is the totalitarian communist regime less evil because of
that? Does the modern world of the 21 st century have to follow documents from Stalin’s time and spirit,
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