By: Dr Vinko Gorenak
Some time ago, I wrote about the contents of the Resolution on European Conscience and Totalitarianism, which was adopted by the European Parliament (EP) back in 2009. In this resolution, the EP condemns all three totalitarianisms of the previous century, which significantly impacted Europe and Slovenia. These are fascism, Nazism, and communism – three of the most brutal systems of the 20th century, responsible for millions of innocent victims. In Slovenia’s case, this is particularly relevant regarding communism, especially with regard to the extrajudicial killings of people after World War II. In 2009, all Slovenian members of the European Parliament, regardless of their political affiliation, voted in favour of this resolution.
And why am I writing about this topic again? The reason is that the deputies in our National Assembly (DZ) recently discussed a draft law on amendments to the law on public order and peace. You might say it is nothing special. Perhaps you thought that the deputies of the Golob’s coalition want to impose more order in some area. But that is not the case. The draft law has a modest four articles, the most important of which states: “Anyone who glorifies, defends, or promotes Nazi or fascist ideology in a public place, carries, hangs, displays, shouts, performs, distributes, publishes, or otherwise uses greetings, anthems or songs, flags, uniforms, signs, slogans or other marks or symbols (and related visual and audiovisual materials) characteristic of Nazism, fascism, and their collaborationist organisations from World War II, and thereby causes disturbance or unrest or a feeling of threat, shall be punished with a fine of 1,000 to 2,500 euros.”
Thus, the deputies of the Golob’s coalition have somehow targeted Nazism and fascism, while completely forgetting about the third totalitarianism of the last century – communism. I probably do not need to explain in detail that communism is a totalitarian system of the last century, at least not from the perspective of the Slovenes killed during and after World War II, as evidenced by over 600 documented concealed mass graves in Slovenia.
However, the deputies of the Golob’s coalition deliberately overlooked Resolution 1096 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (1996), which addresses the necessity of dismantling the legacy of former communist totalitarian systems, Resolution 1481 of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (2006) on the need for international condemnation of the crimes of totalitarian communist regimes, and the European Parliament’s declaration of August 23rd as the European Day of Remembrance for Victims of all Totalitarian and Authoritarian Regimes (2009).
I no longer closely follow the parliamentary discussions, so I quickly skimmed the transcript of the DZ session where the aforementioned draft law was discussed. I was astonished by a statement made by deputy Martin Premko. What he said in the debate does not withstand any civilisational scrutiny. He stated (DZ transcript – verbatim quote): “…Nazism and fascism are based on a criminal, violent ideology, while communism seeks an equal society. To prevent capital ownership over production means that there would be peace and international harmony in the world. This is what communism advocates, and no one denies that crimes have been committed in the name of communism…”
In his opinion, Nazism and fascism are criminal ideologies, while communism is something good, as it aims for equality in society and international harmony, while simultaneously acknowledging that crimes were also committed in the name of communism. Who committed those crimes if not the violent and criminal communists, as he attributes only to fascism and Nazism but not to communism? The draft law was accepted in the first reading with 47 votes from the deputies of the Golob’s coalition.
One cannot believe that the Golob’s coalition is hypocritical, just as all their predecessors of the new, i.e., leftist, political figures have been, who are all proud successors of the criminal communism to which they still bow.
But it is not the same everywhere. I first visited Budapest privately in 1994 and again in 2011. In 1994, the city centre around the parliament was full of statues from the communist era, while in 2011, there was no trace of them. The tourist office told me that if I wanted to see the statues from the communist era, I would have to pay 15 euros for admission and drive 20 kilometres from the city centre to a special park where I could view them. Here, however, we still have numerous statues of the dictator Tito, squares and streets named after him, and the Golob’s coalition is returning him from the museum to the official residence at Brdo pri Kranju, where foreign dignitaries will be able to admire him. What will they think of us? Thus, the Golob’s coalition is literally returning us to communism. To be continued.