Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ).
Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) and other co-chairs of the Congressional Victims of Communism Caucus wrote to EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Tuesday, urging him not to appear or speak at the May 5th unveiling event of the statue of Karl Marx which the People’s Republic of China has gifted to the city of Trier, Germany.
“We strongly urge you not to appear or speak at the planned May 5th unveiling of the Karl Marx statue that the People’s Republic of China—a country that continues Marx’s legacy of repression and terror today—donated to the city of Trier,” the Members stated in the letter. Rep. Smith was joined by Reps. Daniel Lipinski (D-IL), Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), and Dennis A. Ross (R-FL) on the letter to Juncker.
The unveiling of the 20-foot bronze statue of Marx will occur during the bicentennial of his birth in Trier, Germany, his place of birth, where events of remembrance including an exhibition on his life have already been scheduled.
In 2017, Beijing approached the city with a proposal to build a 20-foot bronze statue of Marx, to also mark the occasion and as a gesture of solidarity with Germany. After months of deliberation, the City Council of Trier finally accepted the offer.
“The city council of Trier’s decision to accept China’s Karl Marx statue as a gift is a direct insult to the millions of Europeans who suffered for half a century under Marxist dictatorships,” the letter stated.
The co-chairs advised Juncker that if he does speak at the unveiling, he should put the victims of communism at the center of his remarks and “speak the truth” about Marx, as dictators since Marx’s time have applied his revolutionary ideology in practice.
“Violence and Marxism go hand in hand,” the letter stated, noting that Marx, in an 1848 newspaper article, said that “revolutionary terror” was necessary to bring about “the new society.”
“Marx’s defenders often say he cannot be held accountable for what communist regimes did long after his life and death; but Marxist dictators who massacred their own people were applying communist ideology to political practice,” the letter stated. “Marxist regimes are responsible for murdering at least 100 million lives: 65 million in China; over 20 million in the Soviet Union; and over 2 million in North Korea. Communism’s death toll is at least 100 million dead, making it the most destructive ideology in human history.”