What did the new 1936 constitution really mean for life in the Soviet Union when the country was, at that very moment, descending into the savage political persecution of Stalin’s Great Purge?
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According to our YouGov survey, one third of all Americans would prefer to live under socialism rather than capitalism. Why? Is it due to idealism, the desire for a classless society in which everyone is equal and envy does not exist because everything is owned in common? Is it a lack of knowledge, sheer ignorance?
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Today, Greece is a deeply divided nation, not just in its internal politics and economic relationship with the European Union, but in its perception of the past and its relations with the United States.
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The wounds of forty years of communist rule are still felt in 2018. Until Romania can come to terms with its communist past and reckon with the crimes committed by those who held power, those wounds will still fester.
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In 1956, a small group of Hungarian monks came to the United States with nothing but their sense of community, their calling to teach, and the memories of the horror they had left behind.
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There is a path open to Nicaraguans to return to vibrant, pluralist, liberal democracy—and the only thing standing in their way is the regime of Daniel Ortega.
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Alketa Xhafa Mripa’s latest project, entitled “Even Walls Have Ears," will project the testimony of Albanian victims of communism onto the walls of her country.
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The list of celebrities banned from entering China is not a short one. While most countries would probably feel flattered by a visit from Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, or Harrison Ford, the People’s Republic is not one of them. So what does it take to get banned by China?
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With The Death of Stalin, director Armando Iannucci delivers an historical satire that is uproariously, at times wickedly, funny. The film manages to mock the absurdity of the communist system while leaving the audience with the firm conviction that the system itself— built upon horrific violence and suppression—is no laughing matter.
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On May 1, 1990, thousands of Soviet citizens declared, on live television and in the hearing of the entire world, that the General Secretary had no clothes.
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The international community should remember not only to advocate for the return of all the foreign nationals held against their will in North Korea, but also recall just what kind of regime would embark on such a horrifying and destructive scheme in the first place.
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Despite the importance of arms control negotiations, there is another issue that cannot be left off the table: the fate of three American citizens currently held in captivity by North Korea.
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The prospect of talks between North Korea and the US raises far-ranging implications for stability and security, both in the region and globally. However, any talks should not ignore the continued human rights abuses and crimes perpetrated against the people of North Korea.
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In a last-ditch effort to save the pyramid scheme that is Venezuelan socialism, the government of Venezuela has apparently launched another pyramid scheme. Last month, it released its own rival to the popular cryptocurrency bitcoin: the petro.
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Is communism environmentally friendly? A powerful central government with a collectivist philosophy might be just the thing necessary to combat pollution, climate change, and modern society’s rampant disregard for nature. But let's dig a little deeper...
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Just a few months ago, the #MeToo movement erupted, spreading across the globe and changing the face of feminism. Millions of women took their stories to the social media stage, calling for an end to silence on the discrimination and abuse they had suffered because of their gender. Women in the workplace, academia, and even in the media joined hands in sharing their narratives and airing their oppressions. It’s no wonder a movement of this scale seeped into even the most guarded countries.
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Wuilly Arteaga is a young Venezuelan violinist who attracted worldwide attention for playing his music in the midst of Venezuela’s massive 2017 anti-government protests. In retaliation, government forces destroyed his violin and arrested and tortured him. Wuilly is now one of the approximately three million Venezuelans who have left their country to escape its authoritarian regime. During a recent trip to Washington, Wuilly sat down with Dissident to discuss his activism and the experience of the Venezuelan diaspora.
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Everyone is familiar with the Nuremberg Trials that were convened in 1945 to prosecute the crimes of Nazi Germany. The trials served as a final day of reckoning for the violent and destructive Nazi ideology that had wreaked havoc on Europe for more than a decade. Considering how deadly the ideology of communism proved to be in Eastern Europe, Russia, and elsewhere, why has there never been a similar trial for the crimes committed by the communist regime in the Soviet Union? This was the question raised by Vladimir Bukovsky.
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Today, Rosa María Payá awarded the Oswaldo Payá Prize prize in Havana—despite the fact that the recipients had been deported from the country and the location of the ceremony was surrounded by state security agents.
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We must not allow geopolitics to eclipse the arduous struggle being waged by human rights activists in Vietnam—especially Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quỳnh, known as “Mother Mushroom.”