July 24, 2007 | By DeEtte Chatterton

Captive nations

Many people will tell you that communism and totalitarianism ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Pundits declared communism defeated, and many cheered when one scholar famously suggested that we had arrived at “the end of history.”

Yet more than a billion people today remain under the yoke of oppressive communist governments—in China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and elsewhere.

Lest we forget their plight, foreign leaders and dignitaries gathered at the Heritage Foundation last week to ensure that the fight for freedom continues. They came together as a part of “Captive Nations Week,” celebrated for nearly 50 years as a reminder for nations of the world to take up the fight against communist tyranny. 

Take our poll: Do totalitarian governments still pose a threat to the United States, more than 15 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union?

Lee Edwards, a Heritage Foundation scholar known internationally for his work to highlight communism’s crimes, serves as a director of the National Captive Nations Week Committee. He and the committee sponsored several events at Heritage last week emphasizing the continuing threat of communism in a post-Cold War world.

Congress established Captive Nations Week in 1959 after Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev promised Americans that “your grandchildren will live under communism.” Held in the third week of July, it is intended to ensure Khrushchev’s chilling prediction will never be realized.

Ten American Presidents have issued annual proclamations denouncing dictatorships and the governments that support them, Dr. Edwards explains. In announcing Captive Nations Week for 2007, President Bush declared that “we underscore our commitment to protecting human rights, advancing democracy and freedom, and ending tyranny across the globe.”

DeEtte Chatterton is an intern at The Heritage Foundation.