SR0289 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

SR0289 LRB102 18411 LAW 26344 r

SENATE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The year 2021 marks 104 years since the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, which ushered in an era of communism that would result in violence and oppression experienced throughout a union of multiple national Soviet republics; and

WHEREAS, A National Day for the Victims of Communism was declared on November 7, 2017, with the belief that communism, historically, is incompatible with the western ideological beliefs of liberty, prosperity, and the dignity of human life; and

WHEREAS, Historical records show that protestors and citizens who decried the communist political ideology were often persecuted as political prisoners, and others were killed in widespread state-sponsored purges; and

WHEREAS, Rampant impoverishment, widespread famines, epidemics, forced population removals, Gulag internments, labor colonies, and labor camps across over 40 nations all contributed to a death toll of nearly 100 million people who were living under communist states; and

WHEREAS, The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, D.C. is a nonprofit organization, authorized by a unanimous Act of the United States Congress, that seeks to educate the general public about the ideology, history, and legacy of communism and honors the people who suffered, were killed, and were lost within communist systems; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare November 7, 2021 as Victims of Communism Memorial Day in the State of Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the Victims of the Communism Memorial Foundation as a symbol of respect and esteem.