103-516: The World League for Freedom and Democracy ( WLFD ) is an international non-governmental organization of anti-communist politicians and groups. It was founded in 1952 as the World Anti-Communist League ( WACL ) under the initiative of Chiang Kai-shek , leader of the Republic of China (first on Mainland China , after 1949 on Taiwan ) and retired General Charles A. Willoughby . During
206-577: A U.S.-based Christian rights group, in 2006, Gao was sentenced to a suspended three-year sentence for " incitement to subversion " against the communist state, and ultimately was imprisoned in Xinjiang in December 2011. Released from prison in August 2014, he was placed under house arrest. In a memoir published in 2016, Gao recounted the torture sessions and three years of solitary confinement, during which he said he
309-659: A department of WACL was established in 1967. The Swedish organization has been characterized by strong participation among exiled Estonians . Among the member organizations in the late 1960s were Democratic Alliance , Baltic Committee , Nordic War and UN Veterans Association and the Committee for a Free Asia . The National League of Sweden was also linked to the organization for some time. Swedish chairman has been Birger Nerman (1967–70), Arvo Horm (1970–1984), Birger Hagård (1984–88) and Åke J. Ek (1988–2011). In 1978, British anticommunist activist Geoffrey Stewart-Smith , who led
412-913: A former spy for the Soviet Union who testified against his fellow spies before the House Un-American Activities Committee ; Bella Dodd was another American anticommunist. Other anti-communists who were once Marxists include the writers Max Eastman , John Dos Passos , James Burnham , Morrie Ryskind , Frank Meyer , Will Herberg , Sidney Hook , the contributors to the book The God That Failed : Louis Fischer , André Gide , Arthur Koestler , Ignazio Silone , Stephen Spender Tajar Zavalani and Richard Wright . Anti-communists who were once socialists, liberals or social democrats include John Chamberlain , Friedrich Hayek , Raymond Moley , Norman Podhoretz , David Horowitz , and Irving Kristol . A wave of revolutionary impulses since
515-666: A government sponsored rally against potential North Korean military aggression on Yeouido Island in Seoul to an audience of around 1 million. In 1976, Moon established News World Communications , an international news media conglomerate which publishes The Washington Times newspaper in Washington, D.C., and newspapers in South Korea, Japan, and South America, partly to promote political conservatism. According to The Washington Post , "the Times
618-609: A high critical campaign against the Leninist regime denouncing the atrocities committed by them against him and the Hungarian people. The Leninist government accused him and demanded that the Vatican remove him the title of Archbishop of Esztergom and forbid him to make public speeches against communism. The Vatican eventually annulled the excommunication imposed on his political opponents and stripped him of his titles. Pope Paul VI , who declared
721-506: A lie fabricated by a handful of anti-China people to tarnish China's reputation. The virulent accusations made during the hearing had already been robustly refuted seven years before, not only by Chinese authorities but also by diplomats and journalists of several other countries who conducted their own conscientious investigations in China, including officers and staff of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing and
824-662: A new anti-communist organization, including the APACL, regional organizations, and an international anti-communist organization. On 7 November 1966, the delegates adopted the "Charter of the World Anti-Communist League" at the plenary session. It also resolved that the Republic of China Chapter was in charge of organizing the first General Conference. The Charter of the World Anti-Communist League (WACL), with 8 chapters and 32 articles, came into effect on 1 April 1967. It stated that
927-511: A news conference at which he confirmed that none of the human bodies exhibited had come from China. The statement made by Hagens refuted the Falun Gong's rumors. According to Chinese government officials, "[t]he allegations that Falun Gong members are being murdered in China for organ harvesting, as well as the Kilgour-Matas report, have long before been found false and proved to be nothing but
1030-494: A notable voice of dissent against the Communist Party by founding organizations such as the far-right Epoch Times , New Tang Dynasty Television and others that criticize the Communist Party. Falun Gong activists repeatedly alleged that they were tortured while they were in custody. The Chinese government rejects the allegations, stating that deaths which occurred in custody occurred due to factors such as natural causes and
1133-690: A public protest against the Soviet Union in response to its shooting down of Korean Airlines Flight 007 . In 1984, the HSA–UWC founded the Washington Institute for Values in Public Policy, a Washington, D.C. think tank that underwrites conservative-oriented research and seminars at Stanford University , the University of Chicago , and other institutions. In the same year, member Dan Fefferman founded
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#17330852982571236-631: A resolution to set up the Presidency of League, a new post to highlight the leading center of the WLFD and also to take responsibility to organize WLFD activities. Chao Tze-chi, President of the Republic of China Chapter of WLFD, was elected as the first President of the WLFD, and re-elected in 1995. U Chae-sung of the ROK was named as the Secretary-General. On 19 January 2006, the WLFD adopted its charter amendment in
1339-660: A result of an article in The Washington Post in 1978 critical of WACL and alleging extreme right wing politics of Pearson that either he was expelled from WACL or at least was pressured into resigning from his position as World chairman. The US chapter of WACL, the United States Council for World Freedom (USCWF) was founded in 1981 by Major General John K. Singlaub . Singlaub was the former US Chief of Staff of both United Nations and American forces in South Korea , but
1442-741: A view to then rejoining the "purged" ALP, the DLP preferenced the Liberal Party of Australia (LPA), enabling them to remain in power for over two decades. The strategy was unsuccessful and after the Whitlam government during the 1970s the majority of the DLP decided to wind up the party in 1978, although the small federal and state-based Democratic Labour Party continued based in Victoria, with state parties reformed in New South Wales and Queensland in 2008. After
1545-555: A well known anarchist school of thought, there are also anarchists who oppose communism. Anti-communist anarchists include anarcho-primitivists and other green anarchists , who critique communism for its need of industrialisation and its perceived authoritarianism. In The Communist Manifesto , Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels outlined some provisional short-term measures that could be steps towards communism . They noted that "these measures will, of course, be different in different countries. Nevertheless, in most advanced countries,
1648-399: Is "considered by some to be one of the most important books on political theory of the 20th century". The God That Failed is a 1949 book which collects together six essays with the testimonies of a number of famous former communists who were writers and journalists. The common theme of the essays is the authors' disillusionment with and abandonment of communism. The promotional byline to
1751-547: Is a memorial day celebrated on 23 January in Taiwan and South Korea . The event marks the return of some 22,000 ex-communist war prisoners of the Korean War (1950–1953) to Taiwan, of whom 14,000 Chinese soldiers arrived at Keelung harbor on 23 January 1954, and were given the title " Anti-Communist Heroes ". The Republic of China (ROC) government subsequently declared 23 January as World Freedom Day to honor these soldiers, and created
1854-507: Is unknown, but several politicians have or have been connected to the organization. Progress Party leader Pia Kjærsgaard participated in 1988 as WACL's guest at the organization's congress in Taipei . The Danish WACL leader has been municipal politician Erik Dissing. The French chapter was headed by Suzanne Labin . The president of the German section as of 2012 has been Axel Fischer . In Sweden,
1957-528: The Anti-Comintern Pact . Italy joined as a signatory in 1937 and other countries in or affiliated with the Axis Powers such as Finland and Spain joined in 1941. In the first article of the treaty, Germany and Japan agreed to share information about Comintern activities and to plan their operations against such activities jointly. In the second article, the two parties opened the possibility of extending
2060-458: The Civic Union for Stability, Justice & Progress , Constructive Ecological Movement , Russian Democratic Reform Movement , Dignity and Mercy , and Women of Russia . Even though these movements were not successful in contesting the election, they displayed how there was still a strong support of anti-communism after the collapse of the Soviet Union. All of these movements were all critical of
2163-523: The Cold War , WACL actively participated in anti-communist and anti-Soviet positions. In 1990, the organization changed to its current name, but has preserved its traditions and former ties. It unites representatives from more than 100 countries and has eight regional divisions. It has its headquarters in Taipei , Taiwan. The WLFD descended from the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League. Chiang Kai-shek of
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#17330852982572266-617: The Cold War , when the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in an intense rivalry. Anti-communism has been an element of many movements and different political positions across the political spectrum , including anarchism , centrism , conservatism , fascism , liberalism , nationalism , social democracy , socialism , leftism , and libertarianism , as well as broad movements resisting communist governance . Anti-communism has also been expressed by several religious groups , and in art and literature . The first organization which
2369-726: The French Revolution that had swept over Europe and other parts of the world and thus also created as a counter-revolutionary reaction. Historian James H. Billington describes, in the book Fire in the Minds of Men , the historical frame of revolutions that extended from the waning of the French Revolution in the late eighteenth century and that culminated in the Russian Revolution . Most exiled Russian White émigré that included exiled Russian liberals were actively anti-communist in
2472-471: The Great Depression , when they organized street battles against German Communist formations. When Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, his propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels set up the " Anti-Komintern ". It published massive amounts of anti-Bolshevik propaganda , with the goal of demonizing Bolshevism and the Soviet Union before a worldwide audience. In 1936, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan signed
2575-621: The Italian Communist Party (PCI) from reaching power. From 1945 onward, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) leadership accepted the assistance of an anti-communist Roman Catholic movement, led by B. A. Santamaria to oppose alleged communist subversion of Australian trade unions, of which Catholics were an important traditional support base. Bert Cremean , Deputy Leader of State Parliamentary Labor Party and Santamaria, met with ALP's political and industrial leaders to discuss
2678-539: The Kremlin has," for dividing the bipartisan foreign policy of the United States. Liberal anti-communists like Edward Shils and Daniel Moynihan had a contempt for McCarthyism. As Moynihan put it, "reaction to McCarthy took the form of a modish anti anti-communism that considered impolite any discussion of the very real threat Communism posed to Western values and security." After revelations of Soviet spy networks from
2781-637: The Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) movement in Mozambique . The World Anti-Communist League held annual conferences at various locations throughout the world. Numerous groups participated, including the Unification Church of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon . WACL also enjoyed support from many U.S. Congressmen, most notably 2008 presidential nominee Senator John McCain ( R - AZ ), who sat on
2884-563: The Petrov affair blamed "subversive" activities of the "Groupers" for the defeat. After bitter public dispute, many Groupers (including most members of the New South Wales and Victorian state executives and most Victorian Labor branches) were expelled from the ALP and formed the historical Democratic Labor Party (DLP). In an attempt to force the ALP reform and remove alleged Communist influence, with
2987-712: The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan, Elpidio Quirino of the Republic of the Philippines , and Syngman Rhee of the Republic of Korea founded the APACL in Jinhae , the wartime capital city of the Republic of Korea (ROK) on 15 June 1954. Its first general conference was held in that city and was hosted to advocate and support the causes of anti-communism. The other participating states, including South Vietnam , Thailand , Okinawa , Japan , Hong Kong , and Macau also sent representatives. World Freedom Day (Chinese: 一二三自由日 , Chinese : 世界自由日 ; pinyin : Shìjièzìyóurì )
3090-507: The Soviet Union under the rule of Joseph Stalin . Also on the left-wing, Arthur Koestler —a former member of the Communist Party of Germany —explored the ethics of revolution from an anti-communist perspective in a variety of works. His trilogy of early novels testified to Koestler's growing conviction that utopian ends do not justify the means often used by revolutionary governments. These novels are The Gladiators (which explores
3193-862: The Soviet occupation of Hungary during the final stages of the Second World War, many clerics were arrested. The case of the Archbishop József Mindszenty of Esztergom , head of the Catholic Church in Hungary, was the most known. He was accused of treason to the Communist ideas and was sent to trials and tortured during several years between 1949 and 1956. During the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 against Marxism–Leninism and Soviet control, Mindszenty
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3296-812: The Vichy regime and the Legion of French Volunteers against Bolshevism ( Wehrmacht Infantry Regiment 638) in France; and in South America movements such as the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance and Brazilian Integralism . Historians Ian Kershaw and Joachim Fest argue that in the early 1920s the Nazis were only one of many nationalist and fascist political parties contending for the leadership of Germany's anti-communist movement. The Nazis only came to dominance during
3399-519: The mainstream media and the alternative press , and many members of them said that it could lead to World War Three and a nuclear holocaust . The movement's anti-communist activities received financial support from Japanese millionaire and activist Ryōichi Sasakawa . In 1972, Moon predicted the decline of communism , based on the teachings of his book, the Divine Principle : "After 7,000 biblical years—6,000 years of restoration history plus
3502-411: The totalitarian and atheistic ideologies that have been associated with 'communism' in modern times. ... Regulating the economy solely by centralized planning perverts the basis of social bonds ... [Still,] reasonable regulation of the marketplace and economic initiatives, in keeping with a just hierarchy of values and a view to the common good, is to be commended". Pope John Paul II ,
3605-547: The "Anti-Communist League" (which later became the World League for Freedom and Democracy) to fight communist expansion worldwide. The league is led by President Yao Eng-Chi, a former Kuomintang -MP and Secretary-General Ger Yeong-Kuang, a professor of political science at National Taiwan University . Every year World Freedom Day Celebrations are held in Taiwan, and the event is attended by both local and foreign delegates from all over
3708-676: The 1920s and 1930s. Many of them had been active in the White movements that functioned as a big tent movement representing an array of political opinions in Russia united in their opposition to the Bolsheviks. In Britain, anti-communism was widespread among the British foreign policy elite in the 1930s with its strong upperclass connections. The upper-class Cliveden set was strongly anti-communist in Britain. In
3811-587: The 1930s. Liberal and social democrats in Germany formed the Iron Front to oppose communists, Nazi fascists, and revanchist conservative monarchists alike. In 1936, the Anti-Comintern Pact , initially between Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan , was formed as an anti-communist alliance. In Asia , Imperial Japan and the Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) were the leading anti-communist forces in this period. By 1945,
3914-638: The 20th anniversary party for the Times , Moon said: "The Washington Times will become the instrument in spreading the truth about God to the world." In 1980, members founded CAUSA International , an anti-communist educational organization based in New York City. In the 1980s, it was active in 21 countries. In the United States, it sponsored educational conferences for evangelical and fundamentalist Christian leaders as well as seminars and conferences for Senate staffers, Hispanic Americans and conservative activists. In 1986, CAUSA International sponsored
4017-629: The 34th General Conference. According to the Amendment, the President of the League shall be "the top official of the League" and shall represent the League, and shall supervise the performance and development of the League in compliance with the charter. According to the previous charter of the WLFD, the President of the League shall be "the Leader of the League" and shall represent the League. This person shall supervise
4120-593: The APACL, the government of the Republic of China prepared to organize the second conference and chose Taipei City as the place to set up the Republic of China Chapter of the APACL on 1 July 1954. Ku Cheng-kang , President of the Chinese Refugees Relief Association of the Republic of China, was designated as the first president of this Chapter. Over the years, successors to the presidency of the Republic of China Chapter are Clement C. P. Chang , Chao Tze-chi, Yao Eng-chi, and Tseng Yung-chuan. As of 2013
4223-741: The Archdiocese of Esztergom officially vacated, refused to fill the seat while Mindszenty was still alive. According to the Christian Science Monitor , Gao Zhisheng , a Christian lawyer in China, is "one of the most persistent and courageous thorns" against China under communist rule. Gao gained acclaim for challenging the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by defending coal miners, migrant workers, political activists, and people persecuted for their religious beliefs, including Christians and Falun Gong adherents. According to ChinaAid ,
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4326-486: The Asians for peace and prosperity of the region. The APLFD was founded in the same year and under the same international background as the forming of the South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), or the Manila Pact, in 1954, when the Second World War had concluded. However, while the SEATO (1954–1977) was sort of an Asian Nato in nature, the APLFD is a people's organization trying to secure peace and prosperity through ideas and convictions and friendship. Having founded
4429-492: The Bolshevik regime, which they saw as betraying the war effort with peace with Germany, followed by annexed portions of the Soviet Union losing their self-determination. Later, knowledge of Stalinist show trials and other repressions in the USSR , from 1922 onward, led to a liberal anti-communist consensus by the start of WWII, which temporarily gave way during the WWII alliance with the Soviet Union. Historian Richard Powers distinguishes two main forms of anti-communism during
4532-475: The British affiliate out of WACL, declared that despite a publicized housecleaning, "The World Anti-Communist League is largely a collection of Nazis, Fascists, anti-Semites, sellers of forgeries, vicious racialists, and corrupt self-seekers. It has evolved into an anti-Semitic international." In 1978, Roger Pearson became the World Chairman of the WACL. Pearson was described in a Washington Post article as having neo-Nazi associations and sources report that as
4635-439: The Civil War, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia and Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia . Fascism is often considered to be a reaction to communist and socialist uprisings in Europe. Italian Fascism , founded and led by Benito Mussolini , took power after years of leftist unrest led many disgruntled conservatives to fear that a communist revolution was inevitable. Nazi Germany 's massacres and killings included
4738-684: The Cold War ended. Nevertheless, anti-communism remains an important intellectual element of many contemporary political movements. Organized anti-communist movements remain in opposition to the People's Republic of China and other communist states . Since the split of the communist parties from the socialist Second International to form the Marxist–Leninist Third International , social democrats have been critical of communism for its anti-liberal nature. Examples of left-wing critics of Marxist–Leninist states and parties are Friedrich Ebert , Boris Souvarine , George Orwell , Bayard Rustin , Irving Howe , and Max Shachtman . The American Federation of Labor
4841-511: The Communist Party headquarters ( Zhongnanhai ) in a silent protest following an incident in Tianjin. Two months later, the Communist Party banned the practice, initiated a security crackdown and launched a propaganda campaign against it. Since 1999, Falun Gong practitioners in China have reportedly been subjected to torture , arbitrary imprisonment , beatings, forced labor , organ harvesting and psychiatric abuses . Falun Gong responded with their own media campaign and have emerged as
4944-439: The Contras , in addition to paying for flights by rebel leaders. CAUSA's aid to the Contras escalated after Congress cut off CIA funding for them. According to contemporary CIA reports, supplies for the anti-Sandinista forces and their families came from a variety of sources in the US ranging from Moon's Unification Church to U.S. politicians, evangelical groups and former military officers. In 1983, some American members joined
5047-418: The Federation of Latin American Democratic Organization). The organization in the Asian region was the main force to push for the mission of the World League. To adjust to the worldwide political changes after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War and to strive for recruiting more people to join, the WACL held its 22nd General Conference in Brussels , Belgium on 23 July 1990, and
5150-415: The International Coalition for Religious Freedom in Virginia , which is active in protesting what it considers to be threats to religious freedom by governmental agencies. In August 1985, the Professors World Peace Academy , an organization founded by Moon, sponsored a conference in Geneva to debate the theme "The situation in the world after the fall of the communist empire." After the dissolution of
5253-472: The Secretariat moved to Manila in 1964. Three years later, the Secretariat moved back again to Saigon until its fall in 1975 . After some compromise and a resolution, the APLFD Secretariat was re-established in Taipei, Taiwan in 1976 where it remains active. In 1983, at its conference in Fiji , it changed its name to the Asian Pacific Democratic League. The APLFD has 18 member nations. It holds an annual conference every year. The number of members in Denmark
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#17330852982575356-407: The Soviet Union in 1991 the Unification movement promoted extensive missionary work in Russia and other former Soviet nations. In the Muslim parts of the Soviet Union ( Caucasus and Central Asia), the party-state suppressed Islamic worship, education, association, and pilgrimage institutions that were seen as obstacles to ideological and social change along communist lines. Where the Islamic state
5459-534: The Soviet Union was created in 1922. During the existence of the Soviet Union, anti-communism became an important feature of many different political movements and governments across the world. In the United States , anti-communism came to prominence during the First Red Scare of 1919–1920. During the 1920s and 1930s, opposition to communism in America and in Europe was promoted by conservatives, monarchists, fascists, liberals, and social democrats. Fascist governments rose to prominence as major opponents of communism in
5562-498: The Stalinist policy of the USSR, and some leftist parties and organizations within the movements called it an "unmitigated disaster for socialists" Milovan Djilas was a former Yugoslav communist official who became a prominent dissident and critic of communism. Leszek Kołakowski was a Polish communist who became a famous anti-communist. He was best known for his critical analyses of Marxist thought, especially his acclaimed three-volume history, Main Currents of Marxism , which
5665-707: The U.S. Consulate-General in Shenyang". In 2006, allegations emerged that a large number of Falun Gong practitioners had been killed to supply China's organ transplant industry . The Kilgour-Matas report found that "the source of 41,500 transplants for the six-year period 2000 to 2005 is unexplained" and concluded that "there has been and continues today to be large scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners". Ethan Gutmann estimated that 65,000 Falun Gong practitioners were killed for their organs from 2000 to 2008. In 2009, courts in Spain and Argentina indicted senior Chinese officials for genocide and crimes against humanity for their role in orchestrating
5768-439: The USCWF was placed under watch by the Anti-Defamation League , which said that the organization had increasingly become "a point of contact for extremists, racists, and anti-Semites". During the 1980s, the USCWF and WACL conducted a purge of these elements, and invited ADL observers to monitor its conferences; by 1985, the Anti-Defamation League declared itself "satisfied that substantial progress has been made since 1981 in ridding
5871-420: The Unification Church began supporting anti-communist organizations, including the World League for Freedom and Democracy founded in 1966 in Taipei , Republic of China (Taiwan), by Chiang Kai-shek , and the Korean Culture and Freedom Foundation , an international public diplomacy organization which also sponsored Radio Free Asia. The Unification movement was criticized for its anti-communist activism by
5974-419: The United States Council for World Freedom (USCWF) Board of Directors in the early 1980s. When his membership was brought up during the election McCain said he resigned from the council in 1984 and asked in 1986 to have his name removed from the group's letterhead but there was absolutely no evidence that McCain had ever resigned or asked for his name's removal from the United States Council for World Freedom. In
6077-403: The United States, anti-communist fervor was at its highest during the late 1940s and early 1950s, when a Hollywood blacklist was established, the House Un-American Activities Committee held the televised Army–McCarthy hearings , led by Senator Joseph McCarthy , and the John Birch Society was formed. The White movement was a loose confederation of anti-communist forces that fought against
6180-466: The WACL should immediately set up its regional organizations in six regions: Asia (now known as Asian Pacific League for Freedom and Democracy), the Middle East (now known as Middle East Solidarity Council), Africa (now known as the African Organization for Freedom and Democracy), and Europe (now known as the European Council for World Freedom), North America (now known as the North American Federation for Freedom and Democracy), and Latin America (now known as
6283-451: The World Anti-Communist League, numerous Nazi collaborators and Latin American death squads were active. Some prominent individuals who attended conferences included: Books Articles Anti-communist Anti-communism is political and ideological opposition to communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia , and it reached global dimensions during
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#17330852982576386-399: The book is "Six famous men tell how they changed their minds about communism." Anatoliy Golitsyn and Oleg Kalugin were both former KGB officers, the latter being a general. Dmitri Volkogonov was a Soviet general who got access to soviet archives following glasnost , and wrote a critical biography dismantling the cult of Lenin by refuting Leninist ideology. Whittaker Chambers was
6489-450: The charter, national, regional or international organizations that subscribe to the purposes of the League are eligible for membership. Membership shall consist of Regular Members with voting rights and Associate Members without voting rights. The Asian Pacific League for Freedom and Democracy (APLFD) was formed in 1954 as the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League. The APLFD Secretariat was first established in Saigon , Vietnam in 1957; then
6592-466: The communist Bolsheviks , also known as the Reds , in the Russian Civil War . After the civil war, the movement continued operating to a lesser extent as militarized associations of insurrectionists both outside and within Russian borders in Siberia until roughly World War II . During the Russian Civil War, the White movement functioned as a big-tent political movement representing an array of political opinions in Russia united in their opposition to
6695-430: The communist Bolsheviks. They ranged from the republican-minded liberals and Kerenskyite social-democrats on the left through monarchists and supporters of a united multinational Russia to the ultra-nationalist Black Hundreds on the right. Following the military defeat of the Whites, remnants and continuations of the movement remained in several organizations, some of which only had narrow support, enduring within
6798-504: The communist Soviet Union was among major Allied nations fighting against the Axis powers in World War II (WII.) Shortly after the end of the war, rivalry between the Marxist–Leninist Soviet Union and liberal capitalist United States resulted in the Cold War . During this period, the United States government played a leading role in supporting global anti-communism as part of its containment policy. Military conflicts between communists and anti-communists occurred in various parts of
6901-408: The declassified Venona project , Moynihan wondered: "Might less secrecy have prevented the liberal overreaction to McCarthyism as well as McCarthyism itself?" Chancellor Konrad Adenauer , who presided over postwar West Germany as a market liberal democracy, signaled that the Soviet Union was the "greatest threat to liberty", an idea that exerted major domestic and international influence. After
7004-431: The delegates resolved that the organization should be renamed the "World League for Freedom and Democracy" (WLFD). This resolution came into effect on 1 January 1991. On 21 August 1991, with the new name, the WLFD held its 23rd General Conference in San Jose, Costa Rica . Rafael Ángel Calderón Fournier , President of Costa Rica , and vice presidents from six countries in Latin America, gave speeches. The conference passed
7107-422: The documentary film Nicaragua Was Our Home , about the Miskito Indians of Nicaragua and their persecution at the hands of the Nicaraguan government. It was filmed and produced by USA-UWC member Lee Shapiro , who later died while filming with anti-Soviet forces during the Soviet–Afghan War . At this time CAUSA international also directly assisted the United States Central Intelligence Agency in supplying
7210-437: The establishment of the state-controlled Vietnam Buddhist Sangha . Thích Quảng Độ was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and an anti-communist dissident. In January 2008, the Europe-based magazine A Different View chose Thích Quảng Độ as one of the 15 Champions of World Democracy. The Catholic Church has a long history of anti-communism. The most recent Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "The Catholic Church has rejected
7313-469: The executive board approved Yao Eng-chi, President of the WLFD ROC Chapter, as the third President of the League during the Executive Board Meeting in New York City The executive board also amended the charter to add several positions such as four vice presidents and two deputy secretaries-general. The decision made by the executive board was also confirmed by the members at the 31st WLFD General Conference in Taipei, ROC, on 13 January 2001. President Yao Eng-chi
7416-422: The fall of Gorbachev and the Soviet Union in 1991 , the anti-communist movement grew rapidly. In the early 1990s, many new anti-communist movements emerged in the former Soviet bloc as a result of failed elections and Boris Yeltsin's Palace Coup . When this seizure of power occurred, more than thirty electoral blocs set out to contest the election. Some of these anti-Stalinist groups were: Choice of Russia ,
7519-543: The following will be pretty generally applicable." Ludwig von Mises described this as a "10-point plan" for the redistribution of land and production and argued that the initial and ongoing forms of redistribution constitute direct coercion. Neither Marx's 10-point plan nor the rest of the manifesto say anything about who has the right to carry out the plan. Milton Friedman argued that the absence of voluntary economic activity makes it too easy for repressive political leaders to grant themselves coercive powers. Friedman's view
7622-565: The growth of labor unions , the Civil Rights Movement , and the War on Poverty and simultaneously opposed what they saw as Communist totalitarianism abroad. As such, they supported efforts to contain Soviet communism and other forms of communism. President Harry Truman formulated the Truman Doctrine to stop Soviet expansionism. Truman also called Joseph McCarthy "the greatest asset
7725-584: The information which the Western media obtains about Falun Gong is distributed by the Rachlin media group which is described as a public relations firm for Falun Gong. According to reports which were released by the Vienna Radio Network on July 12, Gunther von Hagens , a famous German anatomist, recently held an exhibition of human bodies which provoked Falun Gong's allegations of live organ harvesting. Hagens held
7828-576: The millennium, the time of completion—communism will fall in its 70th year. Here is the meaning of the year 1978. Communism, begun in 1917, could maintain itself approximately 60 years and reach its peak. So 1978 is the border line and afterward communism will decline; in the 70th year it will be altogether ruined. This is true. Therefore, now is the time for people who are studying communism to abandon it." In 1973, he called for an "automatic theocracy " to replace communism and solve "every political and economic situation in every field". In 1975, Moon spoke at
7931-408: The movements assisting their opposition to what they alleged was Communist subversion of Australian trade unionism . To oppose Communist infiltration of unions, Industrial Groups were formed. The groups were active from 1945 to 1954, with the knowledge and support of the ALP leadership, until after Labor's loss of the 1954 election, when federal leader H. V. Evatt in the context of his response to
8034-452: The organization of neo-Nazis, war criminals, and people linked to death squads and assassinations. Other allegations have included reports claim that the World League for Freedom and Democracy is responsible for producing what its opponents call "troops of killers" , while ostensibly organizing to provide support for Corazon Aquino from the right-wing in the Philippines and for supporting
8137-658: The organization of racists and anti-Semites." It is alleged that in the mid-1980s WACL had become a supplier of arms to anti-communist rebel movements in southern Africa, Central America, Afghanistan and the Far East. During the 1980s, the WACL was particularly active in Latin America, notably by aiding the Contra forces in Nicaragua . During this period, WACL was criticized for its presence in
8240-549: The pact to other countries "whose domestic peace is endangered by the disruptive activities of the Communist Internationale". Such invitations to third parties would be undertaken jointly and after the expressed consent by both parties. Communists were among the first people targeted by the Nazis, with Dachau concentration camp when it first opened being for the holding of communists, leading socialists and other "enemies of
8343-535: The performance and development of the League in compliance with the charter. According to the Charter of the WLFD, the President of the League shall be elected by and from the members of the executive board of the League. The result of the election shall be reported to the General Conference. The President shall hold office for a term of four years and shall be eligible for re-election. In October 2000, all members of
8446-417: The period, liberal anti-communism and countersubversive anti-communism . The countersubversives, he argues, derived from a pre-WWII isolationist tradition on the right. Liberal anti-communists believed that political debate was enough to show Communists as disloyal and irrelevant, while countersubversive anticommunists believed that Communists had to be exposed and punished. Cold War liberals supported
8549-547: The persecution of communists and among the first to be sent to concentration camps. In Europe, numerous right and far-right activists including conservative intellectuals, capitalists and industrialists were vocal opponents of communism. During the late 1930s and the 1940s, several other anti-communist regimes and groups supported fascism. These included the Falange Española Tradicionalista y de las JONS in Spain;
8652-552: The president was Yao Eng-chi, former Vice President of the ROC Legislative Yuan (Parliament) and also Senior Advisor to the President of the Republic of China on Taiwan. In 1966 the memberships of the APACL had increased to 27, in Asia, Australia, and Africa. At its 12th Conference in Seoul on 3 November 1966, a fifteen-member committee was formed to discuss the expansion of this organization. The committee eventually decided to set up
8755-550: The refusal to accept medical treatment. According to David Ownby, "[t]he Chinese government has suppressed movements like the Falun Gong hundreds of times over the course of Chinese history ", adding that the Chinese Communist government did "the same thing the imperial state had always done, which was to arrest and generally, not always, execute the leaders and pretend to reeducate the others and send them back home and hope that they would be good people from there on". Most of
8858-678: The slave uprising led by Spartacus in the Roman Empire as an allegory for the Russian Revolution ), Darkness at Noon (based on the Moscow Trials , this was a very widely read novel that made Koestler one of the most prominent anti-communist intellectuals of the period), The Yogi and the Commissar and Arrival and Departure . Clement C. P. Chang Clement Chang ( Chinese : 張建邦 ; pinyin : Zhāng Jiànbāng ; Wade–Giles : Chang Chien-pang ; 15 March 1929 – 26 May 2018)
8961-519: The state" in 1933. Thích Huyền Quang was a prominent Vietnamese Buddhist monk and anti-communist dissident. In 1977, Quang wrote a letter to Prime Minister Phạm Văn Đồng detailing accounts of oppression by the Marxist–Leninist regime. For this, he and five other senior monks were arrested and detained. In 1982, Quang was arrested and subsequently placed under permanent house arrest for opposition to government policy after publicly denouncing
9064-536: The suppression of Falun Gong. In the 1940s, Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon cooperated with Communist Party of Korea members in support of the Korean independence movement against Imperial Japan . After the Korean War (1950–1953), he became an outspoken anti-communist. Moon viewed the Cold War between liberal democracy and communism as the final conflict between God and Satan , with divided Korea as its primary front line . Soon after its founding,
9167-577: The wider White émigré overseas community until after the fall of the European communist states in the Revolutions of 1989 and the subsequent dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1990–1991. This community-in-exile of anti-communists often divided into liberal-leaning and conservative-leaning segments, with some still hoping for the restoration of the Romanov dynasty . Two claimants to the empty throne emerged during
9270-698: The world, including during the Chinese Civil War , the Korean War , the Malayan Emergency , the Vietnam War , the Soviet–Afghan War , and Operation Condor . NATO was founded as an anti-communist military alliance in 1949, and continued throughout the Cold War. After the Revolutions of 1989 and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, most of the world's communist governments were overthrown, and
9373-535: The world. Usually, the president of the ROC delivers congratulations, and cultural events are held. The Asian Pacific League for Freedom and Democracy (APLFD) was founded in 1954 as the Asian Peoples' Anti-Communist League in Chinhae, South Korea with the support of the governments of the Philippines , South Korea and Taiwan (as the Republic of China ). The APLFD is a non-profit international organization for interchanges among
9476-571: Was a Taiwanese academic and politician. He was president of Tamkang University from 1964 to 1986, stepping down to serve three years as the chairman of the institution's board of trustees. Chang won his first election to the Taipei City Council in 1969, and served as deputy speaker for three terms until 1981, when he was named speaker. In 1989, Chang was appointed to the Executive Yuan as Minister of Transportation and Communications , and
9579-542: Was a harsh critic of communism as was Pope Pius IX , who issued a Papal encyclical , entitled Quanta cura , in which he called "communism and Socialism" the most fatal error. Popes' anti-communist stances were carried on in Italy by the Christian Democracy (DC), the centrist party founded by Alcide De Gasperi in 1943, which dominated Italian politics for almost fifty years, until its dissolution in 1993, preventing
9682-415: Was also shared by Friedrich Hayek and John Maynard Keynes , both of whom believed that capitalism is vital for freedom to survive and thrive. Ayn Rand was strongly anti-communist. She argued that Communist leaders typically claim to work for the common good, but many or all of them were corrupt and totalitarian. At the end of World War I , liberal internationalists developed an early opposition to
9785-511: Was always strongly anti-communist. The more leftist Congress of Industrial Organizations purged its communists in 1947 and was staunchly anti-communist afterwards. In Britain, the Labour Party strenuously resisted Communist efforts to infiltrate its ranks and take control of locals in the 1930s. The Labour Party became anti-communist and Labour Prime Minister Clement Attlee was a staunch supporter of NATO . Despite anarcho-communism being
9888-469: Was established by Moon to combat communism and be a conservative alternative to what he perceived as the liberal bias of The Washington Post ." Bo Hi Pak , called Moon's "right-hand man", was the founding president and the founding chairman of the board. Moon asked Richard L. Rubenstein , a rabbi and college professor, to join its board of directors. The Washington Times has often been noted for its generally pro-Israel editorial policies. In 2002, during
9991-459: Was established, left-wing politics were often associated with profanity and outlawed. In countries such as Sudan, Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Iran, communists and other leftist parties find themselves in a bitter competition for power with Islamists. George Orwell , a democratic socialist , wrote two of the most widely read and influential anti-totalitarian novels, namely Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm , both of which featured allusions to
10094-500: Was re-elected as President of the League at the 33rd WLFD General Conference in Melbourne, Australia, on 20 December 2003. Ger Yeong-kuang was named as Secretary-General of the League. On 1 August 2008, Ger resigned and was succeeded by Hsieh Wen-huang, Parliamentary Assistant to Vice President Tseng Yung-chuan of the ROC Legislative Yuan (Parliament). Hsieh resigned; Chou Yujen's was nominated to replace him on 23 January 2013. According to
10197-462: Was relieved in 1977 by U.S. President Jimmy Carter after publicly criticizing Carter's decision to reduce the number of troops on the peninsula. Singlaub became a member of the WACL in 1980, and founded and became president of its U.S. chapter, the United States Council for World Freedom. This branch generated controversy when it supported Nicaraguan guerrillas in the Iran–Contra affair and, in 1981,
10300-514: Was set free and after the failure of the movement he was forced to move to the United States' embassy in Budapest , where he lived until 1971 when the Vatican and the Marxist–Leninist government of Hungary arranged his way out to Austria. In the following years, Mindszenty travelled all over the world visiting the Hungarian colonies in Canada, United States, Germany, Austria, South Africa and Venezuela. He led
10403-585: Was specifically dedicated to opposing communism was the Russian White movement , which fought in the Russian Civil War starting in 1918 against the recently established Bolshevik government . The White movement was militarily supported by several allied foreign governments which represented the first instance of anti-communism as a government policy. Nevertheless, the Red Army defeated the White movement and
10506-533: Was sustained by his Christian faith and his hopes for China. Gao predicted that the communist rule of China would end in 2017, a revelation he reportedly received from God. Gao was " disappeared " in August 2017. As of April 2024, his family has not heard from him or about his whereabouts since his disappearance. In the Indian state of Punjab , communism was opposed by the Damdami Taksal order of Sikhs. Communism
10609-520: Was weakened after Sikh youth who had become communists were reinitiated into Sikhism and initiated into the Khalsa by the influence of Damdami Taksal Jathedar Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale . Many communist party members and supporters were assassinated by Taksalis and other Sikh militants. Falun Gong practitioners are against the Chinese Communist Party 's persecution of Falun Gong . In April 1999, over ten thousand Falun Gong practitioners gathered at
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