History of Communism Task Force Act

Introduction

American K-12 teachers do not teach enough about the history of Communism—the genocides and democides committed in its names, its characteristic abrogations of liberty, and the way it has informed the radicalism that has infiltrated too much of America. Some teachers are committed radicals who wish to soft-pedal Communist atrocities because they themselves favor quasi-Communist policies. Far more simply have been miseducated by earlier generations of radicals and are not aware of how much they don’t know, and do not teach, about Communism and its history. Virtually all public K-12 teachers are constrained by state social studies standards—and if those standards do not include explicit instruction in the history of Communism, teachers generally will skim over that history, simply because they don’t think it’s part of their job.

Our model History of Communism Task Force Act creates a mechanism to add History of Communism standards to state K-12 social studies standards. Our bill largely models itself on Florida Senate Bill 1264 (2024), now statute, which has begun the process of creating K-12 History of Communism standards for Florida parallel to Florida’s Holocaust Education standards. Our Act, however, makes explicit reference to the Civics Alliance’ Model History of Communism Standards (2024)—standards which have informed Oklahoma’s Draft Social Studies Standards (2024).

These standards should improve K-12 instruction directly. They also will inform curriculum frameworks, teacher education, textbook creation, and every other aspect of K-12 education.

Our model Act is meant to complement our model American Birthright Taskforce Act, which would create a parallel mechanism to reform K-12 state social studies standards as a whole.

Note

This act envisions a Task Force appointed solely by the governor. The American Birthright Taskforce Act envisions a Task Force appointed by the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Every state will choose an appropriate mechanism to staff the Task Force. The most important thing is that the Task Force members not be chosen by the permanent bureaucracy of the state education department. Education bureaucracies are part of the education establishment that must be reformed; they should not be entrusted with the task of carrying out so major a reform themselves. Whoever appoints the Task Force, its members should be chosen directly by policymakers, to ensure their dedication to the spirit of this Act.

Model Legislative Text

Section A [“History of Communism Task Force”]

1. There is created within the Department of Education the History of Communism Task Force. Members of the task force shall be appointed by the Governor.
2. The task force, drawing upon materials including the Civics Alliance’s Model History of Communism Standards and educational resources provided by Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, shall make recommendations by {July 4, 2026}, to the State Board of Education and the Commissioner of Education for curriculum standards and instruction on the history of communism for kindergarten through grade 12.
   1. Such recommendations must include:
      1. The sources and character of Communist ideology;
      2. Nineteenth-century developments of Marxism, including the Russian tradition of revolutionary terror;
      3. The Bolshevik Revolution, including its assault on private property, murder of priests, and establishment of a dictatorial one-party state;
      4. The murderous history of Communist regimes, including Stalin’s Russia, Mao’s China, Pol Pot’s Cambodia; and
      5. The history of Western Communism, including Soviet espionage and Communist influence on modern movements such as Critical Race Theory.
   2. Such instruction must inform students that communism poses a threat to freedom.
3. The board shall develop a curriculum on the history of communism based on the recommendations of the task force.

Section B [“Certification”]

Each school district shall annually certify to the department, in a format prescribed by the department, that it faithfully provided instruction on this subject, as specified by the board pursuant to Section A above.

Section C [“Separability”]

If any provision of this chapter, or the application of any provision to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of this chapter and the application of its provisions to any other person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby.

Existing State Statutes and Proposed Bills

Florida Senate Bill 1264 (2024)

The National Association of Scholars, in consultation with other supporters and friends of the Civics Alliance, drafted these model bills to translate into legislative language the principles in the Civics Alliance’s Civics Curriculum Statement & Open Letter. Just as these bills have been drafted with the expectation that different states will modify them as they see fit, they also have been drafted with the expectation that not every supporter of the Civics Alliance will endorse these bills or every part of them. Individual Civics Alliance signatories and supporters should not be assumed to have endorsed these bills, unless they say so explicitly.