After years of positive indoctrination about communism in K-12 schools and institutions of higher learning, many members of Generation Z have favorable opinions of the ideology. But on December 6, 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 5349, the “Crucial Communism Teaching Act” (CCT), which requires the development and dissemination of “a civic education curriculum and oral history resources regarding certain political ideologies, and for other purposes.”

Florida Congresswoman and former award-winning journalist, Maria Salazar, introduced the CCT, which her fellow House members approved by an impressive vote of 327-62. Rep. Salazar stated in a press release: “By passing my Crucial Communism Teaching Act, the House of Representatives will ensure future generations will remember the pain and suffering caused by the brutal communist ideology.... Over 100 million people have died due to the tragic legacy of communism. However, due to a lack of accurate education materials, almost one-third of Generation-Z members have a favorable view of communism.”

Salazar represents Florida’s 27th district, which includes the greater Miami area. As the U.S. born daughter of Cuban exiles, she is no stranger to the detrimental effects of communism. Her official U.S. House website notes that in her career as a journalist, she interviewed Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, Chile’s Augusto Pinochet, and even the Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro. She attests that she is “the only U.S. Spanish-language journalist to ever interview the tyrant [Castro] one-on-one.”

The inspiration for the CCT Act was the Never Again Education Act that passed the U.S. Congress in 2020 and required American students to be taught about the Holocaust through educational programming developed and disseminated by the U.S. Holocaust Museum. That act also authorizes related education programs and activities for “prospective and current teachers and education leaders.”

Support for CCT

There was no lack of support for the CCT Act and no shortage of posturing by those voting in favor, which conservatives hope will influence members of the U.S. Senate. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), chairwoman of the Committee on Education & the Workforce stated the obvious in a press release:

• It’s not a radical idea to say that American values should be taught in American schools ... [but] it’s clear that we’re falling short when it comes to educating young people about the history and dangers of [communist] ideology. The Crucial Communism Teaching Act is an important step in making sure that the future leaders of our great nation have the tools and knowledge to protect capitalism and freedom for the next generation. I’m grateful to Congresswoman Salazar for lending her first-hand experience and leadership to this vital effort.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson decried what he called “the long, dark history of political suppression, persecution, and violence” associated with the realities of communism that “are often overlooked or downplayed in our education system, allowing malign foreign actors to push their agendas and influence American institutions.”

The bill’s co-sponsor, Rep. Michael Guest (R-MS), expressed his pleasure at the overwhelming approval of the legislation and called it “an important step towards educating the next generation and keeping communism out of our country.”

Congressman Burgess Owens (R-Utah) lamented that the 28 percent of Generation Z who have a positive view communism “is not just troubling; it’s a wake-up call.” Owens said the CCT Act “gives America’s students the hard truths about communism’s atrocities, exposing how the promises of equity under totalitarian regimes always end in oppression and misery. If we want to preserve America as the last, best hope of liberty, we must equip the next generation with the courage and knowledge to defend it.”

Dr. Eric Patterson, president and CEO of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation (VOC), pointed out that, while the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, “the evil ideology behind it did not. Today, one-fifth of humanity still lives under communist tyranny. Sadly, American students are increasingly unaware of the history and legacy of communism. It’s time to right this wrong.”

Last month, VOC launched its 4th Edition Curriculum on Communism, which its website says expands the organization’s “resources for rising generations of teachers and students to study the criminal past and enduring legacy of communism.” A video explains that this curriculum was “written by teachers for teachers” to be used in middle schools and high schools. These materials will likely play a role in implementing the CCT Act, should it pass the Senate and be signed into law by President Trump.

Ian Oxnevad, senior fellow for foreign affairs and security studies for the National Association of Scholars (NAS), applauded the CCT Act in its online newsletter, CounterCurrent. Oxnevad astutely observed:

• Some ideas should be entertained and then shown the door. Not every idea that is entertained as a guest should stay for dinner, let alone become a roommate. When it comes to Marxism and its various aliases in education, the idea has not only overstayed its welcome but has gone on to become a landlord of intellectual life in American education.

The article pointed out the incompatibility of communism with the “core philosophy of the American founding,” as well as the irony of the fact that, “as Communism was collapsing in Eastern Europe in 1989, the New York Times published an article titled ‘The Mainstreaming of Marxism in US Colleges.’ The article documented the strength of Marxism in higher education and its adaptation—especially in light of the ideology’s economic failures in Europe,” a point Education Reporter has repeatedly made in its articles and book reviews.

Children in K-12 classrooms are also being taught “Soviet-style propaganda in curricula such as California’s ‘Ethnic Studies’” programs, which “place students into matrices of ‘oppressor and oppressed,’ demonize capitalism, portray Zionism as racist, and discuss apocalyptic ‘class struggle’ as if teaching from an old Soviet education playbook.”

But as Oxnevad correctly asserts and many parents know, this teaching is not limited to students in blue states, but it also thrives in red ones. He writes that while “it is apparent that policymakers and society alike have abandoned America’s classrooms,” there is a “small change on the way” with the passage of Rep. Salazar’s CCT Act.

He continued: “Policymakers may be waking up to the fact that America’s biggest threats are not just abroad but within our classrooms.” Concerned observers hope this form of “wokeism” extends to a majority of the U.S. Senate.

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