January 1, DeSantis Signs Bill for Mandatory Observance of “Victims of Communism Day”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a bill that mandates the state’s public high schools observe “Victims of Communism Day.”

HB 395, which passed through the Florida House and Senate unanimously, requires public high schools to teach students about the downfalls of communism every November 7 or a preceding school day.

“We want to make sure that every year folks in Florida, but particularly our students, will learn about the evils of communism, the dictators that have led communist regimes, and the hundreds of millions of individuals who suffered and continue to suffer under the weight of this discredited ideology,” DeSantis told reporters.

The bill requires high school students to receive a 45-minute lesson for “Victims of Communism Day” starting in the 2023-2024 school year. 

According to the bill, the lesson will include “topics such as Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution, Joseph Stalin and the Soviet System, Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution, Vladimir Lenin and the Russian Revolution, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge, and Nicolás Maduro and the Chavismo movement, and how victims suffered under these regimes through poverty, starvation, migration, systemic lethal violence, and suppression of speech.”

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DeSantis Signs Bill Requiring Public High Schools To Observe ‘Victims Of Communism Day’