Florida public schools are now teaching the history of communism as a required subject this academic year, following a bill signed by Governor Ron DeSantis in 2024 that mandates implementation for the 2026–27 school year.
The law aims to educate students about atrocities of 20th-century communist regimes. Supporters argue that millions of victims deserve more prominence in historical instruction, comparable to how schools teach slavery and the Holocaust.
But critics identify two major problems with Florida's approach.
First, the curriculum fails to require instruction on the social and economic conditions that made communism appealing. The current standards treat communism as emerging primarily from leaders' malice, overlooking how communist movements gained support in deeply unjust societies—tsarist Russia, for instance—by offering hope for change.
Florida's Holocaust curriculum, by contrast, requires students to study the Weimar Republic's turmoil: the Dolchstoss myth, the Ruhr Crisis, hyperinflation, and the Great Depression. These contextual lessons explain how conditions enabled Nazism's rise.
Critics argue that understanding why people supported communism would give students a more accurate historical picture and train them to engage with ideologies they oppose—a skill in today's polarized climate.
DeSantis's push for the curriculum stemmed partly from concern about far-left ideologies. Critics contend the governor's goal would be better served by examining the actual motivations behind communist support.
Second, the curriculum entirely omits atrocities committed by right-wing dictators. Anticommunist military governments in Chile, Argentina, and Guatemala killed thousands to hundreds of thousands during the 20th century.
