A bill introduced on Jan. 13, LB1024, which addresses legislation around teaching communism, had its first hearing last week after being referred to the Education Committee. State Sen. Dave Murman, sponsor and chair of the committee, told the Nebraska Examiner on Jan. 19 that he had not decided whether it would be a focus during the session.
But as authoritarianism from the current administration continues to blossom at the behest of President Trump, it is vitally important to ensure education continues to exist as a space for intellectual thought, even at a non–collegiate level. Some, though, like bill cosponsor Sen. Robert Clements – who propagated the conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump – are instead seeking a win in the culture war by targeting dissenting ideology.
To do this, Murman introduced the bill, “to incorporate the history of communism into academic content standards.” Instead, it exists to cultivate fear of leftist thought within Nebraska and re–emphasize American exceptionalism, rather than work for the betterment of students or to legitimately educate on communism as an ideology.
“There’s a lot of students, especially in college, and kids that are out of the K–12 system, who seem to support socialism and even communism nowadays,” Murman said. “I think we just have to be diligent that the risks and dangers, bad things that happen under communism, are taught in our schools.”
However, a politicized position towards an ideological theory should remain outside state educational standards.
With his comments in mind, LB1024 spares no expense by being direct in the text. In listing instructions for the proposed standards, the bill notes teachers must instruct on “The increasing threat of communism in the United States and its allies through the 20th century… and the mass killings that have occurred under communist regimes.” This charged language, coupled with the texts’ comparison of communism to totalitarianism and denoting them as equally “conflict(ing) with the principles of freedom and democracy,” shows a clear intent to politicize history.
This bill and Murman’s comments mirror the condemnation of communism and, by extension, socialism, condemnation popular among the conservative right. This rhetoric has continually been used to stigmatize these ideas, like that of Trump calling democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, the mayor of New York City, a “100% Communist Lunatic” or Stephen Miller calling U.S. judges “communist Marxists” for ruling against Trump’s executive orders. This buzzword among the right could have lasting effects if implemented into curriculum.
As a future educator, it suggests that I may lack any freedom in how information is taught to students at all, with any dissent towards the standards being seen as the actions of a “Communist Lunatic.” While dramatic, it is important to highlight and critique bills that lean anyway toward this so that we may continue to, in the words of the current social study teaching standards, “sustain and improve our democratic way of life.”
Unfortunately, LB1024 may fly mostly undetected as other bills gain focus in the Legislature. Combine that with the precedent set by the passed Florida Senate Bill 1264, which mirrors the language nearly identically, it seems unlikely major backlash toward this bill would appear.
