Socialism & Mass Murder in the 20th Century

Socialism & Mass Murder in the 20th Century

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/03/obama-cuba-trip-socialism-213757

By Rick Kelo from Ceteris Paribus link Jun 5, 2014

Socialism & Mass Murder in the 20th Century
By Rick Kelo

Without equal, the worst evils mankind has ever had to endure have all been inflicted by big governments.  This is an examination of the major democides in the 20th century.  It is a list of the people murdered by their own government.   The 20th century saw everything from the evils of the Nazis & the Holocaust to the big, strong, central governments of Communist & Socialist states.   However, the Nazis only killed 150,000 of their own German citizens in the Holocaust.

What brings a government to kill its own citizens?  Something so evil even the Nazis didn’t do much of it.  Why is it that powerful central governments have caused so many evils while the freer countries with smaller governments were spared?

Milton Friedman once asked that same question: “Has socialism failed because its good qualities were perverted by evil men who got in charge?  Was it simply because Stalin took over from Lenin that communism went the way it did?  Has capitalism succeeded despite the immoral values that pervade it?  I think the answer to both questions is in the negative.  The results have arisen because each system has been true to the values it encourages, supports and develops in the people who live under that system.”

My theory is as follows:

Both socialism & communism require a commitment to the use of force.  You cannot decide what to do with the other guy’s money unless you are committed to use force to take that money from him. All socialist programs are mandatory.  My friends and I get together, decide what we think is “good” then force you to participate.  If you are a 25 year old with a terminal disease you are forced to contribute 12% of your wage to social security even though you will never retire.  It does not matter that the difference in salary may have allowed you to do that one last thing on your bucket list.  Force is a necessary pre-requisite for socialism to exist.

I believe it is because socialism, as a system, is based upon using force against your fellow citizen that it also so happens the worst atrocities visited upon citizens by their own governments have been inflicted by socialist governments.  It is a matter of, as Friedman said, being true to the values socialism encourages in those living under that system.  Here is a list of the largest killings in the 20th century of citizens by their own governments:

• 40-70 million killed.  China under Chairman Mao.  Single Party Socialism.  1958-61 “The Great Leap Forward”.
• 20 million killed. USSR under Joseph “socialism in one country” Stalin.  1936-52 “The Great Purge”.
• 40 million killed. USSR under all other leaders.
• 4 million killed. Cambodia under Pol Pot.  Communist.  1975-79.
• 1.6 million murdered; 4 million killed in hard labor.  North Korea under Kim Il Sung.  Independent socialist State.
• 1.15 million killed.  Yugoslavia under Josip ” socialist federation President” Tito.  1945-65.
• 1 million total killed.  Ethiopia under Menghistu.  Communist.  1975-1978 “The Red Terror.”
• 1 million killed.  Indonesia under Suharto.  Communist. 1966.
• 1 million killed from genocide; this does not include war casualties.  Afghanistan under Brezhnev.  Communist.  1979 – 1981.
• 800,000 killed.  Rwanda under Jean Kambanda.  1994.  Socialist.

The old expression was that “Socialism Breeds Mediocrity, Capitalism Breeds Exceptionalism.”  As the numbers above show you socialism breeds a lot more than mediocrity.

Sources:

• “Statistics of Democide” by Dr. RJ Rummel
• “Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20th Century” by Dr Benjamin A. Valentin
• “Afghanistan: The Soviet Invasion and the Afghan Response, 1979-1982” by M. Hassan Kaka

Communist Body Count

December 4, 2006 Scott Manning

The following estimates represent citizens killed or starved to death by their own Communist governments since 1918. These numbers do not include war dead. The governments are sorted by body count (highest to lowest).

All numbers are mid-estimates.

While this list is as complete as I have been able to determine, it is evolving. Some numbers are incomplete and there are still five Communist countries that have the potential to kill more of their citizens. Over the next year, each government will be profiled in detail on this website.

A detailed bibliography is listed at the end of this page. Feedback is more than welcome.

If you find this interesting, check out Nazi Body Count.

Communist Body Count: 149,469,610

Rank		Country
1		People's Republic of China Body Count: 73,237,000 1949-Present (57+ years and counting)R.J. Rummel originally estimated China's body count between between the years of 1949-1987 to be 35,236,000 (Rummel 1994). This excluded 38,000,000 million that died of famine during the Great Leap Forward. After the release of Mao: The Unknown Story, Rummel became convinced that the Chinese government was directly responsible for the famine, thus increasing his original estimate by 38,000,000 (Rummel 2005). 1,000 was added for Tienanmen Square in 1989 (Courtois 1999).
2		Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Body Count: 58,627,000 1922-1991 (69 years)The body count only covers the years 1923-1987 (Rummel 1996).
3		Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic Body Count: 3,284,000 1918-1922 (4 years)This body count does not include the 6,210,000 killed in the civil war (Rummel 1996).
4		Democratic People's Republic of Korea Body Count: 3,163,000 1948-Present (58+ years and counting)1,663,000 is attributed between 1948-1987 excluding the Korean War (Rummel 1994). 2,500,000 is the mid-estimate for those who starved to death between 1995-1998 (U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea 2006).
5		Cambodia Body Count: 2,627,000 1975-1987 (12 years)The body count estimate is complete (Rummel 1994). The offical country name was Democratic Kampuchea during Pol Pot's reign and then known as People's Republic of Kampuchea afterwards.
6		Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Body Count: 1,750,000 1978-1992 (14 years)The body count estimate is complete (Courtois 1999).
7		Vietnam Body Count: 1,670,000 1975-Present (30+ years and counting)The body count covers the years 1945-1987 for Vietnam/North Vietnam and excludes 1,062,000 from the Vietnam War (Rummel 1994).
8		People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Body Count: 1,343,610 1974-1991 (17 years)The body count includes 10,000 political assasinations during 1977-1978, 1,000 children killed in 1977, 110 massacred in an Orthodox church in 1975, 80,000 during the civil war between 1978-1980, 250,000 that died in 1982 through Transit Camps, and 2,500 killed in a bombing raid (Courtois 1999). Another 1,000,000 is added for the famine during 1984-1985 (BBC News 2000).
9		Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Body Count: 1,072,000 1945-1992 (47 years)The body count only covers the years 1945-1992 excluding 100,000 from the Tito Partisans between 1941-1944 (Rummel 1994).
10		Chinese Soviet Republic Body Count: 700,000 1931-1934 (3 years)The body count only includes the Jiangxi and Fujian provinces (Chang 2005). Although Mozambique has 700,000 to its name, the Chinese Soviet Republic produced more bodies in a shorter time period and the estimate is low.
11		People's Republic of Mozambique Body Count: 700,000 1975-1990 (15 years)100,000 civilians murdered between 1986 and mid-1988 (Young 1991) and 600,000 starved to death between 1975-1985 (Courtois 1999).
12		Socialist Republic of Romania Body Count: 435,000 1947-1989 (42 years)The body count only covers the years 1947-1987 (Rummel 1997).
13		People's Republic of Bulgaria Body Count: 222,000 1946-1990 (44 years)The body count only covers the years 1948-1987 (Rummel 1997).
14		People's Republic of Angola Body Count: 125,000 1975-1992 (17 years)The body count only covers the years 1975-1987 (Rummel 1997).
15		Mongolian People's Republic Body Count: 100,000 1924-1992 (68 years)The body count only covers the years 1924-1987 (Rummel 1997).
16		People's Socialist Republic of Albania Body Count: 100,000 1946-1991 (45 years) The body count only covers the years 1944-1987 (Rummel 1997).
17		Republic of Cuba Body Count: 73,000 1961-Present (45+ years and counting)The body count only covers the years 1959-1987 (Rummel 1997).
18		German Democratic Republic Body Count: 70,000 1949-1990 (41 years)The body count only covers the years 1948-1987 (Rummel 1997).
19		Socialist Republic of Czechoslovakia Body Count: 65,000 1948-1990 (42 years)The body count only covers the years 1948-1968 (Rummel 1997).
20		Lao People's Democratic Republic Body Count: 56,000 1975-Present (31+ years and counting)The body count only covers the years 1975-1987 excluding 47,000 war dead (Rummel 1997).
21		Hungarian People's Republic Body Count: 27,000 1949-1989 (40 years)The body count only covers the years 1948-1987 (Rummel 1997).
22		People's Republic of Poland Body Count: 22,000 1948-1989 (41 years)The body count only covers the years 1948-1987 (Rummel 1997). Excludes 1,585,000 from ethnic cleansing between 1945-1950 (Rummel 1994).
23		People's Democratic Republic of Yemen Body Count: 1,000 1969-1990 (21 years)The body count only covers the years 1969-1987 (Rummel 1997).

References

BBC News (2000, April 6). Flashback 1984: portrait of a famine. Retrieved May 7, 2006, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/703958.stm

Chang, Jung, & Halliday, Jon (2005). Mao: the unknown story (1st American ed.). New York: Alfred A Knopf.

Courtois, S., Werth, N., Panne, J., Paczkowski, A., Bartosek, K., & Margolin, J. (1999). The black book of Communism: crimes, terror, repression. United States: Harvard University Press.

Rummel, R. J. (1994). Death by government. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

Rummel, R. J. (1996). Lethal politics: Soviet genocide and mass murder since 1917 (1st paperback ed.). New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.

Rummel, R. J. (2005, November 20). Reevaluating China's democide to be 73,000,000. Retrieved April 5, 2006, from http://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2005/11/reevaluating-chinas-democide-to-be.html (see https://web.archive.org/web/20051215110939/http://freedomspeace.blogspot.com/2005/11/reevaluating-chinas-democide-to-be.html).

Rummel, R. J. (1997). Statistics of democide: genocide and mass murder since 1900. Charlottesville, Virginia: Transaction Publishers.

U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (2006). Failure to protect: a call for the UN Security Council to act in North Korea. United States: DLA Piper.

Young, Lance S. (1991). Mozambique's sixteen-year bloody civil war. Retrieved November 1, 2006, from 

Marxism, Socialism, Communism: 20th Century Death Toll

No greater scourge reigned upon humanity during the 20th century than the primitive superstitions of the hostile foreign ideology that marched (and still marches) under the inapt misnomer of "socialism".

With its ongoing war against Christianity, against the family, and against private property, socialism's barbarous march of mayhem and murder wreaked unfathomable havoc upon 20th century civilization.

An estimated human tally for the reign of destruction has been published by the late R. J. Rummel of the University of Hawaii and is included within the table below. The source of the figures in Table 1 is the website here.

Table 1: The 20th Century Collectivist Death Toll

Collectivist Regime	Religion	Millions Murdered	Period
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics [USSR]	Atheist	61.911	1917-1987
Chinese Communists [PRC]	Atheist	35.236	1949-1987
German (National) Socialists [Nazis]	Pagan	20.946	1933-1945
China (Mao Soviets)	Atheist	3.466	1923-1949
Cambodian Communists	Atheist	2.035	1975-1979
Vietnamese Communists	Atheist	1.670	1945-1987
Polish Communists	Atheist	1.585	1945-1948
Yugoslavian Socialists	Atheist	1.072	1944-1987
North Korean Communists	Atheist	1.663	1948-1987
Grand Total		129.6	70 Years

Populism - Right, Left and Trump

Populism - Right, Left and Trump

You’d have to be living on Mars not to be aware of the continuing political polarization of the country.  Many people blame Trump’s election in 2016 as being responsible for this rift, and our cultural and political wars have taken on anti-Trump and “pro-Trump” characteristics.  Truth be told, left and right were in strong opposition long before Trump, and what Trump did was exacerbated the division by applying his own brand of populism, narcissism and crass NY real estate stamp on it.

Forgetting Trump, (hard to do because of our media), the two hard bound positions in politics and culture are, and have been, as follows:

Hard right – Unrelenting socially and fiscally conservative – lower taxes – smaller federal government - individual responsibility - America first – strongly patriotic/nationalistic  - strong borders with restricted immigration – evangelical Christian – religious, not secular - inerrancy of the bible on homosexuality and other ethical/moral issues - remnant undertones of racism, homophobia, misogyny – rural and generally less educated/sophisticated – opposed by preponderance of mainstream media and coastal elites.

Hard left – Democratic socialism bordering on communism – increased taxes and social amenities – social justice – identity politics – diversity – secular, non-religious – pro “black live matter” – pro “antifa” - open borders – illegal alien voting rights – minor voting rights - sanctuary cities – government responsibility for citizens’ welfare – government support for most societal and cultural activities – university speech restrictions – cry rooms – urban”elitist” - backed by preponderance of the mainstream media, Hollywood, comedic voices.

These are some of the extremes.  But these extremes are the starting points for more moderate views on both sides.  Gallup in 2017 estimates that American voters are 36% conservative, 25% liberal and 34% moderate.  http://news.gallup.com/poll/201152/conservative-liberal-gap-continues-narrow-tuesday.aspx.

So political hegemony in this mix in any election cycle depends on how many of the “moderates” or “independents” or “uncommitted” voters (in the swing states) a party can bring to their side.  Obama swung these voters left with his mellifluous rhetoric and ostensibly clean-cut message of peace and hope.  Trump swung them to the right with his showmanship, bluster, vulgarity and America first message.  Generally speaking there is only a relatively thin margin one way or the other in any given election cycle.

This brings us to Trump and his unremitting populism and nationalism.  Trump has become the symbolic conservative piñata for the liberal left and their mainstream media and Hollywood cohorts.  Opposition and “resistance” by the liberal left take the form of ad hominem attacks on Trump and his family and backers, rather than on the substance of executive and legislative efforts.  Trump’s response is straight from his megalomania and narcissism, but limited by the constitution – “I know what’s best, and will apply it”.  He is undoing Obama’s executive orders that never went to congress, both foreign and domestic.  He is applying his business acumen and “art of the deal” to international trade, Korea denuclearization and a raft of other issues, many times seemingly without the trappings of detailed government work, and with his Queens construction background bluster.

All to the howls of the liberal left and MSM, who consider Trump a dangerous, vulgar buffoon, and to the cheers of “middle America”, who considers this billionaire New York real estate mogul and media star, the champion of their economic, patriotic and religious values.  The right-left rift was acerbic enough without Trump, but it has become downright strident and sometimes violent.  Again, the roughly one third of uncommitted voters watch and wait and evaluate and draw their own conclusions at election time.

And we are becoming more tribal.  From identity politics on the left, which elevates societal groups to special privilege, to populism on the right, which fosters forms of exclusivity, our march toward tribalism continues. It mirrors Europe’s and the developed world’s similar political movement, such as Brexit, and right and left wing populism in many countries.  It seems that the honeymoon of the “new world order” is over, and humanity is once again looking inward toward nativism rather than accommodating and accepting unlimited outsiders in the form of immigrants. “Peace and love” seem subrogated to populism, nationalism and tribalism.

It does not take too close an examination of the past to analogize the deleterious nature of unrestrained populism.  The “our tribe first” mentality has resulted in the “isms” of the 19th and 20^th centuries encompassing totalitarian communism, fascism and nazism. One can only hope that the current populist phenomenon serves as a reset and reminder, once again, that humanity will not accept the professed theoretical altruism of the liberal/progressive movement. Some scope must be left for the innate self-sufficiency of human nature.

Ray Gruszecki

June 12, 2018