Com War Crimes

Contents

1 Mass killings under Communist regimes 1

1.1 Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Proposed causes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.1 Ideology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
1.2.2 Crisis conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.2.3 Other claims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1.3 Comparison to other mass killings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4 States where mass killings have occurred . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4.1 Soviet Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.4.2 People's Republic of China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.4.3 Cambodia (Democratic Kampuchea) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4.4 Others . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.5 Controversies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.5.1 Democratic Republic of Afghanistan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.5.2 Soviet famine of 1932–1933 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.5.3 Mass deportations of ethnic minorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.5.4 Tibet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.5.5 Inclusion of famine as killing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.6 Notable executioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.7 Legal prosecution for genocide and genocide denial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.8 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.9 Footnotes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
1.10 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.11 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
1.12 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

2 Criticisms of communist party rule 19

2.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
2.2 Areas of criticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.2.1 Political repression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2.2.2 Personality cults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.2.3 Freedom of movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.2.4 International politics and relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

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2.2.5 Forced labor and deportations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

2.2.6 Loss of life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
2.2.7 Economic policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.2.8 Social development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
2.2.9 Artistic, scientific, and technological policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
2.2.10 Environmental policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.3 Left-wing criticism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.3.1 By anti-revisionists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3.2 By left communists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3.3 By Trotskyists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.5 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
2.6 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
2.7 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

3 Dekulakization 35
3.1 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
3.2 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

4 Gulag 36
4.1 Brief history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.2 Contemporary usage and other terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.3 History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
4.3.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.3.2 Formation and expansion under Stalin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
4.3.3 During World War II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
4.3.4 After World War II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
4.4 Gulag administrators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.5 Conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
4.5.1 Social conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.6 Geography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
4.7 Special institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.8 Historiography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.8.1 Archival documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
4.8.2 History of Gulag population estimates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
4.9 Influence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.9.1 Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
4.9.2 Colonization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.9.3 Life after term served . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.10 Gulag memorials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
4.11 Gulag Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.12 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
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4.13 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
4.14 Further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
4.15 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

5 Great Chinese Famine 57

5.1 Causes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.1.1 Government distribution policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
5.1.2 Cover ups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
5.2 Outcome . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
5.3 Political movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.5 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.5.1 Citations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.5.2 Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

6 Great Leap Forward 63

6.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
6.1.1 Agricultural collectives and other social changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
6.1.2 Hundred Flowers Campaign and Anti-Rightist Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
6.1.3 Surpass the UK and US . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.2 Organizational and operational factors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.2.1 People's communes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.2.2 Industrialization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
6.2.3 Backyard furnaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
6.2.4 Irrigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
6.2.5 Crop experiments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6.2.6 Treatment of villagers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6.2.7 Lushan Conference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
6.3 Consequences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
6.3.1 Famine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
6.3.2 Deaths by violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6.3.3 Impact on economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
6.3.4 Modes of resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6.3.5 Impact on the government . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6.5 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6.6 Bibliography and further reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.7 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

7 Soviet war crimes 77

7.1 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
7.2 Before World War II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
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7.2.1 Victims within the Soviet Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

7.2.2 Jewish victims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
7.3 The Red Army and the NKVD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
7.4 World War II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
7.4.1 Estonia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
7.4.2 Latvia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
7.4.3 Lithuania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
7.4.4 Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
7.4.5 Finland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
7.4.6 Soviet Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
7.4.7 Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
7.4.8 Hungary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
7.4.9 Yugoslavia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
7.4.10 Czechoslovakia (1945) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
7.4.11 China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
7.4.12 Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
7.4.13 Treatment of prisoners of war . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
7.5 After World War II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
7.5.1 Hungarian Revolution (1956) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
7.5.2 Czechoslovakia (1968) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
7.5.3 Afghanistan (1979–1989) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
7.5.4 Pressure in Azerbaijan (1988-1991) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
7.6 In popular culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
7.6.1 Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
7.6.2 Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
7.6.3 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
7.7 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
7.8 Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
7.9 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
7.10 Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
7.11 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92

8 Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union 93

8.1 Official Soviet stance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
8.2 Soviet tactics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
8.3 Anti-religious campaign 1917–1921 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
8.4 Anti-religious campaign 1921–1928 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
8.5 Anti-religious campaign 1928–1941 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
8.6 World War II rapprochement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
8.7 Postwar era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
8.8 Resumption of anti-religious campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
8.9 1964–1970s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
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8.10 Renewal of persecution in 1970s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103

8.11 Penetration of churches by Soviet secret services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
8.12 Glasnost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
8.13 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
8.14 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
8.15 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
8.16 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

9 Mass graves in the Soviet Union 112

9.1 Soviet repression and terror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
9.2 Gallery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
9.3 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
9.4 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

10 Victims of Communism Memorial 114

10.1 Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
10.2 Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
10.3 Dedication ceremony . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
10.4 Critical reaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
10.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
10.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
10.7 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117

11 Anti-communist mass killings 118

11.1 Argentina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
11.2 El Salvador . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
11.2.1 1932 Salvadoran peasant massacre . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
11.2.2 Salvadoran Civil War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
11.3 Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
11.3.1 Nazi Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
11.4 Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
11.4.1 Killings of 1965–66 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
11.5 Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
11.6 Spain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
11.6.1 White Terror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
11.7 Taiwan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
11.8 Thailand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
11.9 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
11.10References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120

12 Revolutionary terror 122

12.1 Revolutionary terror and Marxism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
12.2 Origins, evolution and history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
vi CONTENTS

12.3 Soviet Union . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

12.3.1 Internal Soviet terror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
12.4 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
12.5 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

13 Crimes against humanity under Communist regimes 125

13.1 Cambodia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
13.2 Romania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
13.3 North Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
13.4 China under Mao Zedong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
13.5 See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
13.6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
13.7 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
13.8 External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
13.9 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
13.9.1 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
13.9.2 Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
13.9.3 Content license . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
Chapter 1
Mass killings under Communist regimes
Mass killings occurred under some Communist regimes
during the twentieth century. Estimates of the death toll
vary widely, depending on the methodology used. Schol-
arship focuses on the causes of mass killings in single so-
cieties, though some claims of common causes for mass
killings have been made. Some higher estimates of mass
killings include not only mass murders or executions that
took place during the elimination of political opponents,
civil wars, terror campaigns, and land reforms, but also
lives lost due to war, famine, disease, and exhaustion in
labor camps. There are scholars who believe that govern-
ment policies and mistakes in management contributed to
these calamities, and, based on that conclusion combine
all these deaths under the categories “mass killings”,
democide, politicide, “classicide”, or loosely defined
genocide. According to these scholars, the total death toll
of the mass killings defined in this way amounts to many
tens of millions; however, the validity of this approach is
questioned by other scholars. In his summary of the es-
timates in the Black Book of Communism, Martin Malia
suggested a death toll of between 85 and 100 million peo-
ple.* [1]
As of 2011, academic consensus has not been achieved
on causes of large scale killings by states, including by
states governed by communists. In particular, the number
of comparative studies suggesting causes is limited. The
highest death tolls that have been documented in com-
munist states occurred in the Soviet Union under Joseph
Stalin, in the People's Republic of China under Mao Ze-
dong, and in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. The es-
timates of the number of non-combatants killed by these
three regimes alone range from a low of 21 million to a
high of 70 million.* [2] There have also been killings on a
smaller scale in North Korea, Vietnam, and some Eastern
European and African countries.
1.1 Terminology
Communist regimes “Communist regimes”refers to
those countries who declared themselves to be social-
ist states under the Marxist-Leninist, Stalinist, or Maoist
definition (in other words, "communist states") at some
point in their history.
1
Scholars use several different terms to describe the inten-
tional killing of large numbers of noncombatants.* [3]* [4]
The following have been used to describe killing by Com-
munist governments:
• Genocide —under the Genocide Convention, the
crime of genocide does not apply to the mass killing
of political and social groups. Protection of polit-
ical groups was eliminated from the UN resolution
after a second vote, because many states, including
Stalin's USSR,* [5] anticipated that clause to apply
unneeded limitations to their right to suppress inter-
nal disturbances.* [6]
• Politicide —the term "politicide" is used to de-
scribe the killing of political or economic groups
that would otherwise be covered by the Genocide
Convention.* [7] Manus I. Midlarsky uses the term
“politicide”to describe an arc of mass killings from
the western parts of the Soviet Union to China and
Cambodia.* [8] In his book The killing trap: genocide
in the twentieth century Midlarsky raises similarities
between the killings of Stalin and Pol Pot.* [9]
• Democide —R. J. Rummel coined the term
"democide", which includes genocide, politicide,
and mass murder.* [10] Helen Fein has termed the
mass state killings in the Soviet Union and Cam-
bodia as “genocide and democide.”* [11] Frank
Wayman and Atsushi Tago have shown the signifi-
cance of terminology in that, depending on the use
of democide (generalised state-sponsored killing) or
politicide (eliminating groups who are politically op-
posed) as the criterion for inclusion in a data-set,
statistical analyses seeking to establish a connection
between mass killings can produce very different
results, including the significance or otherwise of
regime type.* [12]
• Crime against humanity —Jacques Semelin and
Michael Mann* [13] believe that "crime against hu-
manity" is more appropriate than “genocide”or
“politicide”when speaking of violence by Commu-
nist regimes.* [14]
• Classicide —Michael Mann has proposed the term
2 CHAPTER 1. MASS KILLINGS UNDER COMMUNIST REGIMES

“classicide”to mean the “intended mass killing of killings have attracted scholarly dispute;* [23] this article
entire social classes”.* [15] does not discuss academic acceptance of such theories.

• Terror —Stephen Wheatcroft notes that, in the case
of the Soviet Union, terms such as“the terror”,“the
purges”, and“repression”(the latter mostly in com-
mon Russian) colloquially refer to the same events
and he believes the most neutral terms are “repres-
sion”and “mass killings”.* [4]
• Mass killing —this term has been defined by Ben-
jamin Valentino as“the intentional killing of a mas-
sive number of noncombatants”, where a “mas-
sive number”is defined as at least 50,000 intentional
deaths over the course of five years or less.* [16]
He applies this definition to the cases of Stalin's
USSR, the PRC under Mao, and Cambodia under
the Khmer Rouge, while admitting that mass killings
on a smaller scale also appear to have been carried
out by regimes in North Korea, Vietnam, Eastern
Europe, and Africa.* [17]
Klas-Göran Karlsson writes that“Ideologies are systems
of ideas, which cannot commit crimes independently.
However, individuals, collectives and states that have de-
fined themselves as communist have committed crimes
in the name of communist ideology, or without naming
communism as the direct source of motivation for their
crimes.”* [24]
According to Rudolph Joseph Rummel, the killings done
by communist regimes can be explained with the mar-
riage between absolute power and an absolutist ideology
– Marxism.* [25]
“Of all religions, secular and otherwise,”Rummel posi-
tions Marxism as “by far the bloodiest – bloodier than
the Catholic Inquisition, the various Catholic crusades,
and the Thirty Years War between Catholics and Protes-
tants. In practice, Marxism has meant bloody terrorism,
deadly purges, lethal prison camps and murderous forced
labor, fatal deportations, man-made famines, extrajudi-
cial executions and fraudulent show trials, outright mass
murder and genocide.”* [26] He writes that in practice
the Marxists saw the construction of their utopia as “a
war on poverty, exploitation, imperialism and inequality –
and, as in a real war, noncombatants would unfortunately
get caught in the battle. There would be necessary enemy
casualties: the clergy, bourgeoisie, capitalists, 'wreckers',
intellectuals, counterrevolutionaries, rightists, tyrants, the
rich and landlords. As in a war, millions might die, but
these deaths would be justified by the end, as in the de-
feat of Hitler in World War II. To the ruling Marxists, the
goal of a communist utopia was enough to justify all the
deaths.”* [26]

Red Holocaust − still small pile of stones, commemorating the In his book Red Holocaust, Steven Rosefielde argues
victims of communism, as such the first memorial in Germany that communism's internal contradictions “caused to
(Jimmy Fell, 2011) be killed”approximately 60 million people and perhaps
tens of millions more, and that this “Red Holocaust”
– the peacetime mass killings and other related crimes
• Communist holocaust —the United States against humanity perpetrated by Communist leaders such
Congress has referred to the mass killings collec- as Joseph Stalin, Kim Il Sung, Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh
tively as “an unprecedented imperial communist and Pol Pot—should be the centerpiece of any net assess-
holocaust”* [18]* [19] while the Victims of Com- ment of communism. He states that the aforementioned
munism Memorial Foundation established by the leaders are “collectively guilty of holocaust-scale felo-
United States Congress refers to this subject as the nious homicides.”* [27]
“Communist holocaust”.* [20] The term “Red Robert Conquest stressed that Stalin's purges were not
Holocaust”has been used by German historian contrary to the principles of Leninism, but rather a nat-
Horst Möller; Steven Rosefielde has published a ural consequence of the system established by Vladimir
book on this subject titled Red Holocaust.* [21]* [22]
Lenin, who personally ordered the killing of local groups
of class enemy hostages.* [28] Alexander Yakovlev, ar-
chitect of perestroika and glasnost and later head of the
1.2 Proposed causes Presidential Commission for the Victims of Political Re-
pression, elaborates on this point, stating that“The truth
is that in punitive operations Stalin did not think up any-
1.2.1 Ideology
thing that was not there under Lenin: executions, hostage
taking, concentration camps, and all the rest.”* [29] His-
Theories, such as those of R. J. Rummel, that propose
torian Robert Gellately concurs, saying: “To put it an-
communism as a significant causative factor in mass
1.2. PROPOSED CAUSES 3

other way, Stalin initiated very little that Lenin had not proved itself more brutal than the worst dictatorships
already introduced or previewed.”* [30] Said Lenin to prior to the twentieth century. Each socialist regime has
his colleagues in the Bolshevik government: “If we are collapsed into dictatorship and begun killing people on a
not ready to shoot a saboteur and White Guardist, what huge scale.”* [39]
sort of revolution is that?"* [31] The Black Book of Communism, a set of academic es-
Anne Applebaum asserts that, “without exception, the says on mass killings under Communist regimes, details
Leninist belief in the one-party state was and is charac- "'crimes, terror, and repression' from Russia in 1917
teristic of every communist regime,”and“the Bolshevik to Afghanistan in 1989”.* [40]* [41] Courtois claims
use of violence was repeated in every Communist revo- an association between communism and criminality —
lution.”Phrases said by Lenin and Cheka founder Felix "Communist regimes ... turned mass crime into a full-
Dzerzhinsky were deployed all over the world. She notes blown system of government”* [42]—and says that this
that as late as 1976, Mengistu Haile Mariam unleashed a criminality lies at the level of ideology rather than state
"Red Terror" in Ethiopia.* [32] practice.* [43]
In The Lost Literature of Socialism, literary historian Benjamin Valentino writes that mass killings strategies
George G. Watson saw socialism as conservative, a reac- are chosen by Communists to economically dispossess
tion against liberalism and an attempt to return to antiq- large numbers of people.* [44]“Social transformations of
uity and hierarchy. He states that the writings of Friedrich this speed and magnitude have been associated with mass
Engels and others show that “the Marxist theory of his- killing for two primary reasons. First, the massive so-
tory required and demanded genocide for reasons implicit cial dislocations produced by such changes have often led
in its claim that feudalism, which in advanced nations was to economic collapse, epidemics, and, most important,
already giving place to capitalism, must in its turn be su- widespread famines. ... The second reason that commu-
perseded by socialism. Entire nations would be left be- nist regimes bent on the radical transformation of society
hind after a workers' revolution, feudal remnants in a so- have been linked to mass killing is that the revolutionary
cialist age, and since they could not advance two steps at changes they have pursued have clashed inexorably with
a time, they would have to be killed. They were racial the fundamental interests of large segments of their pop-
trash, as Engels called them, and fit only for the dung- ulations. Few people have proved willing to accept such
heap of history.”* [33] Watson's claims have been criti- far-reaching sacrifices without intense levels of coersion.”
*
cised by Robert Grant for “dubious evidence”, arguing [45]
that “what Marx and Engels are calling for is ... at the Michael Mann writes: “The greatest Communist death
very least a kind of cultural genocide; but it is not obvious, rates were not intended but resulted from gigantic policy
at least from Watson's citations, that actual mass killing, mistakes worsened by factionalism, and also somewhat by
rather than (to use their phraseology) mere 'absorption' callous or revengeful views of the victims.”* [46]
or 'assimilation', is in question.”* [34]
According to Jacques Semelin, “communist systems
Daniel Goldhagen,* [35] Richard Pipes,* [36] and John N. emerging in the twentieth century ended up destroying
*
Gray [37] have written about theories regarding the role their own populations, not because they planned to anni-
of communism in books for a popular audience. hilate them as such, but because they aimed to restructure
the 'social body' from top to bottom, even if that meant
purging it and recarving it to suit their new Promethean
1.2.2 Crisis conditions
political imaginaire.”* [47]
Eric D. Weitz says that the mass killing in communist
states are a natural consequence of the failure of the
rule of law, seen commonly during periods of social up-
1.2.3 Other claims
heaval in the 20th century. For both communist and non-
Influence of national cultures
communist mass killings, “genocides occurred at mo-
ments of extreme social crisis, often generated by the very
Martin Malia called Russian exceptionalism and the War
policies of the regimes.”* [38] They are not inevitable but
Experience general reasons for barbarity.* [48]
are political decisions.* [38]
Stephen Hicks of Rockford College ascribes the violence
characteristic of twentieth-century socialist rule to these Secular values
collectivist regimes' abandonment of protections of civil
rights and rejection of the values of civil society. Hicks Some proponents of traditional ethical standards and re-
writes that whereas “in practice every liberal capitalist ligious faith argue that the killings were at least partly the
country has a solid record for being humane, for by and result of a weakening of faith and the unleashing of the
large respecting rights and freedoms, and for making it radical values of the European Enlightenment upon the
possible for people to put together fruitful and meaning- modern world. Observing this kind of trend in critical
ful lives”, in socialism “practice has time and again scholarship, the University of Oklahoma political scien-
4 CHAPTER 1. MASS KILLINGS UNDER COMMUNIST REGIMES

tist Allen D. Hertzke zooms in on the ideas of British

Catholic writer and historian Paul Johnson and writes that

Personal responsibility

The Russian and world history scholar John M. Thomp-

son describes the system of terror developed during
Stalin's time as “puzzling"; surveying Russian history,
he posits the height of the killings in the Soviet Union in
the 1930s as a function of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's
personality – specifically contending that
Historian Helen Rappaport describes Nikolay Yezhov,
the bureaucrat in charge of the NKVD during the Great
Purge, as a physically diminutive figure of “limited in-
telligence”and “narrow political understanding.... Like
other instigators of mass murder throughout history, [he]
compensated for his lack of physical stature with a patho-
logical cruelty and the use of brute terror.”* [51]

1.3 Comparison to other mass

killings
Sign for the Memorial about Repression in USSR at Lubyanka
Daniel Goldhagen argues that 20th century Communist Square. The memorial was erected by the human rights group
regimes“have killed more people than any other regime Memorial in the USSR in 1990 in remembrance of the more than
type.”* [52] Other scholars in the fields of Communist 40,000 innocent people shot in Moscow during the “years of
studies and genocide studies, such as Steven Rosefielde, terror”.
Benjamin Valentino, and R.J. Rummel, have come to
similar conclusions.* [2]* [26]* [53] Rosefielde states that
it is possible the “Red Holocaust”killed more non- Soviet and communist studies.* [55]* [56] The published
combatants than "Ha Shoah" and "Japan's Asian holo- results vary depending on the time when the estimate was
caust" combined, and “was at least as heinous, given made, on the criteria and methods used for the estimates,
the singularity of Hitler's genocide.”Rosefielde also notes and sources available for estimates. Some historians at-
that“while it is fashionable to mitigate the Red Holocaust tempt to make separate estimates for different periods
by observing that capitalism killed millions of colonials of the Soviet history, with casualties for the Stalinist pe-
in the twentieth century, primarily through man-made riod varying from 8 to 61 million.* [57]* [58]* [59] Sev-
famines, no inventory of such felonious negligent homi- eral scholars, among them Stalin biographer Simon Sebag
cides comes close to the Red Holocaust total.”* [53] Montefiore, former Politburo member Alexander Niko-
laevich Yakovlev and the director of Yale's “Annals of
Communism”series Jonathan Brent, put the death toll
1.4 States where mass killings have at about 20 million.* [60]* [61]* [62]* [63]* [64]* [65]* [66]
Robert Conquest, in the latest revision (2007) of his
occurred book The Great Terror, estimates that while exact num-
bers will never be certain, the communist leaders of the
1.4.1 Soviet Union USSR were responsible for no fewer than 15 million
deaths.* [67]
After the Soviet Union dissolved, evidence from the So- According to Stephen G. Wheatcroft, Stalin's regime can
viet archives became available, containing official records be charged with causing the“purposive deaths”of about
of the execution of approximately 800,000 prisoners un- a million people, although the number of deaths caused
der Stalin for either political or criminal offenses, aroundby the regime's “criminal neglect”and “ruthlessness”
1.7 million deaths in the Gulags and some 390,000 was considerably higher, and perhaps exceed Hitler's.* [4]
deaths during kulak forced resettlement – for a total of Wheatcroft excludes all famine deaths as “purposive
about 3 million officially recorded victims in these cate- deaths,”and claims those that do qualify fit more closely
gories.* [54] the category of“execution”rather than“murder.”* [4]
Estimates on the number of deaths brought about by However, some of the actions of Stalin's regime, not only
Stalin's rule are hotly debated by scholars in the field of those during the Holodomor but also Dekulakization and
1.4. STATES WHERE MASS KILLINGS HAVE OCCURRED 5

targeted campaigns against particular ethnic groups, can tions and, in an amendment added in 1937, failing
be considered as genocide, * [68] * [69] at least in its loose to fulfill one's appointed duties. In the cases investi-
definition.* [70] gated by the State Security Department of the NKVD
Genocide scholar Adam Jones claims that “there is very (GUGB NKVD) October 1936 – November 1938, at
little in the record of human experience to match the vio- least 1,710,000 *
people were arrested and 724,000 peo-
lence unleashed between 1917, when the Bolsheviks took ple executed. [87]
power, and 1953, when Joseph Stalin died and the Soviet
Union moved to adopt a more restrained and largely non-
murderous domestic policy.”He notes the exceptions be-
ing the Khmer Rouge (in relative terms) and Mao's rule
in China (in absolute terms).* [71]

Red Terror

Main articles: Red Terror, Decossackization and Lenin's

Hanging Order

During the Russian Civil War, both sides unleashed ter-

ror campaigns (the Red and White Terrors). The Red Vynnytsa, Ukraine, June 1943. Mass graves dating from 1937–
Terror culminated in the summary execution of tens of 38 opened up and hundreds of bodies exhumed for identification
by family members.* [88]
thousands of "enemies of the people" by the political po-
lice, the Cheka.* [72]* [73]* [74]* [75] Many victims were
Regarding the persecution of clergy, Michael Ellman has
'bourgeois hostages' rounded up and held in readiness for
stated that "...the 1937–38 terror against the clergy of the
summary execution in reprisal for any alleged counter-
Russian Orthodox Church and of other religions (Binner
revolutionary provocation.* [76] Many were put to death
& Junge 2004) might also qualify as genocide”.* [70] Cit-
during and after the suppression of revolts, such as the
ing church documents, Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev
Kronstadt rebellion and the Tambov Rebellion. Professor
has estimated that over 100,000 priests, monks and nuns
Donald Rayfield claims that“the repression that followed
were executed during this time.* [89]
the rebellions in Kronstadt and Tambov alone resulted in
tens of thousands of executions.”* [77] A large number Former "kulaks" and their families made up the major-
of Orthodox clergymen were also killed.* [78]* [79] ity of victims, with 669,929 people arrested and 376,202
executed.* [90]
The policy of decossackization amounted to an attempt
by Soviet leaders to “eliminate, exterminate, and de-
port the population of a whole territory,”according to National operations of the NKVD Main article:
Nicolas Werth.* [80] In the early months of 1919, some National operations of the NKVD
10,000 to 12,000 Cossacks were executed* [81]* [82] and
many more deported after their villages were razed to the
In 1930s, the NKVD conducted a series of national op-
ground.* [83]
erations, which targeted some “national contingents”
suspected in counter-revolutionary activity.* [70] A to-
Great Purge (Yezhovshchina) tal of 350,000 were arrested and 247,157 were exe-
cuted.* [91] Of these, the Polish operation, which targeted
Main article: Great Purge the members of already non-existing Polska Organizacja
Wojskowa appears to have been the largest, with 140,000
arrests and 111,000 executions.* [70] Although these op-
Stalin's attempts to solidify his position as leader of the eration might well constitute genocide as defined by the
Soviet Union lead to an escalation in detentions and ex- UN convention,* [70] or“a mini-genocide”according to
ecutions of various people, climaxing in 1937–38 (a pe- Montefiore,* [91] there is as yet no authoritative ruling on
riod sometimes referred to as the “Yezhovshchina,”or the legal characterisation of these events.* [70]
Yezhov era), and continuing until Stalin's death in 1953.
Around 700,000 of these were executed by a gunshot to
the back of the head,* [84] others perished from beatings Great purge in Mongolia Main article: Stalinist
and torture while in“investigative custody”* [85] and in repressions in Mongolia
the Gulag due to starvation, disease, exposure and over-
work.* [86] In the summer and autumn of 1937, Joseph Stalin sent
Arrests were typically made citing counter-revolutionary NKVD agents to the Mongolian People's Republic and
laws, which included failure to report treasonous ac- engineered a Mongolian Great Terror* [92] in which
6 CHAPTER 1. MASS KILLINGS UNDER COMMUNIST REGIMES

some 22,000* [93] and 35,000* [94] people were exe- nents by the tens of thousands before fleeing from the ad-
cuted. Around 18,000 victims were Buddhist lamas.* [93] vancing Axis forces.* [104]

Soviet killings during World War II 1.4.2 People's Republic of China

Main articles: Katyn Massacre, NKVD prisoner mas- Main article: History of the People's Republic of China
sacres and Soviet war crimes
In September 1939, following the Soviet invasion of
(1949–1976)
The Chinese Communist Party came to power in China in
1949, when Chinese communist revolution ended a long
and bloody civil war between communists and national-
ists. There is a general consensus among historians that
after Mao Zedong seized power, his policies and political
purges caused directly or indirectly the deaths of tens of
millions of people.* [105]* [106] Based on the Soviets' ex-
perience, Mao considered violence necessary to achieve
an ideal society derived from Marxism and planned and
executed violence on a grand scale.* [107]* [108]

Land reform and the suppression of counterrevolu-

Victims of Soviet NKVD in Lviv, June 1941. tionaries

Poland, NKVD task forces started removing “Soviet- Main article: Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolution-
hostile elements”from the conquered territories.* [95] aries
The NKVD systematically practiced torture, which often
resulted in death.* [96]* [97] The first large-scale killings under Mao took place dur-
The most notorious killings occurred in the spring of ing land reform and the counterrevolutionary campaign.
1940, when the NKVD executed some 21,857 Polish In official study materials published in 1948, Mao en-
POWs and intellectual leaders in what has become known visaged that “one-tenth of the peasants”(or about
as the Katyn massacre.* [98]* [99]* [100] According to the 50,000,000) “would *
have to be destroyed”to facilitate
Polish Institute of National Remembrance, 150,000 Pol- agrarian reform. [108] Actual numbers killed in land re-
ish citizens perished due to Soviet repression during the form are believed to have been lower, but at least one
* *
* *
war. [101] [102] million. [107] [109]
The suppression of counterrevolutionaries targeted
mainly former Kuomintang officials and intellectuals
suspected of disloyalty.* [110] At least 712,000 people
were executed, 1,290,000 were imprisoned in labor
camps and 1,200,000 were“subject to control at various
times.”* [111]

The Great Leap Forward

Main article: Great Leap Forward

Benjamin Valentino says that the Great Leap Forward was

Plaque on the building of Government of Estonia, Toompea,
commemorating government members killed by communist ter-
ror
Executions were also carried out after the annexation of
the Baltic states.* [103] And during the initial phases of
Operation Barbarossa, the NKVD and attached units of
the Red Army massacred prisoners and political oppo-
a cause of the Great Chinese Famine and that the worst
effects of the famine were steered towards the regime's
enemies.* [112] Those labeled as “black elements”(re-
ligious leaders, rightists, rich peasants, etc.) in any ear-
lier campaign died in the greatest numbers, as they were
given the lowest priority in the allocation of food.* [112]
In Mao's Great Famine, historian Frank Dikötter writes
that “coercion, terror, and systematic violence were the
very foundation of the Great Leap Forward”and it“mo-
tivated one of the most deadly mass killings of human
1.4. STATES WHERE MASS KILLINGS HAVE OCCURRED 7

history.”* [113] His research in local and provincial Chi- The Killing Fields were a number of sites in Cambodia
nese archives indicates the death toll was at least 45 mil- where large numbers of people were killed and buried
lion, and that “In most cases the party knew very well by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the coun-
that it was starving its own people to death.”* [114] In a try from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the
secret meeting at Shanghai in 1959, Mao issued the order Vietnam War. At least 200,000 people were executed
to procure one third of all grain from the countryside. He by the Khmer Rouge,* [122] while estimates of the total
said: “When there is not enough to eat people starve to number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies,
death. It is better to let half of the people die so that the including disease and starvation, range from 1.4 to 2.2
other half can eat their fill.”* [114] Dikötter estimates million out of a population of around 7 million.* [123]
that at least 2.5 million people were summarily killed or Democratic Kampuchea (Cambodia under the Khmer
tortured to death during this period.* [115]
Rouge) experienced serious hardships due to the effects
of war and disrupted economic activity. According to
Michael Vickery, 740,800 people in Cambodia in a pop-
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
ulation of about 7 million died due to disease, overwork,
and political repression.* [124] Other estimates suggest
Main article: Cultural Revolution
approximately 1.7 million and it is described by the Yale
University Cambodian Genocide Program as“one of the
Sinologists Roderick MacFarquhar and Michael Schoen- worst human tragedies of the last century.”* [125]
hals estimate that between 750,000 and 1.5 million peo-
Researcher Craig Etcheson of the Documentation Center
ple were killed in the violence of the Cultural Revolu-
of Cambodia suggests that the death toll was between 2
tion, in rural China alone.* [116] Mao's Red Guards were
and 2.5 million, with a“most likely”figure of 2.2 million.
given carte blanche to abuse and kill the revolution's en-
After 5 years of researching some 20,000 grave sites, he
emies.* [117] For example, in August 1966, over 100
concludes that “these mass graves contain the remains
teachers were murdered by their students in western Bei-
of 1,112,829 victims of execution.”* [124]
jing alone.* [118]
Steven Rosefielde claims that Democratic Kampuchea
was the deadliest of all communist regimes on a per capita
1.4.3 Cambodia (Democratic Kampuchea) basis, primarily because it “lacked a viable productive
core”and “failed to set boundaries on mass murder.”
*
See also: Cambodian genocide [126]
Helen Fein, a genocide scholar, notes that, although In 1997 the Cambodian Government asked the
United Nations assistance in setting up a genocide
tribunal.* [127]* [128]* [129] The investigating judges
were presented with the names of five possible suspects
by the prosecution on July 18, 2007.* [127] On Septem-
ber 19, 2007 Nuon Chea, second in command of the
Khmer Rouge and its most senior surviving member, was
charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity,
but not charged with genocide. He will face Cambodian
and foreign judges at the special genocide tribunal.* [130]

1.4.4 Others

Mass killings have also occurred in Vietnam,* [132]

Skulls of victims of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.
Cambodian leaders declared adherence to an exotic ver-
sion of agrarian communist doctrine, the xenophobic ide-
ology of the Khmer Rouge regime resembles more a phe-
nomenon of national socialism, or fascism.* [119] Daniel
Goldhagen explains that the Khmer Rouge were xeno-
phobic because they believed the Khmer were “the one
authentic people capable of building true communism.”
*
[120] Sociologist Martin Shaw described the Cambo-
dian genocide as “the purest genocide of the Cold War
era”.* [121]
North Korea* [133] and Romania.* [134] It has been sug-
gested that there may also have been other mass killings
(on a smaller scale) in communist states such as Bulgaria
and East Germany, although lack of documentation pre-
vents definitive judgement about the scale of these events
and the motives of the perpetrators.* [135]
According to Benjamin Valentino, most regimes that de-
scribed themselves as Communist did not commit mass
killings.* [2] However, some mass killings may have oc-
curred in some Eastern European countries, although in-
sufficient documentary evidence makes it impossible to
make a definitive judgement about the scale, intentional-
8 CHAPTER 1. MASS KILLINGS UNDER COMMUNIST REGIMES

1945 as part of agricultural collectivization and political

repression.* [135]

Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Further information: North Korea

According to R.J. Rummel, forced labor, executions,

Infants were fatally smashed against the Chankiri Tree (Killing In 2009, Steven Rosefielde stated that the Red Holocaust
Tree) at Choeung Ek, Cambodia.* [131]
and concentration camps were responsible for over one
million deaths in the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea from 1948 to 1987;* [139] others have estimated
400,000 deaths in concentration camps alone.* [140]
Pierre Rigoulot estimates 100,000 executions, 1.5 mil-
lion deaths through concentration camps and slave labor,
500,000 deaths from famine, and 1.3 million killed in the
Korean war.* [141] Estimates based on the most recent
North Korean census suggest that 240,000 to 420,000
people died as a result of the 1990s famine and that there
were 600,000 to 850,000 excess deaths in North Korea
from 1993 to 2008.* [142] The famine, which claimed as
many as one million lives, has been described as the re-
sult of the economic policies of the North Korean govern-
ment,* [143] and as deliberate“terror-starvation”.* [144]
“still persists in North Korea”as Kim Jong Il “refuses
to abandon mass killing.”* [145]

ity and the causes of those events.* [136]

Democratic Republic of Vietnam

Bulgaria Further information: North Vietnam

According to Benjamin Valentino, available evidence In the early 1950s, the Communist government in North
suggests that between 50,000 and 100,000 people may Vietnam launched a land reform program, which, ac-
have been killed in Bulgaria beginning in 1944 as part cording to Steven Rosefielde, was “aimed at exter-
of agricultural collectivization and political repression, minating class enemies.”* [146] Victims were chosen
although there is insufficient documentation to make a in an arbitrary manner, following a quota of four to
definitive judgement.* [135] Dinyu Sharlanov, in his book five percent.* [147] Torture was used on a wide scale,
History of Communism in Bulgaria, accounts for about so much so that by 1954 Ho Chi Minh became con-
31,000 people killed under the regime between 1944 and cerned, and had it banned.* [147] It is estimated that
1989.* [137]* [138] some 50,000* [147] to 172,000* [146] people perished in
the campaigns against wealthy farmers and landowners.
Rosefielde discusses much higher estimates that range
East Germany from 200,000 to 900,000, which includes summary ex-
ecutions of National People's Party members.* [146]
According to Valentino, between 80,000 and 100,000
people may have been killed in East Germany begin-
ning in 1945 as part of political repression by the Soviet People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Union.* [135]
Main article: Red Terror (Ethiopia)

Romania
Amnesty International estimates that a total of half a mil-
lion people were killed during the Red Terror of 1977
Further information: Communist Romania and 1978.* [148]* [149]* [150] During the terror groups of
people were herded into churches that were then burned
According to Valentino, between 60,000 and 300,000 down, and women were subjected to systematic rape by
people may have been killed in Romania beginning in soldiers.* [151] The Save the Children Fund reported that
1.5. CONTROVERSIES 9

the victims of the Red Terror included not only adults, 1.5.2 Soviet famine of 1932–1933
but 1,000 or more children, mostly aged between eleven
and thirteen, whose corpses were left in the streets of
Addis Ababa.* [148] Mengistu Haile Mariam himself is
alleged to have killed political opponents with his bare Main articles: Soviet famine of 1932–1933, Holodomor,
hands.* [152] Holodomor genocide question and Dekulakization

Within the Soviet Union, forced changes in agricul-

Hungary tural policies (collectivization) and droughts caused the
Soviet famine of 1932–1933.* [160]* [161]* [162]* [163]
See also: Red Terror (Hungary), People's Republic of The famine was most severe in the Ukrainian SSR,
Hungary, and House of Terror where it is often referenced as the Holodomor. A
significant portion of the famine victims (3–3.5 mil-
lion) were Ukrainians while the total number of vic-
During the period of the short lived Hungarian Soviet Re-
tims in the Soviet Union is estimated to be 6 – 8 mil-
public in 1919 the Lenin Boys committed crimes against
lions.* [164]* [165]* [166]
the political opponents. After World War II, the commu-
nist State Protection Authority maintained concentration Some scholars have argued that the Stalinist policies that
camps and committed mass genocides. caused the famine may have been designed as an attack on
the rise of Ukrainian nationalism,* [167] and thus may fall
under the legal definition of genocide (see Holodomor
genocide question).* [160]* [161]* [168]* [169]* [170]
1.5 Controversies Economist Michael Ellman argues that the actions
of the Soviet regime from 1930–34 constitutes “a
series of crimes against humanity.”* [70] Benjamin
1.5.1 Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Valentino notes that “there is strong evidence that
Soviet authorities used hunger as a weapon to crush
Main article: Democratic Republic of Afghanistan peasant resistance to collectivization”and that “deaths
associated with these kinds of policies meet the criteria
for mass killing.”* [171] Timothy Snyder, Professor of
Although it is frequently considered as an exam-
ple of communist genocide, the Democratic Republic History at Yale University, asserts that in 1933 “Joseph
Stalin was deliberately starving Ukraine”through a
of Afghanistan represents a borderline case, accord-
ing to Frank Wayman and Atsushi Tago. [12] Prior* “heartless campaign of requisitions that began Europe's
era of mass killing.”* [172]
to the Soviet invasion, the PDPA executed between
10,000 and 27,000 people, mostly at Pul-e-Charkhi Ukraine under Yuschenko's administration (2004–2010)
prison.* [153]* [154]* [155] After the invasion in 1979, has tried to make the world recognize the famine as
the Soviets installed the puppet government of Babrak a genocide,* [173] a move which was supported by a
Karmal, but it was never clearly stabilized as a com- number of foreign governments.* [174] The Russian gov-
munist regime and was in a constant state of war. By ernment has vehemently rejected the idea, accusing
1987, about 80% of the country's territory was perma- Yuschenko of politicization of the tragedy, outright pro-
nently controlled by neither the pro-Communist govern- paganda, and fabrication of documents.* [175] In 2010,
ment (and supporting Soviet troops) nor by the armed Ukrainian president Yanukovich reversed Yuschenko's
opposition. To tip the balance, the Soviet Union used a policies on Holodomor and, currently, both Ukraine and
tactic that was a combination of “scorched earth”pol- Russia consider the Holodomor a common tragedy of the
icy and “migratory genocide": by systematically burn- Russian and Ukrainian peoples, caused by“Stalin's total-
ing the crops and destroying villages in rebel provinces, as itarian regime”, rather than a deliberate act of genocide
well as by reprisal bombing of entire villages suspected of that targeted ethnic Ukrainians.* [176] In a draft resolu-
harbouring or supporting the resistance, the Soviets tried tion, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eu-
to force the local population to move to the Soviet con- rope declared the famine was caused by the “cruel and
trolled territory, thereby depriving the armed opposition deliberate actions and policies of the Soviet regime”and
of their support.* [156] By the time the Soviets withdrew was responsible for the deaths of “millions of innocent
in 1988, 1 to 1.5 million people had been killed, mostly people”in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Moldova and
Afghan civilians, and one-third of Afghanistan's popula- Russia. Relative to its population, Kazakhstan is believed
tion had been displaced.* [157] M. Hassan Kakar argued to have been the most adversely affected.* [176]* [177]
that “the Afghans are among the latest victims of geno- Regarding the Kazakh case, Michael Ellman states that it
cide by a superpower.”* [158] Mass graves of executed “seems to be an example of‘negligent genocide’which
prisoners have been exhumed dating back to the Soviet falls outside the scope of the UN Convention (Schabas
era.* [159] 2000, pp. 226 – 228).”* [70]
10 CHAPTER 1. MASS KILLINGS UNDER COMMUNIST REGIMES

1.5.3 Mass deportations of ethnic minori- Benjamin Valentino writes that, “Although not all the
ties deaths due to famine in these cases were intentional,
communist leaders directed the worst effects of famine
Main article: Population transfer in the Soviet Union against their suspected enemies and used hunger as a
weapon to force millions of people to conform to the di-
rectives of the state.”* [185]
The Soviet government during Joseph Stalin's rule con-
ducted a series of deportations on an enormous scale that Daniel Goldhagen argues that in some cases, deaths from
significantly affected the ethnic map of the USSR. De- famine should not be distinguished from mass murder:
portations took place under extremely harsh conditions, “Whenever governments have not alleviated famine con-
often in cattle carriages, with hundreds of thousands of ditions, political leaders decided not to say no to mass
deportees dying en route.* [178] Some experts estimate death – in other words, they said yes.”He claims that
that the number of deaths from the deportations could be famine was either used or deliberately tolerated by the So-
as high as one in three in certain cases.* [179]* [180] Re- viets, the Germans, the communist Chinese, the British
garding the fate of the Crimean Tatars, Amir Weiner of in Kenya, the Hausa against the Ibo in Nigeria, Khmer
Stanford University writes that the policy could be classi- Rouge, communist North Koreans, Ethiopeans in Eritrea,
fied as "ethnic cleansing". In the book Century of Geno- Zimbabwe against regions of political opposition, and Po-
cide, Lyman H Legters writes“We cannot properly speak litical Islamists in southern Sudan and Darfur.* [186]
of a completed genocide, only of a process that was geno-
cidal in its potentiality.”* [181]
1.6 Notable executioners
1.5.4 Tibet Major-General Vasili Blokhin, Stalin's chief executioner
at Lubyanka prison, personally shot thousands of prison-
According to The Black Book of Communism, the Chi- ers and is regarded by some historians as the most prolific
nese Communists carried out a cultural genocide against executioner in history.* [187]* [188]
the Tibetans. Jean-Louis Margolin states that the killings
were proportionally larger in Tibet than China proper,
and that “one can legitimately speak of genocidal mas- 1.7 Legal prosecution for genocide
sacres because of the numbers involved.”* [182] Accord-
ing to the Dalai Lama and the Central Tibetan Admin- and genocide denial
istration, “Tibetans were not only shot, but also were
beaten to death, crucified, burned alive, drowned, mu-
tilated, starved, strangled, hanged, boiled alive, buried
alive, drawn and quartered, and beheaded.”* [182]
Adam Jones, a Canadian scholar specializing in genocide,
notes that after the 1959 Tibetan uprising, the Chinese
authorized struggle sessions against reactionaries, during
which "...communist cadres denounced, tortured, and fre-
quently executed enemies of the people.”These sessions
resulted in 92,000 deaths out of a population of about 6
million. These deaths, Jones stresses, may be seen not
only as a genocide but also as 'eliticide' – “targeting the
better educated and leadership oriented elements among
the Tibetan population.”* [183]
Katyn 1943 exhumation. Photo by International Red Cross del-
egation.
1.5.5 Inclusion of famine as killing
Ethiopia's former ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam has been
The journalist and author Seumas Milne has questioned convicted of genocide, war crimes and crimes against hu-
whether deaths from famine should be considered equiv- manity and sentenced to death by an Ethiopian court for
alent to state killings, since the demographic data used to his role in the Red Terror, and the highest ranking surviv-
estimate famine deaths may not be reliable. He argues ing member of the Khmer Rouge has been charged with
that, if they are to be, then Britain would have to be con- those crimes.* [130]* [189]* [190]* [191]* [192] However,
sidered responsible for as many as 30 million deaths in In- no communist country or governing body has ever been
dia from famine during the 19th century, and he laments convicted of genocide. Ethiopian law is distinct from the
that there has been “no such comprehensive indictment UN and other definitions in that it defines genocide as in-
of the colonial record”.* [184] tent to wipe out political and not just ethnic groups. In
 1.9. FOOTNOTES
this respect it closely resembles the distinction of politi-
cide.* [193]
According to the laws of the Czech Republic, the per-
son who publicly denies, puts in doubt, approves or tries
to justify Nazi or Communist genocide or other crimes
of Nazis or Communists will be punished by prison of
6 months to 3 years.* [194] In March 2005, the Polish
Sejm unanimously requested Russia to classify the Katyn
massacre, the execution of over 21,000 Polish POW's
and intellectual leaders by Stalin's NKVD, as a crime
of genocide.* [195] Alexander Savenkov of the Prosecu-
tor's General Office of the Russian Federation responded:
“The version of genocide was examined, and it is my firm
conviction that there is absolutely no basis to talk about
this in judicial terms.”* [196] In March 2010, Memorial
called upon Russian president Dmitry Medvedev to de-
nounce the massacre as a crime against humanity.* [197]
On November 26, 2010, the Russian State Duma issued
a declaration that archival material “not only unveils the
scale of his horrific tragedy but also provides evidence
that the Katyn crime was committed on direct orders from
Stalin and other Soviet leaders.”* [198]
In August 2007, Arnold Meri, an Estonian Red Army
veteran and cousin of former Estonian president Lennart
Meri, faced charges of genocide by Estonian authori-
ties for participating in the deportations of Estonians in
Hiiumaa in 1949.* [199]* [200] The trial was halted when
Meri died March 27, 2009, at the age of 89. Meri denied
the accusation, characterizing them as politically moti-
vated defamation: “I do not consider myself guilty of
genocide,”he said.* [201]
On July 26, 2010, Kang Kek Iew (aka Comrade Duch),
director of the S-21 prison camp in Democratic Kam-
puchea where more than 14,000 people were tortured and
then murdered (mostly at nearby Choeung Ek), was con-
victed of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 35
years. His sentence was reduced to 19 years in part be-
cause he had been behind bars for 11 years.* [202]
1.8 See also
• Criticisms of Communist party rule
• Dekulakization
• Gulag
• Great Leap Forward
• Great Chinese Famine
• Land reform in North Vietnam
• Laogai
• Mass graves in the Soviet Union
• Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union
11
• Soviet war crimes
• Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
• Victims of Communism Memorial
• Anti-communist mass killings
• Revolutionary terror
• Crimes against humanity under communist regimes
1.9 Footnotes
[1] Malia, Martin (1999). “Foreword”. In Courtois,
Stéphane Courtois; Kramer, Mark. The Black Book of
Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression. Harvard Uni-
versity Press. pp. ix–xx. ISBN 9780674076082. Re-
trieved 24 August 2015. ...with a grand total of victims
variously estimated by contributors to the volume at be-
tween 85 million and 100 million.
[2] Valentino (2005) Final solutions p. 91.
[3] Valentino (2005) Final solutions p. 9: “Mass killing and
Genocide. No generally accepted terminology exists to
describe the intentional killing of large numbers of non-
combatants.”
[4] Stephen Wheatcroft. The Scale and Nature of Ger-
man and Soviet Repression and Mass Killings, 1930–45.
Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 48, No. 8 (Dec. 1996), pp.
1319–1353
[5] Jones (2010) Genocide p. 137.
[6] Beth van Schaack. The Crime of Political Genocide: Re-
pairing the Genocide Convention's Blind Spot. The Yale
Law Journal, Vol. 106, No. 7 (May 1997), pp. 2259–
2291
[7] Harff, Barbara (1988). “Toward Empirical Theory of
Genocides and Politicides: Identification and Measure-
ment of Cases since 1945”32: 359–371. |first2= missing
|last2= in Authors list (help)
[8] Midlarsky (2005) Killing trap p. 310: “Indeed, an arc of
Communist politicide can be traced from the western por-
tions of the Soviet Union to China and on to Cambodia.”
[9] Midlarsky (2005) Killing trap p.321.
[10] Totten, Samuel (2008). Dictionary of Genocide: A-L.
Greenwood. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-313-34642-2.
[11] Fein, Helen (1993). “Soviet and Communist genocides
and 'Democide'". Genocide: a sociological perspective;
Contextual and Comparative Studies I: Ideological Geno-
cides;. Sage Publications. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-8039-
8829-3.
[12] Wayman, FW; Tago, A (2009). “Explaining the onset
of mass killing, 1949–87”. Journal of Peace Research
Online: 1–17.
[13] Semelin (2009) Purify and Destroy p. 344.
12 CHAPTER 1. MASS KILLINGS UNDER COMMUNIST REGIMES
[14] Semelin (2009) Purify and Destroy p. 318.
[15] Mann (2005) Dark Side of Democracy p. 17.
[16] Benjamin Valentino, Paul Huth, Dylan Bach-Lindsay,
(2004),“Draining the Sea: mass killing and guerrilla war-
fare,”International Organization 58,2 (375–407): p. 387.
[17] Valentino (2005) Final solutions p. 91
[18] Congress (US), (1993), Friendship Act (HR3000) p. 15,
s. 905a1.
[19] Rauch, Jonathan (December 2003).“The Forgotten Mil-
lions: Communism is the deadliest fantasy in human his-
tory (but does anyone care?)". The Atlantic Monthly. Re-
trieved April 24, 2010.
[20] Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, (n.d.),
"History of Communism,”online: Victims of Commu-
nism Memorial Foundation, §"A Moral Blind Spot”.
[21] Rosefielde (2009) Red Holocaust
[22] Möller, Horst (1999). Der rote Holocaust und die
Deutschen. Die Debatte um das 'Schwarzbuch des Kommu-
nismus' [The red Holocaust and the Germans. The debates
on the 'Black Book of Communism']. Piper Verlag. ISBN
978-3-492-04119-5.
[23] Harff, Barbara (Summer 1996).“Death by Government”.
The Journal of Interdisciplinary History (MIT Press Jour- [42]
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[43]
[24] Karlsson, Klas-Göran; Schoenhals, Michael (2008).
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[25] Totten, Samuel; Steven L. Jacobs (2002). Pioneers of
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0-7658-0151-5.
[26] Rummel, RJ (December 15, 2004).“The killing machine
that is Marxism”. WorldNetDaily. Retrieved May 19,
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[27] Rosefielde (2009) Red Holocaust pp. 1, 7.
[28] Conquest (2007) Great Terror p. xxiii.
[29] Yakovlev (2002) Century of Violence p. 20.
[30] Ray, Barry (2007). “FSU professor's 'Lenin, Stalin,
and Hitler' sheds new light on three of the 20th century's
bloodiest rulers”. Florida State University.
[31] Fitzpatrick, Sheila (2008). The Russian Revolution.
Oxford University Press. p. 77. ISBN 0-19-923767-0.
[32] Applebaum, Anne (foreword) and Hollander, Paul
(introduction and editor) (2006). From the Gulag to the
Killing Fields: Personal Accounts of Political Violence and
Repression in Communist States. Intercollegiate Studies In-
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[33] Watson, George (1998). The Lost Literature of Socialism.
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[34] Grant, Robert (November 1999). “Review: The Lost
Literature of Socialism”. The Review of English Studies
(New Series) 50 (200): 557–559.
[35] Goldhagen (2009) Worse than War p. 206.
[36] Pipes (2001) Communism p. 147.
[37] Gray, John (1990). “Totalitarianism, civil society and
reform”. In Ellen Frankel Paul. Totalitarianism at the
crossroads. Transaction Publisher. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-
88738-850-7.
[38] Weitz, Eric D. (2003). A century of genocide: utopias of
race and nation. Princeton University Press. pp. 251–
252. ISBN 978-0-691-00913-1. ISBN 0-691-00913-9.
[39] Hicks, Stephen R. C. (2009). Explaining Postmodernism:
Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault.
Scholarly Publishing. pp. 87–88. ISBN 1-59247-646-5.
ISBN 1-59247-642-2.
[40] Courtois (1999) “Introduction” p. x.
[41] Courtois, Stéphane (1999). “Conclusion: Why?". In
Courtois, Stéphane; Kramer, Mark. The Black Book of
Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression. Harvard Uni-
versity Press. pp. 727–758. ISBN 0-674-07608-7. at p.
727.
Courtois (1999) “Introduction” p. 4.
Courtois (1999) “Introduction” p. 2.
Valentino (2005) Final solutions pp. 34–37.
Valentino (2005) Final solutions pp. 93–94.
[46] Mann (2005) Dark Side of Democracy p. 351.
[47] Semelin (2009) Purify and Destroy'' p. 331.
[48] Martin Malia“Foreword: Uses of Atrocity”in The Black
Book pp. xvii–xviii.
[49] Hertzke, Allen D. (2006). Freeing God's Children: The
Unlikely Alliance for Global Human Rights. Freeing God's
Children: The Unlikely Alliance for Global Human Rights
(Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield). p. 24.
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[50] Thompson, John H. (2008). Russia and the Soviet Union:
An Historical Introduction from the Kievan State to the
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Companion. Santa Barbara, California: ABL-CLIO. pp.
82–83. ISBN 978-1-57607-208-0.
[52] Goldhagen (2009) Worse than War p. 54: "...in the past
century communist regimes, led and inspired by the Soviet
Union and China, have killed more people than any other
regime type.”
[53] Rosefielde (2009) Red Holocaust pp. 225–226.
1.9. FOOTNOTES
[54] Stephen G. Wheatcroft, “Victims of Stalinism and the
Soviet Secret Police: The Comparability and Reliabil-
ity of the Archival Data. Not the Last Word”, Source:
Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 51, No. 2 (Mar. 1999), pp.
315–345, gives the following numbers: During 1921–
53, the number of sentences was (political convictions):
sentences, 4,060,306; death penalties, 799,473; camps
and prisons, 2,634397; exile, 413,512; other, 215,942.
In addition, during 1937–52 there were 14,269,753 non-
political sentences, among them 34,228 death penalties,
2,066,637 sentences for 0–1 year, 4,362,973 for 2–5
years, 1,611,293 for 6–10 years, and 286,795 for more
than 10 years. Other sentences were non-custodial.
[55] John Earl Haynes and Harvey Klehr. In Denial: His-
torians, Communism, and Espionage. Encounter Books,
2003. ISBN 1-893554-72-4. pp. 14–27
[56] John Keep. Recent Writing on Stalin's Gulag: An
Overview. 1997
[57] Courtois, Stéphane; Kramer, Mark (1999). Livre Noir Du
Communisme: Crimes, Terreur, Répression. Harvard Uni-
versity Press. p. 4. ISBN 0-674-07608-7.
[58] Nove, Alec. Victims of Stalinism: How Many?, in Stalin-
ist Terror: New Perspectives (edited by J. Arch Getty and
Roberta T. Manning), Cambridge University Press, 1993.
pp. 260-274. ISBN 0-521-44670-8.
[59] R. J. Rummel (1997). Death by Government. Transaction
Publishers. pp. 10, 15, 25. ISBN 1-56000-927-6.
[60] Montefiore (2005) Court of the Red Tsar p. 649:“Perhaps
20 million had been killed; 28 million deported, of whom
18 million had slaved in the Gulags.”
[61] Dmitri Volkogonov. Autopsy for an Empire: The Seven [75] Figes (1997) A People's Tragedy p. 647.
Leaders Who Built the Soviet Regime. pp. 139: “Between
1929 and 1953 the state created by Lenin and set in motion [76] Figes (1997) A People's Tragedy p. 643.
by Stalin deprived 21.5 million Soviet citizens of their lives.”
. [77] Donald Rayfield. Stalin and His Hangmen: The Tyrant
[62] Yakovlev (2002) Century of Violence p. 234: “My own
many years and experience in the rehabilitation of victims
of political terror allow me to assert that the number of [78] Yakovlev (2002) Century of Violence p. 156.
people in the USSR who were killed for political motives
or who died in prisons and camps during the entire period
of Soviet power totaled 20 to 25 million. And unquestion-
ably one must add those who died of famine—more than [80] Nicolas Werth “A State against its People: violence, re-
5.5 million during the civil war and more than 5 million
during the 1930s.”
[63] Gellately (2007) Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler p. 584: “More
recent estimations of the Soviet-on-Soviet killing have
been more 'modest' and range between ten and twenty mil-
lion.”
[64] Courtois (1999) “Introduction” p. 4: “U.S.S.R.: 20
million deaths.”
[65] Jonathan Brent, Inside the Stalin Archives: Discovering the
New Russia. Atlas & Co., 2008 (ISBN 0-9777433-3-0)
Introduction online (PDF file):“Estimations on the num-
ber of Stalin's victims over his twenty-five year reign, from
1928 to 1953, vary widely, but 20 million is now consid-
ered the minimum.”
13
[66] Rosefielde (2009) Red Holocaust p. 17: “We now know
as well beyond a reasonable doubt that there were more
than 13 million Red Holocaust victims 1929–53, and this
figure could rise above 20 million.”
[67] Conquest (2007) Great Terror p. xvi: “Exact numbers
may never be known with complete certainty, but the total
of deaths caused by the whole range of Soviet regime's
terrors can hardly be lower than some fifteen million.”
[68] Naimark, Norman M. (2010). Stalin's Genocides (Human
Rights and Crimes against Humanity). Princeton Univer-
sity Press. pp. 133–135. ISBN 0-691-14784-1.
[69] Anne Applebaum. The Worst of the Madness The New
York Review of Books, November 11, 2010.
[70] Michael Ellman, Stalin and the Soviet Famine of 1932–
33 Revisited Europe-Asia Studies, Routledge. Vol. 59,
No. 4, June 2007, 663–693. PDF file
[71] Jones (2010) Genocide p. 124.
[72] Sergei Petrovich Melgunov, The Red Terror in Russia, Hy-
perion Pr (1975), ISBN 0-88355-187-X. ;
See also: S. Melgunoff (1927) "The Record of the Red
Terror" Current History unknown volume and edition (pp.
198–205) at unknown page.
[73] Lincoln, W. Bruce, Red Victory: A History of the Russian
Civil War (1999) Da Capo Press.pp. 383–385 ISBN 0-
306-80909-5.
[74] Leggett, George (1987). The Cheka: Lenin's Political Po-
lice. Oxford University Press. pp. 197–198. ISBN 0-19-
822862-7.
and Those Who Killed for Him. Random House, 2004.
ISBN 0-375-50632-2. p. 85
[79] Richard Pipes. Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime. Vin-
tage Books, 1994 ISBN 0-679-76184-5. pg 356
pression, and terror in the Soviet Union”in The Black
Book p. 98.
[81] Peter Holquist. "Conduct merciless mass terror": decos-
sackization on the Don, 1919"
[82] Figes (1997) A People's Tragedy p. 660.
[83] Gellately (2007) Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler pp. 70–71.
[84] Barry McLoughlin (2002) “Mass Operations of the
NKVD, 1937–1938: a survey.”in Stalin's Terror: High
Politics and Mass Repression in the Soviet Union eds. Barry
McLoughlin, Kevin McDermott [?]: Palgrave Macmillan,
p. 141. ISBN 1-4039-0119-8.
[85] Gellately (2007) Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler p. 256.
 14 CHAPTER 1. MASS KILLINGS UNDER COMMUNIST REGIMES

[86] Ellman, Michael (2002). “Soviet Repression Statistics: [105] Short (2001) Mao p. 631;
Some Comments”. Europea-Asia Studies 34 (7): 1151– Chang, Jung and Halliday, Jon. Mao: The Unknown
1172. The best estimate that can currently be made of Story'.' Jonathan Cape, London, 2005. ISBN 0-224-
the number of repression deaths in 1937–38 is the range 07126-2. p. 3
950,000–1.2 million, i.e., about a million. This estimate Rummel, R. J. China’s Bloody Century: Genocide and
should be used by historians, teachers, and journalists con- Mass Murder Since 1900 Transaction Publishers, 1991.
cerned with twentieth century Russian—and world—his- ISBN 0-88738-417-X. p. 205: In light of recent evidence,
tory Rummel has increased Mao's democide toll to 77 million.

[87] N.G. Okhotin, A.B. Roginsky “Great Terror": Brief [106] Fenby, Jonathan. Modern China: The Fall and Rise of
Chronology Memorial, 2007 a Great Power, 1850 to the Present. Ecco, 2008. ISBN
0-06-166116-3. p. 351 “Mao’s responsibility for the
[88] Courtois (1999) The Black Book photographic insert fol- extinction of anywhere from 40 to 70 million lives brands
lowing p. 202. him as a mass killer greater than Hitler or Stalin, his in-
difference to the suffering and the loss of humans breath-
[89] Yakovlev (2002) Century of Violence p. 165;
taking.”
See also: Pipes (2001) Communism p. 66.
[107] Rummel, Rudolph J. (2007). China's bloody century:
[90] Orlando Figes. The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's
genocide and mass murder since 1900. Transaction Pub-
Russia. Metropolitan Books, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8050-
lishers. p. 223. ISBN 978-1-4128-0670-1.
7461-1, page 240
[108] Goldhagen (2009) Worse than War p. 344.
[91] Montefiore (2005) Court of the Red Tsar p. 229.
[109] Short (2001) Mao pp. 436–437.
[92] Hiroaki Kuromiya, The Voices of the Dead: Stalin's Great
Terror in the 1930s. Yale University Press, December 24, [110] Steven W. Mosher. China Misperceived: American Illu-
2007. ISBN 0-300-12389-2. p. 2 sions and Chinese Reality. Basic Books, 1992. ISBN 0-
465-09813-4. pp 72, 73
[93] Christopher Kaplonski, Thirty thousand bullets, in: His-
torical Injustice and Democratic Transition in Eastern Asia [111] Yang Kuisong. Reconsidering the Campaign to Suppress
and Northern Europe, London 2002, pp. 155–168 Counterrevolutionaries The China Quarterly, 193, March
2008, pp.102–121. PDF file.
[94] Twentieth Century Atlas – Death Tolls
[112] Valentino (2005) Final solutions p. 128.
[95] Interview with Tomasz Strzembosz: Die verschwiegene
Kollaboration Transodra, 23. Dezember 2001, p. 2 (Ger- [113] Dikötter, Frank. Mao's Great Famine: The History of
man) China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-62. Walker
& Company, 2010. pp. x, xi. ISBN 0-8027-7768-6.
[96] Jan T. Gross. Revolution From Abroad: The Soviet Con-
quest of Poland's Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia. [114] Frank Dikötter, Mao’s Great Famine, Key Arguments
Princeton University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-691-09603-1.
pp. 181–182 [115] Issac Stone Fish. Greeting Misery With Violence.
Newsweek. September 26, 2010.
[97] Paul, Allen. Katyn: Stalin's Massacre and the Seeds of
Polish Resurrection. Naval Institute Press, 1996. ISBN [116] MacFarquhar and Schoenhals (2006) Mao's Last Revolu-
1-55750-670-1. p. 155 tion p. 262.

[98] Fischer, Benjamin B., "The Katyn Controversy: Stalin's [117] MacFarquhar and Schoenhals (2006) Mao's Last Revolu-
Killing Field". “Studies in Intelligence”, Winter 1999–
2000. Retrieved on December 10, 2005.
[99] Parrish (1996) Lesser Terror pp. 324, 325.
[100] Montefiore (2005) Court of the Red Tsar pp. 197–198,
332, 334.
[101] “Polish experts lower nation's WWII death toll”.
AFP/Expatica. July 30, 2009. Retrieved November 4,
2009.
tion p. 125.
[118] The Chinese Cultural Revolution: Remembering Mao's Vic-
tims by Andreas Lorenz in Beijing, Der Spiegel Online.
May 15, 2007
[119] Helen Fein. Revolutionary and Antirevolutionary Geno-
cides: A Comparison of State Murders in Democratic
Kampuchea, 1975 to 1979, and in Indonesia, 1965 to
1966. Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol.
35, No. 4 (Oct. 1993), pp. 796–823

[102] Wojciech Materski and Tomasz Szarota. Polska 1939– [120] Goldhagen (2009) Worse than War p. 207.
1945. Straty osobowe i ofiary represji pod dwiema
okupacjami.Institute of National Remembrance(IPN) [121] Theory of the Global State: Globality as Unfinished Revo-
Warszawa 2009 ISBN 978-83-7629-067-6. lution by Martin Shaw, Cambridge University Press, 2000,
pp 141, ISBN 978-0-521-59730-2.
[103] Montefiore (2005) Court of the Red Tsar p. 334
[122] Chandler, David. The Killing Fields. At The Digital
[104] Gellately (2007) Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler p. 391. Archive Of Cambodian Holocaust Survivors.
 1.9. FOOTNOTES 15

[123] Peace Pledge Union Information – Talking about geno- [144] Rosefielde, Stephen (2009), Red Holocaust, Routledge, p.
cides – Cambodia 1975 – the genocide. 109.

[124] Sharp, Bruce (April 1, 2005).“Counting Hell: The Death [145] Rosefielde, Stephen (2009), Red Holocaust, Routledge,
Toll of the Khmer Rouge Regime in Cambodia”. Re-
trieved July 5, 2006.
[125] The CGP, 1994–2008 Cambodian Genocide Program,
Yale University
[126] Rosefielde (2009) Red Holocaust pp. 120–121.
[127] Doyle, Kevin. Putting the Khmer Rouge on Trial, Time,
July 26, 2007
pp. 228, 243.
[146] Rosefielde (2009) Red Holocaust p. 110.
[147] Jean-Louis Margolin“Vietnam and Laos: the impasse of
war communism”in The Black Book pp. 568–569.
[148] The World Was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Bat-
tle for the Third World by Christopher Andrew and Vasili
Mitrokhin, pg 457

[128] MacKinnon, Ian Crisis talks to save Khmer Rouge trial, [149] US admits helping Mengistu escape BBC, December 22,
The Guardian, March 7, 2007 1999

[129] The Khmer Rouge Trial Task Forc, Royal Cambodian [150] Talk of the Devil: Encounters with Seven Dictators by Ric-
Government cardo Orizio, pg 151

[151] Yves Santamaria “Afrocommunism: Ethiopia, Angola,

[130] Staff, Senior Khmer Rouge leader charged, BBC Septem-
and Mozambique”in The Black Book p. 692.
ber 19, 2007
[152] Guilty of genocide: the leader who unleashed a 'Red Ter-
[131] Khmer Rouge torturer describes killing babies by 'smash-
ror' on Africa by Jonathan Clayton, The Times Online,
ing them into trees' Mail Online, June 9, 2009
December 13, 2006
[132] Berger, Arthur Asa (January 31, 1987). Television in soci-
[153] Valentino (2005) Final solutions p. 219.
ety. Transaction Publishers. p. 262. ISBN 978-0-88738-
109-6. [154] Kaplan, Robert D., Soldiers of God: With Islamic Warriors
in Afghanistan and Pakistan, New York, Vintage Depar-
[133] Jones (2010) Genocide pp. 215–216. tures, (2001), p.115
[134] Kimenyi, Alexandre (June 2001). Anatomy of Geno- [155] Kabul's prison of death BBC, February 27, 2006
cide: State-sponsored Mass-killings in the Twentieth Cen-
tury. Edwin Mellen Press. p. 206. ISBN 978-0-7734- [156] Joseph Collins. Soviet Policy toward Afghanistan. Pro-
7600-4. ceedings of the Academy of Political Science, Vol. 36, No.
4, Soviet Foreign Policy. (1987), pp. 198–210
[135] Valentino (2005) Final solutions Table 2 found at p. 75.
[157] Valentino (2005) Final solutions pp. 91–151.
[136] Valentino (2005) Final solutions p. 75.
[158] M. Hassan Kakar Afghanistan: The Soviet Invasion and
[137] Шарланов, Диню. История на комунизма в Булгария: the Afghan Response, 1979–1982 University of California
Комунизирането на Булгариия. Сиела, 2009. ISBN press © 1995 The Regents of the University of California.
978-954-28-0543-4.
[159] In pictures: Afghan mass grave BBC, July 5, 2007
[138] Hanna Arendt Center in Sofia, with Dinyu Sharlanov and
Venelin I. Ganev. Crimes Committed by the Commu- [160] Dr. David Marples, The great famine debate goes on...,
nist Regime in Bulgaria. Country report. “Crimes of ExpressNews (University of Alberta), originally published
the Communist Regimes”Conference. February 24–26, in Edmonton Journal, November 30, 2005
2010, Prague.
[161] Stanislav Kulchytsky, “Holodomor of 1932–1933 as
[139] Rummel, R.J. (1997), Statistics Of North Korean Demo- genocide: the gaps in the proof”, Den, February 17, 2007,
cide: Estimates, Calculations, And Sources, Statistics of in Russian, in Ukrainian
Democide, Transaction.
[162] С. Уиткрофт (Stephen G. Wheatcroft), "О
[140] Omestad, Thomas,“Gulag Nation”, U.S. News & World демографических свидетельствах трагедии советской
Report, June 23, 2003. деревни в 1931—1933 гг.” (On demographic evidence
of the tragedy of the Soviet village in 1931–1933),
[141] Black Book of Communism, pg. 564. "Трагедия советской деревни: Коллективизация
и раскулачивание 1927–1939 гг.: Документы
[142] Spoorenberg, Thomas and Schwekendiek, Daniel (2012). и материалы. Том 3. Конец 1930–1933 гг.”,
“Demographic Changes in North Korea: 1993–2008”, Российская политическая энциклопедия, 2001, ISBN
Population and Development Review, 38(1), pp. 133-158. 5-8243-0225-1, с. 885, Приложение № 2

[143] Stephan Haggard, Marcus Noland, and Amartya Sen [163] 'Stalinism' was a collective responsibility – Kremlin pa-
(2009), Famine in North Korea, Columbia University pers, The News in Brief, University of Melbourne, June
Press, p.209. 19, 1998, Vol 7 No 22
 16 CHAPTER 1. MASS KILLINGS UNDER COMMUNIST REGIMES

[164] “Ukraine – The famine of 1932–33”. Encyclopædia
Britannica. Retrieved June 26, 2008.
[165] R.W. Davies and S.G. Wheatcroft, (2004) The Indus-
trialisation of Soviet Russia, volume 5. The Years of
Hunger: Soviet Agriculture, 1931-1933 Basingstoke: Pal-
grave Macmillan, p. 401. For a review, see “Davies &
Wheatcroft, 2004” (PDF). Warwick.
[166] Ellman, Michael (September 2005). “The Role of Lead-
ership Perceptions and of Intent in the Soviet Famine
of 1931–1934” (PDF). Europe-Asia Studies (Routledge)
57 (6): 823–41. doi:10.1080/09668130500199392. Re-
trieved July 4, 2008.
[167] Amstutz, Mark R. (January 28, 2005). International
ethics: concepts, theories, and cases in global politics (2nd
ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-7425-
3583-1.
[168] Peter Finn, Aftermath of a Soviet Famine, The Washing-
ton Post, April 27, 2008, “There are no exact figures on
how many died. Modern historians place the number be-
tween 2.5 million and 3.5 million. Yushchenko and others
have said at least 10 million were killed.”
[169] Yaroslav Bilinsky (1999).“Was the Ukrainian Famine of
1932–1933 Genocide?". Journal of Genocide Research 1 [181] Samuel Totten, William S. Parsons, Israel W. Charny.
(2): 147–156. doi:10.1080/14623529908413948.
[170] Stanislav Kulchytsky, “Holodomor-33: Why and how?",
Zerkalo Nedeli, November 25 – December 1, 2006, in [182] Jean-Louis Margolin“China: a long march into night”in
Russian, in Ukrainian.
Game: Blood and Oil in Central Asia. Jackson, Tenn.: At-
lantic Monthly Press, 2003. ISBN 0-87113-906-5. An-
other scholar puts the number of deaths at 22.7 percent:
Extrapolating from NKVD records, 113,000 Ingush and
Chechens died (3,000 before deportation, 10,000 during
deportation, and 100,000 after resettlement) in the first
three years of the resettlement out of 496,460 total de-
portees. See: Naimark, Norman M. Fires of Hatred: Eth-
nic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe. Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-674-
00994-0. A third source says a quarter of the 650,000
deported Chechens, Ingush, Karachais and Kalmyks died
within four years of resettlement. See: Mawdsley, Evan.
The Stalin Years: The Soviet Union 1929–1953. Manch-
ester, England: Manchester University Press, 2003. ISBN
0-7190-6377-9. However, estimates of the number of de-
portees sometimes varies widely. Two scholars estimated
the number of Chechen and Ingush deportees at 700,000,
which would have the percentage estimates of deaths. See:
Fischer, Ruth and Leggett, John C. Stalin and German
Communism: A Study in the Origins of the State Party. Edi-
son, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 2006. ISBN 0-87855-
822-5.
[180] Conquest, Robert. The Nation Killers. New York:
Macmillan, 1970. ISBN 0-333-10575-3.
Century of Genocide: Eyewitness Accounts and Critical
Views. Garland, 1997 ISBN 0-8153-2353-0. p. 120
The Black Book pp. 545–546.

[171] Valentino (2005) Final solutions p. 99. [183] Jones (2010) Genocide pp. 95–96.

[172] Snyder, Timothy. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and [184] Milne, Seumas (September 12, 2002). “The battle for
Stalin. Basic Books, 2010. ISBN 0-465-00239-0. p. vii history”. The Guardian (London). Retrieved May 12,
2010.
[173] Jan Maksymiuk, “Ukraine: Parliament Recognizes
[185] Valentino (2005) Final solutions p. 93–94.
Soviet-Era Famine As Genocide”, RFE/RL, November
29, 2006 [186] Goldhagen (2009) Worse than War pp. 29–30.

[174] 19 (according to Ukrainian BBC: "Латвія визнала [187] Montefiore (2005) Court of the Red Tsar pp. 197–8, 334.
Голодомор ґеноцидом"), 16 (according to Korre-
spondent, Russian edition: "После продолжительных [188] Parrish (1996) Lesser Terror p. 324.
дебатов Сейм Латвии признал Голодомор геноцидом
[189] “BBC,“Mengistu found guilty of genocide,”12 Decem-
украинцев"), “more than 10”(according to Korrespon-
ber 2006”. BBC News. December 12, 2006. Retrieved
dent, Ukrainian edition: "Латвія визнала Голодомор
January 2, 2010.
1932–33 рр. геноцидом українців")
[190] Backgrounders: Ethiopian Dictator Mengistu Haile
[175] http://www.regnum.ru/news/1138393.html Mariam Human Rights Watch, 1999
[176] Yanukovych reverses Ukraine's position on Holodomor [191] Tsegaye Tadesse. Verdict due for Ethiopia's ex-dictator
famine, RIA Novosti, April 27, 2010 Mengistu Reuters, 2006

[177] PACE finds Stalin regime guilty of Holodomor, does not [192] Court Sentences Mengistu to Death BBC, May 26, 2008.
recognize it as genocide. RIA Novosti, April 28, 2010.
[193] Barbara Harff,“Recognizing Genocides and Politicides”
[178] Boobbyer, Phillip (2000), The Stalin Era, Routledge, , in Genocide Watch 27 (Helen Fein ed., 1992) pp.37,38
ISBN 0-7679-0056-1, p. 130
[194] “Expanding Holocaust Denial and Legislation”.
[179] In one estimate, based on a report by Lavrenti Beria to [195] Polish government statement: Senate pays tribute to
Stalin, 150,000 of 478,479 deported Ingush and Chechen Katyn victims – 3/31/2005
people (or 31.3 percent) died within the first four years of
the resettlement. See: Kleveman, Lutz. The New Great [196] Russia Says Katyn Executions Not Genocide
 1.11. FURTHER READING
[197] Memorial calls on Medvedev to denounce Katyn as crime
against humanity
[198] Ellen Barry. Russia: Stalin Called Responsible for Katyn
Killings. The New York Times, November 26, 2010.
[199] Entisen presidentin serkkua syytetään neuvostoajan kyy-
dityksistä – Baltic Guide
[200] Estonian charged with Communist genocide International
Herald Tribune, August 23, 2007
[201] “Estonian war figure laid to rest”. BBC News. April 2,
2009. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
[202] Sentence reduced for former Khmer Rouge prison chief.
The Los Angeles Times, July 27, 2010
1.10 Bibliography
• Conquest, Robert. (2007). The Great Terror: A Re-
assessment, 40th Anniversary Edition. [?]: Oxford
University Press.
• Courtois, Stéphane ed.. (1999). The Black Book
of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression. trans.
Jonathan Murphy and Mark Kramer; consulting ed.
Mark Kramer. [?]: Harvard University Press. ISBN
0-674-07608-7. Google Books.
• Courtois, Stéphane. (1999). “Introduction: the
crimes of communism”in The Black Book of Com-
munism. pp. 1–32.
• Dikötter, Frank (2010). Mao's Great Famine: The
History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe,
1958-1962. Walker & Company. ISBN 0-8027-
7768-6.
• Orlando Figes. A People's Tragedy: The Russian
Revolution 1891 —1924. Penguin Books, 1997
ISBN 0-19-822862-7.
• Robert Gellately. Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age
of Social Catastrophe. Knopf, 2007 ISBN 1-4000-
4005-1.
• Goldhagen, Daniel (2009). Worse Than War: Geno-
cide, Eliminationism, and the Ongoing Assault on
Humanity. PublicAffairs. p. 608. ISBN 978-1-
58648-769-0. ISBN 1-58648-769-8.
• Jones, Adam. (2010). Genocide: A Comprehensive
Introduction (2nd ed.) [?]: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-
48619-X. Google Books.
• MacFarquhar, Roderick and Schoenhals, Michael.
Mao's Last Revolution. Harvard University Press,
2006.
• Mann, Michael. (2005). The Dark Side of Democ-
racy: explaining ethnic cleansing. [?]: Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 0-521-53854-8, ISBN 978-
0-521-53854-1.
17
• Midlarsky, Manus. (2005). The killing trap: geno-
cide in the twentieth century. [?]: Cambridge Uni-
versity Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81545-1. Google
Books.
• Montefiore, Simon Sebag (2005). Stalin: The Court
of the Red Tsar. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN
978-1-4000-7678-9.
• Parrish, Michael (1996). The Lesser Terror: Soviet
state security, 1939–1953. Westport, CT: Praeger
Press. ISBN 0-275-95113-8.
• Pipes, Richard (2001). Communism: A History.
Modern Library Chronicles. p. 175. ISBN 978-
0-8129-6864-4.
• Rosefielde, Steven (2009). Red Holocaust.
Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-77757-5.
• Rummel, Rudolph. (1997). Death by Government
[?]: Transaction Publishers. ISBN 1-56000-927-6.
Author provides limited online access to a 1994 edi-
tion.
• Semelin, Jacques. (2009). Purify and Destroy: the
political uses of massacre and genocide. Trans. Cyn-
thia Schoch. CERI Series in Comparative Politics
and International Studies, Series ed. Christophe Jaf-
frelot. [?]: Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-
231-14283-8, ISBN 978-0-231-14283-0.
• Short, Philip (2001). Mao: A Life. Owl Books. p.
631. ISBN 0-8050-6638-1.
• Valentino, Benjamin A (2005). Final solutions:
mass killing and genocide in the twentieth century.
Cornell University Press. pp. 91–151. ISBN 0-
8014-7273-3.
• Yakovlev, Alexander Nikolaevich (2002). A Cen-
tury of Violence in Soviet Russia. Yale University
Press. ISBN 0-300-08760-8.
1.11 Further reading
• Barron, John; Paul, Anthony (1977). Murder of A
Gentle Land, The Untold Story of Communist Geno-
cide in Cambodia. Reader's Digest Press. p. 240.
ISBN 0-88349-129-X.
• Deker, Nikolai; Institute for the study of the
U.S.S.R. Munich (1958). Genocide in the USSR:
studies in group destruction. Scarecrow Press.
• Lanning, Michael Lee, Cragg, Dan. Inside the VC
and the NVA: the real story of North Vietnam's
armed forces. 1st edition. Texas A & M University
Press August 15, 2008. ISBN 978-1-60344-059-2.
18 CHAPTER 1. MASS KILLINGS UNDER COMMUNIST REGIMES

• Sarup, Kamala (September 5, 2005). “Communist

Genocide In Cambodia” (PDF). Genocide Watch.
Retrieved September 30, 2009.

• Totten, Samuel; Paul Robert Bartrop; Steven L.

Jacobs (2008). “Communism”. Dictionary of
genocide, Volume 1. Greenwood Publishing Group.
p. 106. ISBN 978-0-313-34642-2. ISBN 0-313-
34642-9.
• Weiss-Wendt, Anton (December 2005). “Hostage
of Politics Raphael Lemkin on“Soviet Genocide""
(PDF). Journal of Genocide Research 7 (4): 551–
559. doi:10.1080/14623520500350017.

1.12 External links

• The Global Museum on Communism
Chapter 2
Criticisms of communist party rule
This article only discusses criticisms that are
specific to communist states and not necessar-
ily to other forms of socialism. See Criticisms
of socialism and Criticisms of Marxism for dis-
cussions of literature and viewpoints objecting
to socialism and Marxism, respectively, in gen-
eral. In addition, see Criticisms of Marxism for
information on perspectives relating Marxism-
Leninism to totalitarianism.
Criticisms of communist party rule are criticisms of
the actions of one-party states ruled by parties that iden-
tify their official ideologies as Marxism-Leninism, known
as "Communist states".
2.1 Background
Differentiated from both liberal democracy and tradi-
tional forms of autocratic rule such as tsarism, communist
party rule, notably in the Soviet Union, one of two world
superpowers for nearly four decades after the end of
World War II, and the People's Republic of China, the
world's most populous state, has represented an important
and distinct type of modern political regime.* [1] Criti-
cisms of these regimes have related to their effects on
the domestic development of various states, and their role
in international politics, including the Cold War, and the
collapse of the Eastern bloc and later the Soviet Union
itself in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
After the Russian Revolution, communist party rule was
consolidated for the first time in Soviet Russia (later the
largest constituent republic of the Soviet Union, formed
in December 1922), and criticized immediately domesti-
cally and internationally. During the first Red Scare in the
United States, the takeover of Russia by the communist
Bolsheviks was considered by many a threat to free mar-
kets, religious freedom, and liberal democracy. Mean-
while, under the tutelage of the Communist Party of the
Soviet Union, the only party permitted by the USSR con-
stitution, state institutions were intimately entwined with
those of the party. By the late 1920s, Joseph Stalin con-
solidated the regime's control over the country's economy
and society through a system of economic planning and
19
five-year plans.
Between the Russian Revolution and the Second World
War, Soviet-style communist rule only spread to one state
that was not later incorporated into the USSR; in 1924,
communist rule was established in neighboring Mongolia,
a traditional outpost of Russian influence bordering the
Siberian region. However, throughout much of Europe
and the Americas, criticism of the domestic and foreign
policies of the Soviet regime among anticommunists con-
tinued unabated. After the end of World War II, the
spread of communist rule throughout Eastern Europe co-
incided with the early years of the Cold War. In the West,
critics of communist rule pointed out that the Soviets
were imposing Stalinist regimes on unwilling populations
in Eastern Europe. Following the Chinese Revolution,
the People's Republic of China was proclaimed in 1949
under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.
Between the Chinese Revolution and the last quarter of
the 20th century, communist rule spread throughout East
Asia and much of the Third World, and new communist
regimes became the subject of extensive local and inter-
national criticism.
Western criticisms of the Soviet Union and Third World
communist regimes have been strongly anchored in schol-
arship on totalitarianism, which points out that com-
munist parties maintain themselves in power without
the consent of the populations they rule by means of
secret police, propaganda disseminated through the state-
controlled mass media, repression of free discussion and
criticism, mass surveillance, and state terror. These stud-
ies of totalitarianism influenced Western historiography
on communism and Soviet history, particularly the work
of Robert Conquest and Richard Pipes on Stalinism, the
Great Purge, the Gulag, and the Soviet famine of 1932-
1934.
Western criticisms of communist rule have also been
grounded in criticisms of socialism by economists such as
Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman, who argued that
the state ownership and economic planning characteristic
of Soviet-style communist rule were responsible for eco-
nomic stagnation and shortage economies, providing few
incentives for individuals to improve productivity and en-
gage in entrepreneurship.
20
Ruling communist parties have also been challenged by
domestic dissent. In Eastern Europe, the works of dis-
sidents Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Václav Havel gained
international prominence, as did the works of disillu-
sioned ex-communists such as Milovan Đilas, who con-
demned the "new class" or "nomenklatura" system that
had emerged under communist rule.
Communism: Promise and Practice (1973) detailed what
its author termed flagrant gaps between official Soviet
policies of equality and economic justice and the real-
ity of the emergence of a new class in the U.S.S.R. and in
other communist countries, which thrived at the expense
of the remaining population; see Nomenklatura.
2.2 Areas of criticism
Criticisms of communist regimes have centered on many
topics, including their effects on the economic develop-
ment, human rights, foreign policy, scientific progress,
and environmental degradation of the countries they rule.
Political repression is a topic in many influential works
critical of communist rule, including Robert Conquest's
accounts of Stalin's Great Purge in The Great Terror
and the Soviet famine of 1932-1934 in The Harvest
of Sorrow; Richard Pipes' account of the "Red Ter-
ror" during the Russian Civil War; R. J. Rummel's
work on "democide"; Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's account
of Stalin's forced labor camps in The Gulag Archipelago;
and Stéphane Courtois' account of executions, forced la-
bor camps, and mass starvation in communist regimes as
a general category, with particular attention to the USSR
under Stalin and China under Mao Zedong.
Soviet-style central planning and state ownership has
been another topic of criticism of communist rule. Works
by economists such as Friedrich Hayek and Milton Fried-
man argue that the economic structures associated with
communist rule resulted in economic stagnation. Other
topics of criticism of communist rule include foreign poli-
cies of“expansionism”, environmental degradation, and
the suppression of free cultural expression.
Criticisms of anticommunist accounts of political repres-
sion and economic development under communist rule
are diverse. On one hand, supporters of various ruling
communist parties have argued that accounts of political
repression are exaggerated by anticommunists, that re-
pression was unfortunate but necessary to preserve social
stability, and that communist rule provided some human
rights not found under liberal democracies. They further
claim that countries under communist party rule expe-
rienced greater economic development than they would
have otherwise, or that communist leaders were forced
to take harsh measures to defend their countries against
the West during the Cold War. On the other hand, some
noncommunist academic historians have argued that var-
ious attacks on communist rule should be more strongly
CHAPTER 2. CRITICISMS OF COMMUNIST PARTY RULE
contextualized, while not denying their factuality or con-
cerning themselves with justifying the actions of ruling
communist parties.
2.2.1 Political repression
Large-scale political repression under communist rule has
been the subject of extensive historical research by schol-
ars and activists from a diverse range of perspectives. A
number of researchers on this subject are former Eastern
bloc communists who become disillusioned with their rul-
ing parties, such as Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev and
Dmitri Volkogonov. Similarly, Jung Chang, one of the
authors of Mao: The Unknown Story, was a Red Guard in
her youth. Others are disillusioned former Western com-
munists, including several of the authors of The Black
Book of Communism. Robert Conquest, another former
communist, became one of the best-known writers on the
Soviet Union following the publication of his influential
account of the Great Purge in The Great Terror, which
at first was not well received in some left-leaning circles
of Western intellectuals. Following the end of the Cold
War, much of the research on this topic has focused on
state archives previously classified under communist rule.
The level of political repression experienced in states
under communist rule varied widely between different
countries and historical periods. The most rigid cen-
sorship was practiced by the Soviet Union under Stalin
(1927–53), China under Mao during the Cultural Revolu-
tion (1966–76), and the communist regime in North Ko-
rea throughout its rule (1948–present).* [2] Under Stalin's
rule, political repression in the Soviet Union included ex-
ecutions of Great Purge victims and peasants deemed
"kulaks" by state authorities; the Gulag system of forced
labor camps; deportations of ethnic minorities; and mass
starvations during the Soviet famine of 1932-34, caused
by either government mismanagement, or by some ac-
counts, caused deliberately. The Black Book of Com-
munism also details the mass starvations resulting from
Great Leap Forward in China, and the Killing Fields in
Cambodia.
Although political repression in the USSR was far more
extensive and severe in its methods under Stalin's rule
than in any other period, authors such as Richard Pipes,
Orlando Figes, and works such as the Black Book of Com-
munism argue that a reign of terror began within Rus-
sia under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin immediately
after the October Revolution, and continued by the Red
Army and the Cheka over the country during the Russian
Civil War. It included summary executions of hundreds
of thousands of“class enemies”by Cheka; the develop-
ment of the system of labor camps, which would later lay
the foundation for the Gulags; and a policy of food requi-
sitioning during the civil war, which was partially respon-
sible for a famine causing three to ten million deaths.* [3]
Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev's critiques of political
2.2. AREAS OF CRITICISM 21

repression under communist rule focus on the treatment accusing the other side of 'oppression.' Western Cold
of children, which he numbers in the millions, of alleged War critics of communist rule stressed abridgments of
political opponents. His accounts stress cases in which freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the
children of former imperial officers and peasants were press, and equality before the law in the Soviet Union.
held as hostages and sometimes shot during the civil war. Soviet Cold Warriors responded with arguments assert-
His account of the Second World War highlights cases in ing that civil liberties under capitalism existed only for the
which the children of soldiers who had surrendered were ruling classes, and that they were irrelevant to the lower
the victims of state reprisal. Some children, Yakovlev classes that they argued lacked the economic capacity to
notes, followed their parents to the Gulags, suffering an exercise them in any meaningful way.
especially high mortality rate. According to Yakovlev, in Some noncommunist accounts argue that various attacks
1954 there were 884,057 “specially resettled”children
on political repression under communist rule in anticom-
under the age of sixteen. Others were placed in special munist narratives should be more strongly contextualized.
orphanages run by the secret police in order to be reedu-
Academic specialists on social revolutions and Soviet de-
cated, often losing even their names, and were considered velopment highlight continuities of political culture and
socially dangerous as adults.* [4]
social structure between communist regimes and the old
Other accounts focus on extensive networks of civil- regimes they uprooted.* [8] From this view, as the Bolshe-
ian informants, consisting of either volunteers, or those viks struggled against the White army and foreign armies
forcibly recruited. These networks were used to collect during the civil war, they ensured the survival of their own
intelligence for the government and report cases of dis- regime by sweeping away the tsarist secret police and re-
sent.* [5] Many accounts of political repression in the So- placing it with a new political police, though of consider-
viet Union highlight cases in which internal critics were ably greater dimensions. The new regime continued prac-
classified as mentally ill (suffering from disorders such as tices of censorship institutionalized under the old regime;
sluggishly progressing schizophrenia) and incarcerated in indeed, the communists themselves had most often been
mental hospitals.* [6] The fact that workers in the Soviet the targets of this previous censorship.
Union were not allowed to organize independent, non- These continuities were not unnoticed by Bolshevik lead-
state trade union has also been presented as a case of po- ers. In Bolshevik commentaries on war tactics in the civil
litical repression in the Soviet Union.* [7] war, revolutionary leaders asserted that they were fight-
Various accounts stressing a relationship between politi- ing the former ruling class using its own weapons, in or-
cal repression and communist rule focus on the suppres- der to prevent it from staging a counterrevolution. In later
sion of internal uprisings by military force, such as the years, communist leaders defended restrictions and sup-
Tambov rebellion and the Kronstadt rebellion during the pression of dissent as defensive measures against external
Russian Civil War, and the Tiananmen Square protests of subversion. During the Cold War, communist leaders at
1989 in China. times claimed that their states were assaulted by propa-
Ex-communist dissident Milovan Djilas, among others, ganda campaigns and infiltration by the intelligence agen-
focused on the relationship between political repression cies of Western 'imperialist' powers. Western scholars of
and the rise of a powerful "new class" of party bureaucrats international relations do not discount the role of interna-
*
that had emerged under communist rule, and exploited tional influences on domestic political development. [9]
the rest of the population. (see nomenklatura) However, international relations scholars do not consider
international forces the sole, or even necessarily the prin-
Critics claim that communist states provided low stan- cipal or a major determinant of domestic political devel-
dards of living and committed numerous human rights opment under certain conditions.
violations, including millions of deaths caused directly or
indirectly by the government. Estimates of the number of Some Western academics argue that anticommunist nar-
such deaths, in particular those that occurred in China and ratives have exaggerated the extent of political repression
the Soviet Union, vary greatly depending on the source and censorship in states under communist rule. Albert
Szymanski, for instance, draws a comparison between
and methodology, with numbers ranging from under 30
million to 145 million worldwide. Critics argue that the the treatment of anticommunist dissidents in the Soviet
Union after Stalin's death and the treatment of dissidents
Soviet Union experienced a severe economic downturn in
the 1970s and 1980s, which contributed to its collapse, in the United States during the period of McCarthyism,
claiming that“on the whole, it appears that the level of re-
and that China has been reforming since towards a more
market-oriented economy. pression in the Soviet Union in the 1955 to 1980 period
was at approximately the same level as in the U.S. dur-
ing the McCarthy years (1947-56).”* [10] Other schol-
Alternative accounts ars, such as Mark Aarons, contend that right-wing au-
thoritarian regimes and dictatorships backed by Western
Throughout the Cold War, each side in the ideologi- powers committed atrocities and mass killings that ri-
cal struggle between Soviet-style socialism and U.S.-style val the Communist world, citing examples such as the
capitalism cast itself as the champion of 'freedom' while Indonesian occupation of East Timor, the Indonesian
22
killings of 1965–66, the "disappearances" in Guatemala
during the civil war, and the torture and killings asso-
ciated with Operation Condor throughout South Amer-
ica.* [11] Daniel Goldhagen claims that during the last
two decades of the Cold War, the number of American
client states practicing mass killing outnumbered those
of the Soviet Union.* [12] John Henry Coatsworth sug-
gests the number of repression victims in Latin America
alone far surpassed that of the Soviets and the Eastern
bloc during the period 1960 to 1990.* [13]* [14] In terms
of living standards, economist Michael Ellman asserts
that, in international comparisons, state-socialist nations
compared favorably with capitalist nations in health indi-
cators such as infant mortality and life expectancy.* [15]
Amartya Sen's own analysis of international comparisons
of life expectancy found that several communist countries
made significant gains, and commented“one thought that
is bound to occur is that communism is good for poverty
removal.”* [16]
2.2.2 Personality cults
Both anti-communists and communists have criticized
the personality cults of many communist rulers, espe-
cially the cults of Stalin, Mao, Fidel Castro and Kim Il-
sung. In the case of North Korea, the personality cult
of Kim Il-sung was associated with inherited leadership,
with the succession of Kim's son Kim Jong-il in 1994 and
grandson Kim Jong-un in 2011. Cuban communists have
also been criticized for planning an inherited leadership,
with the succession of Raúl Castro following his brother's
illness in mid-2006.* [17]
2.2.3 Freedom of movement
The Berlin Wall was constructed in 1961 to stop emigration from
East to West Berlin. In the last phase of the wall's development,
the “death strip”between fence and concrete wall gave guards
Albania and North Korea perhaps imposed the most ex-
a clear shot at would-be escapees from the East.
treme restrictions on emigration. From most other com-
munist regimes, legal emigration was always possible,
In the literature on communist rule, many anticommu-
though often so difficult that attempted emigrants would
nists have asserted that communist regimes tend to im-
risk their lives in order to emigrate. Some of these states
pose harsh restrictions on the freedom of movement.
CHAPTER 2. CRITICISMS OF COMMUNIST PARTY RULE
These restrictions, they argue, are meant to stem the pos-
sibility of mass emigration, which threatens to offer evi-
dence pointing to widespread popular dissatisfaction with
their rule.
Between 1950 and 1961 2.75 million East Germans
moved to West Germany. During the Hungarian Revo-
lution of 1956 around 200,000 people moved to Austria
as the Hungarian-Austrian border temporarily opened.
From 1948 to 1953 hundreds of thousands of North Ko-
reans moved to the South, stopped only when emigration
was clamped down after the Korean War.
In Cuba, 50,000 middle-class Cubans left between 1959
and 1961 after the Cuban Revolution and the breakdown
of Cuban-American relations. Following a period of re-
pressive measures by the Cuban government in the late
1960s and 1970s, Cuba allowed for mass emigration of
dissatisfied citizens, a policy that resulted in the Mariel
Boatlift of 1980. In the 1990s, the economic crisis known
as the Special Period coupled with the United States'
tightening of the embargo led to desperate attempts to
leave the island on balsas (rafts, tires, makeshift ves-
sels).* [18] Many Cubans currently continue attempts to
emigrate to the U.S. In total, according to some estimates,
more than 1 million people have left Cuba, around 10%
of the population.* [18] Between 1971 and 1998, 547,000
Cubans emigrated to the U.S. alongside 700,000 neigh-
boring Dominicans, 335,000 Haitians and 485,000 Ja-
maicans.* [19] Since 1966, immigration to the U.S. was
governed by the 1966 Cuban adjustment act, a U.S. law
that applies solely to Cubans. The ruling allows any
Cuban national, no matter the means of the entry into
the US, to receive a green card after being in the coun-
try a year.* [20] Havana has long argued that the policy
has encouraged the illegal exodus, deliberately ignoring
and undervaluing the life-threatening hardships endured
by refugees.* [21]
After the victory of the communist North in the Vietnam
War, over 2 million people in former South Viet-
namese territory left the country (see Boat People) in the
1970s and 1980s. Another large group of refugees left
Cambodia and Laos.
Restrictions on emigration from states ruled by commu-
nist parties received extensive publicity. In the West,
the Berlin wall emerged as a symbol of such restrictions.
During the Berlin Wall's existence, sixty thousand people
unsuccessfully attempted to emigrate illegally from East
Germany and received jail terms for such actions; there
were around five thousand successful escapes into West
Berlin; and 239 people were killed trying to cross.* [22]
North Korea currently imposes strict restrictions on emi-
gration.
2.2. AREAS OF CRITICISM 23

relaxed emigration laws significantly from the 1960s on- emigration violations of human rights, and the United
wards. Tens of thousands of Soviet citizens emigrated States has never had such restrictions.
legally every year during the 1970s.* [23] Szymanski reached the conclusion that restrictions im-
The Chinese government takes these restrictions even fur- posed by communist regimes on the emigration were no
ther by restriction of movement within their own borders. more intense than state restrictions that had been imposed
Workers in rural areas must obtain permission to obtain in capitalist societies in the past. In Poland, for example,
work at factories within urban areas. Many rural citizens, the communist regime maintained the same emigration
especially young men, facing lack of education and other laws that had been in force under the old regime since
services provided free of charge to people living in cities 1936.* [26] Nevertheless, East Germany, Cuba, Vietnam
and urban areas, choose to obtain under the table work in and North Korea experienced increasing levels of control
urban areas with labor shortages, leading to an illegal im- of emigration under communist rule. Their official expla-
migration problem within the country. These restrictions nations claimed that their societies needed as much labor
are not for the political reasons other regimes have used, as possible for either postwar reconstruction or economic
but to maintain the central government planned economy development.* [27] Third World communist leaders did
and“caste”system that seeks to retain the knowledge and not deny Western countries reached higher standards of
skills needed in different fields of the economy: Agricul- living, but they argued that they were in the process of
ture, Industry, Fishing, etc. One belief is that China is catching up; such claims have been received with skepti-
trying to reduce overpopulation of urban areas and avoid cism in the West, especially with respect to countries that
the loss of specialized skills usually passed from genera- have not adopted market reforms such as North Korea.
tion to generation in the traditional fields. (A good exam-
ple of this loss of skill can be seen in the U.S. where mi-
grant farmers, usually from Mexico or other South Amer-
2.2.4 International politics and relations
ican countries, are employed because of a shortage of
locals with necessary knowledge to cultivate and harvest
produce still willing to work in such jobs.) Imperialism

As an ideology, Marxism-Leninism stresses militant op-

Alternative accounts
During the period of renewed Cold War tensions of the
1980s, American sociologist Albert Szymanski argued
that the level of human rights in the USSR in areas such
as emigration, civil liberties, civil and economic rights,
and treatment of women and national minorities was not
as poor as it was painted in Western Cold War accounts.
Szymanski challenged accounts stressing a relationship
between communist rule and high levels of nation emi-
gration, pointing to other factors explaining patterns of
human migration. Szymanski noted that restrictions to
emigration were in force in many societies that had been
shaped by capitalist development in the late 19th century.
France, Spain and Portugal even limited their citizens'
travel to their own colonies.* [24] The various German
principalities allowed only emigration to Slavic lands in
the east prior to the 18th century, and many of them
banned emigration altogether from the 18th century to
the mid-19th. Austrian authorities did not allow com-
moners to move beyond the empire's borders before the
1850s. While most European states relaxed or even com-
pletely eliminated their restrictions on emigration by the
early 20th century, largely due to their population explo-
sion, there were some exceptions. Romania, Serbia, and
tsarist Russia still required their citizens to obtain offi-
cial permission for emigration up to World War I. Dur-
ing the war, all European countries re-introduced strict
restrictions on migration, either temporarily or perma-
nently.* [25] However, when looking at the Cold War pe-
riod, many Americans considered these restrictions on
position to imperialism. Vladimir Lenin considered
imperialism “the highest stage of capitalism”and, in
1917, made empty declarations of the unconditional right
of self-determination and secession for the national mi-
norities of Russia. Later, during the Cold War, commu-
nist states exercised imperialism by giving military assis-
tance and in some cases intervening directly on behalf
of Communist movements that were fighting for control,
particularly in Asia and Africa.
Western critics accused the Soviet Union and the People's
Republic of China of practicing imperialism themselves,
and communist condemnations of Western imperialism
hypocritical. The attack on and restoration of Moscow's
control of countries that had been under the rule of
the tsarist empire, but briefly formed newly independent
states in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War (includ-
ing Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan), have been con-
demned as examples of Soviet imperialism.* [28] Simi-
larly, Stalin's forced reassertion of Moscow's rule of the
Baltic states in World War II has been condemned as So-
viet imperialism. Western critics accused Stalin of cre-
ating satellite states in Eastern Europe after the end of
World War II. Western critics also condemned the inter-
vention of Soviet forces during the 1956 Hungarian Rev-
olution, the Prague Spring, and the war in Afghanistan as
aggression against popular uprisings. Maoists argued that
the Soviet Union had itself become an imperialist power
while maintaining a socialist façade (social imperialism).
China's reassertion of central control over territories on
the frontiers of the Qing dynasty, particularly Tibet, has
also been condemned as imperialistic by some.
24 CHAPTER 2. CRITICISMS OF COMMUNIST PARTY RULE

World War II 2.2.6 Loss of life

According to Richard Pipes, the Soviet Union shares
some responsibility for World War II. Pipes argues that
both Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini used the So-
viet Union as a model for their own regimes, and that
Hitler privately considered Stalin a “genius”. Accord-
ing to Pipes, Stalin privately hoped that another world war
would weaken his foreign enemies and allow him to assert
Soviet power internationally. Before Hitler took power,
Stalin allowed the testing and production of German
weapons that were forbidden by the Versailles Treaty to
occur on Soviet territory. Stalin is also accused of weak-
ening German opposition to the Nazis before Hitler's rule
began in 1933. During the 1932 German elections, for in-
stance, he forbade the German Communists from collab-
orating with the Social Democrats. These parties together
gained more votes than Hitler and, some have later sur-
mised, could have prevented him from becoming Chan-
cellor.* [29]
Main article: Mass killings under Communist regimes
Scholars such as Stephane Courtois, Steven Rosefielde
(in Red Holocaust), Banjamin Valentino* [32] and R.J.
Rummel have argued that communist regimes were re-
sponsible for tens or even hundreds of millions of deaths.
These deaths mostly occurred under the rule of Stalin and
Mao. Therefore, these particular periods of communist
rule in Russia and China receive considerable attention
in The Black Book of Communism, though other commu-
nist regimes have also caused high number of deaths, not
least the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia, which is of-
ten acclaimed to have killed more of its citizens than any
other in history.
These accounts often divide their death toll estimates into
two categories:

Support of terrorism 1. Executions of people who had received the death

penalty for various charges, or deaths that occurred
Some states under communist rule have been criticized in prison.
for directly supporting terrorist groups, such as the PFLP,
the Red Army Faction, and the Japanese Red Army.* [30]
North Korea has been implicated in terrorist acts such as 2. Deaths that were not caused directly by the regime
Korean Air Flight 858. (the people in question were not executed and did
not die in prison), but are considered to have died as
an indirect result of state or communist party poli-
2.2.5 Forced labor and deportations cies. Courtois, among others, argues that most vic-
tims of communist rule fell in this category, which
A number of communist states also held forced labor as a is often the subject of considerable controversy.
legal form of punishment for certain periods of time, and,
again, critics of these policies assert that many of those
sentenced to forced labor camps such as the Gulag were In most communist states, the death penalty was a legal
sent there for political rather than criminal reasons. Some
form of punishment for most of their existence, with a
of the Gulag camps were located in very harsh environ- few exceptions. (The Soviet Union, for example, formally
ments, such as Siberia, which resulted in the death of a
abolished the death penalty between 1947 and 1950,
significant fraction of inmates before they could complete though this did nothing to curb executions and acts of
their prison terms. Officially, the Gulag was shut down in
genocide).* [33] Critics argue that many of the convicted
1960, though they remained de facto in action for some prisoners executed by authorities under communist rule
time after.
were not criminals, but political dissidents. Stalin's Great
Many deaths were also caused by involuntary Purge in the late 1930s (from roughly 1936-38) is given
deportations of entire ethnic groups. (see population as the most prominent example of the hypothesis.* [34]
transfer in the Soviet Union). Many Prisoners of War With regard to deaths not caused directly by state or
taken during World War II were not released as the party authorities, The Black Book of Communism points
war ended and died in the Gulags. Many German to famine and war as the indirect causes of what they see
civilians died as a result of atrocities committed by the as deaths for which communist regimes were responsi-
Soviet army (see Evacuation of East Prussia) and due ble. The Soviet famine of 1932-34 and the Great Leap
to the policy of ethnic cleansing of Germans from the Forward, in this sense, are often described as man-made
territories they lost due to the war. (see expulsion of famines. These two events alone killed a majority of
Germans after World War II). the people seen as victims of communist states by esti-
North Korea continues to maintain a network of prison mates such as Courtois'. Courtois also blames Mengistu
and labor camps that imprison an estimated 200,000 peo- Haile Mariam's regime in Ethiopia for having exacer-
ple. While the country doesn't regularly deport citizens, bated the 1984-1985 famine by imposing unreasonable
there is a system of internal exile and banishment.* [31] political and economic burdens on the population.
2.2. AREAS OF CRITICISM 25

Estimates regimes in China, the USSR, Cambodia, North Korea,

Ethiopia, and Mozambique are added together, the figure
The authors of the Black Book of Communism, R.J. Rum- could be close to 90 million.* [49]
mel, Norman Davies, and others have attempted to give These estimates are the three highest numbers of victims
estimates of the total number of deaths for which com- blamed on communism by any notable study. However,
munist rule of a particular state in a particular period was
the totals that include research by Wiezhi, Heidenrich,
responsible, or the total for all states under communist Glasser, Possony, Ponton, Tsaplin, and Nove do not in-
rule. The question is complicated by the lack of hard dataclude other periods of time beyond Stalin or Mao's rule,
and by biases inherent in any estimation. thus it may possible, when including other communist
The number of people killed under Joseph Stalin's rule states, to reach higher totals.
in the Soviet Union by 1939 has been estimated as In a January 25, 2006, resolution condemning the crimes
3.5-8 million by G. Ponton,* [35] 6.6 million by V. V. of communist regimes, the Council of Europe cited the
Tsaplin,* [36] and 10-11 million by Alec Nove.* [37] The 94 million total reached by the authors of the Black Book
number of people killed under Joseph Stalin's rule by of Communism.
the time of his death in 1953 has been estimated as 13-
20 million by Steven Rosefielde,* [38] 20 million by The Explanations have been offered for the discrepancies in
Black Book of Communism, 20 to 25 million by Alexander the number of estimated victims of communist regimes:
Yakovlev,* [39] 43 million by R. J. Rummel,* [40] and 50
million by Norman Davies.* [41] • First, all these numbers are estimates derived from
The number of people killed under Mao Zedong's rule in incomplete data. Researchers often have to extrap-
the People's Republic of China has been estimated at 19.5 olate and interpret available information in order to
*
million by Wang Weizhi, [42] 27 million by John Hei- arrive at their final numbers.
denrich,* [43] between 38 and 67 million by Kurt Glaser
• Second, different researchers work with different
and Stephan Possony,* [44] between 32 and 59 million
definitions of what it means to be killed by a regime.
by Robert L. Walker,* [45] 50+ million by Steven Rose-
As noted above, the vast majority of victims of com-
fielde,* [38] 65 million by The Black Book of Communism,
munist regimes did not die as a result of direct gov-
well over 70 million by Mao: The Unknown Story, and 77
ernment orders, but as an indirect result of state
million by R.J. Rummel.* [46]
policy. There is no agreement on the question of
The authors of The Black Book of Communism have also whether communist regimes should be held respon-
estimated that 9.3 million people were killed under com- sible for their deaths and if so, to what degree. The
munist rule in other states: 2 million in North Korea, 2 low estimates may count only executions and labor
million in Cambodia, 1.7 million in Africa, 1.5 million in camp deaths as instances of killings by communist
Afghanistan, 1 million in Vietnam, 1 million in Eastern regimes, while the high estimates may be based on
Europe, and 150,000 in Latin America. R.J. Rummel has the argument that communist regimes were respon-
estimated that 1.7 million were killed by the government sible for all deaths resulting from famine or war.
of Vietnam, 1.6 million in North Korea (not counting the
1990s famine), 2 million in Cambodia, and 2.5 million in • Some of the writers make special distinction for
Poland and Yugoslavia.* [47] Valentino estimates that 1 Stalin and Mao, who all agree are responsible for
to 2 million were killed in Cambodia, 50,000 to 100,000 the most extensive pattern of severe crimes against
in Bulgaria, 80,000 to 100,000 in East Germany, 60,000 humanity, but include little to no statistics on losses
to 300,000 in Romania, 400,000 to 1,500,000 in North of life after their rule.
Korea, and 80,000 to 200,000 in North and South Viet-
• Another reason is sources available at the time of
nam.* [48]
writing. More recent researchers have access to
Between the authors Wiezhi, Heidenrich, Glaser, Pos- many of the official archives of communist regimes
sony, Ponton, Tsaplin, and Nove, Stalin's Soviet Russia in East Europe and Soviet Union. However, in Rus-
and Mao's China have an estimated total death rate rang- sia many of archives for the period after Stalin's
ing from 23 million to 109 million. death are still closed.* [50]
The Black Book of Communism asserts that roughly 94
• Finally, this is a highly politically charged field, with
million died under all communist regimes while Rum-
nearly all researchers having been accused of a pro-
mel believes around 144.7 million died under six commu-
or anti-communist bias at one time or another.
nist regimes. Benjamin Valentino claims that between 21
and 70 million deaths are attributable to the Communist
regimes in the USSR, the People's Republic of China and 2.2.7 Economic policy
Democratic Kampuchea alone.* [32]
Jasper Becker, author of Hungry Ghosts, claims that if Both critics and supporters of communist rule often
the death tolls from the famines caused by communist make comparisons between the economic development
26 CHAPTER 2. CRITICISMS OF COMMUNIST PARTY RULE

of countries under communist rule and noncommunist rates slowed down in the Soviet Union and throughout the
countries, with the intention of certain economic struc- socialist bloc.* [55] The reasons for this downturn are still
tures are superior to the other. All such comparisons a matter of debate among economists, but one hypothe-
are open to challenge, both on the comparability of the sis is that the socialist planned economies had reached
states involved and the statistics being used for compar- the limits of the extensive growth model they were pur-
ison. No two countries are identical, which makes com- suing, and the downturn was at least in part caused by
parisons regarding later economic development difficult; their refusal or inability to switch to intensive growth.
Western Europe was more developed and industrialized Further, it could be argued that since the economies of
than Eastern Europe long before the Cold War; World countries such as Russia were pre-industrial before the so-
War II damaged the economies of some countries more cialist revolutions, the high economic growth rate could
than others; East Germany had much of its industry dis- be attributed to industrialization. Also, while forms of
mantled and moved to the USSR for war reparations. economic growth associated with any economic structure
produce some winners and losers, anticommunists point
Advocates of Soviet-style economic planning have
claimed the system has in certain instances produced dra- out that high growth rates under communist rule were as-
sociated with particularly intense suffering and even mass
matic advances, including rapid industrialization of the
Soviet Union, especially during the 1930s. Critics of starvation of the peasant population.
Soviet economic planning, in response, assert that new Unlike the slow market reforms in China and Vietnam,
research shows that the Soviet figures were partly fab- where communist rule continues, the abrupt end to cen-
ricated, especially those showing extremely high growth tral planning was followed by a depression in many of
in the Stalin era. Growth was impressive in the 1950s the states of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
and 1960s, in some estimates much higher than during which chose to adopt the so-called economic shock ther-
the 1930s, but later declined and according to some es- apy. For example, in the Russian Federation GDP per
timates became negative in the late 1980s.* [51] Before capita decreased by one-third between 1989 and 1996.
collectivization, Russia had been the “breadbasket of As of 2003, all of them have positive economic growth
Europe”. Afterwards, the Soviet Union became a net and almost all have a higher GDP/capita than before the
importer of grain, unable to produce enough food to feed transition.* [57]
its own population.* [52] In general, critics of communist rule argue that social-
China and Vietnam achieved much higher rates of growth ist economies remained behind the industrialized West
after introducing market reforms (see socialism with in terms of economic development for most of their ex-
Chinese characteristics) starting in the late 1970s and istence, while others assert that socialist economies had
1980s; higher growth rates were accompanied by declin- growth rates that were sometimes higher than many non-
ing poverty.* [53] socialist economies, so they would have eventually caught
The communist states do not compare favorably when up to the West if those growth rates had been maintained.
looking at nations divided by the Cold War: North Korea Some reject all comparisons altogether, noting that the
versus South Korea; and East Germany versus West Ger- communist states started out with economies that were
many. East German productivity relative to West German generally much less developed to begin with.* [55]
productivity was around 90 percent in 1936 and around
60-65 percent in 1954. When compared to Western Eu-
rope, East German productivity declined from 67 percent 2.2.8 Social development
in 1950 to 50 percent before the reunification in 1990.
All the Eastern European national economies had pro- Starting with the first five-year plan in the USSR in the
ductivity far below the Western European average.* [54] late 1920s and early 1930s, Soviet leaders pursued a strat-
egy of economic development concentrating the country's
Nevertheless, some countries under communist rule with
economic resources on heavy industry and defense rather
socialist economies maintained consistently higher rates
than on consumer goods. This strategy was later adopted
of economic growth than industrialized Western coun-
in varying degrees by communist leaders in Eastern Eu-
tries with capitalist economies. From 1928 to 1985, the
rope, and the Third World. For many Western critics of
economy of the Soviet Union grew by a factor of 10,
communist strategies of economic development, the un-
and GNP per capita grew more than fivefold. The So-
availability of consumer goods common in the West in
viet economy started out at roughly 25 percent the size of
the Soviet Union was a case in point of how communist
the economy of the United States. By 1955, it climbed
rule resulted in lower standards of living.
to 40 percent. In 1965 the Soviet economy reached 50%
of the contemporary US economy, and in 1977 it passed The allegation that communist rule resulted in lower stan-
the 60 percent threshold. For the first half of the Cold dards of living sharply contrasted with communist argu-
War, most economists were asking when, not if, the So- ments boasting of the achievements of the social and cul-
viet economy would overtake the U.S. economy. Starting tural programs of the Soviet Union and other commu-
in the 1970s, and continuing through the 1980s, growth nist states. Soviet leaders, for instance, boasted of guar-
anteed employment, subsidized food and clothing, free
2.2. AREAS OF CRITICISM 27

health care, free child care, and free education. Soviet room, before marginally better accommodation became
leaders also touted early advances in women's equality, available. In his discussion of the Soviet housing short-
particularly in Islamic areas of Soviet Central Asia.* [58] age, Horowitz stated that the shortage was so acute that
Eastern European communists often touted high levels of at all times 17 percent of Soviet families had to be physi-
literacy in comparison with many parts of the developing cally separated for want of adequate space. A third of the
world. A phenomenon called Ostalgie, nostalgia for life hospitals had no running water and the bribery of doc-
under Soviet rule, has been noted amongst former mem- tors and nurses to get decent medical attention and even
bers of Communist countries, now living in Western cap- amenities like blankets in Soviet hospitals was not only
italist states, particularly those who lived in the former common, but routine. In his discussion of Soviet educa-
East Germany. tion, Horowitz stated that only 15 percent of Soviet youth
were able to attend institutions of higher learning com-
However, the effects of communist rule on living stan-
dards have been harshly criticized. Jung Chang stresses pared to 34 percent in the U.S.* [52] Today however, large
segments of citizens of many former communist states
that millions died in famines in communist China and
North Korea.* [59] Some studies conclude that East Ger- say that the standard of living has fallen since the end of
the Cold War,* [64]* [65] with majorities of citizens in the
mans were shorter than West Germans probably due to
differences in factors such as nutrition and medical ser- former East Germany and Romania were polled as saying
vices.* [60] According to some researchers, life satis- that life was better under Communism* [66]* [67]
faction increased in East Germany after the reunifica-
tion.* [61] Critics of Soviet rule charge that the Soviet ed-
ucation system was full of propaganda and of low quality. 2.2.9 Artistic, scientific, and technological
U.S. government researchers pointed out the fact that the policies
Soviet Union spent far less on health care than Western
nations, and noted that the quality of Soviet health care Criticisms of communist rule have often centered on the
was deteriorating in the 1970s and 1980s. In addition, the censorship of the arts. In the case of the Soviet Union,
failure of Soviet pension and welfare programs to provide these criticisms often deal with the preferential treatment
adequate protection was noted in the West.* [62] afforded to socialist realism. Other criticisms center on
the large-scale cultural experiments of certain communist
After 1965, life expectancy began to plateau or even de-
regimes. In Romania, the historical center of Bucharest
crease, especially for males, in the Soviet Union and East-
was demolished and the whole city was redesigned be-
ern Europe while it continued to increase in Western Eu-
tween 1977 and 1989. In the Soviet Union, hundreds of
rope. This divergence between two parts of Europe con-
churches were demolished or converted to secular pur-
tinued over the course of three decades, leading to a pro-
poses during the 1920s and 1930s. In China, the Cultural
found gap in the mid-1990s. Life expectancy sharply de-
Revolution sought to give all artistic expression a 'prole-
clined after the change to market economy in most of
tarian' content and destroyed much older material lacking
the states of the former Soviet Union, but may now have
this.* [69] Advocates of these policies promised to create
started to increase in the Baltic states. In several East-
a new culture that would be superior to the old. Critics
ern European nations life expectancy started to increase
argue, however, that such policies represented an unjus-
immediately after the fall of communism. The previous
tifiable destruction of the cultural heritage of humanity.
decline for males continued for a time in some Eastern
European nations, like Romania, before starting to in- There is a well-known literature focusing on the role
crease.* [63] of the falsification of images in the Soviet Union under
Stalin. In The Commissar Vanishes: The Falsification of
In The Politics of Bad Faith David Horowitz painted a pic-
Photographs in Stalin's Russia David King writes, “So
ture of horrendous living standards in the Soviet Union.
much falsification took place during the Stalin years that
Horowitz claimed that in the 1980s rationing of meat and
it is possible to tell the story of the Soviet era through re-
sugar was common in the Soviet Union. Horowitz cited
touched photographs.”* [70] Under Stalin, historical doc-
studies suggesting the average intake of red meat for a
uments were often the subject of revisionism and forgery,
Soviet citizen was half of what it had been for a subject
intended to change public perception of certain important
of the Tsar in 1913, that blacks under apartheid in South
people and events. The pivotal role played by Leon Trot-
Africa owned more cars per capita, and that the average
sky in the Russian revolution and Civil War, for example,
welfare mother in the United States received more income
was almost entirely erased from official historical records
in a month than the average Soviet worker could earn in
after Trotsky became the leader of a Communist faction
a year. The only area of consumption in which the So-
that opposed Stalin's rule.
viets excelled, according to Horowitz, was the ingestion
of hard liquor. Horowitz also noted that two-thirds of the The emphasis on the "hard sciences" of the Soviet Union
*
households had no hot water, and a third had no running has been criticized. [71] There were very few Nobel
*
water at all. Horowitz cited the government newspaper, Prize winners from Communist states. [72]
Izvestia, noting a typical working-class family of four was Soviet research in certain sciences was at times
forced to live for eight years in a single eight by eight foot guided by political rather than scientific considerations.
28
Lysenkoism and Japhetic theory were promoted for
brief periods of time in biology and linguistics respec-
tively, despite having no scientific merit. Research into
genetics was restricted, because Nazi use of eugenics had
prompted the Soviet Union to label genetics a “fascist
science”. Research was also suppressed in cybernetics,
psychology and psychiatry, and even organic chemistry.
(see suppressed research in the Soviet Union)
Soviet technology in many sectors lagged Western tech-
nology. Exceptions include areas like the Soviet space
program and military technology where occasionally
Communist technology was more advanced due to a mas-
sive concentration of research resources. According to
the Central Intelligence Agency, much of the technol-
ogy in the Communist states consisted simply of copies
of Western products that had been legally purchased or
gained through a massive espionage program. Some even
say that stricter Western control of the export of technol-
ogy through COCOM and providing defective technology
to Communist agents after the discovery of the Farewell
Dossier contributed to the fall of Communism.* [73]
2.2.10 Environmental policy
According to the United States Department of Energy, the Com-
munist states maintained a much higher level of energy intensity
than either the Western nations or the Third World, at least after
1970. Energy-intensive development may have been reasonable.
The Soviet Union was an exporter of oil; China has vast supplies
of coal.
Other criticisms of Communist rule focus on environ-
mental disasters. One example is the gradual disappear-
ance of the Aral Sea and a similar diminishing of the
Caspian Sea because of the diversion of the rivers that
fed them. Another is the pollution of the Black Sea,
the Baltic Sea, and the unique freshwater environment of
Lake Baikal. Many of the rivers were polluted; several,
like the Vistula and Oder rivers in Poland, were virtually
ecologically dead. Over 70 percent of the surface water in
the Soviet Union was polluted. In 1988 only 30 percent of
the sewage in the Soviet Union was treated properly. Es-
tablished health standards for air pollution was exceeded
CHAPTER 2. CRITICISMS OF COMMUNIST PARTY RULE
by ten times or more in 103 cities in the Soviet Union in
1988. The air pollution problem was even more severe in
Eastern Europe. It caused a rapid growth in lung cancer,
forest die-back, and damage to buildings and cultural her-
itages. According to official sources, 58 percent of total
agricultural land of the former Soviet Union was affected
by salinization, erosion, acidity, or waterlogging. Nuclear
waste was dumped in the Sea of Japan, the Arctic Ocean,
and in locations in the Far East. It was revealed in 1992
that in the city of Moscow there were 636 radioactive
toxic waste sites and 1,500 in Saint Petersburg.* [74] Be-
sides, according to the US Department of Energy, social-
ist economies maintained a much higher level of energy
intensity than either the Western nations or the Third
World. This analysis is confirmed by the Institute of Eco-
nomic Affairs: According to Mikhail Bernstam from the
IEA, economies of the Eastern Bloc had an energy inten-
sity between twice and three times higher as economies
of the West.* [75] Some see the aforementioned examples
of environmental degradation are similar to what had oc-
curred in Western capitalist countries during the height
of their drive to industrialize, in the 19th century.* [76]
Others claim that Communist regimes did more damage
than average, primarily due to the lack of any popular
or political pressure to research environmentally friendly
technologies.* [77]
Some ecological problems continue unabated after the
fall of the Soviet Union and are still major issues to-
day, which has prompted supporters of former ruling
Communist parties to accuse their opponents of holding
a double standard.* [78] However, other environmental
problems have improved in every studied former Com-
munist state.* [79] Some researchers have argued that part
of improvement was largely due to the severe economic
downturns in the 1990s that caused many factories to
close down.* [80]
2.3 Left-wing criticism
See also: Anti-Stalinist left
Communist countries, states, areas and local communi-
ties have been based on the rule of parties proclaiming
a basis in Marxism-Leninism, an ideology which is not
supported by all Marxists and leftists. Many communists
disagree with many of the actions undertaken by ruling
Communist parties during the 20th century.
Elements of the left opposed to Bolshevik plans before
they were put into practice included the revisionist Marx-
ists, such as Eduard Bernstein, who denied the necessity
of a revolution. Anarchists (who had differed from Marx
and his followers since the split in the First International),
many of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, and the Marxist
Mensheviks supported the overthrow of the Tsar, but vig-
orously opposed the seizure of power by Lenin and the
2.4. SEE ALSO 29

Bolsheviks. production depended on the small privately owned plots

Criticisms of Communist rule from the left continued af- (he was writing in 1950) and predicted quite accurately
ter the creation of the Soviet state. The anarchist Nestor the rates at which the Soviet Union would start import-
Makhno led the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of ing wheat after Russia had been such a large exporter
Ukraine against the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil from the 1880s to 1914. In Bordiga's conception, Stalin
War, and the Socialist-Revolutionary Fanya Kaplan tried and later Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh, Che Guevara etc.
to assassinate Lenin. Bertrand Russell visited Russia in were “great romantic revolutionaries”in the 19th cen-
1920, and regarded the Bolsheviks as intelligent, but clue- tury sense, i.e., bourgeois revolutionaries. He felt that
the Stalinist regimes that came into existence after 1945
less and planless. In her books about Soviet Russia af-
ter the revolution, My Disillusionment in Russia and My were just extending the bourgeois revolution, i.e., the ex-
propriation of the Prussian Junker class by the Red Army,
Further Disillusionment in Russia, Emma Goldman con-
demned the suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion as a through their agrarian policies and through the develop-
ment of the productive forces.
'massacre.' Eventually, the Left Socialist-Revolutionaries
broke with the Bolsheviks.
2.3.3 By Trotskyists
2.3.1 By anti-revisionists
After the split between Leon Trotsky and Stalin,
Trotskyists have argued that Stalin transformed the So-
Anti-revisionists (which includes radical Marxist Leninist
viet Union into a bureaucratic and repressive one-party
factions, Hoxhaists and Maoists) criticize the rule of the
state, and that all subsequent Communist states ulti-
communist states by claiming that they were state cap-
mately followed a similar path because they copied
italist states ruled by revisionists.* [81]* [82] Though the
Stalinism. There are various terms used by Trotsky-
periods and countries defined as state capitalist or revi-
ists to define such states, such as "degenerated workers'
sionist varies among different ideologies and parties, all
state" and "deformed workers' state", "state capitalist" or
of them accept that the Soviet Union was socialist during
"bureaucratic collectivist". While Trotskyists are Lenin-
Stalin's time. Maoists believe that the People's Repub-
ists, there are other Marxists who reject Leninism en-
lic of China became state capitalist after Mao Zedong's
tirely, arguing, for example, that the Leninist principle
death. Hoxhaists believe that the Peoples Republic of
of democratic centralism was the source of the Soviet
China was always state capitalist and uphold Socialist Al-
Union's slide away from communism. Maoists view the
bania as the only socialist state after the Soviet Union un-
Soviet Union and most of its satellites as “state capital-
der Stalin.* [83]
ist”as a result of destalinization; some of them also view
modern China in this light.
2.3.2 By left communists
Left communists* [84]* [85] claim that the“communist” 2.4 See also
or “socialist”states or “people's states”were actually
state capitalist and thus cannot be called “socialist”. • Anti-capitalism
Some of the earliest critics of Leninism were the German-
Dutch left communists, including Herman Gorter, Anton • Anti-communism
Pannekoek and Paul Mattick. Though most left commu-
• Anti-Leninism
nists see the October Revolution positively, their analysis
concludes that by the time of the Kronstadt Revolt the • Anti-Stalinist left
revolution had degenerated due to various historical fac-
tors.* [84] Rosa Luxemburg was another communist who • Black Book of Communism
disagreed with Vladimir Lenin's organizational methods
which eventually led to the creation of the Soviet Union. • Criticisms of communism

Amadeo Bordiga wrote about his view of the Soviet • Criticisms of Marxism
Union as a capitalist society.* [86]* [87] Bordiga's writings
• Criticism of socialism
on the capitalist nature of the Soviet economy, in con-
trast to those produced by the Trotskyists, also focused • Criticism of the United States
on the agrarian sector. Being the engineer that he was,
Bordiga displayed a kind of theoretical rigidity which was • Critique of capitalism
both exasperating and effective in allowing him to see
things differently. He wanted to show how capitalist so- • Dictatorship
cial relations existed in the kolkhoz and in the sovkhoz, • Democracy
one a cooperative farm and the other the straight wage-
labor state farm. He emphasized how much of agrarian • Human rights
30
• Left Communism
• Left-wing uprisings against the Bolsheviks
• Libertarian Socialism
• Mass killings under Communist regimes
• Red fascism
• One-party state
• Totalitarianism
• Victims of Communism Memorial
2.5 References
[1] See“Communist party states”in Oxford Companion to the
Politics of the World, 2e. Joel Krieger, ed. Oxford Univer-
sity Press Inc. 2001 for an overview of communism as a
distinct type of regime in the history of the 20th century.
[2] “A Country Study: Soviet Union (Former). Chapter 9
- Mass Media and the Arts”. The Library of Congress.
Country Studies. Retrieved October 3, 2005.
[3] Pipes, Richard (1990) The Russian Revolution 1899–
1919. Collins Harvill. ISBN 0-679-40074-5. Pipes,
Richard (1994) Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime.
Vintage. ISBN 0-679-76184-5. Pipes, 1994. Cour-
tois, Stephane; Werth, Nicolas; Panne, Jean-Louis;
Paczkowski, Andrzej; Bartosek, Karel; Margolin, Jean-
Louis & Kramer, Mark (1999). The Black Book of Com-
munism: Crimes, Terror, Repression. Harvard Univer-
sity Press. ISBN 0-674-07608-7. Yakovlev, Alexander
(2004). A Century of Violence in Soviet Russia. Yale
University Press. ISBN 0-300-10322-0.“Russian Civil
War”. Historical Atlas of the 20th Century. Retrieved
October 2, 2005.“The Soviet Famines of 1921 and 1932-
3”. Archived from the original on August 28, 2005. Re-
trieved October 2, 2005.“Lenin and the First Communist
Revolutions, VII”. Museum of Communism. Retrieved
October 2, 2005.
[4] Yakovlev, Alexander (2004). A Century of Violence in
Soviet Russia. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-10322-
0. pp. 29–47
[5] Koehler, John O. (2000). Stasi: The Untold Story of the
East German Secret Police. Westview Press. ISBN 0-
8133-3744-5.
[6] “The Soviet Case: Prelude to a Global Consensus on Psy-
chiatry and Human Rights”. Human Rights Watch. Re-
trieved October 3, 2005.
[7] “A Country Study: Soviet Union (Former). Chapter 5.
Trade Unions”. The Library of Congress. Country Studies.
Retrieved October 4, 2005.
[8] For accounts discussing relationships between the state
structures of the Soviet regime and the old regime, see,
e.g., Skocpol, Theda. States and Social Revolutions:
A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China.
CHAPTER 2. CRITICISMS OF COMMUNIST PARTY RULE
Cambridge University Press, 1988. and Fitzpatrick,
Sheila. The Russian Revolution. New York: Oxford Uni-
versity Press, 1982.
[9] For an edited volume of the role of international influ-
ences on American political development, see Ira Katznel-
son and Martin Shefter, eds. Shaped by War and Trade,
Princeton University Press, 2002.
[10] Albert Szymanski, Human Rights in the Soviet Union,
1984, p. 291
[11] Mark Aarons (2007). "Justice Betrayed: Post-1945 Re-
sponses to Genocide.”In David A. Blumenthal and Tim-
othy L. H. McCormack (eds). The Legacy of Nuremberg:
Civilising Influence or Institutionalised Vengeance? (Inter-
national Humanitarian Law). Martinus Nijhoff Publish-
ers. ISBN 9004156917 pp. 71 & 80–81
[12] Daniel Goldhagen (2009). Worse Than War.
PublicAffairs. ISBN 1-58648-769-8 p.537
•“During the 1970s and 1980s, the number of Amer-
ican client states practicing mass-murderous poli-
tics exceeded those of the Soviets.”
[13] “The Cold War in Central America, 1975-1991” John
H. Coatsworth, Ch 10
[14] Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman (2014). The Wash-
ington Connection and Third World Fascism: The Political
Economy of Human Rights: Volume I. Haymarket Books.
p. xviii. ISBN 1608464067
[15] Michael Ellman (2014). Socialist Planning. Cambridge
University Press. ISBN 1107427320 p. 372.
[16] Richard G. Wilkinson. Unhealthy Societies: The Afflic-
tions of Inequality. Routledge, November 1996. ISBN
0415092353. p. 122
[17] “Profile: Raul Castro”. BBC News. Retrieved 15 April
2016.
[18] Cuba's Revolution and Exodus
[19] Diaspora, Migration and development
[20] Analysis: Politics cloud Elian case. BBC News.
[21] U.S., Cuba to Start New Round of Migration Talks Peo-
ple's Daily.
[22] “A Concrete Curtain: The Life and Death of the Berlin
Wall”. Archived from the original on October 23, 2005.
Retrieved October 25, 2005.
[23] Szymanski, p. 21
[24] Szymanski, p. 15
[25] Szymanski, p. 16
[26] Szymanski, p. 19
[27] Szymanski, pp. 22–25
[28] • Pipes, Richard (1994) Russia Under the Bolshevik
Regime. Vintage. ISBN 0-679-76184-5. pp. 141–
166.
2.5. REFERENCES
[29] Pipes, Richard (2001) Communism Weidenfled and Ni-
coloson. ISBN 0-297-64688-5 pp. 74–76, 96, 103–109
[30] Courtois, Stephane; Werth, Nicolas; Panne, Jean-Louis;
Paczkowski, Andrzej; Bartosek, Karel; Margolin, Jean-
Louis & Kramer, Mark (1999). The Black Book of Com-
munism: Crimes, Terror, Repression. Harvard University
Press. ISBN 0-674-07608-7. Chapter 18
[31] Lee Sang Yong (May 12, 2014).“100 Exiled for Foreign
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[55] Ofer, Gur. Soviet Economic Growth: 1928-1985,
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[56] Elizabeth Brainerd (2006). “Reassessing the Standard
of Living in the Soviet Union”(PDF). William Davidson
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[57] “2004. World Development Indicators 2004 online”. De-
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[58] Massell, Gregory J. (1974). The Surrogate Proletariat:
Moslem Women and Revolutionary Strategies in Soviet
Central Asia, 1919-1929. Princeton University Press.
ISBN 0-691-07562-X.
[59] • Chang, Jung & Halliday, Jon (2005) Mao: The Un-
known Story. Knopf. ISBN 0-679-42271-4
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• Natsios, Andrew S. (2002) The Great North Korean
Famine. Institute of Peace Press. ISBN 1-929223-
33-1.
[60] Komlos, John, and Peter Kriwy (2001). “The Biological
Standard of Living in the Two Germanies”. Working
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[61] Frijters, Paul, John P. Haisken-DeNew, and Michael [75] Bernstam, Mikhail S., The Wealth of Nations and the En-
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[64] “Poll: Many Czechs say they had better life under Com-
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[65] Wikes, Richard.“Hungary Dissatisfied with Democracy,
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[66] Dragomir, Elena. “In Romania, Opinion polls show nos-
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[68] http://www.newseum.org/berlinwall/commissar_
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[69] Introduction, The Black Book of Communism: Crimes,
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[70] The Commissar Vanishes New York Times, 1997
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[72] Jank, Wolfgand, Bruce L. Golden, Paul F. Zantek (2004).
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[73] Davis, Christopher (2000). “The Defence Sector in the
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Russia, 1965-2000” (PDF). Forthcoming Article in the
Journal Defence and Peace Economics Draft (8/6/00).
University of Oxford. “A Country Study: Soviet Union
(Former). Chapter 16. Science and Technology”. The
Library of Congress. Country Studies. Retrieved October
4, 2005. Weiss, Gus W (1996). “The Farewell Dossier”
. CIA.
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[74] Díaz-Briquets, Sergio, and Jorge Pérez-López (1998).
“Socialism and Environmental Disruption: Implications
for Cuba” (PDF). Proceedings of the Annual Meetings
of the Association for the Study of the Cuban Economy
8: 154–172.Steele, Charles N (2002). “The Soviet Ex-
periment: Lessons for Development” (PDF). in Morris,
J.(ed.), Sustainable Development. Promoting Progress or
Perpetuating Poverty? (London, Profile Book.
vironment, London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 1991.
Press, New York. ISBN 1-56584-119-0.
most environmentally friendly”. Steve Kangas' Liberal
FAQ. Retrieved January 18, 2006.
[78] Manser, Roger (1994) Failed Transitions:. The New
Press, New York. ISBN 1-56584-119-0 (pp. 146–149)
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Re-
trieved October 2, 2005.“OECD Environmental Perfor-
mance Reviews: Russia”(PDF). OECD. Retrieved Octo-
ber 2, 2005.Kahn, Matthew E (2002).“Has Communism’
s Collapse Greened Eastern Europe’s Polluted Cities?"
(PDF). Paper written for the NBER Environmental Con-
ference on Advances in Empirical Environmental Policy
Research May 17, 2002.“UNEP.Net Country Profiles”.
United Nations Environment Network. Retrieved October
2, 2005.
[80] Manser, Roger (1994) Failed Transitions:. The New
Press, New York. ISBN 1-56584-119-0 (pp. 102–103)
[81] “TOC - RESTORATION OF CAPITALISM IN THE
SOVIET UNION”. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
[82] “A Critique of Soviet Economics”. Retrieved 15 April
2016.
[83] Class Struggles in China by Bill Bland
[84] “4. STATE CAPITALISM”. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
[85] “ibrp.org”. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
[86] Amadeo Bordiga. “The Democratic Principle”. Re-
trieved 15 April 2016.
[87] Raya Dunayevskaya. “The Union of Soviet Socialist Re-
publics is a Capitalist Society”. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
2.6 Further reading
• Applebaum, Anne, Gulag: A History, Broadway
Books, 2003, hardcover, 720 pages, ISBN 0-7679-
0056-1
• Applebaum, Anne (foreword) and Hollander, Paul
(2006) (introduction and editor) From the Gulag to
the Killing Fields: Personal Accounts of Political Vi-
olence and Repression in Communist States. Intercol-
legiate Studies Institute. ISBN 1-932236-78-3
2.6. FURTHER READING
• Becker, Jasper (1998) Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret
Famine. Owl Books. ISBN 0-8050-5668-8.
• Chang, Jung and Halliday, Jon (2006) Mao: The
Unknown Story. Anchor Books ISBN 0-679-74632-
3 • Khlevniuk, Oleg & Kozlov, Vladimir (2004) The
• Anton Ciliga, The Russian enigma, Ink-Links, 1979
• Conquest, Robert (1991) The Great Terror: A Re-
assessment. Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-
507132-8.
• Conquest, Robert (1987) The Harvest of Sorrow:
Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine. Ox-
ford University Press. ISBN 0-19-505180-7.
• Courtois, Stephane; Werth, Nicolas; Panne, Jean-
Louis; Paczkowski, Andrzej; Bartosek, Karel; Mar-
golin, Jean-Louis & Kramer, Mark (1999). The
Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Re-
pression. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-
07608-7.
• Dikötter, Frank (2010). Mao's Great Famine: The
History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe,
1958-62. Walker & Company. ISBN 0-8027-7768-
6 Regime. Vintage. ISBN 0-679-76184-5.
• Slavenka Drakulic, How We Survived Commu-
nism and Even Laughed, W. W. Norton (1992),
hardcover, ISBN 0-393-03076-8; trade paper-
back, Harpercollins (1993), ISBN 0-06-097540-7
Women of communist Yugoslavia.
• European Parliament resolution of 2 April 2009 on
European conscience and totalitarianism
• Gellately, Robert (2007) Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler:
The Age of Social Catastrophe. Knopf. hardcover,
ISBN 1-4000-4005-1.
• Hamilton-Merritt, Jane (1999) Tragic Mountains:
The Hmong, the Americans, and the Secret Wars for
Laos, 1942-1992 Indiana University Press. ISBN
0-253-20756-8.
• Haynes, John Earl & Klehr, Harvey (2003) In De-
nial: Historians, Communism, & Espionage. En-
counter Books. ISBN 1-893554-72-4
• Jackson, Karl D. (1992) Cambodia, 1975–1978
Princeton University Press ISBN 0-691-02541-X.
• Johns, Michael (1987),“Seventy Years of Evil: So-
viet Crimes from Lenin to Gorbachev”, Policy Re-
view, The Heritage Foundation.
• Kakar, M. Hassan (1997) Afghanistan: The Soviet
Invasion and the Afghan Response, 1979-1982 Uni-
versity of California Press. ISBN 0-520-20893-5.
33
• Karlsson, Klas-Göran; Schoenhals, Michael (2008).
Crimes against humanity under communist regimes -
Research review (PDF). Forum for Living History.
p. 111. ISBN 978-91-977487-2-8.
History of the Gulag: From Collectivization to the
Great Terror (Annals of Communism Series) Yale
University Press. ISBN 0-300-09284-9.
• Melgounov, Sergey Petrovich (1925) The Red Ter-
ror in Russia. London & Toronto: J. M. Dent &
Sons Ltd.
• Naimark, Norman M (2010). Stalin's Genocides
(Human Rights and Crimes against Humanity).
Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-14784-1
• Natsios, Andrew S. (2002) The Great North Korean
Famine. Institute of Peace Press. ISBN 1-929223-
33-1.
• Nghia M. Vo (2004) The Bamboo Gulag: Political
Imprisonment in Communist Vietnam McFarland &
Company ISBN 0-7864-1714-5.
• Pipes, Richard (1995) Russia Under the Bolshevik
• Pipes, Richard (2003) Communism: A History.
Modern Library Chronicles ISBN 0-8129-6864-6
• Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
(2006) Res. 1481 Need for international condem-
nation of crimes of totalitarian communist regimes
• Rosefielde, Steven (2009). Red Holocaust.
Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-77757-5.
• Rummel, R.J. (1997) Death by Government. Trans-
action Publishers. ISBN 1-56000-927-6.
• Rummel, R.J. (1996) Lethal Politics: Soviet Geno-
cide and Mass Murder Since 1917. Transaction Pub-
lishers ISBN 1-56000-887-3.
• Rummel, R.J. & Rummel, Rudolph J. (1999) Statis-
tics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder Since
1900. Lit Verlag ISBN 3-8258-4010-7.
• Service, Robert (2007) Comrades!: A History of
World Communism. Harvard University Press.
ISBN 0-674-02530-X
• Todorov, Tzvetan & Zaretsky, Robert (1999) Voices
from the Gulag: Life and Death in Communist Bul-
garia. Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN
0-271-01961-1.
• Tzouliadis, Tim (2008) The Forsaken: An Ameri-
can Tragedy in Stalin's Russia. The Penguin Press,
Hardcover, ISBN 1-59420-168-4
34 CHAPTER 2. CRITICISMS OF COMMUNIST PARTY RULE

• Volkogonov, Dmitri Antonovich (Author); Shuk-

man, Harold (Editor, Translator) (1998). Autopsy
for an Empire: the Seven Leaders Who Built the So-
viet Regime. Free Press (Hardcover, ISBN 0-684-
83420-0); (Paperback, ISBN 0-684-87112-2)

• Andrew G. Walder (ed.) Waning of the Communist

State: Economic Origins of the Political Decline in
China & Hungary (University of California Press,
1995) hardback. (ISBN 0-520-08851-4)

• Yakovlev, Alexander (2004) A Century of Violence

in Soviet Russia. Yale University Press. ISBN 0-
300-10322-0.
• Zheng Yi (1998) Scarlet Memorial: Tales of Can-
nibalism in Modern China. Westview Press. ISBN
0-8133-2616-8

2.7 External links

• The Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation

• Global Museum on Communism

• Museum of Communism

• Foundation for Investigation of Communist Crimes

• Crimes of Soviet Communists

• The Black Book of Communism: Introduction

• Summary of different estimates for total 20th cen-
tury democide Note that only some of numbers are
totals for the Communist states.

• How many did the Communist regimes murder? By

R. J. Rummel
Chapter 3
Dekulakization
Dekulakization (Russian: раскулачивание, rasku-
lachivanie, Ukrainian: розкуркулення, rozkurkulennia)
was the Soviet campaign of political repressions, includ-
ing arrests, deportations, and executions of millions of
the better-off peasants and their families in 1929–1932.
The richer peasants were labeled kulaks and considered
class enemies. More than 1.8 million peasants were de-
ported in 1930–1931.* [1]* [2]* [3] The stated purpose of
the campaign was to fight the counter-revolution and build
socialism in the countryside. This policy was accom-
plished simultaneously with collectivization in the USSR
and effectively brought all agriculture and peasants in So-
viet Russia under state control.
Down with kulaks in kolkhozes!
The“liquidation of the kulaks as a class" was announced [5] Knickerbocker, H.R. (1941). Is Tomorrow Hitler's? 200
by Joseph Stalin on 27 December 1929.* [1] Stalin had
said that “Now we have the opportunity to carry out a
resolute offensive against the kulaks, break their resis-
tance, eliminate them as a class and replace their produc-
tion with the production of kolkhozes and sovkhozes.” 3.2 See also
*
[4] The decision was formalized in a resolution “On
measures for the elimination of kulak households in dis-
tricts of comprehensive collectivization" on 30 January
1930. All kulaks were divided into three categories: (I)
to be shot or imprisoned as decided by the local secret po- • Population transfer in the Soviet Union
litical police; (II) to be sent to Siberia, North, the Urals
or Kazakhstan, after confiscation of their property; and
(III) to be evicted from their houses and used in labour
colonies within their own districts.* [1] OGPU secret po-
lice chief Efim Georgievich Evdokimov (1891–1939) or-
35
ganized and supervised the roundup of peasants and the
mass executions.
A combination of dekulakization, collectivization, and
other repressive policies led to mass starvation in many
parts of the Soviet Union and the death of at least 14.5
million peasants in 1930–1937, including five million
who died in Ukraine during the Holodomor.* [1] The re-
sults were soon known outside the Soviet Union. In 1941,
the American journalist H. R. Knickerbocker wrote “It
is a conservative estimate to say that some 5,000,000 [ku-
laks] ... died at once, or within a few years.”* [5]
3.1 References
[1] Robert Conquest (1986) The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet
Collectivization and the Terror-Famine. Oxford University
Press. ISBN 0-19-505180-7.
[2] Nicolas Werth, Karel Bartošek, Jean-Louis Panné, Jean-
Louis Margolin, Andrzej Paczkowski, Stéphane Cour-
tois, The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Re-
pression, Harvard University Press, 1999, hardcover, 858
pages, ISBN 0-674-07608-7
[3] Lynne Viola The Unknown Gulag. The Lost World of
Stalin's Special Settlements Oxford University Press 2007,
hardback, 320 pages ISBN 978-0-19-518769-4 ISBN
0195187695
[4] Stalin, a biography by Robert Service, page 266
Questions On the Battle of Mankind. Reynal & Hitchcock.
pp. 133–134.
• Red Terror
• Decossackization
• Involuntary settlements in the Soviet Union
• Collectivization in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist
Republic
 Chapter 4

Gulag

For other uses, see Gulag (disambiguation). ispravityelno-trudovykh lagerey i koloniy), the“Main Ad-
The Gulag (Russian: ГУЛАГ, tr. GULAG; IPA: ministration of Corrective Labor Camps and Labor Set-
tlements”. It was administered first by the GPU, later by
the NKVD and in the final years by the MVD, the Min-
istry of Internal Affairs. The first corrective labour camps
after the revolution were established in 1918 (Solovki)
and legalized by a decree “On creation of the forced-
Мурманск

Таллинн
Калининград

Вильнюс
Рига Ленинград labor camps”on 15 April 1919. The internment sys-
Архангельск

Воркута Магадан
Норильск

Минск

Москва
tem grew rapidly, reaching population of 100,000 in the
Салехард Якутск

Киев
Кишинев Казань 1920s and from the very beginning it had a very high mor-
tality rate.* [2]
Пермь

Свердловск
Ростов-на-Дону Хабаровск
Волгоград Омск Красноярск
Свободный
Астрахань
Новосибирск

Тбилиси
Караганда
Forced labor camps continued to function outside of
Иркутск
Владивосток
Баку
the agency until late 80s (Perm-36 closed in 1987).
Ашхабад
Ташкент
Фрунзе
A number of Soviet dissidents described the continua-
Алма-Ата

Душанбе
tion of the Gulag after it was officially closed: Anatoli
Marchenko (who actually died in a camp in 1986),
A map of the Gulag camps, which existed between 1923 and Vladimir Bukovsky, Yuri Orlov, Nathan Shcharansky, all
1961, based on data from Memorial, a human rights group. of them released from the Gulag and given permission to
Some of these camps operated only for a part of the Gulag's ex- emigrate in the West, after years of international pressure
istence. on Soviet authorities.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, who spent eight years of Gulag
[ɡʊˈlak]) is an acronym of the Russian words: главное incarceration, winner of the 1970 Nobel Prize in Litera-
[main]; управление [administration]; лагерей [of the ture, gave the term its international repute with the pub-
camps] - “Chief Directorate of Camps”. Thus was lication of The Gulag Archipelago in 1973. The author
named the government agency that administered the main likened the scattered camps to“a chain of islands”and as
Soviet forced labor camp systems during the Stalin era, an eyewitness described the Gulag as a system where peo-
from the 1930s until the 1950s. ple were worked to death.* [3] Some scholars support this
The first such camps were created in 1918 and the term view,* [4]* [5] though it is controversial, considering that
is widely used to describe any forced labor camp in with the obvious exception of the war years, a very large
the USSR.* [1] While the camps housed a wide range majority of people who entered the Gulag left alive.* [6]
of convicts, from petty criminals to political prison- In March 1940, there were 53 Gulag camp directorates
ers, large numbers were convicted by simplified proce- (colloquially referred to as simply “camps”) and 423
dures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of labor colonies in the USSR.* [7] Today's major industrial
extrajudicial punishment (the NKVD was the Soviet se- cities of the Russian Arctic, such as Norilsk, Vorkuta, and
cret police). The Gulag is recognized as a major instru- Magadan, were originally camps built by prisoners and
ment of political repression in the Soviet Union, based on run by ex-prisoners.* [8]
Article 58 (RSFSR Penal Code). The term is also some-
times used to describe the camps themselves, particularly
in the West.
“GULAG”was the acronym for Гла́вное управле́ ние
4.1 Brief history
лагере́ й (Glavnoye upravleniye lagerey), the “Main
Camp Administration”. It was the short form of About 14 million people were in the Gulag labor camps
the official name Гла́вное управле́ние исправи́тельно- from 1929 to 1953 (the estimates for the period 1918–
трудовы́х лагере́й и коло́ний (Glavnoye upravleniye 1929 are even more difficult to calculate). A further 6–7

36
4.2. CONTEMPORARY USAGE AND OTHER TERMINOLOGY 37

million were deported and exiled to remote areas of the a period known as the Khrushchev Thaw.
USSR, and 4–5 million passed through labor colonies, In 1960 the Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del (MVD) ceased
plus 3.5 million already in, or sent to, 'labor settle- to function as the Soviet-wide administration of the
ments'.* [9] According with some estimates, the total pop- camps in favor of individual republic MVD branches.
ulation of the camps varied from 510,307 in 1934 to The centralized detention facilities temporarily ceased
1,727,970 in 1953.* [7] According with other estimates, functioning.* [22]* [23]
at the beginning of 1953 the total number of prisoners in
prison camps was more than 2.4 million of which more
than 465,000 were political prisoners.* [10] The institu-
tional analysis of the Soviet concentration system is com- 4.2 Contemporary usage and other
plicated by the formal distinction between GULAG and terminology
GUPVI. GUPVI was the Main Administration for Af-
fairs of Prisoners of War and Internees (Russian: Глав-
ное управление по делам военнопленных и интерни-
рованных НКВД/МВД СССР, ГУПВИ, GUPVI), a de-
partment of NKVD (later MVD) in charge of handling of
foreign civilian internees and POWs in the Soviet Union
during and in the aftermath of World War II (1939–
1953). (for GUPVI, see Main Administration for Affairs
of Prisoners of War and Internees). In many ways the
GUPVI system was similar to GULAG.* [11] Its major
function was the organization of foreign forced labor in
the Soviet Union. The top management of GUPVI came
from GULAG system. The major noted distinction from
GULAG was the absence of convicted criminals in the The fence at the old Gulag in Perm-36, founded in 1943
GUPVI camps. Otherwise the conditions in both camp
systems were similar: hard labor, poor nutrition and liv- Although the term Gulag originally referred to a govern-
ing conditions, high mortality rate* [12] ment agency, in English and many other languages the
For the Soviet political prisoners, like Solzhenitsyn, all acronym acquired the qualities of a common noun, de-
foreign civilian detainees and foreign POWs were im- noting the Soviet system of prison-based, unfree labor.
prisoned in the GULAG; the surviving foreign civilians
and POWs considered themselves as prisoners in the GU- Even more broadly,“Gulag”has come to
LAG. According with the estimates, in total, during the mean the Soviet repressive system itself, the
whole period of the existence of GUPVI there were over set of procedures that prisoners once called
500 POW camps (within the Soviet Union and abroad), the “meat-grinder": the arrests, the interro-
which imprisoned over 4,000,000 POW.* [13] gations, the transport in unheated cattle cars,
the forced labor, the destruction of families,
According to a 1993 study of archival Soviet data, a to-
the years spent in exile, the early and unnec-
tal of 1,053,829 people died in the Gulag from 1934–53
* essary deaths.* [24]
(there is no archival data for the period 1919–1934). [7]
However, taking into account the likelihood of unreliable
record keeping, and the fact that it was common practice Western authors use Gulag to denote all the prisons and
to release prisoners who were either suffering from incur- internment camps in the Soviet Union. The term's con-
able diseases or near death,* [14]* [15] non-state estimates temporary usage is notably unrelated to the USSR, such
*
of the actual Gulag death toll are usually higher. Some as in the expression “North Korea's Gulag” [25] for
*
independent estimates are as low as 1.6 million deaths camps operational today. [26]
during the whole period from 1929 to 1953,* [16] while The word Gulag was not often used in Russian —either
other estimates go beyond 10 million.* [17] officially or colloquially; the predominant terms were the
Most Gulag inmates were not political prisoners, although camps (лагеря, lagerya) and the zone (зона, zona), usu-
significant numbers of political prisoners could be found ally singular —for the labor camp system and for the indi-
in the camps at any one time.* [18] Petty crimes and jokes vidual camps. The official term,“corrective labor camp”
about the Soviet government and officials were punish- , was suggested for official politburo of the Communist
able by imprisonment.* [19]* [20] About half of political Party of the Soviet Union use in the session of July 27,
prisoners in the Gulag camps were imprisoned without 1929.
trial; official data suggest that there were over 2.6 mil-
lion sentences to imprisonment on cases investigated by
the secret police throughout 1921–53.* [21] The GULAG 4.3 History
was reduced in size following Stalin’s death in 1953, in
38
4.3.1 Background
Group of prisoners in Sakhalin, remote prison island, c. 1903
During 1920–50, the leaders of the Communist Party
and Soviet state considered repression as a tool for se-
curing the normal functioning of the Soviet state sys-
tem, as well as preserving and strengthening positions
of their social base, the working class (when the Bol-
sheviks took power, peasants represented 80% of the
population).* [27] The GULAG system was introduced to
isolate and eliminate class-alien, socially dangerous, dis-
ruptive, suspicious, and other disloyal elements, whose
deeds and thoughts were not contributing to the strength-
ening of the dictatorship of the proletariat.* [27] Forced
labor as a “method of reeducation”has been applied in
Solovki prison camp as early as from 1920's,* [28] based
on Trotsky's experiments with forced labor camps for
Czech war prisoners from 1918 and his proposals to in-
troduce“compulsory labor service”voiced in Terrorism
and Communism.* [28]* [29]
According to historian Anne Applebaum, approximately
6,000 katorga convicts were serving sentences in 1906
and 28,600 in 1916.* [3]* [30] From 1918, camp-type
detention facilities were set up, as a reformed analogy
of the earlier system of penal labor (katorgas), oper-
ated in Siberia in Imperial Russia. The two main types
were "Vechecka Special-purpose Camps”(особые лаге-
ря ВЧК, osobiye lagerya VChK) and forced labor camps
(лагеря принудительных работ, lagerya prinuditel'nikh
rabot). Various categories of prisoners were defined:
petty criminals, POWs of the Russian Civil War, officials
accused of corruption, sabotage and embezzlement, po-
litical enemies, dissidents and other people deemed dan-
gerous for the state. In 1928 there were 30,000 individ-
uals interned; the authorities were opposed to compelled
labour. In 1927 the official in charge of prison adminis-
tration wrote:
The exploitation of prison labor, the sys-
tem of squeezing ‘golden sweat’from them,
the organization of production in places of con-
finement, which while profitable from a com-
mercial point of view is fundamentally lacking
in corrective significance – these are entirely
CHAPTER 4. GULAG
inadmissible in Soviet places of confinement.”
*
[31]
The legal base and the guidance for the creation of
the system of “corrective labor camps”(Russian:
исправи́ тельно-трудовые лагеря, Ispravitel'no-
trudovye lagerya), the backbone of what is commonly
referred to as the “Gulag”, was a secret decree of
Sovnarkom of July 11, 1929, about the use of penal
labor that duplicated the corresponding appendix to the
minutes of Politburo meeting of June 27, 1929.
After having appeared as an instrument and place for
isolating counterrevolutionary and criminal elements, the
Gulag, because of its principle of “correction by forced
labor”, quickly became, in fact, an independent branch
of the national economy secured on the cheap labor force
presented by prisoners.* [27] Hence it is followed by one
more important reason for the constancy of the repres-
sive policy, namely, the state's interest in unremitting
rates of receiving the cheap labor force that was forcibly
used mainly in the extreme conditions of the east and
north.* [27] The Gulag possessed both punitive and eco-
nomic functions.* [32]
4.3.2 Formation and expansion under
Stalin
The Gulag was officially established on April 25, 1930
as the ULAG by the OGPU order 130/63 in accordance
with the Sovnarkom order 22 p. 248 dated April 7,
1930. It was renamed as the Gulag in November of that
year.* [33]
The hypothesis that economic considerations were re-
sponsible for mass arrests during the period of Stalinism
has been refuted on the grounds of former Soviet archives
that have become accessible since the 1990s, although
some archival sources also tend to support an economic
hypothesis.* [34]* [35] In any case, the development of
the camp system followed economic lines. The growth
of the camp system coincided with the peak of the So-
viet industrialization campaign. Most of the camps es-
tablished to accommodate the masses of incoming pris-
oners were assigned distinct economic tasks. These in-
cluded the exploitation of natural resources and the colo-
nization of remote areas, as well as the realization of enor-
mous infrastructural facilities and industrial construction
projects. The plan to achieve these goals with "special set-
tlements" instead of labor camps was dropped after the
revealing of the Nazino affair in 1933, subsequently the
Gulag system was expanded.
The 1931–32 archives indicate the Gulag had approxi-
mately 200,000 prisoners in the camps; in 1935 —ap-
proximately 800,000 in camps and 300,000 in colonies
(annual averages).* [36]
In the early 1930s, a tightening of Soviet penal policy
caused significant growth of the prison camp popula-
4.3. HISTORY 39

Prisoner labor at the construction of the White Sea – Baltic Canal,

1931–33

tion. During the Great Purge of 1937–38, mass arrests

caused another increase in inmate numbers. Hundreds of
thousands of persons were arrested and sentenced to long
prison terms on the grounds of one of the multiple pas- Road construction by inmates of the Dalstroy (part of the 'Road
sages of the notorious Article 58 of the Criminal Codes of Bones' from Magadan to Yakutsk).
of the Union republics, which defined punishment for var-
ious forms of “counterrevolutionary activities.”Under
NKVD Order No. 00447, tens of thousands of Gulag in-
mates were executed in 1937–38 for “continuing coun-
terrevolutionary activities”.
Between 1934 and 1941, the number of prisoners with
higher education increased more than eight times, and were arrested and sent to the Gulag camps. However, ac-
the number of prisoners with high education increased cording to the official data, the total number of sentences
five times.* [27] It resulted in their increased share in the for political and antistate (espionage, terrorism) crimes in
overall composition of the camp prisoners.* [27] Among USSR in 1939–41 was 211,106.* [21]
the camp prisoners, the number and share of the intelli-
gentsia was growing at the quickest pace.* [27] Distrust, Approximately 300,000 Polish prisoners of war were cap-
hostility, and even hatred for the intelligentsia was a com- tured by the USSR during and after the 'Polish Defensive
mon characteristic of the Soviet leaders.* [27] Informa- War'.* [42] Almost all of the captured officers and a large
tion regarding the imprisonment trends and consequences number of ordinary soldiers were then murdered (see
for the intelligentsia, derives from the extrapolations of Katyn massacre) or sent to Gulag.* [43] Of the 10,000-
Viktor Zemskov from a collection of prison camp popu- 12,000 Poles sent to Kolyma in 1940–41, most prisoners
lation movements data.* [27]* [37] of war, only 583 men survived, released in 1942 to join
the Polish Armed Forces in the East.* [44] Out of General
Anders' 80,000 evacuees from Soviet Union gathered in
4.3.3 During World War II Great Britain only 310 volunteered to return to Soviet-
controlled Poland in 1947.* [45]
Political role of the Gulag During the Great Patriotic War, Gulag populations de-
clined sharply due to a steep rise in mortality in 1942–
On the eve of World War II, Soviet archives indicate a 43. In the winter of 1941 a quarter of the Gulag's popu-
combined camp and colony population upwards of 1.6 lation died of starvation.* [46] 516,841 prisoners died in
million in 1939, according to V. P. Kozlov.* [36] Anne prison camps in 1941–43,* [47]* [48] from a combination
Applebaum and Steven Rosefielde estimate that 1.2 to 1.5 of their harsh working conditions and the famine caused
million people were in Gulag system's prison camps and by the German invasion. This period accounts for about
colonies when the war started.* [38]* [39] half of gulag deaths, according to Russian statistics.
After the German invasion of Poland that marked the In 1943, the term katorga works (каторжные работы)
start of World War II in Europe, the Soviet Union invaded was reintroduced. They were initially intended for Nazi
and annexed eastern parts of the Second Polish Repub- collaborators, but then other categories of political pris-
lic. In 1940 the Soviet Union occupied Estonia, Latvia, oners (for example, members of deported peoples who
Lithuania, Bessarabia (now the Republic of Moldova) and fled from exile) were also sentenced to “katorga works”
Bukovina. According to some estimates, hundreds of . Prisoners sentenced to “katorga works”were sent to
thousands of Polish citizens* [40]* [41] and inhabitants of Gulag prison camps with the most harsh regime and many
the other annexed lands, regardless of their ethnic origin, of them perished.* [48]
40 CHAPTER 4. GULAG

Economic role of the Gulag the start of WWII the purges had slowed down. In or-
der to complete all of their projects, camp administrators
moved prisoners from project to project.* [50] To improve
Up until WWII, the Gulag system expanded dramatically the situation, laws were implemented in mid-1940 that
to create a Soviet “camp economy”. Right before the allowed short camp sentences (4 months or a year) to be
war, forced labor provided 46.5% of the nation's nickel, given to those convicted of petty theft, hooliganism, or
76% of its tin, 40% of its cobalt, 40.5% of its chrome- labor discipline infractions. By January 1941, the Gulag
iron ore, 60% of its gold, and 25.3% of its timber.* [49] workforce had increased by approximately 300,000 pris-
And in preparation for war, the NKVD put up many more oners.* [50] But in 1942 the serious food shortages began,
factories and built highways and railroads. and camp populations dropped again. The camps lost still
The Gulag quickly switched to production of arms and more prisoners to the war effort. Many laborers received
supplies for the army after the war began. At first, trans- early releases so that they could be drafted and sent to the
portation remained a priority. In 1940, the NKVD fo- front.* [51]
cused most of its energy on railroad construction.* [50] Even as the pool of workers shrank, demand continued to
This would prove extremely important in the face of the grow rapidly. As a result, the Soviet government pushed
German advance. In addition, factories converted to pro- the Gulag to “do more with less”. With fewer able-
duce ammunition, uniforms, and other supplies. More- bodied workers and few supplies from outside the camp
over, the NKVD gathered skilled workers and special- system, camp administrators had to find a way to main-
ists from throughout the Gulag into 380 special colonies tain production. The solution they found was to push the
which produced tanks, airplanes, armaments, and ammu- remaining prisoners still harder. The NKVD employed
nition.* [49] a system of setting unrealistically high production goals,
Despite its cheapness, the camp economy suffered from straining resources in an attempt to encourage higher pro-
serious flaws. For one, actual productivity almost never ductivity. Labor resources were further strained as the
matched estimates, because the estimates were far too German armies pushed into Soviet territory, and many
optimistic. In addition, scarcity of machinery and tools of the camps were forced to evacuate Western Russia.
plagued the camps, and the tools that the camps did have From the beginning of the war to halfway through 1944,
quickly broke. The Eastern Siberian Trust of the Chief 40 camps were created, and 69 were disbanded. In these
Administration of Camps for Highway Construction de- evacuations, machinery received priority, leaving prison-
stroyed ninety-four trucks in just three years.* [49] But ers to reach safety on foot. Due to the speed of Operation
the greatest problem was simple – forced labor is by na- Barbarossa’s advance, not all laborers could be evacu-
ture less efficient than free labor. In fact, prisoners in the ated in time, and many were massacred by the NKVD
Gulag were, on average, half as productive as free labor- to prevent them from falling into German hands. While
ers in the USSR at the time,* [49] which may be explained this practice denied the Germans a source of free labor,
by malnutrition. it also further restricted the Gulag’s capacity to keep
up with the Red Army’s demands. When the tide of the
To make up for this disparity, the NKVD worked pris- war turned however, and the Soviets pushed the Germans
oners harder than ever. To meet rising demand, prison- back, the camps were replenished with fresh laborers. As
ers worked longer and longer hours, and on lower food the Red Army recaptured territories from the Germans,
rations than ever before. A camp administrator said in an influx of Soviet POW’s greatly increased the Gulag
a meeting, “There are cases when a prisoner is given population.* [51]
only four or five hours out of twenty-four for rest, which
significantly lowers his productivity.”Or, in the words
of a former Gulag prisoner: “By the spring of 1942, 4.3.4 After World War II
the camp ceased to function. It was difficult to find peo-
ple who were even able to gather firewood or bury the After World War II the number of inmates in prison
dead.”* [49] The scarcity of food stemmed in part from camps and colonies, again, rose sharply, reaching approx-
the general strain on the entire Soviet Union, but also lack imately 2.5 million people by the early 1950s (about 1.7
of central aid to the Gulag during the war. The central million of whom were in camps).
government focused all its attention on the military, andWhen the war in Europe ended in May 1945, as many as
left the camps to their own defenses. In 1942 the Gulag two million former Russian citizens were forcefully repa-
set up the Supply Administration to find their own food triated into the USSR.* [52] On 11 February 1945, at the
and industrial goods. During this time, not only was foodconclusion of the Yalta Conference, the United States and
scarce, the NKVD limited rations in an attempt to moti- United Kingdom signed a Repatriation Agreement with
vate the prisoners to work harder for more food, a policythe Soviet Union.* [53] One interpretation of this agree-
that lasted until 1948.* [51] ment resulted in the forcible repatriation of all Soviets.
In addition to food shortages, the Gulag suffered from British and U.S. civilian authorities ordered their military
labor scarcity in the beginning of the war. The Great forces in Europe to deport to the Soviet Union up to two
Terror had provided a large supply of free labor, but by million former residents of the Soviet Union, including
4.3. HISTORY 41

Transpolar Railway was a project of the Gulag system that took During the Stalin era, Magadan was a major transit center for
place from 1947 to 1953. prisoners sent to the Kolyma camps.

persons who had left the Russian Empire and established kept in a separate camp system (see POW labor in the
different citizenship years before. The forced repatria- Soviet Union), which was managed by GUPVI, a sepa-
tion operations took place from 1945–47.* [54] rate main administration with the NKVD/MVD.
Multiple sources state that Soviet POWs, on their return Yet the major reason for the post-war increase in the
to the Soviet Union, were treated as traitors (see Order number of prisoners was the tightening of legislation on
No. 270).* [55]* [56]* [57] According to some sources, property offences in summer 1947 (at this time there was
over 1.5 million surviving Red Army soldiers imprisoned a famine in some parts of the Soviet Union, claiming
by the Germans were sent to the Gulag.* [58]* [59]* [60] about 1 million lives), which resulted in hundreds of thou-
However, that is a confusion with two other types of sands of convictions to lengthy prison terms, sometimes
camps. During and after World War II, freed POWs went on the basis of cases of petty theft or embezzlement. At
to special “filtration”camps. Of these, by 1944, more the beginning of 1953 the total number of prisoners in
than 90 percent were cleared, and about 8 percent were prison camps was more than 2.4 million of which more
arrested or condemned to penal battalions. In 1944, they than 465,000 were political prisoners.* [48]
were sent directly to reserve military formations to be
cleared by the NKVD. Further, in 1945, about 100 filtra- The state continued to maintain the extensive camp sys-
tion camps were set for repatriated Ostarbeiter, POWs, tem for a while after Stalin's death in March 1953, al-
and other displaced persons, which processed more than though the period saw the grip of the camp authorities
4,000,000 people. By 1946, the major part of the pop- weaken, and a number of conflicts and uprisings occur
ulation of these camps were cleared by NKVD and ei- (see Bitch Wars; Kengir uprising; Vorkuta uprising).
ther sent home or conscripted (see table for details).* [61] The amnesty in March 1953 was limited to non-political
226,127 out of 1,539,475 POWs were transferred to the prisoners and for political prisoners sentenced to not
NKVD, i.e. the Gulag.* [61]* [62] more than 5 years, therefore mostly those convicted for
common crimes were then freed. The release of polit-
After Nazi Germany's defeat, ten NKVD-run “special
camps”subordinate to the Gulag were set up in the Soviet ical prisoners started in 1954 and became widespread,
and also coupled with mass rehabilitations, after Nikita
Occupation Zone of post-war Germany. These “special
camps”were former Stalags, prisons, or Nazi concentra- Khrushchev's denunciation of Stalinism in his Secret
tion camps such as Sachsenhausen (special camp num- Speech at the 20th Congress of the CPSU in February
ber 7) and Buchenwald (special camp number 2). Ac- 1956.
cording to German government estimates “65,000 peo- The Gulag institution was closed by the MVD order No
ple died in those Soviet-run camps or in transportation 020 of 25 January 1960* [33] but forced labor colonies
to them.”* [63] According to German researchers, Sach- for political and criminal prisoners continued to exist.
senhausen, where 12,500 Soviet era victims have been Political prisoners continued to be kept in one of the
uncovered, should be seen as an integral part of the Gu- most famous camps Perm-36* [65] until 1987 when it was
lag system.* [64] closed.* [66] (See also Foreign forced labor in the Soviet
For years after World War II, a significant portion of Union)
the inmates were Ukrainians, Belarusians, Lithuanians, The Russian penal system, despite reforms and a reduc-
Latvians and Estonians from lands newly incorporated tion in prison population, informally or formally contin-
into the Soviet Union, as well as Finns, Poles, Volga Ger- ues many of practices endemic to the Gulag system, in-
mans, Romanians and others. POWs, in contrast, were cluding forced labor, inmates policing inmates, and pris-
42 CHAPTER 4. GULAG

oner intimidation.* [67] orts [refuse] and, according to some prisoners,

In late 2000s, some human rights activists accused au-
thorities of gradual removal of Gulag remembrance from
places such as Perm-36 and Solovki prison camp.* [68]
4.4 Gulag administrators
4.5 Conditions
eat rats and dogs.* [73]
In general, the central administrative bodies showed a dis-
cernible interest in maintaining the labor force of prison-
ers in a condition allowing the fulfillment of construction
and production plans handed down from above. Besides a
wide array of punishments for prisoners refusing to work
(which, in practice, were sometimes applied to prison-
ers that were too enfeebled to meet production quota),
they instituted a number of positive incentives intended
to boost productivity. These included monetary bonuses
(since the early 1930s) and wage payments (from 1950
onwards), cuts of individual sentences, general early-
release schemes for norm fulfillment and overfulfillment
(until 1939, again in selected camps from 1946 onwards),
preferential treatment, and privileges for the most pro-
ductive workers (shock workers or Stakhanovites in So-
viet parlance).* [74]

The White Sea–Baltic Canal was the first major project con-
structed in the Soviet Union using forced labor.

Living and working conditions in the camps varied sig-

nificantly across time and place, depending, among other
things, on the impact of broader events (World War II,
countrywide famines and shortages, waves of terror, sud- Shack from Gulag – reconstruction in Museum of the Occupation
den influx or release of large numbers of prisoners). of Latvia
However, to one degree or another, the large majority of
prisoners at most times faced meager food rations, inad- A distinctive incentive scheme that included both coer-
equate clothing, overcrowding, poorly insulated housing, cive and motivational elements and was applied univer-
poor hygiene, and inadequate health care. Most prison- sally in all camps consisted in standardized“nourishment
ers were compelled to perform harsh physical labor.* [72] scales": the size of the inmates’ration depended on the
In most periods and economic branches, the degree of percentage of the work quota delivered. Naftaly Frenkel
mechanization of work processes was significantly lower is credited for the introduction of this policy. While it was
than in the civilian industry: tools were often primitive effective in compelling many prisoners to work harder,
and machinery, if existent, short in supply. Officially for many a prisoner it had the adverse effect, accelerat-
established work hours were in most periods longer and ing the exhaustion and sometimes causing the death of
days off were fewer than for civilian workers. Often of- persons unable to fulfill high production quota.
ficial work time regulations were extended by local camp Immediately after the German attack on the Soviet Union
administrators. in June 1941 the conditions in camps worsened drasti-
Andrei Vyshinsky, procurator of the Soviet Union, wrote cally: quotas were increased, rations cut, and medical
a memorandum to NKVD chief Nikolai Yezhov in 1938 supplies came close to none, all of which led to a sharp
which stated: increase in mortality. The situation slowly improved in
the final period and after the end of the war.
Among the prisoners there are some so Considering the overall conditions and their influence on
ragged and liceridden that they pose a sanitary inmates, it is important to distinguish three major strata
danger to the rest. These prisoners have deteri- of Gulag inmates:
orated to the point of losing any resemblance to
human beings. Lacking food . . . they collect • "Kulaks", osadniks, "ukazniks" (people sentenced
4.6. GEOGRAPHY 43

for violation of various ukases, such as Law of Locals who captured a runaway were given rewards.* [78]
Spikelets, decree about work discipline, etc.), occa- It is also said that Gulags in colder areas were less con-
sional violators of criminal law cerned with finding escaped prisoners as they would die
anyhow from the severely cold winters. In such cases
• Dedicated criminals: "thieves in law" prisoners who did escape without getting shot were of-
• People sentenced for various political and religious ten found dead kilometres away from the camp.
reasons.

Mortality in Gulag camps in 1934–40 was 4–6 times 4.6 Geography

higher than average in the Soviet Union. The esti-
mated total number of those who died in imprison- Further information: List of Gulag camps
ment in 1930–53 is at least 1.76 million, about half In the early days of Gulag, the locations for the camps
of which occurred between 1941–43 following the Ger-
man invasion.* [75]* [76] If prisoner deaths from labor
colonies and special settlements are included, the death
toll rises to 2,749,163, although the historian who com-
piled this estimate (J. Otto Pohl) stresses that it is incom-
plete, and doesn't cover all prisoner categories for every
year.* [15]* [77]

4.5.1 Social conditions

Vorkuta Gulag

The convicts in such camps were actively involved in all

kinds of labor with one of them being logging (lesopo-
val). The working territory of logging presented by itself
a square and was surrounded by forest clearing. Thus, all
attempts to exit or escape from it were well observed from
the four towers set at each of its corners.
When investigating the shooting of these“escaping”pris-
oners, the position of the dead body was usually the only
factor considered. That the body would lie with its feet to
the camp and its head away from it was considered suf-
ficient evidence of an escape attempt. As a result, it was
common practice for the guards to simply adjust the po-
sition of the body after killing a “runner”to ensure that
the killing would be declared justified. There is some ev-
idence that money rewards were given to any guards who
shot an escaping prisoner, but the official rules (as seen
below) state guards were fined if they shot escaping pris-
oners.
Part of 'Project 503' to build a railroad from Salekhard to Igarka
near Turukhansk on the Yenisey
were chosen primarily for the isolated conditions in-
volved. Remote monasteries in particular were frequently
reused as sites for new camps. The site on the Solovetsky
Islands in the White Sea is one of the earliest and also
most noteworthy, taking root soon after the Revolu-
tion in 1918.* [3] The colloquial name for the islands,
"Solovki", entered the vernacular as a synonym for the
labor camp in general. It was presented to the world as
an example of the new Soviet method for “re-education
of class enemies" and reintegrating them through labor
into Soviet society. Initially the inmates, largely Rus-
sian intelligentsia, enjoyed relative freedom (within the
natural confinement of the islands). Local newspapers
and magazines were published and even some scientific
 44 CHAPTER 4. GULAG

Detailed Russian map of all camps in the 1950s, since “Memo-

rial”foundation.

research was carried out (e.g., a local botanical garden

was maintained but unfortunately later lost completely).
Eventually Solovki turned into an ordinary Gulag camp;
in fact some historians maintain that it was a pilot camp
of this type. In 1929 Maxim Gorky visited the camp and
published an apology for it. The report of Gorky’s trip
to Solovki was included in the cycle of impressions titled
“Po Soiuzu Sovetov,”Part V, subtitled“Solovki.”In the
report, Gorky wrote that“camps such as‘Solovki’were Genrikh Yagoda (middle) inspecting the construction of the
Moscow-Volga canal.
absolutely necessary.”* [79]
With the new emphasis on Gulag as the means of con-
centrating cheap labor, new camps were then constructed Not all camps were fortified; some in Siberia were
throughout the Soviet sphere of influence, wherever the marked only by posts. Escape was deterred by the harsh
economic task at hand dictated their existence (or was elements, as well as tracking dogs that were assigned to
designed specifically to avail itself of them, such as the each camp. While during the 1920s and 1930s native
White Sea-Baltic Canal or the Baikal Amur Mainline), tribes often aided escapees, many of the tribes were also
including facilities in big cities —parts of the famous victimized by escaped thieves. Tantalized by large re-
Moscow Metro and the Moscow State University new wards as well, they began aiding authorities in the capture
campus were built by forced labor. Many more projects of Gulag inmates. Camp guards were given stern incen-
during the rapid industrialization of the 1930s, war-time tive to keep their inmates in line at all costs; if a prisoner
and post-war periods were fulfilled on the backs of con- escaped under a guard's watch, the guard would often be
victs. The activity of Gulag camps spanned a wide cross- stripped of his uniform and become a Gulag inmate him-
section of Soviet industry. self. Further, if an escaping prisoner was shot, guards
could be fined amounts that were often equivalent to one
The majority of Gulag camps were positioned in ex- or two weeks wages.
tremely remote areas of northeastern Siberia (the best
known clusters are Sevvostlag (The North-East Camps) In some cases, teams of inmates were dropped off in new
along Kolyma river and Norillag near Norilsk) and in territory with a limited supply of resources and left to set
the southeastern parts of the Soviet Union, mainly in up a new camp or die. Sometimes it took several waves
the steppes of Kazakhstan (Luglag, Steplag, Peschanlag). of colonists before any one group survived to establish the
A very precise map was made by the Memorial Foun- camp.
dation.* [80] These were vast and sparsely inhabited re- The area along the Indigirka river was known as the Gulag
gions with no roads (in fact, the construction of the roads inside the Gulag. In 1926, the Oimiakon (Оймякон) vil-
themselves was assigned to the inmates of specialized lage in this region registered the record low temperature
railroad camps) or sources of food, but rich in miner- of −71.2 °C (−96 °F).
als and other natural resources (such as timber). How-
ever, camps were generally spread throughout the entire Under the supervision of Lavrenty Beria who headed
Soviet Union, including the European parts of Russia, both NKVD and the Soviet atom bomb program until
Belarus, and Ukraine. There were several camps outside his demise in 1953, thousands of zeks were used to mine
the Soviet Union, in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, uranium ore and prepare test facilities on Novaya Zemlya,
and Mongolia, which were under the direct control of the Vaygach Island, Semipalatinsk, among other sites.
Gulag. Throughout the history of the Soviet Union, there were at
4.8. HISTORIOGRAPHY 45

• Sharashka (шарашка) were in fact secret research

laboratories, where the arrested and convicted sci-
entists, some of them prominent, were anonymously
developing new technologies, and also conducting
basic research.

4.8 Historiography

4.8.1 Archival documents

Statistical reports made by the OGPU-NKVD-MGB-
MVD between the 1930s and 1950s are kept in the State
Siberian taiga in the river valley near Verkhoyansk. The lowest Archive of the Russian Federation formerly called Cen-
temperature recorded there was −68°C (−90°F). tral State Archive of the October Revolution (CSAOR).
These documents were highly classified and inaccessi-
ble. Amid glasnost and democratization in the late 1980s,
least 476 separate camp administrations.* [81]* [82] The Viktor Zemskov and other Russian researchers managed
Russian researcher Galina Ivanova stated that, to gain access to the documents and published the highly
classified statistical data collected by the OGPU-NKVD-
MGB-MVD and related to the number of the Gulag pris-
“to date, Russian historians have discov-
oners, special settlers, etc. In 1995, Zemskov wrote
ered and described 476 camps that existed at
that foreign scientists have begun to be admitted to the
different times on the territory of the USSR.
restricted-access collection of these documents in the
It is well known that practically every one of
State Archive of the Russian Federation since 1992.* [85]
them had several branches, many of which
However, only one historian, namely Zemskov, was ad-
were quite large. In addition to the large num-
mitted to these archives, and later the archives were again
bers of camps, there were no less than 2,000
“closed”, according to Leonid Lopatnikov.* [86]
colonies. It would be virtually impossible to
reflect the entire mass of Gulag facilities on While considering the issue of reliability of the primary
a map that would also account for the various data provided by corrective labor institutions, it is neces-
times of their existence.”* [82] sary to take into account the following two circumstances.
On the one hand, their administration was not interested
to understate the number of prisoners in its reports, be-
Since many of these existed only for short periods, the cause it would have automatically led to a decrease in the
number of camp administrations at any given point was food supply plan for camps, prisons, and corrective la-
lower. It peaked in the early 1950s, when there were more bor colonies. The decrement in food would have been
than 100 camp administrations across the Soviet Union. accompanied by an increase in mortality that would have
Most camp administrations oversaw several single camp led to wrecking of the vast production program of the
units, some as many as dozens or even hundreds.* [83] Gulag. On the other hand, overstatement of data of the
The infamous complexes were those at Kolyma, Norilsk, number of prisoners also did not comply with departmen-
and Vorkuta, all in arctic or subarctic regions. However, tal interests, because it was fraught with the same (i.e.,
prisoner mortality in Norilsk in most periods was actually impossible) increase in production tasks set by planning
lower than across the camp system as a whole.* [84] bodies. In those days, people were highly responsible for
non-fulfilment of plan. It seems that a resultant of these
objective departmental interests was a sufficient degree
4.7 Special institutions of reliability of the reports.* [87]
Between 1990 and 1992, the first precise statistical data
• Special camps or zones for children (Gulag jargon:on the Gulag based on the Gulag archives were published
"малолетки", maloletki, underaged), for disabled by Viktor Zemskov.* [88] These had been generally ac-
(in Spassk), and for mothers ("мамки", mamki) withcepted by leading Western scholars,* [9]* [14] despite the
babies. fact that a number of inconsistencies were found in this
statistics.* [89] It is also necessary to note that not all con-
• Camps for“wives of traitors of Motherland”—there clusion drawn by Zemskov based on his data had been
was a special category of repression: "Traitor of generally accepted. Thus, Sergei Maksudov alleged that
Motherland Family Member" (ЧСИР, член семьи although literary sources, for example the books of Lev
изменника Родины: ChSIR, Chlyen sem'i izmennika Razgon or Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, did not envisage the
Rodini). total number of the camps very well and markedly ex-
46 CHAPTER 4. GULAG

aggerated their size, on the other hand, Viktor Zemskov,
who published many documents by the NKVD and KGB,
was far from understanding of the Gulag essence and the
nature of socio-political processes in the country. He
added that without distinguishing the degree of accuracy
and reliability of certain figures, without making a critical
analysis of sources, without comparing new data with al-
ready known information, Zemskov absolutizes the pub-
lished materials by presenting them as the ultimate truth.
As a result, Maksudov charges that Zemskov attempts to
make generalized statements with reference to a particu-
lar document, as a rule, do not hold water.* [90]
tion of Documents in Seven Volumes) wherein each of its
seven volumes covered a particular issue indicated in the
title of the volume: the first volume has the title Massovye
Repressii v SSSR (Mass Repression in the USSR),* [92] the
second volume has the title Karatelnaya Sistema. Struk-
tura i Kadry (Punitive System. Structure and Cadres),* [93]
the third volume has the title Ekonomika Gulaga (Econ-
omy of the Gulag),* [94] the forth volume has the title
Naselenie Gulaga. Chislennost i Usloviya Soderzhaniya
(The Population of the Gulag. The Number and Condi-
tions of Confinement),* [95] the fifth volume has the title
Specpereselentsy v SSSR (Specsettlers in the USSR),* [96]
the sixth volume has the title Vosstaniya, Bunty i Zabas-
tovki Zaklyuchyonnykh (Uprisings, Riots, and Strikes of
Prisoners),* [97] the seventh volume has the title Sovet-
skaya Pepressivno-karatelnaya Politika i Penitentsiarnaya
Sistema. Annotirovanniy Ukazatel Del GA RF (Soviet Re-
pressive and Punitive Policy. Annotated Index of Cases
of the SA RF).* [98] The edition contains the brief intro-
ductions by the two “patriarchs of the Gulag science”,
Robert Conquest and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and 1431
documents, the overwhelming majority of which were
obtained from funds of the State Archive of the Russian
Federation.* [99]

4.8.2 History of Gulag population esti-

OGPU chiefs responsible for construction of the White Sea–Baltic
mates
Canal: Right: Frenkel; Center: Berman; Left: Afanasev (Head
of the southern part of BelBaltLag).
During the decades before the dissolution of the USSR,
the debates about the population size of GULAG failed
In response, Zemskov wrote that the charge that Zemskov
to arrive at generally accepted figures; wide-ranging es-
allegedly did not compare new data with already known
timates have been offered,* [100] and the bias toward
information could not be called fair. In his words, the
higher or lower side was sometimes ascribed to politi-
trouble with most western writers is that they do not ben-
cal views of the particular author.* [100] Some of those
efit from such comparisons. Zemskov added that when
earlier estimates (both high and low) are shown in the ta-
he tried not to overuse the juxtaposition of new infor-
ble below. The final estimates of the Gulag population
mation with “old”one, it was only because of a sense
will be available only when all the Soviet archives will be
of delicacy, not to once again psychologically traumatize
opened.
the researchers whose works used incorrect figures, as it
turned out after the publication of the statistics by the
OGPU-NKVD-MGB-MVD.* [85]
According to French historian Nicolas Werth, the moun-
tains of the materials of the Gulag archives, which are
stored in funds of the State Archive of the Russian Fed-
eration and are being constantly exposed during the last
fifteen years, represent only a very small part of bureau-
cratic prose of immense size left over the decades of“cre-
ativity”by the“dull and reptile”organization managing
the Gulag. In many cases, local camp archives, which
had been stored in sheds, barracks, or other rapidly disin-
tegrating buildings, simply disappeared in the same way
as most of the camp buildings did.* [91]
In 2004 and 2005, some archival documents were pub-
lished in the edition Istoriya Stalinskogo Gulaga. Konets Yurshor, Vorkuta area
1920-kh —Pervaya Polovina 1950-kh Godov. Sobranie
Dokumentov v 7 Tomakh (The History of Stalin’s Gulag. The glasnost political reforms in the late 1980s and the
From the Late 1920s to the First Half of the 1950s. Collec- subsequent dissolution of the USSR led to the release
4.9. INFLUENCE 47

of a large amount of formerly classified archival doc- population reflected the camps' capacity, not the actual
uments,* [111] including new demographic and NKVD amount of inmates, so the actual figures were 15% higher
data.* [14] Analysis of the official GULAG statistics by in, e.g. 1946.* [9]
Western scholars immediately demonstrated that, despite
their inconsistency, they do not support previously pub-
lished higher estimates.* [100] Importantly, the released
documents made possible to clarify terminology used to
4.9 Influence
describe different categories of forced labour population,
because the use of the terms “forced labour”, “GU- 4.9.1 Culture
LAG”,“camps”interchangeably by early researchers led
to significant confusion and resulted in significant incon- The Gulag spanned nearly four decades of Soviet and East
sistencies in the earlier estimates.* [100] Archival stud- European history and affected millions of individuals. Its
ies revealed several components of the NKVD penal sys- cultural impact was enormous.
tem in the Stalinist USSR: prisons, labor camps, labor The Gulag has become a major influence on contempo-
colonies, as well as various “settlements”(exile) and of rary Russian thinking, and an important part of modern
non-custodial forced labour.* [7] Although most of them Russian folklore. Many songs by the authors-performers
fit the definition of forced labour, only labour camps, known as the bards, most notably Vladimir Vysotsky and
and labour colonies were associated with punitive forced Alexander Galich, neither of whom ever served time in
labour in detention.* [7] Forced labour camps (“GULAG the camps, describe life inside the Gulag and glorified the
camps”) were hard regime camps, whose inmates were life of “Zeks”. Words and phrases which originated in
serving more than three-year terms. As a rule, they were the labor camps became part of the Russian/Soviet ver-
situated in remote parts of the USSR, and labour condi- nacular in the 1960s and 1970s.
tions were extremely hard there. They formed a core of
the GULAG system. The inmates of “corrective labour
colonies”served shorter terms; these colonies were lo-
cated in less remote parts of the USSR, and they were
run by local NKVD administration.* [7] Preliminary anal-
ysis of the GULAG camps and colonies statistics (see
the chart on the right) demonstrated that the population
reached the maximum before the World War II, then
dropped sharply, partially due to massive releases, par-
tially due to wartime high mortality, and then was grad-
ually increasing until the end of Stalin era, reaching the
global maximum in 1953, when the combined popula-
tion of GULAG camps and labour colonies amounted to
2,625,000.* [112]
The results of these archival studies convinced many
scholars, including Robert Conquest* [9] or Stephen
Wheatcroft to reconsider their earlier estimates of the size
of the GULAG population, although the 'high numbers'
of arrested and deaths are not radically different from ear-
lier estimates.* [9] Although such scholars as Rosefielde
or Vishnevsky point at several inconsistencies in archival
data,* [89] it is generally believed that these data provide
more reliable and detailed information that the indirect
data and literary sources available for the scholars during
the Cold War era.* [14]
These data allowed scholars to conclude that during the
period of 1928–53, about 14 million prisoners passed
through the system of GULAG labour camps and 4-5 mil-
lion passed through the labour colonies.* [9] Thus, these Ukrainian prisoner Nikolai Getman who spent the years 1945–
1953 in Siberia, records his testimony in pictures rather than
figures reflect the number of convicted persons, and do
words.* [113]
not take into account the fact that a significant part of
Gulag inmates had been convicted more than one time,
so the actual number of convicted is somewhat overstated The memoirs of Alexander Dolgun, Aleksandr Solzhen-
by these statistics.* [14] From other hand, during some itsyn, Varlam Shalamov and Yevgenia Ginzburg, among
periods of Gulag history the official figures of GULAG others, became a symbol of defiance in Soviet soci-
ety. These writings, particularly those of Solzhenitsyn,
48
harshly chastised the Soviet people for their tolerance and
apathy regarding the Gulag, but at the same time provided
a testament to the courage and resolve of those who were
imprisoned.
Another cultural phenomenon in the Soviet Union linked
with the Gulag was the forced migration of many artists
and other people of culture to Siberia. This resulted in a
Renaissance of sorts in places like Magadan, where, for
example, the quality of theatre production was compara-
ble to Moscow's.
Literature
Many eyewitness accounts of Gulag prisoners have been
published:
• Varlam Shalamov's Kolyma Tales is a short-story
collection, cited by most major works on the Gu-
lag, and widely considered one of the main Soviet
accounts.
• Victor Kravchenko wrote I Chose Freedom after de-
fecting to the United States in 1944. As a leader
of industrial plants he had encountered forced la-
bor camps in across the Soviet Union from 1935 to
1941. He describes a visit to one camp at Kemerovo
on the Tom River in Siberia. Factories paid a fixed
sum to the KGB for every convict they employed.
• Anatoli Granovsky wrote I Was an NKVD Agent af-
ter defecting to Sweden in 1946 and included his ex-
periences seeing gulag prisoners as a young boy, as
well as his experiences as a prisoner himself in 1939.
Granovsky's father was sent to the gulag in 1937.
• Julius Margolin's book A Travel to the Land Ze-Ka
was finished in 1947, but it was impossible to pub-
lish such a book about the Soviet Union at the time,
immediately after World War II.
• Gustaw Herling-Grudziński wrote A World Apart,
which was translated into English by Andrzej
Ciolkosz and published with an introduction by
Bertrand Russell in 1951. By describing life in the
gulag in a harrowing personal account, it provides an
in-depth, original analysis of the nature of the Soviet
communist system.
• Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's book The Gulag
Archipelago was not the first literary work about
labor camps. His previous book on the subject,
"One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich", about
a typical day of the Gulag inmate, was originally
published in the most prestigious Soviet monthly,
Novy Mir (New World), in November 1962, but
was soon banned and withdrawn from all libraries.
It was the first work to demonstrate the Gulag as an
instrument of governmental repression against its
own citizens on a massive scale. The First Circle, an
CHAPTER 4. GULAG
account of three days in the lives of prisoners in the
Marfino sharashka or special prison was submitted
for publication to the Soviet authorities shortly after
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich but was
rejected and later published abroad in 1968.
• János Rózsás, Hungarian writer, often referred to as
the Hungarian Solzhenitsyn, wrote many books and
articles on the issue of the Gulag.
• Zoltan Szalkai, Hungarian documentary filmmaker
made several films of gulag camps.
• Karlo Štajner, a Croatian communist active in the
former Kingdom of Yugoslavia and manager of
Comintern Publishing House in Moscow 1932–39,
was arrested one night and taken from his Moscow
home under accusation of anti-revolutionary activi-
ties. He spent the following 20 years in camps from
Solovki to Norilsk. After USSR–Yugoslavian polit-
ical normalization he was re-tried and quickly found
innocent. He left the Soviet Union with his wife,
who had been waiting for him for 20 years, in 1956
and spent the rest of his life in Zagreb, Croatia. He
wrote an impressive book titled 7000 days in Siberia.
• Dancing Under the Red Star by Karl Tobien (ISBN
1-4000-7078-3) tells the story of Margaret Werner,
an athletic girl who moves to Russia right before the
start of Stalin's terror. She faces many hardships, as
her father is taken away from her and imprisoned.
Werner is the only American woman who survived
the Gulag to tell about it.
• Alexander Dolgun's Story: An American in the Gulag
(ISBN 0-394-49497-0), by a member of the US Em-
bassy, and I Was a Slave in Russia (ISBN 0-8159-
5800-5), an American factory owner's son, were two
more American citizens interned who wrote of their
ordeal. They were interned due to their American
citizenship for about eight years c. 1946–55.
• Yevgenia Ginzburg wrote two famous books of
her remembrances, Journey Into the Whirlwind and
Within the Whirlwind.
• Savić Marković Štedimlija, pro-Croatian Montene-
grin ideologist and Ustasha regime collaborator.
Caught on the run in Austria by the Red Army in
1945, he was sent to the USSR and spent ten years
in Gulag. After release, Marković wrote autobio-
graphic account in two volumes titled Ten years in
Gulag (Deset godina u Gulagu, Matica crnogorska,
Podgorica, Montenegro 2004).
• Sławomir Rawicz's book, The Long Walk is a con-
troversial account of his escape from the gulag dur-
ing World War II.
• Anița Nandriș-Cudla's book, 20 Years in Siberia [20
de ani în Siberia] is the own life's account written
4.10. GULAG MEMORIALS 49

by a Romanian peasant woman from Bucovina (Ma- 4.9.2 Colonization

hala village near Cernăuți) who managed to survive
the harsh, forced labour system together with her
three sons. Together with her husband and the three
underage children, she was deported from Mahala
village to the Soviet Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous
Okrug, at the Polar Circle, with no trial or even com-
municated accusation. The same night of 12th to 13
June 1941, (that is before the breakout of the Sec-
ond World War), overall 602 fellow villagers were
arrested and deported, without any prior notice. Her
mother had the same sentence but was spared from
deportation after the fact she was paraplegic was
acknowledged by authorities. As later discovered,
the reason for deportation and forced labour was the
The city of Vorkuta
fake and nonsensical heads that, allegedly, her hus-
band had been mayor in the Romanian administra-
tion, politician and rich peasant, none of the latter Soviet state documents show that the goals of the gulag
being at least true. Separated from her husband, she included colonization of sparsely populated remote ar-
brought up the three boys, overcame typhus, scor- eas. To this end, the notion of "free settlement" was in-
butus, malnutrition, extreme cold and harsh toils, troduced.
to later return to Bucovina after rehabilitation. Her When well-behaved persons had served the major-
manuscript was written toward the end of her life, in ity of their terms, they could be released for “free
the simple and direct language of a peasant with 3 settlement”(вольное поселение, volnoye pose-
years of school education, and was secretly brought leniye) outside the confinement of the camp. They
to Romania before the fall of Romanian commu- were known as “free settlers”(вольнопоселенцы,
nism, in 1982. Her manuscript was first published volnoposelentsy, not to be confused with the term
in 1991. Deportation was shared mainly with Ro- ссыльнопоселенцы,ssyl'noposelentsy, "exile settlers").
manians from Bucovina and Basarabia, Finnish and In addition, for persons who served full term, but who
Polish prisoners, as token that Gulag labour camps were denied the free choice of place of residence, it was
had also been used for shattering/ extermination of recommended to assign them for “free settlement”and
the natives in the newly occupied territories of the give them land in the general vicinity of the place of
Soviet Union. confinement.
The gulag inherited this approach from the katorga sys-
Movies and television tem.
It is estimated that of the 40,000 people collecting state
• GULAG 113 (documentary) pensions in Vorkuta, 32,000 are trapped former gulag in-
• As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me mates, or their descendants.* [114]

• Gulag (1985), U.S. Showtime film

4.9.3 Life after term served
• I Am David (2003 U.S., 2004 U.K.)
Persons who served a term in a camp or in a prison were
• The Edge (2010)
restricted from taking a wide range of jobs. Conceal-
• Lost in Siberia ment of a previous imprisonment was a triable offence.
Persons who served terms as“politicals”were nuisances
• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich for "First Departments" (Первый Отдел, Pervyj Otdel,
outlets of the secret police at all enterprises and institu-
• My Way (2011)
tions), because former“politicals”had to be monitored.
• The Way Back Many people released from camps were restricted from
settling in larger cities.
• Agapitova and the rescued onesdocumentary film by
Dzintra Geka (2009)

• Within the Whirlwind (2009) 4.10 Gulag memorials

• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Main article: Day of Remembrance of the Victims of
• Call of Duty: Black Ops Political Repressions
50 CHAPTER 4. GULAG

• Article 58 (RSFSR Penal Code)

• Federal Prisons System of the Russian Federation
• Gulag detainees
• Forced settlements in the Soviet Union
• Mass graves in the Soviet Union
• Memorial Society
• Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union
• Political abuse of psychiatry in the Soviet Union
• Political repression in the Soviet Union
Memorial in St. Petersburg
• Population transfer in the Soviet Union
• USSR anti-religious campaign (1928–41)
Both Moscow and St. Petersburg have memorials to
the victims of the Gulag made of boulders from the Forced labor camps elsewhere
Solovki camp —the first prison camp in the Gulag sys-
tem. Moscow's memorial is on Lubyanka Square, the site • Danube-Black Sea Canal (Communist Romania)
of the headquarters of the NKVD. People gather at these
• Devil's Island (France)
memorials every year on the Day of Victims of the Re-
pression (October 30). • Goli otok (Yugoslavia)
• Hoeryong concentration camp (North Korea)
4.11 Gulag Museum • Katorga (Russian Empire)
• Laogai (China)
• Reeducation camp (Vietnam)
• Spaç Prison (Albania)
• The Vietnamese Gulag
• Yodok concentration camp (North Korea)

4.13 References
[1] Other Soviet penal labor systems not formally included
in GULag were: (a) camps for the prisoners of war cap-
tured by the Soviet Union, administered by GUPVI (b)
filtration camps created during World War II for tempo-
Gulag Museum in Moscow
rary detention of Soviet Ostarbeiters and prisoners of war
while they were being screened by the security organs in
Moscow has the State Gulag Museum
order to “filter out”the black sheep, (c) "special settle-
whose first director was Anton Antonov- ments" for internal exiles including "kulaks" and deported
Ovseyenko.* [115]* [116]* [117]* [118] In 2015, an- ethnic minorities, such as Volga Germans, Poles, Balts,
other museum dedicated to the Gulag was opened in Caucasians, Crimean Tartars, and others. During certain
Moscow.* [119] periods of Soviet history, each of these camp systems held
millions of people. Many hundreds of thousand were also
sentenced to forced labor without imprisonment at their
normal place of work. (Applebaum, pages 579-580)
4.12 See also
[2] G. Zheleznov, Vinogradov, F. Belinskii (1926-12-14).
• List of Gulag camps “Letter To the Presidium of the Central Executive Com-
mittee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik)".
• 101st kilometre Retrieved 2015-04-15.
4.13. REFERENCES 51

[3] Applebaum, Anne (2003) Gulag: A History. Doubleday.
ISBN 0-7679-0056-1
[4] Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev. A Century of Violence
in Soviet Russia. Yale University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-
300-08760-8 p. 15
[17] Robert Conquest, Preface, The Great Terror: A Reassess-
ment: 40th Anniversary Edition, Oxford University Press,
USA, 2007. p. xvi
[18] “Repressions”. Publicist.n1.by. Archived from the orig-
inal on March 27, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-06.

[19] “What Were Their Crimes?". Gulaghistory.org. Re-

[5] Steven Rosefielde. Red Holocaust. Routledge, 2009.
trieved 2009-01-06.
ISBN 0-415-77757-7 pg. 247: “They served as killing
fields during much of the Stalin period, and as a vast pool [20] Uschan, M. Political Leaders. Lucent Books. 2002.
of cheap labor for state projects.”
[21] “Repressions”. Publicist.n1.by. Archived from the orig-
[6] Hitler vs. Stalin: Who Killed More? by Timothy Snyder | inal on March 11, 2008. Retrieved 2009-01-06.
The New York Review of Books
[22]
[7] Getty, Arch; Rittersporn, Gábor; Zemskov, Viktor (Oc-
[23] News Release: Forced labor camp artifacts from Soviet
tober 1993). “Victims of the Soviet penal system in the
era on display at NWTC Archived August 28, 2008, at
pre-war years: a first approach on the basis of archival evi-
the Wayback Machine.
dence”(PDF). American Historical Review 98 (4): 1017–
1049. doi:10.2307/2166597. JSTOR 2166597. [24] Anne Applebaum.“GULAG: a history”. Archived from
the original on October 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
[8] “Gulag: a History of the Soviet Camps”. Arlindo-
correia.org. Retrieved 2009-01-06. [25] “The Hidden Gulag – Exposing North Korea’s Prison
Camps”(PDF). The Committee for Human Rights in North
[9] Robert Conquest in“Victims of Stalinism: A Comment.” Korea. Retrieved 2012-09-20.
Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 49, No. 7 (Nov., 1997), pp.
1317–1319 states:“We are all inclined to accept the Zem- [26] Antony Barnett (2004-02-01).“Revealed: the gas cham-
skov totals (even if not as complete) with their 14 million ber horror of North Korea's gulag”. London: Guardian
intake to Gulag 'camps' alone, to which must be added Unlimited. Retrieved 2007-12-21.
4-5 million going to Gulag 'colonies', to say nothing of [27] Земсков, Виктор (1991). "ГУЛАГ (историко-
the 3.5 million already in, or sent to, 'labor settlements'. социологический аспект)". Социологические
However taken, these are surely 'high' figures.”There are исследования (№ 6,7). Retrieved 14 August 2011.
reservations to be made. For example, we now learn that
the Gulag reported totals were of capacity rather than ac- [28] Applebaum, “Gulag: A History”, Chapter 3
tual counts,leading to an underestimate in 1946 of around
15%. Then as to the numbers 'freed': there is no reason [29]“The only way to attract the labor power necessary for our
to accept the category simply because the MVD so listed economic problems is to introduce compulsory labor ser-
them, and, in fact, we are told of 1947 (when the anecdotal vice”, in: Trotsky, Leon.“Leon Trotsky: Terrorism and
evidence is of almost no one released) that this category Communism (Chapter 8)". www.marxists.org. Retrieved
concealed deaths: 100000 in the first quarter of the year' 2015-08-06.

[30] "'Gulag': The Other Killing Machine". The New York

[10]“Repressions”. Publicist.n1.by. Retrieved 2009-01-06. Times. May 11, 2003.
[11] “H-Net Reviews”. [31] D.J. Dallin and B.I. Nicolayesky, Forced Labor in Soviet
Russia, London 1948, p. 153.
[12] Репрессии против поляков и польских граждан
[32] Ellman, Michael (2002). “Soviet Repression Statistics:
[13] MVD of Russia: An Encyclopedia (МВД России: энцик- Some Comments” (PDF). Europe-Asia Studies 54 (2):
лопедия), 2002, ISBN 5-224-03722-0, p.541 1151–1172. doi:10.1080/0966813022000017177. Re-
trieved 14 August 2011.
[14] Michael Ellman. Soviet Repression Statistics: Some
Comments. Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 54, No. 7 (Nov., [33] Memorial http://www.memo.ru/history/NKVD/
2002), pp. 1151–1172 GULAG/r1/r1-4.htm

[34] See, e.g. Michael Jakobson, Origins of the GULag: The

[15] Applebaum, Anne (2003) Gulag: A History. Doubleday.
Soviet Prison Camp System 1917–34, Lexington, KY: Uni-
ISBN 0-7679-0056-1 pg 583: “both archives and mem-
versity Press of Kentucky, 1993, p. 88.
oirs indicate that it was common practice in many camps
to release prisoners who were on the point of dying, [35] See, e.g. Galina M. Ivanova, Labor Camp Socialism:
thereby lowering camp death statistics.” The Gulag in the Totalitarian System, Armonk, NY: M.E.
Sharpe, 2000, Chapter 2.
[16] Steven Rosefielde. Red Holocaust. Routledge, 2009.
ISBN 0-415-77757-7 pg. 67 "...more complete archival [36] See for example Istorija stalinskogo Gulaga: konec 1920-
data increases camp deaths by 19.4 percent to 1,258,537” kh – pervaia polovina 1950-kh godov; sobranie dokumen-
; pg 77: “The best archivally based estimate of Gulag ex- tov v 7 tomakh, ed. by V. P. Kozlov et al., Moskva:
cess deaths at present is 1.6 million from 1929 to 1953.” ROSSPEN 2004, vol. 4: Naselenie Gulaga
52
[37] "Таблица 3. Движение лагерного населения
ГУЛАГа".
[38] Rosefielde, Steven. The Russian economy: from Lenin to
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[39] Applebaum, Anne. Gulag: a history.
[40] Franciszek Proch, Poland's Way of the Cross, New York
1987 P.146
[41] “Project In Posterum”. Project In Posterum. Retrieved
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[42] Encyklopedia PWN 'KAMPANIA WRZEŚNIOWA
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[51] Bacon, Edwin (1994). The Gulag at War: Stalin's Forced
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[63] Germans Find Mass Graves at an Ex-Soviet Camp New
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[66] “Gulag revisited: Barbed memories”. Russia Today.
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[67] “Slave labour and criminal cultures”. The Economist.
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[68] "Сюжеты о "Перми−36”на НТВ сочли
"квазижурналистским пасквилем"". Retrieved
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[69] History of Gulag in 7 Volumes. Volume 2: Structure and
Personnel documents, ed. Petrov N. V. State Archive of
the Russian Federation, 2004 (Russian)
[70] The Heads of the Central Committee of NKVD Petrov
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[74] Leonid Borodkin and Simon Ertz 'Forced Labor and the
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ist Camp System', Comparative Economic Studies, June
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 54
[106] According to Anton Antonov-Ovseenko, “average num-
ber of prisoners [in Gulag] was 17.6 million in 1942,
which many times exceeds the “declassified”official
(forged) data frequently published in press"; the number
was taken from an NKVD document dated 18 January
1945. The number of prisoners in 1943 was estimated
as 13 million.
[107] S. G. Wheatcroft. On Assessing the Size of Forced Con-
centration Camp Labour in the Soviet Union, 1929–56.
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potheses for a Critical Assessment. Cahiers du Monde
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[112] “The Total Number of Repressed”, by Anatoly Vish-
nevsky, Director of the Center for Human Demography
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[113] “Nikolai Getman: The Gulag Collection”. The
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[114] Robert Conquest, Paul Hollander: Political violence: be-
lief, behavior, and legitimation p.55, Palgrave Macmil-
lan;(2008) ISBN 978-0-230-60646-3
[115] Гальперович, Данила (27 June 2010). "Директор
Государственного музея ГУЛАГа Антон
Владимирович Антонов-Овсеенко". Radio Lib-
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[116] Banerji, Arup (2008). Writing history in the Soviet Union:
making the past work. Berghahn Books. p. 271. ISBN
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[117]“About State Gulag Museum”. The State Gulag Museum.
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[118] “Gulag – Museum on Communism”.
[119] New Russian Gulag museum recreates Soviet terror BBC
30 October 2015.
4.14 Further reading
Books
• Anne Applebaum, Gulag: A History, Broadway
Books, 2003, hardcover, 720 pp., ISBN 0-7679-
0056-1.
CHAPTER 4. GULAG
• Walter Ciszek, With God in Russia, Ignatius Press,
1997, 433 pp., ISBN 0-89870-574-6.
• Pavel Kravchuk Gulag far and near. The story of
the penitentiary system
• Simon Ertz, Zwangsarbeit im stalinistischen Lager-
system: Eine Untersuchung der Methoden, Strate-
gien und Ziele ihrer Ausnutzung am Beispiel Norilsk,
1935–1953, Duncker & Humblot, 2006, 273 pp.,
ISBN 978-3-428-11863-2.
• Orlando Figes, The Whisperers: Private Life in
Stalin's Russia, Allen Lane, 2007, hardcover, 740
pp., ISBN 0-14-101351-6.
• J. Arch Getty, Oleg V. Naumov, The Road to Ter-
ror: Stalin and the Self-Destruction of the Bolsheviks,
1932–1939, Yale University Press, 1999, 635 pp.,
ISBN 0-300-07772-6.
• Jehanne M. Gheith and Katherine R. Jolluck. Gu-
lag Voices: Oral Histories of Soviet Detention and
Exile (Palgrave Studies in Oral History). Palgrave
Macmillan, 2010. ISBN 0-230-61063-3
• Slawomir Rawicz.“The Long Walk”. 1995. ISBN
1-55821-684-7
• Paul R. Gregory, Valery Lazarev, eds, The Eco-
nomics of Forced Labor: The Soviet Gulag, Stanford:
Hoover Institution Press, 2003, ISBN 0-8179-3942-
3, full text available online at “Hoover Books On-
line”
• Jan T. Gross (intro) and Nicolas Werth, Cannibal
Island: Death in a Siberian Gulag (Human Rights
and Crimes against Humanity). Princeton University
Press, 2007. 248 pp., ISBN 0-691-13083-3.
• Gustaw Herling-Grudzinski, A World Apart: Impris-
onment in a Soviet Labor Camp During World War
II, Penguin, 1996, 284 pp., ISBN 0-14-025184-7.
• Adam Hochschild, The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Re-
member Stalin (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2003),
304 pp., paperback: ISBN 0-618-25747-0.
• Oleg V. Khlevniuk, The History of the Gulag: From
Collectivization to the Great Terror, Yale Univer-
sity Press, 2004, hardcover, 464 pp., ISBN 0-300-
09284-9.
• Tomasz Kizny, Gulag: Life and Death Inside the So-
viet Concentration Camps 1917–1990, Firefly Books
Ltd., 2004, 496 pp., ISBN 1-55297-964-4.
• Istorija stalinskogo Gulaga: konec 1920-kh – per-
vaia polovina 1950-kh godov; sobranie dokumentov
v 7 tomach, ed. by V. P. Kozlov et al., Moskva:
ROSSPEN 2004-5, 7 vols. ISBN 5-8243-0604-4
4.14. FURTHER READING
• Jacques Rossi, The Gulag Handbook: An Encyclo-
pedia Dictionary of Soviet Penitentiary Institutions
and Terms Related to the Forced Labor Camps, 1989,
ISBN 1-55778-024-2.
• Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
• The Gulag Archipelago, Harper & Row, 660
pp., ISBN 0-06-080332-0.
• The Gulag Archipelago: Two, Harper & Row,
712 pp., ISBN 0-06-080345-2.
• Karl Tobien. Dancing Under the Red Star: The
Extraordinary Story of Margaret Werner, the Only
American Woman to Survive Stalin's Gulag. Water-
Brook Press, 2006. ISBN 1-4000-7078-3
• Nicolas Werth, “A State Against Its People: Vio-
lence, Repression, and Terror in the Soviet Union,
in Stephane Courtois et al., eds., The Black Book of
Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression, Harvard
University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-674-07608-7, pp.
33–260.
• “The Literature of Stalin's Repressions”in Azer-
baijan International, Vol 14:1 (Spring 2006)
• Петров Н. В., Кокурин А. И. (2000). ГУЛАГ:
Главное управление лагерей. 1918-1960 [Gulag.
Main camp administration. 1918-1960] (PDF, im-
mediate download) (in Russian). Moscow. ISBN
5-85646-046-4. Archived from the original on 13
November 2015.
Memoirs
• Ayyub Baghirov (1906–1973), Bitter Days of
Kolyma
• Murtuz Sadikhli (1927–1997), Memory of Blood
• Ummugulsum Sadigzade (died 1944), Prison Diary:
Tears Are My Only Companions
• Ummugulsum Sadigzade (died 1944), Letters from
Prison to her Young Children
• Remembering Stalin – Azerbaijan International
13.4 (Winter 2005)
• Anne Applebaum (foreword) and Paul Hollander
(introduction and editor). From the Gulag to the
Killing Fields: Personal Accounts of Political Vio-
lence and Repression in Communist States. Intercol-
legiate Studies Institute, 2006. ISBN 1-932236-78-
3 (from the annotation: “more than forty dramatic
personal memoirs of Communist violence and re-
pression from political prisoners across the globe”
)
• Janusz Bardach, Man Is Wolf to Man: Surviving the Fiction
Gulag. University of California Press, 1999. ISBN
0-520-22152-4 • Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
55
• Alexander Dolgun, Patrick Watson, “Alexander
Dolgun's story: An American in the Gulag”, NY,
Knopf, 1975, 370 pp., ISBN 978-0-394-49497-5.
• Eugenia Ginzburg, Journey into the whirlwind, Har-
vest/HBJ Book, 2002, 432 pp., ISBN 0-15-602751-
8.
• Eugenia Ginzburg, Within the Whirlwind, Har-
vest/HBJ Book, 1982, 448 pp., ISBN 0-15-697649-
8.
• Jerzy Gliksman, Tell the West: An account of his ex-
periences as a slave laborer in the Union of Soviet So-
cialist Republics, Gresham Press, 358pp. (abridged
edition: New York : National Committee for a Free
Europe, c 1948, 95pp.)
• Julius Margolin, ПУТЕШЕСТВИЕ В СТРАНУ
ЗЭ-КА A Travel to the Land Ze-Ka, full text, ac-
cording to the original manuscript (book written in
1947-47, first printed in 1952) (Russian)
• Fyodor V. Mochulsky, Gulag Boss: A Soviet Mem-
oir, Oxford University Press, 272 pp., the first mem-
oir from an NKVD employee translated into English
• Tamara Petkevich, Memoir of a Gulag Actress,
Northern Illinois University, 2010
• John H. Noble, I Was a Slave in Russia, Broadview,
Illinois: Cicero Bible Press, 1961.
• Varlam Shalamov, Kolyma Tales, Penguin Books,
1995, 528 pp., ISBN 0-14-018695-6.
• Danylo Shumuk,
• Life sentence: Memoirs of a Ukrainian politi-
cal prisoner, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian
Study, 1984, 401 pp., ISBN 978-0-920862-
17-9.
• Za Chidnim Obriyam – (Beyond The Eastern
Horizon),Paris, Baltimore: Smoloskyp, 1974,
447 pp.
• Hava Volovich, My Tale is Told: Women's Memoirs
of Gulag, by Simeon Vilensky, Indiana University
Press, 1999
• Solzhenitsyn's, Shalamov's, Ginzburg's works at
Lib.ru (in original Russian)
• Вернон Кресс (alias of Петр Зигмундович
Демант) "Зекамерон XX века", autobiographical
novel (Russian)
• Бирюков А.М. Колымские истории: очерки.
Новосибирск, 2004
56 CHAPTER 4. GULAG

• One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, Signet
Classic, 158 pp., ISBN 0-451-52310-5.
• The First Circle, Northwestern University
Press, 580 pp., ISBN 978-0-8101-1590-3.
• Chabua Amirejibi, Gora Mborgali. Tbilisi, Georgia:
Chabua, 2001, 650 pp., ISBN 99940-734-1-9.
• Mehdi Husein (1905–1965),“Underground Rivers
Flow Into the Sea”(Excerpts – First Novel About
Exile to the Gulag by an Azerbaijani Writer)
• Martin Amis, House of Meetings. New York: Vin-
tage Books, 2006, 242 pp., ISBN 978-1-4000-
9601-5.
• Herta Müller, Everything I Possess I Carry With Me
• Martin Booth, The Industry Of Souls. United King-
dom: Dewi Lewis Publishing, 1998, 250 pp., ISBN
0-312-26753-3.
• Stories from the Gulag Dossier by Radio France In-
ternationale in English
• Interactive map of GULAG (in German)
• I Was a Slave in Russia: An American Tells His Story
Archive.org online ebook.
• Recollections of Soviet Labor Camps, 1949–1955
Archive.org online ebook.
• Mapping the Gulag – Russia's prison system from
the 1930s to the present Research Project.
• The Gulag as the Crucible of Russia’s 21st Century
System of Punishment study by prof. Judith Pallot.
• Norillag: Internet Resources
• Norillag: twitter
• Norillag: facebook page

• Norillag: google+ community

4.15 External links • Norillag: blogger

• GULAG Online Exhibit, Global Museum on Com-
munism, Victims of Communism Memorial Foun-
dation
• GULAG: Many Days, Many Lives, Online Exhibit,
Center for History and New Media, George Mason
University
• Gulag: Forced Labor Camps, Online Exhibition,
Open Society Archives
• Norillag: wordpress
• Norillag: livejournal
• Norillag: livejournal community
• Norillag: google+ page
• Interview with survivor of Soviet Gulag on
YouTube. Clip from documentary film Agapitova
and the rescued ones (2009).

• The website of the State Museum of GULAG His-

tory in Moscow
• The website of the Virtual Gulag Museum projected
by the scientific information center Memorial
• Sound Archives. European Memories of the Gulag
• Gulag prisoners at work, 1936–1937 Photoalbum at
NYPL Digital Gallery
• The GULAG, Revelations from the Russian
Archives at Library of Congress
• GULAG 113, Canadian documentary film about
Estonians in the GULAG, website includes photos
video.
• Gulag Photo album (prisoners of Kolyma and
Chukotka labor camps, 1951–55)
• Pages about the Kolyma camps and the evolution of
GULAG
• The Soviet Gulag Era in Pictures – 1927 through
1953
• The Economics of the GULAG
Chapter 5

Great Chinese Famine

The Three Years of Great Chinese Famine (simplified

Chinese: 三 年 大 饥 荒; traditional Chinese: 三 年
大 饑 荒; pinyin: Sānnián dà jīhuāng), referred to by
the Communist Party of China as the Three Years
of Natural Disasters (simplified Chinese: 三年自 然
灾 害; traditional Chinese: 三 年 自 然 災 害; pinyin:
Sānnián zìrán zāihài), the Difficult Three Year Period
(simplified Chinese: 三 年 困 难 时 期; traditional Chi-
nese: 三年困難時期; pinyin: Sānnián kùnnán shíqī )
or Great Leap Forward Famine, was the period in
the People's Republic of China between the years 1959
and 1961 characterized by widespread famine. Drought,
poor weather, and the policies of the Communist Party
of China contributed to the famine, although the relative Mao on an airplane, 1957.
weights of the contributions are disputed due to the Great
Leap Forward.
According to government statistics, there were 15 mil- persecution. The social pressure imposed on the citi-
lion excess deaths in this period. However, the Chinese zens in terms of farming and business, which the govern-
government at this time was taken over by market re- ment controlled, led to state instability. Owing to the laws
formers who were strongly opposed to the Great Leap passed during the period and Great Leap Forward during
Forward.* [2] Unofficial estimates vary, but scholars have 1958–1962, according to government *
statistics, about 36
estimated the number of famine victims to be between million people died in this period. [8]
20 and 43 million.* [3] Historian Frank Dikötter, having Until the early 1980s, the Chinese government's stance,
been granted special access to Chinese archival materials, reflected by the name “Three Years of Natural Disas-
estimates that there were at least 45 million premature ters”, was that the famine was largely a result of a series
deaths from 1958 to 1962.* [4]* [5] of natural disasters compounded by several planning er-
Chinese journalist Yang Jisheng concluded there were 36 rors. Researchers outside China argued that massive in-
million deaths due to starvation, while another 40 million stitutional and policy changes that accompanied the Great
others failed to be born, so that“China's total population Leap Forward were the key factors in the famine, or at
loss during the Great Famine then comes to 76 million.” least worsened nature-induced disasters.* [9]* [10] Since
*
[6] The term“Three Bitter Years”is often used by Chi- the 1980s there has been greater official Chinese recog-
nese peasants to refer to this period.* [7] nition of the importance of policy mistakes in causing the
disaster, claiming that the disaster was 30% due to natural
causes and 70% by mismanagement.* [11]
During the Great Leap Forward, farming was organized
5.1 Causes into communes and the cultivation of private plots forbid-
den. Iron and steel production was identified as a key re-
The great Chinese famine was caused by a combination quirement for economic advancement. Millions of peas-
of adverse weather conditions, social pressure, economic ants were ordered away from agricultural work to join the
mismanagement, and radical changes in agriculture im- iron and steel production workforce.
posed by government regulations. Yang Jisheng would summarize the effect of the focus on
Mao Zedong, chairman of the Chinese communist party, production targets in 2008:
introduced drastic changes in farming which prohibited
farm ownership. Failure to abide by the policies led to In Xinyang, people starved at the doors

57
58 CHAPTER 5. GREAT CHINESE FAMINE

of the grain warehouses. As they died, they from crop failure or drowning, an estimated 2 million
shouted, “Communist Party, Chairman Mao, people, while other areas were affected in other ways
save us”. If the granaries of Henan and Hebei as well.* [14] Frank Dikötter argues that most floods
had been opened, no one need have died. As were not due to unusual weather, but to massive, poorly
people were dying in large numbers around planned and poorly executed irrigation works which were
them, officials did not think to save them. part of the Great Leap Forward.* [5]
Their only concern was how to fulfill the de- In 1960, an estimated 60% of agricultural land in north-
livery of grain.* [12] ern China received no rain at all.* [15] The Encyclopædia
Britannica yearbooks from 1958 to 1962 also reported
Along with collectivization, the central government de- abnormal weather, followed by droughts and floods based
creed several changes in agricultural techniques based on on Chinese government sources. This included 760 mil-
the ideas of Soviet pseudoscientist Trofim Lysenko.* [13] limetres (30 in) of rain in Hong Kong across five days
One of these ideas was close planting, whereby the den- in June 1959, part of a pattern that hit all of Southern
sity of seedlings was at first tripled and then doubled China.* [16]
again. The theory was that plants of the same species
would not compete with each other. In practice they did, As a result of these factors, year over year grain produc-
which stunted growth and resulted in lower yields. tion dropped in China. The harvest was down by 15%
in 1959. By 1960, it was at 70% of its 1958 level. There
Another policy (known as “deep plowing”) was based was no recovery until 1962, after the Great Leap Forward
on the ideas of Lysenko's colleague Terentiy Maltsev, ended.* [17]
who encouraged peasants across China to eschew normal
plowing depths of 15-20 centimeters and instead plow ex-
tremely deeply into the soil (1 to 2 meters). The deep
plowing theory stated that the most fertile soil was deep 5.1.1 Government distribution policies
in the earth, and plowing unusually deep would allow ex-
tra strong root growth. However, in shallow soil, useless According to the work of Nobel Prize-winning economist
rocks, soil, and sand were driven up instead, burying the and expert on famines Amartya Sen, most famines do not
fertile topsoil and again severely stunting seedling growth. result just from lower food production, but also from an
inappropriate or inefficient distribution of the food, of-
ten compounded by lack of information and indeed mis-
information as to the extent of the problem.* [18] In the
case of these Chinese famines, the urban population (un-
der the dictates of Maoism) had protected legal rights for
certain amounts of grain consumption, whereas the rural
peasantry were given no such rights and were subject to
non-negotiable production quotas, the surplus of which
they were to survive on.
As local officials in the countryside competed to over-
report the levels of production that their communes had
achieved in response to the new economic organisation,
local peasants were left with a vastly decreased surplus
in order to meet their quotas, and then no surplus at
all. When they eventually failed to produce enough crops
The Eurasian tree sparrow was the most notable target of the even to meet the quotas to feed the cities, peasant farmers
Four Pests Campaign. were unfairly accused of hoarding, profiteering and other
counter-revolutionary activities by Chinese Communist
Additionally, in the Great sparrow campaign, citizens Party officials, who cited the massively inflated produc-
were called upon to destroy sparrows and other wild birds tion estimates of the local party leaders as evidence.
that ate crop seeds, in order to protect fields. Pest birds As the famine worsened, these accusations prompted
were shot down or scared from landing until dropping in widespread atrocities (including massive grain confisca-
exhaustion. This resulted in an explosion of the vermin tions, leaving millions of peasants to starve) by Maoist
(especially crop-eating insects) population, which had no party officials, who sought to direct blame away from
predators to thin it down. the harmful changes in agriculture policy and the mas-
These radically harmful changes in farming organiza- sive overestimation of grain yields. At the time, the
tion coincided with adverse weather patterns, including famine was almost exclusively blamed on a conspiracy
droughts and floods. In July 1959, the Yellow River by "enemies of the people" and “unreformed kulak ele-
flooded in East China. According to the Disaster Cen- ments”among the peasant farmers, who starved at a rate
ter, the flood directly killed, either through starvation nearly three times that of the urban Chinese population.
5.2. OUTCOME 59

5.1.2 Cover ups thousand in 1960. On the national level, the official statis-
tics imply about 15 million so-called“excess deaths”or
Local party leaders, for their part, conspired to cover up “abnormal deaths”, most of them resulting from starva-
shortfalls and reassign blame in order to protect their own tion.
lives and positions. In one famous example, Mao Zedong Yu Dehong, the secretary of a party official in Xinyang in
was scheduled to tour a local agricultural commune in 1959 and 1960, stated,
Shaanxi province during the heart of the famine in or-
der to assess the conditions for himself; in preparation for I went to one village and saw 100 corpses,
his visit, local party officials ordered hundreds of starv- then another village and another 100 corpses.
ing peasants to carefully uproot and transplant hundreds No one paid attention to them. People said that
of thousands of grain stalks by hand from nearby farms dogs were eating the bodies. Not true, I said.
into one “model field”, which was then shown to Mao The dogs had long ago been eaten by the peo-
as proof that the crops had not failed. ple.* [12]
In a similar manner to the massive Soviet-created famine
in Ukraine (the Holodomor), doctors were prohibited It is widely believed that the government seriously under-
from listing “starvation”as a cause of death on death reported death tolls: Lu Baoguo, a Xinhua reporter in
certificates. This kind of deception was far from un- Xinyang, told Yang Jisheng of why he never reported on
common; a famous propaganda picture from the famine his experience:
shows Chinese children from Shandong province ostensi-
bly standing atop a field of wheat, so densely grown that In the second half of 1959, I took a long-
it could apparently support their weight. In reality, they distance bus from Xinyang to Luoshan and
were standing on a bench concealed beneath the plants, Gushi. Out of the window, I saw one corpse
and the “field”was again entirely composed of individ- after another in the ditches. On the bus, no
ually transplanted stalks. one dared to mention the dead. In one county,
Guangshan, one-third of the people had died.
Amartya Sen puts this famine in a global context, arguing Although there were dead people everywhere,
that lack of democracy is the major culprit: “Indeed, the local leaders enjoyed good meals and fine
no substantial famine has ever occurred in a democratic liquor. ... I had seen people who had told
country—no matter how poor.”He adds that it is “hard the truth being destroyed. Did I dare to write
to imagine that anything like this could have happened it?* [12]
in a country that goes to the polls regularly and that has
an independent press. During that terrible calamity the Some Western analysts, such as Patricia Buckley Ebrey,
government faced no pressure from newspapers, which estimate that about 20–40 million people had died of
were controlled, and none from opposition parties, which starvation caused by bad government policies and natu-
were absent.”* [19] ral disasters. J. Banister estimates that this number is
about 23 million. Li Chengrui, a former minister of
the National Bureau of Statistics of China, estimated 22
million (1998). His estimation was based on Ansley J.
5.2 Outcome Coale and Jiang Zhenghua's estimation of 27 million.
Cao Shuji estimated 32.5 million. The aforementioned
According to the China Statistical Yearbook (1984), crop Yang Jisheng (2008) estimated the death toll at 36 mil-
production decreased from 200 million tons (1958) to lion.* [20]
143.5 million tons (1960). Due to lack of food and in-
Hong Kong based historian Frank Dikötter (2010) es-
centive to marry at that point in time, the population
timates that, at minimum, 45 million people died from
was about 658,590,000 in 1961, about 13,480,000 less
starvation, overwork and state violence during the Great
than the population of 1959. Birth rate decreased from
Leap, claiming his findings to be based on access to
2.922% (1958) to 2.086% (1960) and death rate in-
recently opened local and provincial party archives.* [5]
creased from 1.198% (1958) to 2.543% (1960), while
However, his approach to the documents, as well as
the average numbers for 1962–1965 are about 4% and
his claim to be the first author to use them, have been
1%, respectively.
questioned by other scholars.* [21] Dikötter's study also
The officially reported death rates show much more dra- stresses that state violence exacerbated the death toll.
matic increases in a number of provinces and counties. In Dikötter claims that at least 2.5 million of the victims
Sichuan province, the most populous province in China, were beaten or tortured to death.* [22] He provides a
for example, the government reported 11 million deaths graphic example of what happened to a family after one
out of the average population of about 70 million dur- member was caught stealing some food:
ing 1958–1961, one death out of every seven people.
In Huaibin County, Henan province, the government re- Liu Desheng, guilty of poaching a sweet
ported 102 thousand deaths out of a population of 378 potato, was covered in urine ... He, his wife,
60
and his son were also forced into a heap of ex-
crement. Then tongs were used to prise his
mouth open after he refused to swallow excre-
ment. He died three weeks later.* [23]
There are widespread oral reports, and some official doc-
umentation, of cannibalism being practiced in various
forms, as a result of the famine.* [24]* [25]* [26] Due to
the scale of the famine, the resulting cannibalism has been
described as “on a scale unprecedented in the history of
the 20th century”.* [24]* [25]
5.3 Political movement
The Great Leap Forward was initiated in 1958, after the
First Five Year Plan had been declared successfully com-
pleted. One point of the Great Leap was starting to set
up People's Communes in the countryside. However, the
Party had optimistically over-estimated the country's pro-
ductivity during the First Five Year Plan. In reality, farm-
ing activity had gone down due to the All-Canteen.
Some activists went against the Great Leap Forward
movement, but they were seen as the opponents of Mao
and were silenced in the purges of the following "Anti-
Rightist Movement".
After the Famine, then-Chairman of the People's Repub-
lic of China Liu Shaoqi concluded that the reason for the
calamity was“30% natural disaster, 70% policy”. In the
later Cultural Revolution, Liu was denounced as a traitor
and an enemy agent going against the Three Red Banners.
5.4 See also
• Northern Chinese Famine of 1876–79
• Chinese famine of 1928–30
• Chinese famine of 1942–43
• Four Pests Campaign
• Holodomor
• Mao's Great Famine: The History of China's Most
Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-62
• 70,000 Character Petition
5.5 References
5.5.1 Citations
[1] Holmes, Leslie. Communism: A Very Short Introduction
(Oxford University Press 2009). ISBN 978-0-19-955154-
5. p. 32“Most estimates of the number of Chinese dead
are in the range of 15 to 30 million.”
CHAPTER 5. GREAT CHINESE FAMINE
[2] Ó Gráda, Famine: A Short History, p.95
[3] Peng Xizhe (彭希哲), “Demographic Consequences of
the Great Leap Forward in China's Provinces,”Population
and Development Review 13, no. 4 (1987), 639–70.
For a summary of other estimates, please refer to Necro-
metrics
[4] Akbar, Arifa (17 September 2010). “Mao's Great Leap
Forward 'killed 45 million in four years'". The Indepen-
dent (London). Retrieved 20 September 2010.
[5] Dikötter, Frank. Mao's Great Famine: The History of
China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-62. Walker
& Company, 2010. p. 333. ISBN 0-8027-7768-6
[6] Mirsky, Jonathan (December 9, 2012). “Unnatural Dis-
aster: 'Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine, 1958–
1962,' by Yang Jisheng”. The New York Times Sunday
Book Review. p. BR22. Retrieved December 7, 2012.
[7]“Different Life of Scientist Yuan Longping”(in Chinese).
Guangming Daily. 22 May 2007. Retrieved 16 March
2012.
[8] Jisheng, Yang “Tombstone: The Great Chi-
nese Famine, 1958–1962”. Book Review.
New York Times. Dec, 2012. March 3, 2013.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/books/review/
tombstone-the-great-chinese-famine-1958-1962-by-yang-jisheng.
html
[9] Sue Williams (director), Howard Sharp (editor), Will Ly-
man (narrator) (1997). China: A Century of Revolution.
WinStar Home Entertainment.
[10] Demeny, Paul; McNicoll, Geoffrey, eds. (2003),
“Famine in China”, Encyclopedia of Population 1, New
York: Macmillan Reference USA, pp. 388–390
[11] Yang, Jisheng, Edward Friedman, Jian Guo, and Stacy
Mosher. Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine, 1958-
1962. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012. Print.
p. 452-3
[12] Translation from “A hunger for the truth: A new book,
banned on the mainland, is becoming the definitive ac-
count of the Great Famine.”, chinaelections.org, 7 July
2008 of content from Yang Jisheng, 墓碑－－中國六十
年代大饑荒紀實 (Mu Bei - - Zhong Guo Liu Shi Nian Dai
Da Ji Huang Ji Shi), Hong Kong: Cosmos Books (Tian Di
Tu Shu), 2008, ISBN 9789882119093(Chinese)
[13] Lynch, Michael (2008). The People's Republic of China,
1949–76 (second ed.). London: Hodder Education. p.
57.
[14] “The Most Deadly 100 Natural Disasters of the 20th Cen-
tury”.
[15] Liu, Henry C K (1 April 2004). “Part 2: The Great Leap
Forward not all bad”. Asia Times online.
[16] Fred Harding (2006). Breast Cancer: Cause, Prevention,
Cure. Tekline Publishing. p. 381. ISBN 978-0-9554221-
0-2.
5.5. REFERENCES
[17] Lin, Justin Yifu; Yang, Dennis Tao (2000).“Food Avail-
ability, Entitlements and the Chinese Famine of 1959–
61”. The Economic Journal (Royal Economic Society)
110 (460): 143. doi:10.1111/1468-0297.00494.
[18] Sen, Amartya (1982). Poverty and Famines: An
Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation. Oxford New
York: Clarendon Press Oxford University Press. ISBN
9780198284635.
[19] Amartya Kumar Sen (1999). Development as freedom.
Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-289330-7. Re-
trieved 14 April 2011.
[20] “A hunger for the truth: A new book, banned on the
mainland, is becoming the definitive account of the Great
Famine.”, chinaelections.org, 7 July 2008
[21] Dillon, Michael. “Collective Responsibility”The Times
Literary Supplement January 7 (2011), p. 13.
[22] Dikötter, Frank. Mao's Great Famine: The History of
China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958–62. Walker
& Company, 2010. p. 298. ISBN 0-8027-7768-6
[23] Issac Stone Fish. Greeting Misery With Violence.
Newsweek. 26 September 2010.
[24] Bernstein, Richard (February 5, 1997).“Horror of a Hid-
den Chinese Famine”. New York Times.
[25] Becker, Jasper (1997). Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret
Famine. Free Press. p. 352. ISBN 978-0-68483457-3,
title is a reference to Hungry ghosts in Chinese religion
[26] Dikötter, Frank (2010). “36. Cannibalism”. Mao's
Great Famine: The History of China's Most Devastating
Catastrophe, 1958–1962. pp. 320–323. ISBN 978-0-
80277768-3.
5.5.2 Sources
• Ashton, Basil, Kenneth Hill, Alan Piazza, Robin
Zeitz, “Famine in China, 1958-61”, Population
and Development Review, Vol. 10, No. 4. (Dec.,
1984), pp. 613–645.
• Banister, J. “Analysis of Recent Data on the Popu-
lation of China”, Population and Development, Vol.
10, No. 2, 1984.
• Becker, Jasper (1998). Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret
Famine. Holt Paperbacks. ISBN 0-8050-5668-8
• Cao Shuji, “The Deaths of China's Population
and Its Contributing Factors during 1959–1961”.
China's Population Science (Jan. 2005) (In Chinese).
• China Statistical Yearbook (1984), edited by State
Statistical Bureau. China Statistical Publishing
House, 1984. Pages 83, 141, 190.
• China Statistical Yearbook (1991), edited by State
Statistical Bureau. China Statistical Publishing
House, 1991.
61
• China Population Statistical Yearbook (1985), edited
by State Statistical Bureau. China Statistical Bureau
Publishing House, 1985.
• Coale, Ansley J., Rapid Population Change in China,
1952–1982, National Academy Press, Washington,
D.C., 1984.
• Dikötter, Frank. Mao's Great Famine: The History
of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-62.
Walker & Company, 2010. ISBN 0-8027-7768-6.
• Gao. Mobo (2007). Gao Village: Rural Life in Mod-
ern China. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-
0-8248-3192-9.
• Gao. Mobo (2008). The Battle for China's Past.
Pluto Press. ISBN 978-0-7453-2780-8.
• Jiang Zhenghua (蒋正华)，“Method and Result of
China Population Dynamic Estimation”, Academic
Report of Xi'a University, 1986(3). pp. 46, 84.
• Li Chengrui(李成瑞): Population Change Caused
by The Great Leap Movement, Demographic Study,
No.1, 1998 pp. 97–111
• Li. Minqi (2008). The Rise of China and the Demise
of the Capitalist World Economy. Monthly Review
Press. ISBN 978-1-58367-182-5
• Peng Xizhe, “Demographic Consequences of the
Great Leap Forward in China's Provinces”, Popula-
tion and Development Review, Vol. 13, No.4. (Dec.,
1987), pp. 639–670
• Thaxton. Ralph A. Jr (2008). Catastrophe and Con-
tention in Rural China: Mao's Great Leap Forward
Famine and the Origins of Righteous Resistance in
Da Fo Village. Cambridge University Press. ISBN
0-521-72230-6
• Yang, Dali. Calamity and Reform in China: State,
Rural Society and Institutional Change since the
Great Leap Famine. Stanford University Press,
1996.
• Yang Jisheng. Tombstone (Mu Bei - Zhong Guo Liu
Shi Nian Dai Da Ji Huang Ji Shi). Cosmos Books
(Tian Di Tu Shu), Hong Kong 2008.
• Yang Jisheng. “Tombstone: An Account of Chi-
nese Famine in the 1960s”(墓碑－中國六十年代
大饑荒紀實 (Mubei – Zhongguo Liushi Niandai Da
Jihuang Jishi), Hong Kong: Cosmos Books (Tiandi
Tushu), 2008, ISBN 978-988-211-909-3 (Chinese).
By 2010, it was appearing under the title: 墓碑: 一
九五八 -一九六二年中國大饑荒紀實 (Mubei:
Yi Jiu Wu Ba – Yi Jiu Liu Er Nian Zhongguo Da Ji-
huang Shiji) (“Tombstone: An Account of Chinese
Famine From 1958–1962”).
62 CHAPTER 5. GREAT CHINESE FAMINE

• Yang Jisheng. Tombstone: The Untold Story of

Mao's Great Famine, Yang Jisheng, Translators:
Stacy Mosher, Guo Jian, Publisher: Allen Lane
(30 Oct 2012), ISBN 978-184-614-518-6 (English
Translation of the above work)

• Translated into English and abridged. Yang

Jisheng, Tombstone: The Great Chinese
Famine, 1958-1962, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(October 30, 2012), hardcover, 656 pages,
ISBN 0374277931, ISBN 978-0374277932
• Official Chinese statistics, shown as a graph.Land
Use Systems Group (LUC) (Austria: International
Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA))
http://web.archive.org/web/20050904001002/http:
//www.iiasa.ac.at:80/Research/LUC/ChinaFood/
data/pop/pop_10.htm, archived from the original
on 4 September 2005 Missing or empty |title=
(help); External link in |work= (help)
 Chapter 6

Great Leap Forward

For other uses, see Great Leap Forward (disambiguation). Pro-communist sources dispute the number of deaths in
the Great Chinese Famine and deny that it was caused
*
The Great Leap Forward (Chinese: 大跃进; pinyin: Dà by the Great Leap Forward, [8] saying the campaign was
successful in its aim to accelerate state industrialisation.
yuè jìn) of the People's Republic of China (PRC) was an
economic and social campaign by the Communist Party
of China (CPC) from 1958 to 1961. The campaign was
led by Mao Zedong and aimed to rapidly transform the 6.1 Background
country from an agrarian economy into a socialist society
through rapid industrialization and collectivization. How- Main article: History of the People's Republic of China
ever, it is widely considered to have caused the Great Chi- (1949–76)
nese Famine.
Chief changes in the lives of rural Chinese included In October 1949 after the defeat of the Kuomintang (Chi-
the incremental introduction of mandatory agricultural nese Nationalist Party), the Chinese Communist Party
collectivization. Private farming was prohibited, and proclaimed the establishment of the People's Republic
those engaged in it were persecuted and labeled counter- of China. Immediately, landlords and wealthier peasants
revolutionaries. Restrictions on rural people were en- had their land holdings forcibly redistributed to poorer
forced through public struggle sessions and social pres- peasants. In the agricultural sectors, crops deemed by the
sure, although people also experienced forced labor.* [1] Party to be“full of evil”, such as opium, were destroyed
Rural industrialization, officially a priority of the cam- and replaced with crops such as rice.
paign, saw “its development... aborted by the mistakes
Within the Party, there was major debate about redistri-
of the Great Leap Forward.”* [2]
bution. A moderate faction within the party and Politburo
The Great Leap ended in catastrophe, resulting in tens member Liu Shaoqi argued that change should be grad-
of millions of deaths,* [3] estimated from 18 million to ual and any collectivization of the peasantry should wait
32.5* [4] or 45 million.* [5] Historian Frank Dikötter as- until industrialization, which could provide the agricul-
serts that“coercion, terror, and systematic violence were tural machinery for mechanized farming. A more radical
the foundation of the Great Leap Forward”and it “mo- faction led by Mao Zedong argued that the best way to
tivated one of the most deadly mass killings of human finance industrialization was for the government to take
history”.* [6] control of agriculture, thereby establishing a monopoly
The years of the Great Leap Forward actually saw eco- over grain distribution and supply. This would allow the
nomic regression, with 1958 through 1962 being the only state to buy at a low price and sell much higher, thus rais-
period between 1953 and 1985 in which China's econ- ing the capital necessary for the industrialization of the
omy shrank. Political economist Dwight Perkins argues, country.
“enormous amounts of investment produced only modest
increases in production or none at all. ... In short, the
6.1.1 Agricultural collectives and other so-
Great Leap was a very expensive disaster.”* [7]
cial changes
In subsequent conferences in March 1960 and May 1962,
the negative effects of the Great Leap Forward were stud- Before 1949, peasants had farmed their own small pock-
ied by the CPC, and Mao was criticized in the party con- ets of land, and observed traditional practices—festivals,
ferences. Moderate Party members like Liu Shaoqi and banquets, and paying homage to ancestors.* [1] It was re-
Deng Xiaoping rose to power, and Mao was marginal- alized that Mao's policy of using a state monopoly on
ized within the party, leading him to initiate the Cultural agriculture to finance industrialization would be unpop-
Revolution in 1966. ular with the peasants. Therefore, it was proposed that
the peasants should be brought under Party control by the

63
64 CHAPTER 6. GREAT LEAP FORWARD

banishing of all religious and mystic institutions and

ceremonies and replacing them with political meetings
and propaganda sessions. Attempts were made to en-
hance rural education and the status of women (allowing
them to initiate divorce if they desired) and ending foot-
binding, child marriage and opium addiction. The old
system of internal passports (the hukou) were introduced
in 1956, preventing inter-county travel without appropri-
ate authorization. Highest priority was given to the urban
proletariat for whom a welfare state was created.
The first phase collectivization resulted in only modest
improvements in output. Famine along the mid-Yangzi
was averted in 1956 through the timely allocation of food-
aid, but in 1957 the Party's response was to increase the
proportion of the harvest collected by the state to ensure
Sending government officials to work in the countryside, 1957. against further disasters. Moderates within the Party, in-
cluding Zhou Enlai, argued for a reversal of collectiviza-
tion on the grounds that the claiming the bulk of the har-
vest for the state had made the people's food-security
establishment of agricultural collectives which would also
* dependent upon the constant, efficient, and transparent
facilitate the sharing of tools and draft animals. [1]
functioning of the government.
This policy was gradually pushed through between 1949
and 1958 in response to immediate policy needs, first by
establishing“mutual aid teams”of 5-15 households, then
in 1953 “elementary agricultural cooperatives”of 20-
40 households, then from 1956 in“higher co-operatives” 6.1.2 Hundred Flowers Campaign and
of 100-300 families. From 1954 onward peasants were Anti-Rightist Campaign
encouraged to form and join collective-farming associ-
ations, which would supposedly increase their efficiency
without robbing them of their own land or restricting their In 1957 Mao responded to the tensions in the Party by
livelihoods.* [1] promoting free speech and criticism under the Hundred
Flowers Campaign. In retrospect, some have come to ar-
By 1958 private ownership was entirely abolished and gue that this was a ploy to allow critics of the regime,
households all over China were forced into state-operated primarily intellectuals but also low ranking members of
communes. Mao insisted that the communes must pro- the party critical of the agricultural policies, to identify
duce more grain for the cities and earn foreign exchange themselves.* [9] Some claim that Mao simply swung to
from exports.* [1] These reforms (sometimes now re- the side of the hard-liners once his policies gained strong
ferred to as The Great Leap Forward) were generally un-
opposition. Once he had done so, at least half a million
popular with the peasants and usually implemented by were purged under the Anti-Rightist campaign, which ef-
summoning them to meetings and making them stay there
fectively silenced any opposition from within the Party or
for days and sometimes weeks until they “voluntarily” from agricultural experts to the changes which would be
agreed to join the collective.
implemented under the Great Leap Forward.
Apart from progressive taxation on each household's har- By the completion of the first 5 Year Economic Plan in
vest, the state introduced a system of compulsory state 1957, Mao had come to doubt that the path to socialism
purchases of grain at fixed prices to build up stockpiles for that had been taken by the Soviet Union was appropri-
famine-relief and meet the terms of its trade agreements ate for China. He was critical of Khrushchev's rever-
with the Soviet Union. Together, taxation and compul- sal of Stalinist policies and alarmed by the uprisings that
sory purchases accounted for 30% of the harvest by 1957, had taken place in East Germany, Poland and Hungary,
leaving very little surplus. Rationing was also introduced and the perception that the USSR was seeking "peaceful
in the cities to curb 'wasteful consumption' and encour- coexistence" with the Western powers. Mao had be-
age savings (which were deposited in state-owned banks come convinced that China should follow its own path to
and thus became available for investment), and although communism. According to Jonathan Mirsky, a historian
food could be purchased from state-owned retailers the and journalist specializing in Chinese affairs, China's iso-
market price was higher than that for which it had been lation from most of the rest of the world, along with the
purchased. This too was done in the name of discourag- Korean War, had accelerated Mao's attacks on his per-
ing excessive consumption. ceived domestic enemies. It led him to accelerate his de-
Besides these economic changes the Party implemented signs to develop an economy where the regime would get
major social changes in the countryside including the maximum benefit from rural taxation.* [1]
 6.2. ORGANIZATIONAL AND OPERATIONAL FACTORS 65

6.1.3 Surpass the UK and US

In November 1957, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of
the October Revolution, party leaders of the communist
countries gathered in Moscow. The first Secretary of the
Central Committee Khrushchev proposed a goal to not
only catch up with but exceed the United States in indus-
trial output in the next 15 years through peaceful com-
petition. Mao Zedong was so inspired by the slogan that
China put forward its own objective: to catch up with and
surpass the UK in 15 years.

“Comrade Khrushchev has told us, the

Soviet Union 15 years later will surpass the
United States of America. I can also say, 15
years later, we may catch up with or exceed the
UK.”* [10]

6.2 Organizational and operational In the beginning, commune members were able to eat for free
at the commune canteens. This changed when food production
factors slowed to a halt.

The Great Leap Forward campaign began during the pe- an average of 5,000 households each. The communes
riod of the Second Five Year Plan which was scheduled were relatively self-sufficient co-operatives where wages
to run from 1958 to 1963, though the campaign itself was and money were replaced by work points.
discontinued by 1961.* [11]* [12] Mao unveiled the Great
Leap Forward at a meeting in January 1958 in Nanjing. Based on his fieldwork, Ralph A. Thaxton Jr. describes
the people's communes as a form of "apartheid system"
The central idea behind the Great Leap was that rapid de- for Chinese farm households. The commune system
velopment of China's agricultural and industrial sectors was aimed at maximizing production for provisioning the
should take place in parallel. The hope was to industrial- cities and constructing offices, factories, schools, and so-
ize by making use of the massive supply of cheap labour cial insurance systems for urban-dwelling workers, cadres
and avoid having to import heavy machinery. The gov- and officials. Citizens in rural areas who criticized the
ernment also sought to avoid both social stratification and system were labeled “dangerous.”Escape was also dif-
technical bottlenecks involved in the Soviet model of de- ficult or impossible, and those who attempted were sub-
velopment, but sought political rather than technical so- jected to“party-orchestrated public struggle,”which fur-
lutions to do so. Distrusting technical experts,* [13] Mao ther jeopardized their survival.* [15] Besides agriculture,
and the party sought to replicate the strategies used in itscommunes also incorporated some light industry and con-
1930s regrouping in Yan'an following the Long March: struction projects.
“mass mobilization, social leveling, attacks on bureau-
cratism, [and] disdain for material obstacles.”* [14] Mao
advocated that a further round of collectivization mod- 6.2.2 Industrialization
eled on the USSR's "Third Period" was necessary in
the countryside where the existing collectives would be Mao saw grain and steel production as the key pillars of
merged into huge People's Communes. economic development. He forecast that within 15 years
of the start of the Great Leap, China's steel production
would surpass that of the UK. In the August 1958 Polit-
6.2.1 People's communes
buro meetings, it was decided that steel production would
Main article: People's commune be set to double within the year, most of the increase
*
An experimental commune was established at Chayashan coming through backyard steel furnaces. [16] Major in-
in Henan in April 1958. Here for the first time pri- vestments in larger state enterprises were made in 1958-
vate plots were entirely abolished and communal kitchens 60: 1,587, 1,361, and 1,815 medium- and large-scale
were introduced. At the Politburo meetings in August state projects were started in 1958, 1959, and 1960 re-
1958, it was decided that these people's communes would spectively,
*
more in each year than in the first Five Year
become the new form of economic and political organi- Plan. [17]
zation throughout rural China. By the end of the year Millions of Chinese became state workers as a conse-
approximately 25,000 communes had been set up, with quence of this industrial investment: in 1958, 21 mil-
66 CHAPTER 6. GREAT LEAP FORWARD

People in the countryside working at night to produce steel.

lion were added to non-agricultural state payrolls, and to-

tal state employment reached a peak of 50.44 million in
1960, more than doubling the 1957 level; the urban pop-
ulation swelled by 31.24 million people.* [18] These new
workers placed major stress on China's food-rationing
system, which led to increased and unsustainable de-
mands on rural food production.* [18]
During this rapid expansion, coordination suffered and Backyard furnaces in China during the Great Leap Forward era.
material shortages were frequent, resulting in “a huge
rise in the wage bill, largely for construction workers, but
no corresponding increase in manufactured goods.”* [19] the peasants.
Facing a massive deficit, the government cut industrial in- Moreover, the experience of the intellectual classes fol-
vestment from 38.9 to 7.1 billion yuan from 1960 to 1962 lowing the Hundred Flowers Campaign silenced those
(an 82% decrease; the 1957 level was 14.4 billion).* [19] aware of the folly of such a plan. According to his pri-
vate doctor, Li Zhisui, Mao and his entourage visited tra-
ditional steel works in Manchuria in January 1959 where
6.2.3 Backyard furnaces he found out that high quality steel could only be pro-
duced in large-scale factories using reliable fuel such as
Main article: Backyard furnace
coal. However, he decided not to order a halt to the back-
With no personal knowledge of metallurgy, Mao encour-
yard steel furnaces so as not to dampen the revolutionary
aged the establishment of small backyard steel furnaces
enthusiasm of the masses. The program was only quietly
in every commune and in each urban neighborhood. Mao
abandoned much later in that year.
was shown an example of a backyard furnace in Hefei,
Anhui in September 1958 by provincial first secretary
Zeng Xisheng.* [20] The unit was claimed to be manu- 6.2.4 Irrigation
facturing high quality steel.* [20]
Huge efforts on the part of peasants and other workers Substantial effort was expended during the Great Leap
were made to produce steel out of scrap metal. To fuel Forward on large-scale, but often poorly planned capi-
the furnaces the local environment was denuded of trees tal construction projects, such as irrigation works often
and wood taken from the doors and furniture of peasants' built without input from trained engineers. Mao was well
houses. Pots, pans, and other metal artifacts were requi- aware of the human cost of these water-conservancy cam-
sitioned to supply the“scrap”for the furnaces so that the paigns. In early 1958, while listening to a report on irri-
wildly optimistic production targets could be met. Many gation in Jiangsu, he mentioned that:
of the male agricultural workers were diverted from the
harvest to help the iron production as were the workers at “Wu Zhipu claims he can move 30 billion
many factories, schools and even hospitals. Although the cubic metres; I think 30,000 people will die.
output consisted of low quality lumps of pig iron which Zeng Xisheng has said that he will move 20
was of negligible economic worth, Mao had a deep dis- billion cubic metres, and I think that 20,000
trust of intellectuals who could have pointed this out, and people will die. Weiqing only promises 600
placed his faith in the power of the mass mobilization of million cubic metres, maybe nobody will die.”
6.2. ORGANIZATIONAL AND OPERATIONAL FACTORS 67

*
[21]* [22] for loans.* [1] In one village, once the commune was op-
erational the Party boss and his colleagues “swung into
Though Mao “criticized the excessive use of corvée for manic action, herding villagers into the fields to sleep
large-scale water conservancy projects”in late 1958,* [23] and to work intolerable hours, and forcing *
them to walk,
mass mobilization on irrigation works continued un- starving, to distant additional projects.” [1]
abated for the next several years, and claimed the lives Edward Friedman, a political scientist at the University of
of hundreds of thousands of exhausted, starving vil- Wisconsin, Paul Pickowicz, a historian at the University
lagers.* [21] The inhabitants of Qingshui and Gansu re- of California, San Diego, and Mark Selden, a sociologist
ferred to these projects as the “killing fields.”* [21] at Binghamton University, wrote about the dynamic of
interaction between the Party and villagers:

6.2.5 Crop experiments Beyond attack, beyond question, was

the systemic and structured dynamic of
On the communes, a number of radical and controversial the socialist state that intimidated and
agricultural innovations were promoted at the behest of impoverished millions of patriotic and loyal
Mao. Many of these were based on the ideas of now dis- villagers.* [27]
credited Soviet agronomist Trofim Lysenko and his fol-
lowers. The policies included close cropping, whereby The authors present a similar picture to Thaxton in de-
seeds were sown far more densely than normal on the picting the Communist Party's destruction of the tra-
incorrect assumption that seeds of the same class would ditions of Chinese villagers. Traditionally prized local
not compete with each other.* [24] Deep plowing (up to 2 customs were deemed signs of "feudalism" to be extin-
m deep) was encouraged on the mistaken belief that this guished, according to Mirsky. “Among them were fu-
would yield plants with extra large root systems. Mod- nerals, weddings, local markets, and festivals. The Party
erately productive land was left unplanted with the belief thus destroyed“much that gave meaning to Chinese lives.
that concentrating manure and effort on the most fertile These private bonds were social glue. To mourn and to
land would lead to large per-acre productivity gains. Al- celebrate is to be human. To share joy, grief, and pain
together, these untested innovations generally led to de- is humanizing.”* [28] Failure to participate in the CPC's
creases in grain production rather than increases.* [25] political campaigns—though the aims of such campaigns
were often conflicting—"could result in detention, tor-
Meanwhile, local leaders were pressured into falsely re-
ture, death, and the suffering of entire families.”* [28]
porting ever-higher grain production figures to their polit-
ical superiors. Participants at political meetings remem- Public criticism sessions were often used to intimidate
bered production figures being inflated up to 10 times ac- the peasants into obeying local cadres; they increased
tual production amounts as the race to please superiors the death rate of the famine in several ways, accord-
and win plaudits – like the chance to meet Mao himself ing to Thaxton. “In the first case, blows to the body
– intensified. The state was later able to force many pro- caused internal injuries that, in combination with phys-
duction groups to sell more grain than they could spare ical emaciation and acute hunger, could induce death.”
based on these false production figures.* [26] In one case, after a peasant stole two cabbages from the
common fields, the thief was publicly criticized for half
a day. He collapsed, fell ill, and never recovered. Others
6.2.6 Treatment of villagers were sent to labor camps.* [29]
Frank Dikötter writes that beatings with sticks was the
most common method used by local cadres and roughly
half of all cadres regularly pummeled or caned people.
Other cadres devised harsher means to humiliate and tor-
ture those who failed to keep up. As mass starvation set
in, ever greater violence had to be inflicted in order to
coerce malnourished people to labor in the fields. Vic-
tims were buried alive, thrown bound into ponds, stripped
naked and forced to labor in the middle of winter, doused
in boiling water, forced to ingest excrement and urine,
Commune members working fields at night using lamps. and subjected to mutilation (hair ripped out, noses and
ears lopped off). In Guangdong, some cadres injected salt
The ban on private holdings ruined peasant life at its most water into their victims with needles normally reserved
basic level, according to Mirsky. Villagers were unable to for cattle.* [30] Around 6 to 8 percent of those who died
secure enough food to go on living, because they were de- during the Great Leap Forward were tortured to death or
prived by the commune system of their traditional means summarily killed.* [31]
of being able to rent, sell, or use their land as collateral Benjamin Valentino notes that “communist officials
68 CHAPTER 6. GREAT LEAP FORWARD

sometimes tortured and killed those accused of failing to The effects on the upper levels of government in response
meet their grain quota.”* [32] to the disaster were complex, with Mao purging the Min-
However, J. G. Mahoney, Professor of Liberal Studies ister of National Defense Peng Dehuai in 1959, the tem-
and East Asian Studies at Grand Valley State University, porary promotion of Lin Biao, Liu Shaoqi, and Deng Xi-
has said that “there is too much diversity and dynamism aoping, and Mao losing some power and prestige follow-
in the country for one work to capture ... rural China ing the Great Leap Forward, which led him to launch the
as if it were one place.”Mahoney describes an elderly Cultural Revolution in 1966.
man in rural Shanxi who recalls Mao fondly, saying“Be-
fore Mao we sometimes ate leaves, after liberation we did
not.”Regardless, Mahoney points out that Da Fo villagers
6.3.1 Famine
recall the Great Leap as a period of famine and death, and
among those who survived in Da Fo were precisely those Main article: Great Chinese Famine
who could digest leaves.* [33]
Despite the harmful agricultural innovations, the weather
in 1958 was very favorable and the harvest promised to
6.2.7 Lushan Conference be good. Unfortunately, the amount of labour diverted
to steel production and construction projects meant that
Main article: Lushan Conference much of the harvest was left to rot uncollected in some
areas. This problem was exacerbated by a devastating
locust swarm, which was caused when their natural preda-
The initial impact of the Great Leap Forward was dis- tors were killed as part of the Great Sparrow Campaign.
cussed at the Lushan Conference in July/August 1959.
Although many of the more moderate leaders had reser- Although actual harvests were reduced, local officials, un-
vations about the new policy, the only senior leader to der tremendous pressure from central authorities to report
speak out openly was Marshal Peng Dehuai. Mao re- record harvests in response to the innovations, competed
sponded to Peng's criticism of the Great Leap by dismiss- with each other to announce increasingly exaggerated re-
ing Peng from his post as Defence Minister, denouncing sults. These were used as a basis for determining the
Peng (who came from a poor peasant family) and his sup- amount of grain to be taken by the State to supply the
porters as“bourgeois,”and launching a nationwide cam- towns and cities, and to export. This left barely enough
paign against“rightist opportunism.”Peng was replaced for the peasants, and in some areas, starvation set in. A
by Lin Biao, who began a systematic purge of Peng's sup- 1959 drought and flooding from the Yellow River in the
porters from the military. same year also contributed to famine.

6.3 Consequences

Birth rate in China (per 1000)

50
45
40 Birth rate

35 Death rate

30
25
20
15
10
5
Great Leap Forward One-child policy
0
1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015

The Eurasian tree sparrow was the most notable target of the
China's birth and death rate. Four Pests Campaign.

The failure of agricultural policies, the movement of
farmers from agricultural to industrial work, and weather
conditions led to millions of deaths from severe famine.
Many also died from quota-based executions instituted by
government officials. The economy, which had improved
since the end of the civil war, was devastated. In response
to the severe conditions, there was resistance among the
populace.
During 1958–1960 China continued to be a substantial
net exporter of grain, despite the widespread famine ex-
perienced in the countryside, as Mao sought to maintain
face and convince the outside world of the success of his
plans. Foreign aid was refused. When the Japanese for-
eign minister told his Chinese counterpart Chen Yi of an
offer of 100,000 tonnes of wheat to be shipped out of
public view, he was rebuffed. John F. Kennedy was also
6.3. CONSEQUENCES 69

aware that the Chinese were exporting food to Africa and gion. By correlating the increase in death rates of dif-
Cuba during the famine and said“we've had no indication ferent provinces, Peng Xizhe found that Gansu, Sichuan,
from the Chinese Communists that they would welcome Guizhou, Hunan, Guangxi, and Anhui were the worst-hit
any offer of food.”* [34] regions, while Heilongjiang, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang,
With dramatically reduced yields, even urban areas suf- Tianjin, and Shanghai had the lowest increase in death
fered much reduced rations; however, mass starvation rate during the Great Leap Forward (there was no data
was largely confined to the countryside, where, as a re- for Tibet).* [52] Peng also noted that the increase in death
sult of drastically inflated production statistics, very lit- rate in urban areas was about half the increase in rural ar-
eas.* [52] Fuyang, a region in Anhui with a population of
tle grain was left for the peasants to eat. Food shortages
were bad throughout the country; however, the provinces 8 million in 1958, had a death rate that rivaled Cambodia
under the Khmer Rouge;* [53] more than 2.4 million peo-
which had adopted Mao's reforms with the most vigor,
such as Anhui, Gansu and Henan, tended to suffer dis- ple perished there over three years.* [54] In Gao Village in
Jiangxi Province there was a famine, but no one actually
proportionately. Sichuan, one of China's most populous
provinces, known in China as “Heaven's Granary”be- died of starvation.* [55]
cause of its fertility, is thought to have suffered the great-
est absolute numbers of deaths from starvation due to the
vigor with which provincial leader Li Jinquan undertook Methods of estimating the death toll and sources of
Mao's reforms. During the Great Leap Forward, cases of error The number of famine deaths during Great Leap
cannibalism also occurred in the parts of China that were Forward has been estimated by different methods. Ban-
severely affected by famine.* [35]* [36] ister, Coale, and Ashton et al. compare age cohorts from
the 1953, 1964, and 1982 censuses, yearly birth and death
The agricultural policies of the Great Leap Forward
records, and results of the 1982 1:1000 fertility survey.
and the associated famine continued until January 1961,
From these they calculate excess deaths above a death
when, at the Ninth Plenum of the Eighth Central Com-
rate interpolated between pre- and post-Leap death rates.
mittee, the restoration of agricultural production through
All involve corrections for perceived errors inherent in
a reversal of the Great Leap policies was started. Grain
the different data sets.* [56]* [57]* [58] Peng uses reported
exports were stopped, and imports from Canada and
deaths from the vital statistics of 14 provinces, adjusts
Australia helped to reduce the impact of the food short-
10% for under reporting, and expands the result to cover
ages, at least in the coastal cities.
all of China assuming similar mortality rates in the other
provinces. He uses 1956/57 death rates as the baseline
Famine deaths death rate rather than an interpolation between pre- and
post-GLF death rates.* [59]
The exact number of famine deaths is difficult to deter- Cao uses information from “local annals”to determine
mine, and estimates range from 18* [4] to upwards of for each locality the expected population increase from
42 million people.* [5] Because of the uncertainties in- normal births and deaths, the population increase due
volved in estimating famine deaths caused by the Great to migration, and the loss of population between 1958
Leap Forward or any famine, it is difficult to compare the and 1961. He then adds the three figures to determine
severity of different famines. However, if a mid estimate the number of excess deaths during the period 1959–
of 30 million deaths is accepted, the Great Leap Forward 1961.* [60] Chang and Halliday use death rates deter-
was the deadliest famine in the history of China and in mined by “Chinese demographers”for the years 1957–
the history of the world.* [39]* [47] This was in part due 1963, subtract the average of the pre-and post-Leap death
to China’s large population; in the Great Irish Famine, rates (1957, 1962, and 1963) from the death rates of each
approximately 1 million* [48] of a population of 8 mil- of the years 1958–1961, and multiply each yearly excess
lion people died, or 12.5%. In the Great Chinese Famine death rate by the year's population to determine excess
approximately 30 million of a population of 600 million deaths.* [61]
people died, or 5%. Chen was part of a large investigation by the System Re-
The Great Leap Forward reversed the downward trend form Institute think tank (Tigaisuo) which “visited ev-
in mortality that had occurred since 1950,* [38] though ery province and examined internal Party documents and
even during the Leap, mortality may not have reached records.”* [62]
pre-1949 levels.* [49] Famine deaths and the reduction
Becker, Rummel, Dikötter, and Yang each compare sev-
in number of births caused the population of China toeral earlier estimates. Becker considers Banister's esti-
drop in 1960 and 1961.* [50] This was only the third mate of 30 million excess deaths to be“the most reliable
time in 600 years that the population of China had de-
estimate we have”.* [41] Rummel initially took Coale's
creased.* [51] After the Great Leap Forward, mortality
27 million as a“most likely figure”,* [63] then accepted
rates decreased to below pre-Leap levels and the down-
the later estimate of 38 million by Chang and Halliday
ward trend begun in 1950 continued.* [38] after it was published.* [64] Dikötter judged Chen's esti-
The severity of the famine varied from region to re- mate of 43 to 46 million to be“in all likelihood a reliable
 70
estimate.”* [65] Yang takes Cao's, Wang Weizhi's, and
Jin Hui's estimates ranging from 32.5 to 35 million excess
deaths for the period 1959–1961, adds his own estimates
for 1958 (0.42 million) and 1962 (2.23 million) “based
on official figures reported by the provinces”to get 35
to 37 million, and chooses 36 million as a number that
“approaches the reality but is still too low.”* [43]
Estimates contain several sources of error. National
census data was not accurate and even the total pop-
ulation of China at the time was not known to within
50 million to 100 million people.* [66] The statistical
reporting system had been taken over by party cadre
from statisticians in 1957,* [67] making political consid-
erations more important than accuracy and resulting in
a complete breakdown in the statistical reporting sys-
tem.* [67]* [68]* [69]* [70]* [71] Population figures were
routinely inflated at the local level, often in order to ob-
tain increased rations of goods.* [65] During the Cultural
Revolution, a great deal of the material in the State Sta-
tistical Bureau was burned.* [67]
Under-reporting of deaths was also a problem. The death
registration system, which was inadequate before the
famine,* [72] was completely overwhelmed by the large
number of deaths during the famine.* [72]* [73]* [74] In
addition, many deaths went unreported so that family
members of the deceased could continue to draw the de-
ceased's food ration. Counting the number of children
who both were born and died between the 1953 and 1964
censuses is problematic.* [73] However, Ashton, et al. be-
lieve that because the reported number of births during
the GLF seems accurate, the reported number of deaths
should be accurate as well.* [75] Massive internal migra-
tion made both population counts and registering deaths
problematic,* [73] though Yang believes the degree of un-
official internal migration was small* [76] and Cao's esti-
mate takes internal migration into account.* [60]
Coale's, Banister's, Ashton et al.'s, and Peng's figures
all include adjustments for demographic reporting er-
rors, though Dikötter believes that their results, as well as dence provided in Chang and Halliday’s book, he now
Chang and Halliday's, Yang's, and Cao's, are still under-
estimates.* [77] The System Reform Institute's (Chen's)
estimate has not been published and therefore it cannot According to Frank Dikötter, Mao and the Communist
be verified.* [60]
Causes of the famine and responsibility
The policies of the Great Leap Forward, the failure of the
government to respond quickly and effectively to famine
conditions, as well as Mao's insistence on maintaining
high grain export quotas in the face of clear evidence of
poor crop output were responsible for the famine. There
is disagreement over how much, if at all, weather condi-
tions contributed to the famine. Also there is consider-
able evidence the famine was intentional or due to willful During a secret meeting in Shanghai in 1959, Mao de-
negligence.
CHAPTER 6. GREAT LEAP FORWARD
Yang Jisheng, a long-time communist party member and
a reporter for the official Chinese news agency Xinhua,
puts the blame squarely on Maoist policies and the politi-
cal system of totalitarianism,* [36] such as diverting agri-
cultural workers to steel production instead of growing
crops, and exporting grain at the same time.* [78]* [79]
During the course of his research, Yang uncovered that
some 22 million tons of grain was held in public granaries
at the height of the famine, reports of the starvation went
up the bureaucracy only to be ignored by top officials,
and the authorities ordered that statistics be destroyed in
regions where population decline became evident.* [80]
Economist Steven Rosefielde argues that Yang's account
“shows that Mao's slaughter was caused in considerable
part by terror-starvation; that is, voluntary manslaugh-
ter (and perhaps murder) rather than innocuous famine.”
*
[81] Yang notes that local party officials were indiffer-
ent to the large number of people dying around them, as
their primary concern was the delivery of grain, which
Mao wanted to use to pay back debts to the USSR total-
ing 1.973 billion yuan. In Xinyang, people died of starva-
tion at the doors of grain warehouses.* [82] Mao refused
to open the state granaries as he dismissed reports of food
shortages and accused the peasants of hiding grain.* [83]
From his research into records and talks with experts
at the meteorological bureau, Yang concludes that the
weather during the Great Leap Forward was not unusual
compared to other periods and was not a factor.* [84]
Yang also believes that the Sino-Soviet split was not a fac-
tor because it did not happen until 1960, when the famine
was well under way.* [84]
Chang and Halliday argue that“Mao had actually allowed
for many more deaths. Although slaughter was not his
purpose with the Leap, he was more than ready for myr-
iad deaths to result, and had hinted to his top echelon that
they should not be too shocked if they happened.”* [85]
Democide historian R.J. Rummel had originally classified
the famine deaths as unintentional.* [86] In light of evi-
believes that the mass human deaths associated with the
Great Leap Forward constitute democide.* [87]
Party knew that some of their policies were contributing
to the starvation.* [88] Foreign minister Chen Yi said of
some of the early human losses in November 1958:* [89]
“Casualties have indeed appeared among
workers, but it is not enough to stop us in
our tracks. This is the price we have to pay,
it's nothing to be afraid of. Who knows how
many people have been sacrificed on the bat-
tlefields and in the prisons [for the revolution-
ary cause]? Now we have a few cases of illness
and death: it's nothing!"
manded the state procurement of one-third of all grain to
 6.3. CONSEQUENCES 71

feed the cities and satisfy foreign clients, and noted that 6.3.2 Deaths by violence
“If you don't go above a third, people won't rebel.”He
also stated at the same meeting:* [90]
Not all deaths during the Great Leap were from starva-
tion. Frank Dikötter estimates that at least 2.5 million
people were beaten or tortured to death and 1 to 3 mil-
“When there is not enough to eat people
lion committed suicide.* [98] He provides some illustra-
starve to death. It is better to let half of the
tive examples. In Xinyang, where over a million died in
people die so that the other half can eat their
1960, 6-7 percent (around 67,000) of these were beaten
fill.”
to death by the militias. In Daoxian county, 10 percent of
those who died had been“buried alive, clubbed to death
Benjamin Valentino writes that like in the USSR dur- or otherwise killed by party members and their militia.”
ing the famine of 1932–33, peasants were confined to In Shimen county, around 13,500 died in 1960, *of these
their starving villages by a system of household registra- 12% were “beaten or driven to their *deaths.” *
[99] In
tion,* [91] and the worst effects of the famine were di- accounts documented by Yang Jisheng, [36] [43] people
rected against enemies of the regime.* [32] Those labeled were beaten or killed for reporting the real harvest num-
as“black elements”(religious leaders, rightists, rich peas- bers, for sounding alarm, for refusing to hand over what
ants, etc.) in any previous campaign were given the low- little food they had left, for trying to flee the famine area,
est priority in the allocation of food, and therefore died in for begging food or as little as stealing scraps or angering
the greatest numbers.* [32] According to genocide scholar officials.
Adam Jones,“no group suffered more than the Tibetans",
with perhaps one in five dying from 1959 to 1962.* [92]
Ashton, et al. write that policies leading to food short-
ages, natural disasters, and a slow response to initial
indications of food shortages were to blame for the
6.3.3 Impact on economy
famine.* [93] Policies leading to food shortages included
the implementation of the commune system and an em- During the Great Leap, the Chinese economy initially
phasis on non-agricultural activities such as backyard grew. Iron production increased 45% in 1958 and a com-
steel production.* [93] Natural disasters included drought, bined 30% over the next two years, but plummeted in
flood, typhoon, plant disease, and insect pest.* [94] The 1961, and did not reach the previous 1958 level until
slow response was in part due to a lack of objective 1964.
reporting on the agricultural situation,* [95] including a The Great Leap also led to the greatest destruction of real
“nearly complete breakdown in the agricultural reporting estate in human history, outstripping any of the bombing
system”.* [69] campaigns from World War II.* [100] Approximately 30
This was partly caused by strong incentives for officials to 40 per cent of all houses were turned to rubble.* [101]
to over report crop yields.* [96] The unwillingness of the Frank Dikötter states that “homes were pulled down to
Central Government to seek international aid was a major make fertilizer, to build canteens, to relocate villagers, to
factor; China's net grain exports in 1959 and 1960 would straighten roads, to make place for a better future beck-
have been enough to feed 16 million people 2000 calories oning ahead or simply to punish their owners.”* [100]
per day.* [94] Ashton, et al. conclude that “It would not In agrarian policy, the failures of food supply during the
be inaccurate to say that 30 million people died prema-
Great Leap were met by a gradual de-collectivization in
turely as a result of errors of internal policy and flawed the 1960s that foreshadowed further de-collectivization
international relations.”* [95]
under Deng Xiaoping. Political scientist Meredith Jung-
Mobo Gao suggested that the Great Leap Forward’s ter- En Woo argues:“Unquestionably the regime failed to re-
rible effects came not from malign intent on the part of spond in time to save the lives of millions of peasants, but
the Chinese leadership at the time, but instead relate to when it did respond, it ultimately transformed the liveli-
the structural nature of its rule, and the vastness of China hoods of several hundred million peasants (modestly in
as a country. Gao says “the terrible lesson learnt is that the early 1960s, but permanently after Deng Xiaoping's
China is so huge and when it is uniformly ruled, follies reforms subsequent to 1978.)"* [102]
or wrong policies will have grave implications of tremen- Despite the risks to their careers, some Communist Party
dous magnitude”.* [55] members openly laid blame for the disaster at the feet of
The PRC government's official web portal places the re- the Party leadership and took it as proof that China must
sponsibility for the“serious losses”to“country and peo- rely more on education, acquiring technical expertise and
ple”of 1959–1961 (without mentioning famine) mainly applying bourgeois methods in developing the economy.
on the Great Leap Forward and the anti-rightist struggle, Liu Shaoqi made a speech in 1962 at Seven Thousand
and lists weather and cancellation of contracts by the So- Cadres Conference criticizing that “The economic dis-
viet Union as contributing factors.* [97] aster was 30% fault of nature, 70% human error.”* [103]
72 CHAPTER 6. GREAT LEAP FORWARD

6.3.4 Modes of resistance discussed, with much self-criticism, with the contempo-
rary government calling it a“serious [loss] to our country
There were various forms of resistance to the Great and people”and blaming the cult of personality of Mao.
Leap Forward. Several provinces saw armed rebel-
In particular, at the Seven Thousand Cadres Conference in
lion,* [104]* [105] though these rebellions never posed
January - February 1962, Mao made a self-criticism and
a serious threat to the Central Government.* [104] Re-
re-affirmed his commitment to democratic centralism. In
bellions are documented to have occurred in Henan,
the years that followed, Mao mostly abstained from the
Shandong, Qinghai, Gansu, Sichuan, Fujian, and
operations of government, making policy largely the do-
Yunnan provinces and in the Tibetan Autonomous
main of Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping. Maoist ideology
Region.* [106]* [107] In Honan, Shandong, Qinghai,
consequently took a back seat in the Communist Party,
Gansu, and Sichuan, these rebellions lasted more than
and only regained its foothold after Mao launched the
a year.* [107] Aside from rebellions, there was also oc-
Cultural Revolution in 1966, which marked Mao's polit-
casional violence against cadre members.* [105]* [108]
ical comeback.
Raids on granaries,* [105]* [108] arson and other vandal-
ism, train robberies, and raids on neighboring villages and
counties were common.* [108]
6.4 See also
According to over 20 years of research by Ralph Thax-
ton, professor of politics at Brandeis University, vil-
• Ryazan miracle
lagers turned against the CPC during and after the Great
Leap, seeing it as autocratic, brutal, corrupt, and mean- • The Black Book of Communism
spirited.* [1] The CPC's policies, which included plun-
der, forced labor, and starvation, according to Thaxton, • Virgin Lands Campaign, contemporary program in
led villagers “to think about their relationship with the the Soviet Union
Communist Party in ways that do not bode well for the
continuity of socialist rule.”* [1]
Often, villagers composed doggerel to show their defiance
6.5 References
to the regime, and “perhaps, to remain sane.”During
the Great Leap, one jingle ran: “Flatter shamelessly— [1] Mirsky, Jonathan. "The China We Don't Know.”New
York Review of Books Volume 56, Number 3. February
eat delicacies.... Don't flatter—starve to death for sure.”
* 26, 2009.
[28]
[2] Perkins, Dwight (1991). “China's Economic Policy and
Performance”. Chapter 6 in The Cambridge History of
6.3.5 Impact on the government China, volume 15, ed. by Roderick MacFarquhar, John
K. Fairbank and Denis Twitchett. Cambridge University
Many local officials were tried and publicly executed for Press.
giving out misinformation.* [109]
[3] Tao Yang, Dennis (2008). “China's Agricultural Crisis
Mao stepped down as State Chairman of the PRC in and Famine of 1959–1961: A Survey and Comparison
1959, though he did retain his position as Chairman of to Soviet Famines.” Palgrave MacMillan, Comparative
the CCP. Liu Shaoqi (the new PRC Chairman) and re- Economic Studies 50, pp. 1–29.
formist Deng Xiaoping (CPC General Secretary) were [4] Gráda, Cormac Ó (2011). “Great Leap into Famine”
left in charge to change policy to bring about economic . UCD Centre For Economic Research Working Paper
recovery. Mao's Great Leap Forward policy came under Series: 9.
open criticism at the Lushan party conference. The attack
was led by Minister of National Defense Peng Dehuai, [5] Dikötter, Frank. Mao's Great Famine: The History of
who, initially troubled by the potentially adverse effect China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-62. Walker
& Company, 2010. p. xii (“at least 45 million people
of the Great Leap Forward on the modernization of the
died unnecessarily”) p.xiii “
( 6 to 8 per cent of the victims
armed forces, also admonished unnamed party members
were tortured to death or summarily killed - amounting to
for trying to “jump into communism in one step.”Af- at least 2.5 million people.”) p.333 (“a minimum of 45
ter the Lushan showdown, Mao defensively replaced Peng million excess deaths”). ISBN 0-8027-7768-6.
with Lin Biao.
[6] Dikötter, Frank (2010). pp. x, xi. ISBN 0-8027-7768-6
However, by 1962, it was clear that the general orienta-
tion of the party had changed to become more openly crit- [7] Perkins (1991). Pages 483-486 for quoted text, page 493
ical of the extremist ideology that led to the Great Leap for growth rates table.
Forward. Throughout 1962, the party held a number of
[8]
party conferences and rehabilitated the majority of the
deposed comrades who had criticized Mao in the after- [9] Chang, Jung and Halliday, Jon (2005). Mao: The Un-
math of the Great Leap Forward. The event was again known Story, Knopf. p. 435. ISBN 0-679-42271-4.
6.5. REFERENCES
[10] Nikita Khrushchev 赫 鲁 晓 夫 (1970). Khrushchev's
Memoirs [赫鲁晓夫回忆录]. Little Brown & company.
pp. 250–257. ISBN 0316831409.
[11] Li, Kwok-sing (1995). A glossary of political terms of
the People's Republic of China. Hong Kong: The Chinese
University of Hong Kong. Translated by Mary Lok. Pages
47–48.
[12] Chan, Alfred L. (2001). Mao's crusade: politics and policy
implementation in China's great leap forward. Studies on
contemporary China. Oxford University Press. p. 13.
ISBN 978-0-19-924406-5. Retrieved 2011-10-20.
[13] Lieberthal, Kenneth (1987). “The Great Leap Forward
and the split in the Yenan leadership”. The People's Re-
public, Part 1: The Emergence of Revolutionary China,
1949–1965. The Cambridge History of China. 14, pt. 1.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 301. ISBN
978-0-521-24336-0. Retrieved 2012-03-14. “Thus, the
[1957] Anti-Rightist Campaign in both urban and rural
areas bolstered the position of those who believed that
proper mobilization of the populace could accomplish
tasks that the 'bourgeois experts' dismissed as impossi-
ble.”
[14] Lieberthal (1987). p.304.
[15] Thaxton, Ralph A. Jr (2008). Catastrophe and Con-
tention in Rural China: Mao's Great Leap Forward Famine
and the Origins of Righteous Resistance in Da Fo Village.
Cambridge University Press. p.3. ISBN 0-521-72230-6.
[16] Alfred L. Chan (7 June 2001). Mao's Crusade : Politics
and Policy Implementation in China's Great Leap Forward.
Oxford University Press. pp. 71–74. ISBN 978-0-19-
155401-8.
[17] Lardy, R. Nicholas; Fairbank, K. John (1987).“The Chi-
nese economy under stress, 1958–1965”. In Roderick
MacFarquhar (ed.). The People's Republic, Part 1: The
Emergence of Revolutionary China 1949–1965. Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 367. ISBN 978-
0-521-24336-0.
[18] Lardy and Fairbank (1987). p.368.
[19] Lardy and Fairbank (1987). pp.386–87.
[20] Li Zhi-Sui (22 June 2011). The Private Life of Chairman
Mao. Random House Publishing Group. pp. 272–274,
278. ISBN 978-0-307-79139-9.
[21] Dikötter, Frank (2010). p.33.
[22] Weiqing, Jiang (1996). Qishi nian zhengcheng: Jiang
Weiqing huiyilu. (A seventy-year journey: The mem-
oirs of Jiang Weiqing) Jiangsu renmin chubanshe. p.421.
ISBN 7-214-01757-1 is the source of Dikötter's quote.
Mao, who had been continually interrupting, was speak-
ing here in praise of Jiang Weiqing's plan (which called for
moving 300 million cubic meters). Weiqing states that the
others' plans were “exaggerations,”though Mao would
go to criticize those cadres with objections to high targets
at the National Congress in May (see p.422).
73
[23] MacFarquhar, Roderick (1983). The Origins of the Cul-
tural Revolution, Vol. 2 Columbia University Press.
p.150. ISBN 0-231-05717-2.
[24] Dikötter (2010). p.39.
[25] Hinton, William (1984). Shenfan: The Continuing Rev-
olution in a Chinese Village. New York: Vintage Books.
pp. 236–245. ISBN 0-394-72378-3.
[26] Hinton 1984, pp. 234–240, 247-249
[27] Friedman, Edward; Pickowicz, Paul G.; and Selden, Mark
(2006). Revolution, Resistance, and Reform in Village
China. Yale University Press.
[28] Mirsky, Jonathan. "China: The Shame of the Villages,”
The New York Review of Books, Volume 53, Number 8
·May 11, 2006
[29] Thaxton 2008, p. 212
[30] Dikötter (2010). pp.294-296.
[31] Jasper Becker. Systematic genocide. The Spectator,
September 25, 2010.
[32] Valentino (2004). p. 128.
[33] Mahoney, Josef Gregory (2009). SpringerLink - Jour-
nal of Chinese Political Science, Volume 14, Number 3,
pp.319-320. Mahoney reviews Thaxton (2008).
[34] Dikötter, Frank (1991). pp.114-115.
[35] Bernstein, Richard. Horror of a Hidden Chinese Famine.
New York Times February 05, 1997. Bernstein reviews
Hungry Ghosts by Jasper Becker.
[36] Branigan, Tania (1 January 2013). “China's Great
Famine: the true story”. The Guardian. Retrieved 15
February 2016.
[37] Peng Xizhe (1987). Demographic Consequences of the
Great Leap Forward in China's Provinces. Population and
Development Review Vol.13 No.4 (Dec. 1987). pp.648-
649.
[38] Coale, J. Ansley (1984). Rapid Population Change in
China, 1952–1982. National Academy Press. Washing-
ton, D.C. p.7. Coale estimates 27 million deaths: 16
million from direct interpretation of official Chinese vi-
tal statistics followed by an adjustment to 27 million to
account for undercounting.
[39] Ashton, Hill, Piazza, and Zeitz (1984). Famine in China,
1958-61. Population and Development Review, Vol. 10,
No. 4 (Dec., 1984). p.614.
[40] Banister, Judith (1987). China's Changing Population.
Stanford University Press. pp.85,118.
[41] Becker, Jasper (1998). Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret
Famine. Holt Paperbacks. p.270,274. ISBN 0-8050-
5668-8.
74
[42] Dikötter (2010) pp.324-325. Dikötter cites Cao Shuji
(2005). Da Jihuang (1959–1961):nian de Zhong-
guo renkou (The Great Famine:China'{}s Population in
1959–1961). Hong Kong. Shidai guoji chuban youxian
gongsi. p.281
[43] Yang Jisheng (2012). Tombstone: The Great Chinese
Famine, 1958-1962 (Kindle edition). Farrar, Straus and
Giroux. p.430. ISBN 9781466827790.
[44] Chang and Halliday (2005). Stuart Schram believes their
estimate“may well be the most accurate.”(Stuart Schram,
“Mao: The Unknown Story”. The China Quarterly (189):
207. Retrieved on 2007-10-07.)
[45] Rummel, R.J. (2008-11-24). Reevaluating China’s De-
mocide to 73,000,000. Retrieved 12Feb13.
[46] Becker (1996) pp.271-272. From an interview with Chen
Yizi.
[47] Yang, Jisheng (2010) “The Fatal Politics of the PRC's
Great Leap Famine: The Preface to Tombstone” Jour-
nal of Contemporary China. Vol.19 Issue 66. pp.755-
776. Retrieved 3 Sep 2011. Yang excerpts Sen, Amartya
(1999). Democracy as a universal value. Journal of
Democracy 10(3), , pp. 3–17 who calls it “the largest
recorded famine in world history: nearly 30 million peo-
ple died”.
[48] Wright, John W. (gen ed) (1992). The Universal Almanac.
The Banta Company. Harrisonburg, Va. P.411.
[49] Li, Minqi (2009). The Rise of China and the Demise of the
Capitalist World Economy. Monthly Review Press. p.41
ISBN 978-1-58367-182-5. Li compares official crude
death rates for the years 1959 - 1962 (11.98, 14.59, 25.43,
and 14.24 per thousand, respectively) with the “nation-
wide crude death rate reported by the Nationalist govern-
ment for the years 1936 and 1938 (27.6 and 28.2 per thou-
sand, respectively).
[50] Ashton (1984) p.615, Banister (1987) p.42, both get their
data from Statistical Yearbook of China 1983 published
by the State Statistical Bureau.
[51] Banister, Judith (1987). ‘’China’s Changing Popula-
tion’’. Stanford University Press. Stanford. p.3.
[52] Peng (1987) pp.646-648
[53] Dikötter, Frank (2010-10-13).Mao's Great Famine
(Complete). Asia Society. Lecture by Frank Dikötter
(Video).
[54] Dikötter (2010). p.317.
[55] Gao, Mobo (2007). Gao Village: Rural life in mod-
ern China. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-
0824831929
[56] Banister (1987). P.118-120.
[57] Coale (1984) pp. 1, 7.
[58] Ashton, et al. (1984) pp. 613, 616–619.
CHAPTER 6. GREAT LEAP FORWARD
[59] Peng (1987) pp. 645, 648–649. Peng used the pre-Leap
death rate as a base line under the assumption that the
decrease after the Great Leap to below pre-Leap levels was
caused by Darwinian selection during the massive deaths
of the famine. He writes that if this drop was instead a
continuation of the decreasing mortality in the years prior
to the Great Leap, his estimate would be an underestimate.
[60] Yang Jisheng (2012). Tombstone: The Great Chinese
Famine, 1958–1962 (Kindle edition). Farrar, Straus and
Giroux. p. 427. ISBN 9781466827790.
[61] Chang and Halliday (2005) p. 438
[62] Becker (1996) pp. 271–272.
[63] Rummel (1991) p. 248.
[64] Reevaluated democide totals for 20th C. and China Rudy
J. Rummel Retrieved 25 August 2014
[65] Dikötter (2010) p. 333.
[66] Rummel (1991). p. 235.
[67] Banister (1987) p. 13.
[68] Peng (1987) p. 656.
[69] Ashton, et al. (1984) p. 630.
[70] Dikötter (2010) p. 132.
[71] Becker (1996) p. 267.
[72] Banister (1987) p. 85.
[73] Becker (1996) pp. 268–269.
[74] Dikötter (2010) p. 327.
[75] Ashton et al. (1984) p. 617.
[76] Yang (2012) p. 430.
[77] Dikotter (2010) p. 324. (Dikötter does not mention Coale
on this page).
[78] Yu, Verna (2008). "Chinese author of book on famine
braves risks to inform new generations.”The New York
Times, November 18, 2008. Yu writes about Tombstone
and interviews author Yang Jisheng.
[79] Applebaum, Anne (2008). "When China Starved.”The
Washington Post, August 12, 2008. Applebaum writes
about Tombstone by Yang Jishen.
[80] Link, Perry (2010). “China: From Famine to Oslo”.
The New York Review of Books, December 16, 2010.
[81] Rosefielde, Steven (2009). Red Holocaust. Routledge. p.
114. ISBN 0-415-77757-7.
[82] O'Neill, Mark (2008). A hunger for the truth: A new
book, banned on the mainland, is becoming the definitive
account of the Great Famine. South China Morning Post,
2008-7-6. Archived February 10, 2012, at the Wayback
Machine.
[83] Becker, Jasper (1998). Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret
Famine. Holt Paperbacks. p.81. ISBN 0-8050-5668-8.
 6.6. BIBLIOGRAPHY AND FURTHER READING
[84] Johnson, Ian (2010). Finding the Facts About Mao's Vic- [109] Friedman, Edward; Pickowicz, Paul G.; Selden, Mark;
tims. The New York Review of Books (Blog), December
20, 2010. Retrieved 4 Sep 11. Johnson interviews Yang
Jishen. (Provincial and central archives).
[85] Chang ang Halliday (2005). p. 457.
[86] Rummel (1991). pp. 249–250.
[87] Rummel, R.J. (2005-11-30). “Getting My Reestimate
Of Mao's Democide Out”. Retrieved 2007-04-09.
[88] Dikötter, Frank. Mao’s Great Famine, Key Arguments.
[89] Dikötter (2010). p. 70.
[90] Dikötter (2010). p. 88.
[91] Valentino, Benjamin A. (2004). Final Solutions: Mass
Killing and Genocide in the Twentieth Century. Cornell
University Press. p. 127. ISBN 0-8014-3965-5.
[92] Jones, Adam (2010). Genocide: A Comprehensive Intro-
duction. Routledge, 2nd edition (August 1, 2010). p. 96.
ISBN 0-415-48619-X.
[93] Ashton, et al. (1984) p. 624, 625.
[94] Ashton, et al. (1984) p. 629.
[95] Ashton, et al. (1984) p. 634.
[96] Ashton, et al. (1984) p. 626.
[97] Chinese Government's Official Web Portal (English).
China: a country with 5,000-year-long civilization. re-
trieved 3 Sep 2011.“It was mainly due to the errors of the
great leap forward and of the struggle against “Right op-
portunism”together with a succession of natural calami-
ties and the perfidious scrapping of contracts by the So-
viet Government that our economy encountered serious
difficulties between 1959 and 1961, which caused serious
losses to our country and people.”
[98] Dikötter (2010). pp.298 & 304.
[99] Dikötter (2010). pp.294 & 297.
[100] Dikötter (2010). pp. xi & xii.
[101] Dikötter (2010). p.169.
[102] Woo-Cummings, Meredith (2002). The Political Ecology
of Famine: The North Korean Catastrophe and Its Lessons
PDF (807 KB), , ADB Institute Research Paper 31, Jan-
uary 2002. URL Accessed 3 July 2006.
[103] Twentieth Century China: Third Volume. Beijing, 1994.
p.430.
[104] Dikötter (2010) p.226-228.
[105] Rummel (1991) p.247-251.
[106] Dikötter (2010) p.226-228 (Qinghai, Tibet, Yunnan).
[107] Rummel (1991) p.247-251 (Honan, Shantung, Qinghai
(Chinghai), Gansu (Kansu), Szechuan (Schechuan), Fu-
jian), p.240 (TAR).
[108] Dikötter (2010) p.224-226.
75
and Johnson, Kay Ann (1993). Chinese Village, Socialist
State. Yale University Press. p. 243. ISBN 0300054289/
As seen in Google Book Search.
This article incorporates public domain text
from the United States Library of Congress
Country Studies. – China
6.6 Bibliography and further read-
ing
• Ashton, Hill, Piazza, and Zeitz (1984). Famine in
China, 1958-61. Population and Development Re-
view, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Dec., 1984), pp. 613–645.
• Bachman, David (1991). Bureaucracy, Economy,
and Leadership in China: The Institutional Origins
of the Great Leap Forward. New York: Cambridge
University Press.
• [Bao] Sansan and Bette Bao Lord (1964), Eighth
Moon: The True Story of a Young Girl's Life in
Communist China, New York: Harper & Row.
• Becker, Jasper (1998). Hungry Ghosts: Mao's Secret
Famine. Holt Paperbacks. ISBN 0-8050-5668-8
• Jung Chang and Jon Halliday. (2005) Mao: The Un-
known Story, Knopf. ISBN 0-679-42271-4
• Dikötter, Frank (2010). Mao's Great Famine: The
History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe,
1958-62. Walker & Company. ISBN 0-8027-7768-
6
• Li, Wei; Tao Yang, Dennis (2005). “The Great
Leap Forward: Anatomy of a Central Planning Dis-
aster”. Journal of Political Economy 113 (4): 840–
877. doi:10.1086/430804.
• Li, Zhisui (1996). The Private Life of Chairman
Mao. Arrow Books Ltd.
• Macfarquhar, Roderick (1983). Origins of the Cul-
tural Revolution: Vol 2. Oxford: Oxford University
Press.
• Short, Philip (2001). Mao: A Life. Owl Books.
ISBN 0-8050-6638-1
• Tao Yang, Dennis. (2008) “China's Agricultural
Crisis and Famine of 1959–1961: A Survey and
Comparison to Soviet Famines.”Palgrave MacMil-
lan, Comparative Economic Studies 50, pp. 1–29.
• Thaxton. Ralph A. Jr (2008). Catastrophe and Con-
tention in Rural China: Mao's Great Leap Forward
Famine and the Origins of Righteous Resistance in
Da Fo Village. Cambridge University Press. ISBN
0-521-72230-6
76 CHAPTER 6. GREAT LEAP FORWARD

• Wertheim, Wim F (1995). Third World whence and

whither? Protective State versus Aggressive Market.
Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis. 211 pp. ISBN 90-5589-
082-0
• E. L Wheelwright, Bruce McFarlane, and Joan
Robinson (Foreword), The Chinese Road to Social-
ism: Economics of the Cultural Revolution.
• Yang, Dali (1996). Calamity and Reform in China:
State, Rural Society, and Institutional Change since
the Great Leap Famine. Stanford University Press.
• Yang, Jisheng (2008). Tombstone (Mu Bei - Zhong
Guo Liu Shi Nian Dai Da Ji Huang Ji Shi). Cosmos
Books (Tian Di Tu Shu), Hong Kong.
• Yang, Jisheng (2010). “The Fatal Politics of the
PRC's Great Leap Famine: The Preface to Tomb-
stone". Journal of Contemporary China 19 (66):
755–776. doi:10.1080/10670564.2010.485408.
• Gao. Mobo (2007). Gao Village: Rural life in mod-
ern China. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-
0-8248-3192-9
• Gao. Mobo (2008). The Battle for China's Past.
Pluto Press. ISBN 978-0-7453-2780-8
• Li. Minqi (2009). The Rise of China and the Demise
of the Capitalist World Economy. Monthly Review
Press. ISBN 978-1-58367-182-5

6.7 External links

• Ball, Joseph. Did Mao Really Kill Millions in the
Great Leap Forward?. Monthly Review. September
21, 2006
• Chinese Government’s Official Web Portal (En-
glish). China: a country with 5,000-year-long civi-
lization.
• Damiani, Matteo A tragic episode of cannibal-
ism during the famine of the Great Leap Forward.
November 2012.
• Dikotter, Frank. Mao's Great Leap to Famine, New
York Times. December 15, 2010.
• Johnson, Ian. Finding the Facts About Mao’s Vic-
tims. The New York Review of Books (Blog), De-
cember 20, 2010.
• McGregor, Richard. The man who exposed Mao’s
secret famine. The Financial Times. June 12, 2010.
• Meng, Qian, and Yared (2010) The Institutional
Causes of China's Great Famine, 1959-1961 (pdf).
• Wagner, Donald B. Background to the Great Leap
Forward in Iron and Steel University of Copen-
hagen. August 2011.
Chapter 7

Soviet war crimes

War crimes perpetrated by the Soviet Union and its armed 7.2.1 Victims within the Soviet Union
forces from 1919 to 1991 include acts committed by the
Red Army (later called the Soviet Army) as well as the Main article: Red Terror
NKVD, including the NKVD's Internal Troops. In some
cases, these acts were committed upon the orders of the
Several scholars put the number of executions during the
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in pursuance of the early So-
Red Terror by the Cheka, predecessor of the NKVD, to
viet Government's policy of Red Terror, in other instances
about 250,000.* [6]* [7] Some believe it is possible more
they were committed without orders by Soviet troops
people were murdered by the Cheka than died in bat-
against prisoners of war or civilians of countries that had
tle.* [8]
been in armed conflict with the USSR, or during partisan
warfare.* [2] Between 1921 and 1922, Mikhail Tukhachevsky, a mil-
itary leader and future victim of Joseph Stalin's Great
A significant number of these incidents occurred in
Purge, commanded the Red Army's campaign against a
Northern and Eastern Europe before, during and in the
peasant uprising in the Tambov province. Tukhachevsky
aftermath of World War II, involving summary execu-
routinely executed hostages without trial* [9] and started
tions and mass murder of prisoners of war, such as at the
using poison gas against civilian targets.* [10]* [11] For
Katyn massacre and mass rape by troops of the Red Army
these reasons, Simon Sebag-Montefiore has accused
in territories they occupied.
Tukhachevsky of being “as ruthless as any Bolshevik.”
*
When the Allied Powers of World War II founded the [10]
post-war International Military Tribunal, with officials
Further information: Left-wing uprisings against the
from the Soviet Union taking an active part in the judi-
Bolsheviks
cial processes, to examine war crimes committed during
the conflict by Nazi Germany, there was no examination
of Soviet Forces' actions or charges brought against its
troops because they were an undefeated power which then 7.2.2 Jewish victims
held Eastern Europe in military occupation, marring the
historical authority of the Tribunal's activity as being, in The early Soviet leaders publicly denounced anti-
part, victor's justice.* [3] Semitism,* [12] wrote William Korey: “Anti-Jewish
discrimination had become an integral part of Soviet
state policy ever since the late thirties.”Efforts were
7.1 Background made by Soviet authorities to contain anti-Jewish big-
otry notably during the Russian civil war, whenever
the Red Army units perpetrated pogroms,* [13]* [14] as
The Soviet Union did not recognize Imperial Russia's well as during the Soviet-Polish War of 1919–1920 at
signing of the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 as Baranovichi.* [15]* [16]* [17] Only a small number of
binding, and refused to recognize them until 1955.* [4] pogroms was attributed to the Red Army, with the vast
This created a situation in which war crimes by the So- majority of 'collectively violent' acts in the period hav-
viet armed forces could be eventually rationalized. The ing been committed by anti-Communist and nationalist
Soviet refusal to recognize the Hague Conventions also forces.* [18]
gave Nazi Germany the rationale for inhuman treatment
of captured Soviet military personnel.* [5] The pogroms were condemned by the Red Army high
command and guilty units were disarmed, while in-
dividual pogromists were court-martialed.* [12] Those
found guilty were executed.* [19] Although pogroms by
7.2 Before World War II Ukrainian units of the Red Army still occurred after
this, the Jews regarded the Red Army as the only force

77
 78
willing to protect them.* [20] It is estimated that 3,450
Jews or 2.3 percent of the Jewish victims killed dur-
ing the Russian Civil War were murdered by the Bol-
shevik armies.* [21] In comparison, according to the
Morgenthau Report, a total of about 300 Jews lost their
lives in all incidents involving Polish responsibility. The
commission also found that the Polish military and civil
authorities did their best to prevent such incidents and
their recurrence in the future. The Morgenthau report
stated that some forms of discrimination against Jews was
of political rather than anti-Semitic nature and specifi-
cally avoided use of the term “pogrom,”noting that the
term was used to apply to a wide range of excesses, and
had no specific definition.* [22]
7.3 The Red Army and the NKVD
Soviet invasion of Poland, 1939. Advance of the Red Army
troops
See also: NKVD prisoner massacres and Katyn massacre
On February 6, 1922 the Cheka was replaced by the
State Political Administration or OGPU, a section of the
NKVD. The declared function of the NKVD was to pro-
tect the state security of the Soviet Union, which was
accomplished by the large scale political persecution of
“class enemies”. The Red Army often gave support
to the NKVD in the implementation of political repres-
sions.* [23] As an internal security force and prison guard
contingent of the Gulag, the Internal Troops both re-
CHAPTER 7. SOVIET WAR CRIMES
pressed political dissidents and engaged in war crimes
during periods of military hostilities throughout Soviet
history. They were specifically responsible for maintain-
ing the political regime in the Gulag and for conducting
mass deportations and forced resettlement. The latter tar-
geted a number of ethnic groups that the Soviet authori-
ties presumed to be hostile to its policies and likely to col-
laborate with the enemy, including Chechens, Crimean
Tatars, and Koreans.* [24]
As the Red Army withdrew after the German attack
of 1941 known as Operation Barbarossa, there were
numerous reports of war crimes committed by Soviet
armed forces against captured German Wehrmacht and
Luftwaffe soldiers from the very beginning of hostili-
ties documented in thousands of files of the Wehrmacht
War Crimes Bureau which was established in September
1939 to investigate violations of the Hague and Geneva
conventions by Germany's enemies. Among the bet-
ter documented Soviet massacres are those at Broniki
(June 1941), Feodosiya (December 1941) and Grishino
(1943).* [25]
In the occupied territory, the NKVD carried out mass
arrests, deportations and executions. The targets in-
cluded both collaborators with Germany and the mem-
bers of anti-Communist resistance movements such as the
Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in Ukraine, the Forest
Brothers in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and the Polish
Armia Krajowa. The NKVD also conducted the Katyn
massacre, summarily executing over 20,000 Polish mili-
tary officer prisoners in April and May 1940.
War crimes by Soviet armed forces against civilians and
prisoners of war in the territories occupied by the USSR
between 1939 and 1941 in regions including the West-
ern Ukraine, the Baltic states and Bessarabia in Romania,
along with war crimes in 1944–1945, have been ongoing
issues within these countries. Since the dissolution of the
Soviet Union, a more systematic, locally controlled dis-
cussion of these events has taken place.* [26]
The Soviets deployed mustard gas bombs during the
Soviet invasion of Xinjiang. Some civilians were killed
by conventional bombs during the invasion.* [27]* [28]
7.4 World War II
7.4.1 Estonia
Main article: Soviet occupation of Estonia
In accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact Estonia
was illegally annexed by the Soviet Union on 6 August
1940 and renamed the Estonian Soviet Socialist Repub-
lic.* [29] In 1941, some 34,000 Estonians were drafted
into the Red Army, of whom less than 30% survived
the war. No more than half of those men were used for
7.4. WORLD WAR II 79

military service, the rest perished in Gulag concentration broke out in response to the atrocities of the destruc-
camps and labour battalions, mainly in the early months tion battalions, with tens of thousands of men forming
of the war.* [30] After it became clear that the German the Forest Brothers to protect the local population from
invasion of Estonia would be successful, political pris- these battalions. Occasionally, the battalions burned peo-
oners who could not be evacuated were executed by the ple alive.* [36] The destruction battalions murdered 1,850
NKVD, so that they would not be able to make contact people in Estonia. Almost all of them were partisans or
with the Nazi government.* [31] More than 300,000 citi- unarmed civilians.* [37]
zens of Estonia, almost a third of the population at the Another example of the destruction battalions' actions is
time, were affected by deportations, arrests, execution
the Kautla massacre, where twenty civilians were mur-
and other acts of repression.* [32] As a result of the Soviet dered and tens of farms destroyed. Many of the people
takeover, Estonia permanently lost at least 200,000 peo-
were killed after torture. The low toll of human deaths
ple or 20% of its population to repression, exodus and in comparison with the number of burned farms is due to
war.* [33]
the Erna long-range reconnaissance group breaking the
Soviet political repressions in Estonia were met by an Red Army blockade on the area, allowing many civilians
armed resistance by the Forest Brothers, composed of to escape.* [38]* [39]
former conscripts into the German military, Omakaitse
militia and volunteers in the Finnish Infantry Regiment
200 who fought a guerrilla war, which was not completely 7.4.2 Latvia
suppressed until the late 1950s.* [34] In addition to the
expected human and material losses suffered due to the Main article: Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940
fighting, until its end this conflict led to the deportation of
tens of thousands of people, along with hundreds of po- In accordance with the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact Soviet
litical prisoners and thousands of civilians lost their lives. troops invaded Latvia on June 17, 1940 and it was subse-
quently incorporated into the Soviet Union as the Latvian
Mass deportations Soviet Socialist Republic.

Main article: Soviet deportations from Estonia

Tens of thousands of Estonian citizens underwent depor-
tation during the Soviet occupation. Deportations were
predominantly to Siberia and Kazakhstan by means of
railroad cattle cars, without prior announcement, while
deported were given few night hours at best to pack
their belongings and separated from their families, usually
also sent to the east. The procedure was established by
the Serov Instructions. Estonians residing in Leningrad
Oblast had already been subjected to deportation since
1935.* [35]
Destruction battalions
Main article: Destruction battalions
See also: Battle of Kautla
In 1941, to implement Stalin's scorched earth policy, de-
struction battalions were formed in the western regions
of the Soviet Union. In Estonia, they killed thousands of
people including a large proportion of women and chil-
dren, while burning down dozens of villages, schools and
public buildings. A school boy named Tullio Lindsaar
had all of the bones in his hands broken then was bayo-
neted for hoisting the flag of Estonia. Mauricius Parts,
son of the Estonian War of Independence veteran Karl
Parts, was doused in acid. In August 1941, all residents
of the village of Viru-Kabala were killed including a two- The estimated death toll in Soviet prisons and camps be-
year-old child and a six-day-old infant. A partisan war tween 1944 and 1953 was at least 14,000.* [41] The es-
7.4.3 Lithuania
Main article: Soviet occupation of Lithuania
Lithuania, and the other Baltic States, fell victim to the
Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. This agreement was signed
between the USSR and Germany in August 1939; leading
first to Lithuania being invaded by the Red Army on 15
June 1940, and then to its annexation and incorporation
into the Soviet Union on 3 August 1940. The Soviet an-
nexation resulted in mass terror, the destruction of civil
liberties, the economic system and Lithuanian culture.
Between 1940–1941, thousands of Lithuanians were ar-
rested and hundreds of political prisoners were arbitrar-
ily executed. More than 17,000 people were deported to
Siberia in June 1941. After the German attack on the So-
viet Union, the incipient Soviet political apparatus was ei-
ther destroyed or retreated eastward. Lithuania was then
occupied by Nazi Germany for a little over three years.
In 1944, the Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania. Follow-
ing World War II and the subsequent suppression of the
Lithuanian Forest Brothers, Soviet authorities executed
thousands of resistance fighters and civilians accused of
aiding them. Some 300,000 Lithuanians were deported
or sentenced to prison camps on political grounds. It is
estimated that Lithuania lost almost 780,000 citizens as
a result of Soviet occupation, of which around 440,000
were war refugees.* [40]
80 CHAPTER 7. SOVIET WAR CRIMES

timated death toll among deportees between 1945 and We cannot escape the conclusion: Soviet
1958 was 20,000, including 5,000 children.* [42] state security organs tortured their prisoners
During the Lithuanian restoration of independence in not only to extract confessions but also to put
1990, the Soviet army killed 13 people in Vilnius during them to death. Not that the NKVD had sadists
the January Events.* [43] in its ranks who had run amok; rather, this
was a wide and systematic procedure. —Jan
T. Gross* [49]
7.4.4 Poland
According to sociologist, Prof. Tadeusz Piotrowski, dur-
1939–1941 ing the years 1939–41, nearly 1.5 million inhabitants of
the Soviet-controlled areas of former eastern Poland were
Main articles: Soviet invasion of Poland, Katyn mas- deported, of whom 63.1% were Poles or other national-
sacre, Polish prisoners of war in the Soviet Union (after ities and 7.4% were Jews. Only a small number of these
1939) and NKVD prisoner massacres deportees survived the war and returned.* [50] According
to American professor Carroll Quigley, at least one third
of the 320,000 Polish prisoners of war captured by the
In September 1939, the Red Army invaded eastern Red Army in 1939 were murdered.* [51]
Poland and occupied it in accordance with the secret pro-
tocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. The Soviets later It's estimated that between 10 and 35 thousand prison-
forcefully occupied the Baltic States and parts of Roma- ers were killed either in prisons or on prison trail to
nia, including Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina. the Soviet Union in few days after 22 June 1941 (pris-
ons: Brygidki, Zolochiv, Dubno, Drohobych, and so
on).* [52]* [53]* [54]* [55]

1944–1945

In Poland, German Nazi atrocities ended by late 1944,

One of the mass graves at Katyn where the NKVD massacred
thousands of Polish Officers, policemen, intellectuals and civilian
prisoners of war.* [44]
German historian Thomas Urban* [45] writes that the So-
viet policy towards the people who fell under their con-
trol in occupied areas was harsh, showing strong ele-
ments of ethnic cleansing.* [46] The NKVD task forces
followed the Red Army to remove 'hostile elements'
from the conquered territories in what was known as
the 'revolution by hanging'.* [47] Polish historian, Prof.
Tomasz Strzembosz, has noted parallels between the Nazi
Einsatzgruppen and these Soviet units.* [48] Many civil-
ians tried to escape from the Soviet NKVD round-ups;
those who failed were taken into custody and afterwards
deported to Siberia and vanished into the Gulags.* [47]
Torture was used on a wide scale in various prisons, es-
pecially those in small towns. Prisoners were scalded
with boiling water in Bobrka; in Przemyslany, people
had their noses, ears, and fingers cut off and eyes put
out; in Czortkow, female inmates had their breasts cut
off; and in Drohobycz, victims were bound together with
barbed wire.* [49] Similar atrocities occurred in Sambor,
Stanislawow, Stryj, and Zloczow.* [49] According to his-
torian, Prof. Jan T. Gross:
but they were replaced by Soviet oppression with the
advance of Red Army forces. Soviet soldiers of-
ten engaged in plunder, rape and other crimes against
the Poles, causing the population to fear and hate the
regime.* [56]* [57]* [58]* [59]
Soldiers of Poland's Home Army (Armia Krajowa) were
persecuted and imprisoned by Russian forces as a matter
of course.* [60] Most victims were deported to the gulags
in the Donetsk region.* [61] In 1945 alone the number
of members of the Polish Underground State deported
to Siberia and various labor camps in the Soviet Union
reached 50,000.* [62]* [63] Units of the Red Army car-
ried out campaigns against Polish partisans and civilians.
During the Augustów chase in 1945, more than 2,000
Poles were captured and about 600 of them are presumed
to have died in Soviet custody. For more information
about postwar resistance in Poland see the Cursed sol-
diers.* [64] It was a common Soviet practice to accuse
their victims of being fascists in order to justify their
death sentence. All the perversion of this Soviet tactic
lied in the fact that practically all of the accused had in re-
ality been fighting forces of Nazi Germany since Septem-
ber 1939. At that time the Soviets would still be col-
laborating with Nazi Germany for more than 20 months
before Operation Barbarossa started. Precisely therefore
this kind of Poles was judged capable of resisting the So-
viets, in the same way they had resisted the Nazis. Af-
ter the War a more elaborate appearance of justice was
given under the jurisdiction of the Polish People's Repub-
lic orchestrated by the Soviets in the form of mock trials.
These were organized after victims had been arrested un-
7.4. WORLD WAR II 81

der false charges by the NKVD or other Soviet controlled 7.4.6 Soviet Union
security organisations such as the Ministry of Public Se-
curity. There were 6,000 political death sentences issued, Retreat by Soviet forces in 1941
the majority of them carried out.* [65] It is estimated that
over 20,000 people died in communist prisons. Famous Deportations, summary executions of political prisoners
examples include Witold Pilecki or Emil August Fiel- and the burning of foodstocks and villages took place
dorf.* [66] when the Red Army retreated before the advancing Axis
forces in 1941. In the Baltic States, Belarus, Ukraine,
The attitude of Soviet servicemen towards ethnic Poles
and Bessarabia, the NKVD and attached units of the Red
was better than towards the Germans, but not entirely.
Army massacred prisoners and political opponents before
The scale of rape of Polish women in 1945 led to a
fleeing from the advancing Axis forces.* [74]* [75]
pandemic of sexually transmitted diseases. Although
the total number of victims remains a matter of guess-
ing, the Polish state archives and statistics of the Min- Kalmykia
istry of Health indicate that it might have exceeded
100,000.* [67] In Kraków, the Soviet entry into the city Main article: Kalmyk deportations of 1943
was accompanied by mass rapes of Polish women and
girls, as well as the plunder of private property by Red
Army soldiers.* [68] This behavior reached such a scale During the Kalmyk deportations of 1943, codename Op-
that even Polish communists installed by the Soviet Union eration Ulussy (Операция "Улусы"), the deportation
composed a letter of protest to Joseph Stalin himself, of most people of the Kalmyk nationality in the Soviet
while church masses were held in expectation of a Soviet Union (USSR), and Russian women married to Kalmyks,
withdrawal.* [68] but excepting Kalmyk women married to men of other
nationality, around half of (97-98,000) Kalmyk people
deported to Siberia died before being allowed to return
7.4.5 Finland home in 1957.* [76]

Further information: Finnish prisoners of war in the So-

viet Union
Between 1941–1944, Soviet partisan units conducted
7.4.7 Germany
Main articles: Flight and evacuation of German civilians
during the end of World War II, Flight and expulsion of
Germans (1944–50) and Rape during the occupation of
Germany § Soviet Military

According to historian Norman Naimark, statements in

Finnish children killed by Soviet partisans at Seitajärvi in Finnish
Lapland 1942.
raids deep inside Finnish territory, attacking villages and
other civilian targets. In November 2006, photographs
showing atrocities were declassified by the Finnish au-
thorities. These include images of slain women and chil-
dren.* [69]* [70]* [71] The partisans usually executed their
military and civilian prisoners after a minor interroga-
tion.* [72]
Around 3,500 Finnish prisoners of war, of whom five
were women, were captured by the Red Army. Their
mortality rate is estimated to have been about 40 percent.
The most common causes of death were hunger, cold and
oppressive transportation.* [73]
Soviet military newspapers and the orders of the Soviet
high command were jointly responsible for the excesses
of the Red Army. Propaganda proclaimed that the Red
Army had entered Germany as an avenger to punish all
Germans.* [77]
Some historians dispute this, referring to an order is-
sued on 19 January 1945, which required the preven-
tion of mistreatment of civilians. An order of the mili-
tary council of the 1st Belorussian Front, signed by Mar-
shal Rokossovsky, ordered the shooting of looters and
rapists at the scene of the crime. An order issued by
Stavka on 20 April 1945 said that there was a need to
maintain good relations with German civilians in order
to decrease resistance and bring a quicker end to hostili-
ties.* [78]* [79]* [80]
Murders of civilians
On several occasions during World War II, Soviet soldiers
set fire to buildings, villages, or parts of cities, and used
deadly force against locals attempting to put out the fires.
Most Red Army atrocities took place only in what was
82 CHAPTER 7. SOVIET WAR CRIMES

regarded as hostile territory (see also Przyszowice mas-

sacre). Soldiers of the Red Army, together with members
of the NKVD, frequently looted German transport trains
in 1944 and 1945 in Poland.* [81]
For the Germans, the organized evacuation of civilians
before the advancing Red Army was delayed by the Nazi
government, so as not to demoralize the troops, who were
by now fighting in their own country. Nazi propaganda —
originally meant to stiffen civil resistance by describing in
gory and embellished detail Red Army atrocities such as
the Nemmersdorf massacre —often backfired and cre-
ated panic. Whenever possible, as soon as the Wehrma-
cht retreated, local civilians began to flee westward on
their own initiative.
Fleeing before the advancing Red Army, large numbers
of the inhabitants of the German provinces of East Prus-
sia, Silesia, and Pomerania died during the evacuations,
some from cold and starvation, some during combat op-
erations. A significant percentage of this death toll, how-
ever, occurred when evacuation columns encountered
units of the Red Army. Civilians were run over by tanks,
shot, or otherwise murdered. Women and young girls
were raped and left to die.* [82]* [83]* [84]
In addition, fighter bombers of the Soviet air force
flew bombing and strafing missions targeting columns of
refugees.* [82]* [83]
Soviet order, January, 1945: “Some servicemen have caused
Although mass executions of civilians by the Red Army enormous material damage by their behavior, because they de-
were seldom publicly reported, there is a known inci- stroy valuable property in the cities and villages of East Prussia,
dent in Treuenbrietzen, where at least 88 male inhabi- burning down buildings and whole villages which belong to the
tants were rounded up and shot on 1 May 1945. The Soviet state now.(..) Furthermore cases were determined where
incident took place after a victory celebration at which army members used weapons against the German civilian pop-
numerous girls from Treuenbrietzen were raped and a ulation, particularly against women and the elderly. Numerous
cases were determined where prisoners of war were shot under
Red Army lieutenant-colonel was shot by an unknown
circumstances in which shooting was not necessary but came only
assailant. Some sources claim as many as 1,000 civil- from bad will.”The order goes on to specify measures against
ians may have been executed during the incident.* [notes such occurrences, defining the occurrences as unjustified and in-
1]* [85]* [86] admissible. Specifically, the order proposes to conduct “one-
Walter Kilian, the first mayor of the Charlottenburg dis- two”demonstrative punishments of Soviet soldiers accused of
trict in Berlin after the war, who was appointed to office war crimes and to initiate a struggle against intemperance in the
Red Army.
by the Soviets, reported extensive looting by Red Army
soldiers in the area: “Individuals, department stores,
shops, apartments ... all were robbed blind.”* [87] Soviet war crimes, 160,000 deaths occurring at the hands
In the Soviet occupation zone, members of the SED re- of various nationalities during the expulsion of Germans
ported to Stalin that looting and rape by Soviet soldiers after World War II and 205,000 deaths in the forced labor
*
could result in a negative reaction by the German popu- of Germans in the Soviet Union. [90] These figures do
lation towards the Soviet Union and towards the future not include at least 125,000 civilian deaths in the Battle
*
of socialism in East Germany. Stalin is said to have an- of Berlin. [91]
grily reacted: “I shall not tolerate anybody dragging the
honour of the Red Army through the mud.”* [88]* [89]
Mass rapes
Accordingly, all evidence —such as reports, photos and
other documents of looting, rape, the burning down of Main articles: Rape during the liberation of Poland and
farms and villages by the Red Army —was deleted from Rape during the occupation of Germany
all archives in the future GDR.* [88]
A study published by the German government in 1989, Western estimates of the total number of rape victims
estimated the death toll of German civilians in eastern range from tens of thousands to two million.* [92] Fol-
Europe at 635,000. With 270,000 dying as the result of lowing the Winter Offensive of 1945, mass rape by So-
7.4. WORLD WAR II
viet males occurred in all major cities taken by the Red
Army. Women were gang raped by as many as several
dozen soldiers during the liberation of Poland. In some
cases victims who did not hide in the basements all day
were raped up to 15 times.* [67]* [93] According to histo-
rian Antony Beevor, following the Red Army's capture of
Berlin in 1945, Soviet troops raped German women and
girls as young as eight years old.* [94]
The explanation of “revenge”is disputed by Beevor, the Swedish legation in Germany.* [105]
at least with regard to the mass rapes. Beevor has writ- A report by the Swiss legation in Budapest describes the
ten that Red Army soldiers also raped Soviet and Polish Red Army's entry into the city:
women liberated from concentration camps, and con-
tends that this undermines the revenge explanation.* [95]
According to Norman Naimark, after the summer of
1945, Soviet soldiers caught raping civilians were usually
punished ranging from arrest to execution.* [96] How-
ever, Naimark contends that the rapes continued until
the winter of 1947–48, when Soviet occupation author-
ities finally confined troops to strictly guarded posts and
camps.* [97] Naimark concluded that “The social psy-
chology of women and men in the Soviet zone of occupa-
tion was marked by the crime of rape from the first days
of occupation, through the founding of the GDR in the
fall of 1949, until, one could argue, the present.”* [98]
According to Richard Overy, the Russians refused to ac-
knowledge Soviet war crimes, partly “because they felt
that much of it was justified vengeance against an enemy
who committed much worse, and partly it was because
they were writing the victors' history.”* [99]
Criticism from Russian historians Several Russian nized the Soviets, while Jews, left-wingers and liberals
historians argue that although there were cases of ex- generally downplay stories of crimes.* [103]
cesses and heavy-handed command, the Red Army as a
whole treated the population of the former Reich with re-
spect.* [100]
According to Oleg Rzheshevsky, a President of the Rus-
sian Association of World War II Historians, only 4,148
Red Army officers and many soldiers were convicted of
atrocities. He explains crimes such as acts of sexual as-
sault as inevitable parts of war, and men of Soviet and
other Allied armies committed them. However, in gen-
eral, he says Soviet servicemen treated peaceful Germans
with humanity.
7.4.8 Hungary
According to researcher and author Krisztián Ungváry,
some 38,000 civilians were killed during the Siege of Bu-
dapest: about 13,000 from military action and 25,000
from starvation, disease and other causes. Included in the
latter figure are about 15,000 Jews, largely victims of ex-
ecutions by Nazi SS and Arrow Cross Party death squads.
Ungváry writes that when the Soviets finally claimed vic-
tory, they initiated an orgy of violence, including the
wholesale theft of anything they could lay their hands
83
on, random executions and mass rape. Estimates of rape
victims vary from 5,000 to 200,000.* [101]* [102]* [103]
According to Norman Naimark, Hungarian girls were
kidnapped and taken to Red Army quarters, where they
were imprisoned, repeatedly raped and sometimes mur-
dered.* [104]
Even embassy staff from neutral countries were captured
and raped, as documented when Soviet soldiers attacked
During the siege of Budapest and also dur-
ing the following weeks, Russian troops looted
the city freely. They entered practically every
habitation, the very poorest as well as the rich-
est. They took away everything they wanted,
especially food, clothing and valuables... ev-
ery apartment, shop, bank, etc. was looted sev-
eral times. Furniture and larger objects of art,
etc. that could not be taken away were fre-
quently simply destroyed. In many cases, after
looting, the homes were also put on fire, caus-
ing a vast total loss... Bank safes were emp-
tied without exception —even the British and
American safes —and whatever was found was
taken.* [106]
According to historian James Mark, memories and opin-
ions of the Red Army in Hungary are mixed. Nation-
alists, conservatives and anti-Communists tend to demo-
7.4.9 Yugoslavia
According to Yugoslav politician Milovan Djilas, at least
121 cases of rape were documented, 111 of which also
involved murder. A total of 1,204 cases of looting with
assault were also documented. Djilas described these fig-
ures as, “hardly insignificant if it is borne in mind that
the Red Army crossed only the northeastern corner of
Yugoslavia.* [107]* [108] This caused concern for the Yu-
goslav communist partisans, who feared that stories of
crimes committed by their Soviet allies would weaken
their standing with the population.
Djilas writes that in response, Yugoslav partisan leader
Joseph Broz Tito summoned the chief of the Soviet mil-
itary mission, General Korneev, and formally protested.
Despite having been invited“as a comrade”, Korneev ex-
ploded at them for offering “such insinuations”against
the Red Army. Djilas, who was present for the meet-
ing, spoke up and explained the British Army had never
engaged in “such excesses”while liberating the other
regions of Yugoslavia. General Korneev responded by
screaming, “I protest most sharply at this insult given to
 84 CHAPTER 7. SOVIET WAR CRIMES

the Red Army by comparing it with the armies of capi- Russian historian Konstantin Asmolov argues that such
talist countries.”* [109] Western accounts of Soviet violence against civilians in
The meeting with Korneev not only “ended without re- the Far East are exaggerations of isolated incidents and
sults”, but caused Stalin to personally attack Djilas during the documents of the time don't support the claims of
his next visit to the Kremlin. In tears, Stalin denounced mass crimes. Asmolov also claims that the Soviets, un-
“the Yugoslav Army and how it was administered.”He like the Germans and Japanese, *
prosecuted their soldiers
then “spoke agitatedly about the sufferings of the Red and officers for such acts. [116]
Army and about the horrors it was forced to undergo fight- Crimes against humanity where also committed against
ing for thousands of kilometers through devastated coun- Japanese civilians. For instance the Gegenmiao mas-
try.”Stalin climaxed with the words,“And such an Army sacre* [117] was conducted by the Soviet Army against a
was insulted by no one else but Djilas! Djilas, of whom group of some 1,800 Japanese women and children who
I could least have expected such a thing, a man whom I had taken refugee to the lamasery Gegenmiao/Koken-
received so well! And an Army which did not spare its miao (葛根廟) on August 14, 1945 during the Soviet in-
blood for you! Does Djilas, who is himself a writer, not vasion of Manchuria.* [117]* [118]
know what human suffering and the human heart are?
Can't he understand it if a soldier who has crossed thou-
sands of kilometers through blood and fire and death has 7.4.12 Japan
fun with a woman or takes some trifle?"* [110]
According to Djilas, Soviet refusal to address protests The Soviet Army committed crimes against the Japanese
against Red Army war crimes in Yugoslavia enraged civilian populations and surrendered military personnel in
Tito's Government and was a contributing factor in Yu- the closing stages of World War II during the assaults on
goslavia's subsequent exit from the Soviet Bloc. Sakhalin and Kuril Islands (see Evacuation of Karafuto
and Kuriles).

7.4.10 Czechoslovakia (1945)

7.4.13 Treatment of prisoners of war
Slovak communist leader Vlado Clementis complained to
Marshal Ivan Konev about the behavior of Soviet troops Although the Soviet Union had not formally signed the
in Czechoslovakia. Konev's response was to claim it was Hague Convention, it considered itself bound by the
done mainly by Red Army deserters.* [108] Convention's provisions.* [119]* [120] Even so, torture,
mutilation, and mass murder were frequently carried
out.* [121]* [122]
7.4.11 China Throughout the Second World War, the Wehrmacht
War Crimes Bureau collected and investigated reports of
On 9 August 1945, the Soviet Union declared a war on crimes against the Axis POWs. According to Cuban-
Japan and launched an invasion of Japanese puppet state American writer Alfred de Zayas, “For the entire du-
Manchukuo (Manchuria). Upon occupation of this ter- ration of the Russian campaign, reports of torture and
ritory, the Soviets laid claim to Japanese valuable ma- murder of German prisoners did not cease. The War
terials and industrial equipment in the region.* [111] A Crimes Bureau had five major sources of information:
foreigner witnessed Soviet troops, formerly stationed in (1) captured enemy papers, especially orders, reports of
Berlin, who were allowed by the Soviet military to go at operations, and propaganda leaflets; (2) intercepted ra-
the city “for three days of rape and pillage.”Most of dio and wireless messages; (3) testimony of Soviet pris-
Mukden was gone. Convict soldiers were then used to re- oners of war; (4) testimony of captured Germans who
place them; it was testified that they “stole everything in had escaped; and (5) testimony of Germans who saw the
sight, broke up bathtubs and toilets with hammers, pulled corpses or mutilated bodies of executed prisoners of war.
electric-light wiring out of the plaster, built fires on the From 1941 to 1945 the Bureau compiled several thou-
floor and either burned down the house or at least a big sand depositions, reports, and captured papers which, if
hole in the floor, and in general behaved completely like nothing else, indicate that the killing of German prison-
savages.”* [112] ers of war upon capture or shortly after their interrogation
According to some Western sources, the Soviets made was not an isolated occurrence. Documents relating to
it a policy to loot and rape civilians in Manchuria. The the war in France, Italy, and North Africa contain some
same Soviet troops from Germany had been sent to reports on the deliberate killing of German prisoners of
Manchuria and looted, killed and raped. In Harbin, the war, but there can be no comparison with the events on
Chinese posted slogans such as “Down with Red Im- the Eastern Front.”* [123]
perialism!" Soviet forces ignored protests from Chinese In a November 1941 report, the Wehrmacht War Crimes
communist party leaders on their mass rape and loot pol- Bureau accused the Red Army of employing “a terror
icy.* [113]* [114]* [115] policy... against defenseless German soldiers that have
7.5. AFTER WORLD WAR II
fallen into its hands and against members of the German
medical corps. At the same time... it has made use of
the following means of camouflage: in a Red Army order
that bears the approval of the Council of People's Com-
missars, dated 1 July 1941, the norms of international law
are made public, which the Red Army in the spirit of the
Hague Regulations on Land Warfare are supposed to fol-
low... This... Russian order probably had very little dis-
tribution, and surely it has not been followed at all. Oth-
erwise the unspeakable crimes would not have occurred.”
*
[124]
According to the depositions, Soviet massacres of Ger-
man, Italian, Spanish, and other Axis POWs were often
incited by unit Commissars, who claimed to be acting un-
der orders from Stalin and the Politburo. Other evidence
cemented the War Crimes Bureau's belief that Stalin had
given secret orders about the massacre of POWs.* [125]
During the winter of 1941–42, the Red Army captured
approximately 10,000 German soldiers each month, but
the death rate became so high that the absolute num-
ber of prisoners decreased (or was bureaucratically re- Postwar
duced).* [126]
Soviet sources list the deaths of 474,967 of the 2,652,672
German Armed Forces taken prisoner in the War.* [127]
Dr. Rüdiger Overmans believes that it seems entirely
plausible, while not provable, that an additional German
military personnel listed as missing actually died in So-
viet custody as POWs, putting the estimates of the actual
death toll of German POW in the USSR at about 1.0 mil-
lion.* [128]
Massacre of Feodosia
Soviet soldiers rarely bothered to treat wounded German
POWs. A particularly infamous example took place af-
ter the Crimean city of Feodosia was briefly recaptured
by Soviet forces on December 29, 1942. 160 wounded
soldiers had been left in military hospitals by the re-
treating Wehrmacht. After the Germans retook Feo-
dosia, it was learned that every wounded soldier had been
massacred by Red Army, Navy, and NKVD personnel.
Some had been shot in their hospital beds, others re-
peatedly bludgeoned to death, still others were found to
have been thrown from hospital windows before being re-
peatedly drenched with freezing water until they died of
hypothermia.* [129]
Massacre of Grishchino
The Massacre of Grischino was committed by an ar-
mored division of the Red Army in February 1943
in the eastern Ukrainian towns of Krasnoarmeyskoye,
Postyschevo and Grischino. The Wehrmacht Unter- 7.5.2 Czechoslovakia (1968)
suchungsstelle also known as WuSt (Wehrmacht criminal
investigating authority), announced that among the vic- Further information: Prague Spring
tims were 406 soldiers of the Wehrmacht, 58 members of
85
the Organisation Todt (including two Danish nationals),
89 Italian soldiers, 9 Romanian soldiers, 4 Hungarian sol-
diers, 15 German civil officials, 7 German civilian work-
ers and 8 Ukrainian volunteers.
The places were overrun by the Soviet 4th Guards Tank
Corps on the night of 10 and 11 February 1943. After the
reconquest by the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking with the
support of 333 Infantry Division and the 7th Panzer Divi-
sion on 18 February 1943 the Wehrmacht soldiers discov-
ered numerous deaths. Many of the bodies were horribly
mutilated, ears and noses cut off and genital organs ampu-
tated and stuffed into their mouths. Breasts of some of the
nurses were cut off, the women being brutally raped. A
German military judge who was at the scene stated in an
interview during the 1970s that he saw a female body with
her legs spread-eagled and a broomstick rammed into her
genitals. In the cellar of the main train station around 120
Germans were herded into a large storage room and then
mowed down with machine guns.* [130]
Some German prisoners were released soon after the war.
Many others, however, remained in the GULAG long af-
ter the surrender of Nazi Germany. Among the most
famous German war veterans to die in Soviet captivity
was Captain Wilm Hosenfeld, who died of injuries, sus-
tained possibly under torture, in a concentration camp
near Stalingrad in 1952. In 2009, Captain Hosenfeld was
posthumously honored by the State of Israel for his role
in saving Jewish lives during the Holocaust.
7.5 After World War II
7.5.1 Hungarian Revolution (1956)
Main article: Hungarian Revolution of 1956
According to the United Nations Report of the Special
Committee on the problem of Hungary (1957): “Soviet
tanks fired indiscriminately at every building from which
they believed themselves to be under fire.”* [131] The UN
commission received numerous reports of Soviet mortar
and artillery fire into inhabited quarters in the Buda sec-
tion of the city, despite no return fire, and of“haphazard
shooting at defenseless passers-by.”
According to many witnesses, Soviet troops fired upon
people queuing outside stores. Most of the victims were
said to be women and children.
86
During the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, 72
Czechs and Slovaks were killed (19 of those in Slo-
vakia), 266 severely wounded and another 436 slightly
injured.* [132]* [133]
7.5.3 Afghanistan (1979–1989)
Further information: Soviet war in Afghanistan §
Destruction in Afghanistan
There were numerous reports of chemical weapons being
used during the Soviet war in Afghanistan, often against
civilians.* [134]* [135]
7.5.4 Pressure in Azerbaijan (1988-1991)
Main article: Black January
Black January (Azerbaijani: Qara Yanvar), also known
as Black Saturday or the January Massacre, was a violent
crackdown in Baku on 19–20 January 1990, pursuant to
a state of emergency during the dissolution of the Soviet
Union.
In a resolution of 22 January 1990, the Supreme Soviet of
Azerbaijan SSR declared that the decree of the Presidium
of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 19 January, used
to impose emergency rule in Baku and military deploy-
ment, constituted an act of aggression.* [136] Black Jan-
uary is associated with the rebirth of the Azerbaijan Re-
public. It was one of the occasions during the glasnost
and perestroika era in which the USSR used force against
dissidents.
7.6 In popular culture
7.6.1 Film
• A Woman in Berlin (2008) depicts the mass sexual
assaults committed by Soviet soldiers in the Soviet
Zone of Occupied Germany. It is based on the diary
of Marta Hillers.* [137]
• Admiral (2008), a film set during the Russian Civil
War, depicts Red soldiers and sailors committing
numerous massacres of former members of the
7.6.3
Imperial Russian Navy's officer corps.
• The Beast (1988) a film set during the Soviet War in
Afghanistan, depicts Red Army war crimes against
civilian noncombatants and a Pashtun clan's quest
for revenge.
• Charlie Wilson's War (2007), set during the Soviet
War in Afghanistan, accuses the Soviet State of sys-
tematic genocide against Afghan civilians. It is men-
CHAPTER 7. SOVIET WAR CRIMES
tioned that Soviet forces are leaving no one alive and
are even slaughtering livestock in order to starve the
Afghan people into submission.
• Katyń (2007), depicts the Katyn massacre through
the eyes of its victims and the decades long battle by
their families to learn the truth.
7.6.2 Literature
• Prussian Nights (1974) a war poem by Alexander
Solzhenitsyn. The narrator, a Red Army officer,
approves of the troops' crimes as revenge for Nazi
atrocities in Russia, and hopes to take part in the
plundering himself. The poem describes the gang-
rape of a Polish woman whom the Red Army sol-
diers had mistaken for a German.* [138] According
to a review for The New York Times, Solzhenitsyn
wrote the poem in trochaic tetrameter, “in imita-
tion of, and argument with the most famous Russian
war poem, Aleksandr Tvardovsky's Vasili Tyorkin.”
*
[139]
• Apricot Jam and Other Stories (2010) by Alexander
Solzhenitsyn. In a short story about Marshal Georgii
Zhukov's futile attempts at writing his memoirs, the
retired Marshal reminisces about serving against the
peasant uprising in Tambov province. He recalls
Mikhail Tukhachevsky's arrival to take command of
the campaign and his first address to his men. He an-
nounced that total war and scorched earth tactics are
to be used against civilians who assist or even sym-
pathize with the peasant rebels. Zhukov proudly re-
calls how Tukhachevsky's tactics were adopted and
succeeded in breaking the uprising. In the process,
however, they virtually depopulated the surrounding
countryside.
• A Man without Breath (2013) by Philip Kerr. A
1993 Bernie Gunther thriller which delves into the
Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau's investigations of
Soviet war crimes. Kerr noted in his Afterward that
the Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau continued to
exist until 1945. It has been written about in the
book of the same name by Alfred M. de Zayas,
published by the University of Nebraska Press in
1989.* [140] ISBN 978-0-399-16079-0.
Art
• In October 2013, a then 26-year-old Polish art stu-
dent Jerzy Bohdan Szumczyk erected a movable
statue next to the Soviet WWII memorial in the
Polish city of Gdańsk. The statue depicted a So-
viet soldier attempting to rape a pregnant woman;
pulling her hair with one hand whilst pushing a
pistol into her mouth. Authorities removed the
artwork because it had been erected without an
7.9. REFERENCES 87

official permit, but there was widespread interest 7.9 References

in many online publications. The act promoted
an angry reaction from the Russian ambassador in
Poland.* [141]* [142]* [143]
[1] Maria Szonert-Binienda, Esq. (7 April 2012). Case W.
Res. J. Int’l L. (PDF). Was Katyn a Genocide? (Kresy-
Siberia Foundation, USA). pp. 633–717. Retrieved 27
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7.7 See also [2] Statiev, Alexander (2010). The Soviet Counterinsurgency
in the Western Borderlands. Cambridge University Press.
p. 277.
• Allied war crimes during World War II
[3] Davies, Norman (2006). Europe at War 1939–1945: No
• Demmin Simple Victory. London: Macmillan. p. 198. ISBN 0-
333-69285-3.
• Destruction battalions
[4] Hannikainen, Lauri; Raija Hanski; Allan Rosas (1992).
Implementing humanitarian law applicable in armed con-
• Einsatzgruppen flicts: the case of Finland. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-7923-
1611-4.
• Evacuation of East Prussia
[5] Grenkevich, Leonid D.; Glantz, David M. (1999). Glantz,
• Forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union David M., ed. The Soviet partisan movement, 1941-1944:
a critical historiographical analysis. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-
7146-4874-3.
• German war crimes
[6] page 28, Andrew and Mitrokhin, The Sword and the
• Japanese POWs in the Soviet Union Shield, paperback edition, Basic books, 1999.

• Japanese war crimes [7] page 180, Overy, The Dictators: Hitler's Germany, Stalin's
Russia, W. W. Norton & Company; 1st American Ed edi-
• List of Soviet Union perpetrated war crimes tion, 2004.

[8] page 649, Figes (1996).

• Mass graves in the Soviet Union
[9] Suvorov, Viktor. The Chief Culprit: Stalin's Grand De-
• Mass operations of the NKVD sign to Start World War II. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute
Press, 2008.
• Nemmersdorf massacre [10] Sebag-Montefiore, Simon (2005). Stalin: The Court of the
Red Tsar. New York: Vintage Books. p. 222. ISBN 0-
• NKVD prisoner massacres 307-42793-5.

• Operation Frühlingserwachen [11] Pipes, Richard. Russia under the Bolshevik Regime. New
York: Vintage Books, 2004.
• Population transfer in the Soviet Union
[12] William Korey, The Origins and Development of Soviet
Anti-Semitism: An Analysis. Slavic Review, Vol. 31, No.
• Red Terror 1 (Mar., 1972), pp. 111–135; included in: William Ko-
rey, Anti-Semitism in Russia, New York: Viking, 1973.
• Soviet occupation
[13] John Doyle Klier (2004). Pogroms. Shlomo Lambroza.
• War crimes and atrocities of the Waffen-SS Cambridge University Press. p. 294.

[14] “Pogroms”. United States Holocaust Museum.

• War crimes of the Wehrmacht
[15] Владимир Марковчин, Веди ж, Буденный, нас
смелее... Sovsekretno.ru.

7.8 Notes [16] "МОЖНО ЛИ ВЕРИТЬ РЕЧИСТЫМ

[1]“Der Umgang mit den Denkmälern.”Brandenburgische
Landeszentrale für politische Bildung/Ministerium für
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БЫЛИННИКАМ". Retrieved 14 February 2016.
[17] Статья "Евреи Украины в 1914–1920 гг.”в
Электронной еврейской энциклопедии
[18] Henry Abramson, Jewish Representation in the Indepen-
dent Ukrainian Governments of 1917–1920, Slavic re-
view, Vol. 50, No. 3 (Autumn, 1991), pp. 542–550
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[19] Nora Levin The Jews in the Soviet Union Since 1917: Para-
dox of Survival NYU Press, 1991, ISBN 978-0-8147-
5051-3, p.43
[20] Encyclopaedia Judaica, “Pogroms”. The Jewish Vir-
tual Library. 2009; "...severe penalties were imposed not
only on guilty individuals, who were executed, but also [34] Valge raamat, pp. 25–30
on complete army units, which were disbanded after their
[35] Martin, Terry (1998). “The Origins of Soviet Ethnic
men had attacked Jews. Even though pogroms were still
perpetrated after this, mainly by Ukrainian units of the
Red Army at the time of its retreat from Poland (1920),
in general, the Jews regarded the units of the Red Army as [36] Mart Laar, War in the woods, The Compass Press, Wash-
the only force which was able and willing to defend them.”
Retrieved December 29, 2014.
[37] Eesti rahva kannatuste aasta. Tallinn, 1996, p. 234.
[21] Manus I. Midlarsky (2005), The Killing Trap: Genocide
in the Twentieth Century, Cambridge University Press, p. [38] “Kultuur ja Elu - kultuuriajakiri”. Retrieved 14 February
45. ISBN 0521815452.
[22] Andrzej Kapiszewski, Controversial Reports on the Situa-
tion of the Jews in Poland in the Aftermath of World War
Studia Judaica 7: 2004 nr 2(14) s. 257–304 (pdf)
[23] Nagorski, Andrew. The Greatest Battle (Google Books).
Simon and Schuster. p. 83. Retrieved 2015-02-15.
[24] Applebaum, Anne (2003), Gulag: A History. Doubleday.
ISBN 0-7679-0056-1, pg 583: “both archives and mem-
oirs indicate that it was common practice in many camps
to release prisoners who were on the point of dying,
thereby lowering camp death statistics.”
[25] De Zayas, Alfred M., The Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau,
1939–1945, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE,
1989, 3rd revised edition Picton Press, Rockland, Maine
2003. OCLC 598598774 Translation of: Die Wehrmacht-
Untersuchungsstelle.
[26] “The Progress Report” (PDF). Latvia's History Com-
mission.
[27] Pearson, Graham S. “Uses of CW since the First World
War”. FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS.
Retrieved 2010-06-28.
[28] Sven Anders Hedin, Folke Bergman (1944). History of
the expedition in Asia, 1927-1935, Part 3. Stockholm:
Göteborg, Elanders boktryckeri aktiebolag. p. 112. Re-
trieved 2010-11-28.
[29] Magnus Ilmjärv Hääletu alistumine, (Silent Submission),
Tallinn, Argo, 2004, ISBN 9949-415-04-7
[30] Toomas Hiio, ed. (2006). Estonia, 1940-1945: Reports of
the Estonian International Commission for the Investigation
of Crimes Against Humanity. Estonian Foundation for the
Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity. p. 886. ISBN
9789949130405.
[31] The Baltic Revolution: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the
Path to Independence by Anatol Lieven p. 424 ISBN 0-
300-06078-5
[32] “CommunistCrimes.org - Historical Introduction”. Re-
trieved 14 February 2016.
CHAPTER 7. SOVIET WAR CRIMES
[33] Vetik, Raivo (2002). “Cultural and Social Makeup of
Estonia”. In Pål Kolstø. National Integration and Violent
Conflict in Post-Soviet Societies: The Cases of Estonia and
Moldova. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 74. ISBN
9781461639459.
Cleansing”. The Journal of Modern History 70 (4): 813–
861. doi:10.1086/235168. JSTOR 10.1086/235168.
ington, 1992, p. 10
2016.
[39] Mart Laar: Tavaline stalinism, printed in Postimees 16
August 2007
[40] “CommunistCrimes.org - Historical Introduction”. Re-
trieved 14 February 2016.
[41] International Commission For the Evaluation of the
Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in
Lithuania, Mass Arrests and Torture in 1944-1953, pp.
2-3 (=10%+ of 142,579 arrested)
[42] International Commission For the Evaluation of the
Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in
Lithuania, Deportations of the Population in 1944-1953,
paragraph 14
[43] “On This Day 13 January 1991: Bloodshed at Lithuanian
TV station”. BBC News. Retrieved 2011-09-13.
[44] Sanford, George. "Katyn And The Soviet Massacre Of
1940: Truth, Justice And Memory". Routledge, 2005.
[45] WorldCat, Thomas Urban. Library catalog. Holdings.
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[46] Thomas Urban, Der Verlust, p. 9 (ibidem): “Massende-
portationen nach Rußland. Seit dem frühen Morgen zogen
Wagen mit ganzen polnischen Familien durch die Stadt
zum Bahnhof. Man schaffte reichere polnische Familien,
Familien von national gesinnten Anhängern, polnischen
Patrioten, die Intelligenz weg, Familien von Häftlingen in
sowjetischen Gefängnissen, es war schwer, sich auch nur
ein Bild davon zu machen, welche Kategorie Menschen
deportiert wurden. Weinen, Stöhnen und schreckliche
Verzweiflung in polnischen Seelen [...] Sowjets freuen
sich lautstark und drohen damit, daß bald alle Polen de-
portiert werden. Und man könnte das erwarten, weil sie
den ganzen 20. Juni über und am folgenden 21. Juni
[1941] pausenlos Menschen zum Bahnhof brachten.”–
Alojza Piesiewiczówna.
[47] Thomas Urban, Der Verlust (PDF file, direct download),
p. 145. Verlag C. H. Beck 2004, ISBN 3-406-54156-9.
“Revolution durch den Strick.”
[48] Interview with Tomasz Strzembosz: Die verschwiegene
Kollaboration Transodra, 23. Dezember 2001, p. 2 (Ger-
man)
7.9. REFERENCES
[49] Jan T. Gross. Revolution From Abroad: The Soviet Con-
quest of Poland's Western Ukraine and Western Belorussia.
Princeton University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-691-09603-1
pp. 181–182
[50] Tadeusz Piotrowski (1998), Poland's Holocaust, McFar-
land, ISBN 0-7864-0371-3. Chapter: Soviet terror, p.14
(Google Books). “By the time the war was over, some 1
million Polish citizens – Christians and Jews alike – had
died at the hands of the Soviets.”
[51] Carroll Quigley, Tragedy & Hope: A History of the World
in Our Time, G. S. G. & Associates, Incorporated; New
Ed edition, June 1975, ISBN 0-945001-10-X
[52] Jerzy Węgierski, Lwów pod okupacją sowiecką 1939-
1941, Warszawa 1991, Editions Spotkania, ISBN 83-
85195-15-7 s. 272-273
[53]“W czterdziestym nas Matko na Sibir zesłali”. Polska a
Rosja 1939-42. Wybór i opracowanie Jan Tomasz Gross,
Irena Grudzińska-Gross. Wyd. I krajowe Warszawa
1990, Wyd. Res Publica i Wyd. Libra ISBN 83-7046-
032-1., s.60.
[54] Gottfried Schramm, Jan T. Gross, Manfred Zeidler et
al. (1997). Bernd Wegner, ed. From Peace to War:
Germany, Soviet Russia and the World, 1939-1941.
Berghahn Books. pp. 47–79. ISBN 1-57181-882-0.
[55] Snyder, Timothy. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler
and Stalin. Basic Books, 2010. ISBN 0-465-00239-0 p.
194
[56] Grzegorz Baziur, “Armia Czerwona na Pomorzu
Gdańskim 1945–1947”Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Nar-
odowej”2002, nr 7
[57] Janusz Wróbel, “Wyzwoliciele czy Okupanci. Żołnierze
Sowieccy w Łódzkim 1945–1946”Biuletyn Instytutu
Pamięci Narodowej 2002, nr 7.
[58] Łukasz Kamiński“Obdarci,głodni,żli, Sowieci w oczach
Polaków 1944–1948”Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Naro-
dowej 2002, nr 7
[59] Mariusz Lesław Krogulski, “Okupacja w imię sojuszu”
Poland 2001.
[60] From reviews of Norman Davies, God's Playground,
Columbia, ISBN 0231128177. “On the 22 August the
NKVD was ordered to arrest and disarm all members of
the Home Army who fell into their hands.”—Carlo D'Este
Rising '44': Betraying Warsaw, New York Times, July
25, 2004. “While [at the same time] the NKVD under
General Ivan Serov was unleashing another brutal purge
against the Poles in the liberated territories of Poland.”
—Donald Davidson, Rising '44' by Norman Davies, Lon-
don, Macmillan, 2004. ISBN 0-333-90568-7. Retrieved
December 28, 2014.
[61] Andrzej Paczkowski, Poland, the 'Enemy Nation', pp.
372-375 (in) Black Book of Communism. Crimes, Ter-
ror, Repression. Harvard University Press, London, 1999.
“The territories newly annexed by the USSR in the au-
tumn of 1944 subsequently witnessed arrests on a massive
scale followed by deportations to the gulags or transfer to
89
forced-labor sites, particularly in the Donetsk region.”Re-
trieved December 28, 2014.
[62] Poland's holocaust By Tadeusz Piotrowski. Page 131.
ISBN 0-7864-2913-5.
[63] Rzeczpospolita, 02.10.04 Nr 232, Wielkie polowanie:
Prześladowania akowców w Polsce Ludowej (Great hunt:
the persecutions of AK soldiers in the People's Republic
of Poland). Retrieved June 7, 2006.
[64] Agnieszka Domanowska, Mały Katyń. 65 lat od obławy
augustowskiej (Little Katyn. The 65 anniversary of Au-
gustow roundup), Gazeta Wyborcza, 2010-07-20. (Pol-
ish)
[65] IPN. ""Zbrodnie w majestacie prawa 1944–1956”–
Kraków 2006 [Crimes in the Name of the Law]". Instytut
Pamięci Narodowej. Archived from the original on
September 30, 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
[66] Andrzej Kaczyński (02.10.04), Wielkie polowanie:
Prześladowania akowców w Polsce Ludowej at the
Wayback Machine (archived 19 December 2007) (Great
hunt: The persecutions of AK soldiers in the People's
Republic of Poland), Rzeczpospolita, Nr 232, last
accessed 30 September 2013. (Polish).
[67] Joanna Ostrowska, Marcin Zaremba (2009-03-07).
""Kobieca gehenna”(The women's ordeal)". No 10
(2695) (in Polish). Polityka. pp. 64–66. Retrieved April
21, 2011. Generally speaking, the attitude of Soviet
servicemen toward women of Slavic background was
better than toward those who spoke German. Whether
the number of purely Polish victims could have reached
or even exceeded 100,000 is only a matter of guessing.
Dr. Marcin Zaremba of Polish Academy of Sciences, the
co-author of the article cited above – is a historian from
Warsaw University Department of History Institute of
20th Century History (cited 196 times in Google scholar).
Zaremba published a number of scholarly monographs,
among them: Komunizm, legitymizacja, nacjonalizm
(426 pages), Marzec 1968 (274 pages), Dzień po dniu w
raportach SB (274 pages), Immobilienwirtschaft (German,
359 pages), see inauthor:"Marcin Zaremba”in Google
Books.
Joanna Ostrowska of Warsaw, Poland, is a lecturer at
Departments of Gender Studies at two universities: the
Jagiellonian University of Kraków, the University of War-
saw as well as, at the Polish Academy of Sciences. She is
the author of scholarly works on the subject of mass rape
and forced prostitution in Poland in the Second World
War (i.e. “Prostytucja jako praca przymusowa w czasie
II Wojny Światowej. Próba odtabuizowania zjawiska,”
“Wielkie przemilczanie. Prostytucja w obozach kon-
centracyjnych,”etc.), a recipient of Socrates-Erasmus
research grant from Humboldt Universitat zu Berlin, and
a historian associated with Krytyka Polityczna.
[68] Rita Pagacz-Moczarska (2004). Okupowany Kraków - z
prorektorem Andrzejem Chwalbą rozmawia Rita Pagacz-
Moczarska [Prof. Andrzej Chwalba talks about the
Soviet-occupied Kraków]. Alma Mater, No 4 (in Polish)
(Jagiellonian University). Retrieved January 5, 2014. An
interview with Andrzej Chwalba, Professor of history at
the Jagiellonian University (and its prorector), conducted
90
in Kraków by Rita Pagacz-Moczarska, and published by
an online version of the Jagiellonian University's Bulletin
Alma Mater. The article concerning World War II history
of the city (“Occupied Krakow”), makes references to
the fifth volume of History of Krakow entitled“Kraków in
the years 1939-1945,”see bibliogroup:"Dzieje Krakowa:
Kraków w latach 1945-1989”in Google Books (ISBN
83-08-03289-3) written by Chwalba from a historical per-
spective, also cited in Google scholar.
[69] Helsingin Sanomat – International Edition – Home – Too
awful an image of war
[70] “Iltalehti - Kuvagalleria”. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
[71] “Iltalehti - Kuvagalleria”. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
[72] Nikkilä, Reijo (2002). Alava, Teuvo; Frolov, Dmitri;
Nikkilä, Reijo, eds. Rukiver!: Suomalaiset sotavangit
Neuvostoliitossa (in Finnish). Edita. p. 17. ISBN 951-
37-3706-3.
[73] Malmi, Timo (2005). “Jatkosodan suomalaiset sotavan-
git”. In Leskinen, Jari; Juutilainen, Antti. Jatkosodan
pikkujättiläinen (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Werner Söderström
Osakeyhtiö. pp. 1022–1032. ISBN 951-0-28690-7.
[74] article by Bogdan Musial: Ostpolen beim Einmarsch der
Wehrmacht nach dem 22. Juni 1941 on the website of
“Historisches Centrum Hagen”
[75] Bogdan Musial: Konterrevolutionäre Elemente sind zu er-
schießen, Propyläen 2000, ISBN 3-549-07126-4 (Ger-
man)
[76] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/country_profiles/
4580467.stm Regions and territories: Kalmykia
[77] Norman M. Naimark Cambridge: Belknap, 1995 ISBN
0-674-78405-7
[78] Yamaletdinov Ruslan aka Dime. "Н. Мендкович. Кто
"изнасиловал Германию"? (часть 1)". Retrieved 14
February 2016.
[79] http://gpw.tellur.ru/page.html?r=books&s=beevor
[80] http://svpressa.ru/war/article/8271/
[101] Bessel, Richard; Dirk Schumann (2003). Life after Death:
[81] Thomas Urban Der Verlust, p. 145, Verlag C. H. Beck
2004, ISBN 3-406-54156-9
[82] Antony Beevor, Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Penguin
Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5 [102] Ungvary, Krisztian (2005). The Siege of Budapest. New
[83] Documentary on German public TV (ARD) of 2005
[84] Thomas Darnstädt, Klaus Wiegrefe “Vater, erschieß [103] James, Mark. “Remembering Rape: Divided Social
mich!" in Die Flucht, S. 28/29 (Herausgeber Stefan Aust
und Stephan Burgdorff), dtv und SPIEGEL-Buchverlag,
ISBN 3-423-34181-5
[85] article in Berliner Zeitung of 1998
[104] Naimark, Norman M. (1995). The Russians in Germany:
[86] Claus-Dieter Steyer,“Stadt ohne Männer”(City without
men) , Der Tagesspiegel at
CHAPTER 7. SOVIET WAR CRIMES
[87] Hubertus Knabe (2005). Tag der Befreiung? Das
Kriegsende in Ostdeutschland (A day of liberation? The
end of the war in Eastern Germany) (in German). Propy-
läen. ISBN 3-549-07245-7.
[88] Wolfgang, Leonhard (1979). Child of the Revolution.
Pathfinder Press. ISBN 0-906133-26-2.
[89] Norman M. Naimark. The Russians in Germany: A His-
tory of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949. Har-
vard University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-674-78405-7
[90] Vertreibung und Vertreibungsverbrechen 1945–1978.
Bericht des Bundesarchivs vom 28 Mai 1974. Archiva-
lien und ausgewälte Erlebenisberichte, Bonn 1989
[91] Clodfelter, Michael, Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Sta-
tistical Reference to Casualty and Other Figures, 1500–
2000, 2nd Ed. ISBN 0-7864-1204-6
[92] Hanna Schissler The Miracle Years: A Cultural History of
West Germany, 1949–1968
[93] Ostrowska, Zaremba: “Kobieca gehenna”. Krytyka
Polityczna, 4 March 2009. Source: Polityka nr 10/2009
(2695).
[94] 'They raped every German female from eight to 80', The
Guardian
[95] Daniel Johnson (24 January 2002). “Red Army troops
raped even Russian women as they freed them from
camps”. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
[96] Naimark, Norman M. (1995). The Russians in Germany:
A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949.
Cambridge: Belknap. p. 92. ISBN 0-674-78405-7.
[97] Naimark 1995, p. 79.
[98] Naimark 1995, pp. 132-133.
[99] “BBC News - EUROPE - Red Army rapists exposed”.
Retrieved 14 February 2016.
[100] Summers, Chris (29 April 2002). “Red Army rapists
exposed”. BBC News Online. Retrieved 27 May 2010.
Approaches to a Cultural and Social History of Europe.
Cambridge University Press. p. 132. ISBN 0-521-00922-
7.
Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 348–350. ISBN 0-
300-10468-5.
Memory and the Red Army in Hungary 1944–1945”.
Past & Present (Oxford University Press) 188 (August
2005): 133–161. doi:10.1093/pastj/gti020. ISSN 1477-
464X.
A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949.
Cambridge: Belknap. pp. 70–71. ISBN 0-674-78405-7.
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[105] Birstein, Vadim (3 May 2002). “Johnson's Russia List”. [123] Alfred-Maurice de Zayas (1990), The Wehrmacht War
Archived from the original on January 9, 2012. Retrieved Crimes Bureau, 1939-1945, University of Nebraska Press.
2015-02-11. What makes this particular memoir unusual pp. 164-165
is that Soviet officials confirmed at the diplomatic level one
of his descriptions – the rape of a woman servant at the [124] Zayas (1990), page 178.
Swedish Legation [125] Zayas (1990), pp. 162-210.
[106] Montgomery, John Flournoy (1947). Swiss Legation Re- [126] Hubertus Knabe Tag der Befreiung? Das Kriegsende in
port of the Russian Invasion of Hungary in the Spring of Ostdeutschland, Propyläen 2005, ISBN 3-549-07245-7
1945. Hungary – The Unwilling Satellite (New York: The
Devin Adair Co). p. Appendix III. ISBN 1-931313-57-1. [127] Rossiiskaia Akademiia nauk. Liudskie poteri SSSR v pe-
riod vtoroi mirovoi voiny:sbornik statei. Sankt-Peterburg
[107] Djilas (1962), Conversations with Stalin, Harcourt, Brace 1995 ISBN 5-86789-023-6
& World, New York. pp. 88-89.
[128] Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im
[108] Naimark (1995), pp. 70–71. Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000. ISBN 3-486-
56531-1
[109] Djilas (1962), pp. 87-89.
[129] Zayas (1990), pp. 180-186.
[110] Djilas (1962), page 95.
[130] Zayas (1990), pp. 187-191.
[111] F. C. Jones (1949). “Chapter XII - Events in Manchuria,
1945-47”. Manchuria since 1931 (PDF). London, Oxford [131] United Nations Report of the Special Committee on the
University Press: Royal Institute of International Affairs. problem of Hungary (PDF). 1957.
pp. 224–5 and pp.227–9. Retrieved 17 May 2012. [132] “Springtime for Prague”. Prague Life. Lifeboat Limited.
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[112] Hannah Pakula (2009). The last empress: Madame Chi-
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06-28. [134] The Story of Genocide in Afghanistan Hassan Kakar

[113] Dieter Heinzig (2004). The Soviet Union and communist [135] Report from Afghanistan Claude Malhuret
China, 1945-1950: the arduous road to the alliance. M.E.
[136] Kushen, Neier, p. 45
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11-28. [137] Hintergrund“Anonyma”. Die ungeheure sexuelle Gewalt
der Roten Armee (German), (Russian)
[114] Robyn Lim (2003). The geopolitics of East Asia: the
search for equilibrium. Psychology Press. p. 86. ISBN [138] Davies, Norman (1982) God's Playground. A History of
0-415-29717-6. Retrieved 2010-11-28. Poland, Columbia University Press, Vol. II, ISBN 0-231-
12819-3
[115] Ronald H. Spector (2008). In the Ruins of Empire: The
Japanese Surrender and the Battle for Postwar Asia. Ran- [139] Carl R. Proffer, Russia in Prussia, The New York Times,
dom House, Inc. p. 33. ISBN 0-8129-6732-1. Retrieved August 7, 1977
2010-11-28.
[140] A Man without Breath, p. 463-4.
[116] Asmolov, Konstantin (2008). “Pobeda na Dal'nem Vos-
[141] “Polish artist in hot water over Soviet rapist sculpture”.
toke”[Victory in the Far East]. In Dyukov, Aleksandr;
Retrieved 14 February 2016.
Pyhalov, Igor. Velikaya obolgannaya voina [The Great
Slandered War] (in Russian) 2. Moscow: Yauza. [142] “Poland will not charge artist over Soviet rapist sculpture”
, 17 October 2013, News.net. America/Los_Angeles.
[117] Mayumi Itoh, Japanese War Orphans in Manchuria: For-
gotten Victims of World War II, Palgrave Macmillan, April [143] SPIEGEL ONLINE, Hamburg, Germany (17 October
2010, ISBN 978-0-230-62281-4, p. 34. 2013). “Skulptur einer Vergewaltigung in Polen schock-
iert russischen Botschafter”. SPIEGEL ONLINE. Re-
[118] Ealey, Mark. “An August Storm: the Soviet-Japan trieved 14 February 2016.
Endgame in the Pacific War”. Japan Focus. Retrieved
21 February 2014.

[119] Jacob Robinson. Transfer of Property in Enemy Occupied 7.10 Sources

Territory. The American Journal of International Law,
Vol. 39, No. 2 (Apr., 1945), pp. 216-230
[120] Isvestiya, 28 April 1942.
[121] Bergström 2007, p. 18.
[122] Hall and Quinlan 2000, p. 53.
• Marta Hillers, A Woman in Berlin: Six Weeks in the
Conquered City Translated by Anthes Bell, ISBN 0-
8050-7540-2
• Antony Beevor, Berlin: The Downfall 1945, Pen-
guin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5
92 CHAPTER 7. SOVIET WAR CRIMES

• Bergstrom, Christer (2007). Barbarossa – The
Air Battle: July–December 1941. London:
Chervron/Ian Allen. ISBN 978-1-85780-270-2.
Bergstrom does make a point of noting that crimes
against PoWs, and specifically against captured air-
crew, were pretty universal in World War II.
• Hall and Quinlan (2000). KG55. Red Kite. ISBN
0-9538061-0-3
• Max Hastings, Armageddon: The Battle for Ger-
many, 1944–1945, Chapter 10: Blood and Ice: East
Prussia ISBN 0-375-41433-9
• Fisch, Bernhard, Nemmersdorf, Oktober 1944.
Was in Ostpreußen tatsächlich geschah. Berlin:
1997. ISBN 3-932180-26-7. (about most of
the Nemmersdorf atrocity having been set up by
Goebbels)
• German rape victims find a voice at last, Kate Con-
nolly, The Observer, June 23, 2002
• “They raped every German female from eight to
80”, Antony Beevor, The Guardian, 1 May 2002
• Excerpt, Chapter one The Struggle for Europe: The
Turbulent History of a Divided Continent 1945–
2002 – William I. Hitchcock – 2003 – ISBN 0-385-
49798-9 ( The occupation of East Prussia)
• Description of the atrocities of the Red Army in
East Prussia, quotations from Ilya Ehrenburg, po-
ems by anti-cruelty Red Army officers and details
of suicides and rapings of German women and chil-
dren in East Prussia.
• Book Review: The Siege of Budapest: 100 Days in
World War II

• John Toland, The Last 100 Days, Chapter Two: Five • HNet review of The Russians in Germany: A History
Minutes before Midnight ISBN 0-8129-6859-X of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945–1949.

• Norman M. Naimark, The Russians in Germany: • Mark Ealey: As World War II entered its final stages
A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, 1945– the belligerent powers committed one heinous act
1949. Harvard University Press, 1995. ISBN 0- after another History News Network (Focus on the
674-78405-7 Asian front)

• Catherine Merridale, Ivan's War, the Red Army
1939–1945, London: Faber and Faber, 2005, ISBN
0-571-21808-3
• Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, The Wehrmacht War
Crimes Bureau, 1939-1945 (in Wikipedia). Preface
by Professor Howard Levie. Lincoln: University of
Nebraska Press, 1989. ISBN 0-8032-9908-7. New
revised edition with Picton Press, Rockland, Maine,
ISBN 0-89725-421-X.
• 27 Jan 2002 on-line article regarding author Antony
Beevor's references to Soviet rapes in Germany
• Report of an eye witness: Erika Morgenstern, who
survived Königsberg 1945 as a child (in German):
part 1 on YouTube, part 2 on YouTube, part 3 on
YouTube

• Alfred-Maurice de Zayas, A Terrible Revenge. The

Ethnic Cleansing of the East European Germans,
1944–1950, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1994,
ISBN 0-312-12159-8

• Elizabeth B. Walter, Barefoot in the Rubble 1997,

ISBN 0-9657793-0-0

7.11 External links

• The forgotten victims of WWII: Masculinities and
rape in Berlin, 1945, James W. Messerschmidt,
University of Southern Maine

• Book Review: A Woman in Berlin: Eight Weeks in

the Conquered City, ISBN 0-8050-7540-2

• Laws of War: Laws and Customs of War on Land

(Hague IV); October 18, 1907

• Swiss legation report of the Russian invasion of

Hungary in the spring of 1945
Chapter 8
Persecution of Christians in the Soviet
Union
Throughout the history of the Soviet Union (1922–
1991), Soviet authorities suppressed and persecuted var-
ious forms of Christianity to different extents depending
on the particular era. Soviet policy advocated Marxist–
Leninist atheism, which consistently advocated the con-
trol, suppression, and the elimination of religious beliefs
during its implementation in the Soviet Union.* [1]
The state was committed to the destruction of re-
ligion,* [2]* [3] and destroyed churches, mosques and
temples, ridiculed, harassed, incarcerated and executed
religious leaders, flooded the schools and media with
atheistic teachings, and generally promoted atheism as
the truth that society should accept.* [4]* [5] The total
number of Christian victims of Soviet state atheist poli-
cies, has been estimated to range between 12-20 mil-
lion.* [6]* [7]* [8]
Religious beliefs and practices persisted among the ma-
jority of the population,* [4] in the domestic and private
spheres but also in the scattered public spaces allowed
by a state that recognized its failure to eradicate reli-
gion and the political dangers of an unrelenting culture
war.* [2]* [9]
8.1 Official Soviet stance
See also: Soviet anti-religious legislation and Marxist–
Leninist atheism
The Soviet regime had an ostensible commitment to ception (real or imagined) of their resistance to the state's
the complete annihilation of religious institutions and broader campaign against religion.* [23]
ideas.* [10] Militant atheism was central to the ideology
of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union* [11] and a
high priority of all Soviet leaders.* [3] Convinced athe-
ists were considered to be more virtuous individuals than
those of religious belief.* [3]
The state established atheism as the only scientific pression of religion in order to disseminate atheism.* [23]
truth.* [12]* [13]* [14]* [15]* [16]* [17] Soviet authorities
forbade the criticism of atheism or of the state's anti-
religious policies; such criticism could lead to forced re-
tirement, arrest and/or imprisonment.* [18]* [19]* [20]
93
Soviet law never officially outlawed the holding of reli-
gious views, and the various Soviet Constitutions always
guaranteed the right to believe. However, since Marxist
ideology as interpreted by Lenin* [21] and by his succes-
sors regarded religion as an obstacle to the construction
of a communist society, putting an end to all religion (and
replacing it with atheism* [22]) became a fundamentally
important ideological goal of the Soviet state. The perse-
cution of religion took place officially through many legal
measures designed to hamper religious activities, through
a large volume of anti-religious propaganda, and through
education. In practice the state also sought to control reli-
gious bodies and to interfere with them, with the ultimate
goal of making them disappear.* [22] To this effect, the
state sought to control the activities of the leaders of the
different religious communities.* [10]
The Communist Party often rejected the principle of
treating all religious believers as public enemies,* [21]
partly due to pragmatic considerations (given the large
number of people adhering to a faith) and also partly from
the belief that the number of the believers included many
loyal Soviet citizens whom the authorities ought to con-
vince to become atheists rather than attack outright.
Religious believers found themselves always subject to
anti-religious propaganda and to legislation that restricted
religious practice. They frequently suffered restrictions
within Soviet society. Rarely, however, did the Soviet
state officially ever subject them to arrest, imprisonment
or death simply for having holding beliefs. Instead, the
methods of persecution represented a reaction to the per-
The campaign was designed to disseminate atheism, and
the acts of violence and terror tactics deployed, while al-
most always officially invoked on the basis of perceived
resistance to the state, aimed in the larger scheme not sim-
ply to dampen opposition, but to further assist in the sup-
94 CHAPTER 8. PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN THE SOVIET UNION

8.2 Soviet tactics to intensify the anti-religious propaganda in the school

system, the Chief Administration for Political Enlight-
The tactics varied over the years and became more mod- enment *
(Glavpolitprosvet) was established in November
erate or more harsh at different times. Among common 1920. [31]
tactics included confiscating church property, ridiculing Lenin's decree on the separation of church and state in
religion, harassing believers, and propagating atheism in early 1918 deprived the formerly official church of its sta-
the schools. Actions toward particular religions, however, tus of legal person, the right to own property, or to teach
were determined by State interests, and most organized religion in both state and private schools or to any group
religions were never outlawed. of minors.* [32] The decree abolished the privileges of the
Some actions against Orthodox priests and believ- church and thus ended the alliance between church and
ers along with execution included torture, being state. The clergy openly attacked the decree. The leader-
sent to prison camps, labour camps or mental hos- ship of the Church issued a special appeal *
to believers to
* * * *
pitals. [24] [25] [26] [27] Many Orthodox (along obstruct the enforcement of the decree. [33]
with peoples of other faiths) were also subjected to In addition, the Decree“On the Separation of the Church
psychological punishment or torture and mind control from the State and the School from the Church”also
experimentation in order to force them give up their determined the relationship between school and church.
religious convictions (see Punitive psychiatry in the “School shall be separated from church,”the Decree said.
Soviet Union).* [25]* [26]* [28] During the first five years “The teaching of religious doctrines in all the state and
of Soviet power, the Bolsheviks executed 28 Russian public, as well as private educational institutions where
Orthodox bishops and over 1,200 Russian Orthodox general subjects are taught shall not be permitted. Citi-
priests. Many others were imprisoned or exiled.* [1] zens may teach and be taught religion in private.”* [33]
In the Soviet Union, in addition to the methodical clos- Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow excommunicated the So-
ing and destruction of churches, the charitable and so- viet leadership on January 19, 1918 (Julian Calendar)
cial work formerly done by ecclesiastical authorities was for conducting this campaign. In retaliation the regime
taken over by the state. As with all private property, arrested and killed dozens of bishops, thousands of the
Church owned property was confiscated into public use. lower clergy and monastics, and multitudes of laity.* [34]
The few places of worship left to the Church were legally The seizing of church property over the next few years
viewed as state property which the government permitted would be marked by a brutal campaign of violent ter-
the church to use. ror.* [35]
Protestant Christians in the USSR (Baptists, Pentecostals,
During the Russian Civil War, many clerics were killed.
Adventists etc.) in the period after the Second world war
Some died as a result of spontaneous violence endemic
were compulsively sent to mental hospitals, or enduredin the power vacuum of the war and some were executed
trials and imprisonment (often for refusal to enter mili-
by state security services for supporting the White armies.
tary service). Some were even compulsively deprived ofThe church claimed that 322 bishops and priests had been
parental rights.* [29] killed during the Revolution.* [36] Between June 1918
and January 1919, official church figures (which did not
include the Volga, Kama and several other regions in
Russia) claimed that one metropolitan, eighteen bishops,
8.3 Anti-religious campaign 1917– one hundred and two priests, one hundred and fifty-four
1921 deacons, and ninety-four monks/nuns had been killed
(laity not recorded).* [37] The estimate of 330 clergy
and monastics killed by 1921 may have been an under-
Main article: USSR anti-religious campaign (1917– estimate, due to the fact that 579 monasteries/convents
1921) had been liquidated during this period and there were
widespread mass executions of monks/nuns during these
and 1922 confiscation of Russian Orthodox Church prop- liquidations.* [37]
erty Many sections of the Russian Orthodox Church sup-
In August 1917, following the collapse of the tsarist ported the anti-Soviet regimes such as those of Kolchak
government, a council of the Russian Orthodox Church and Denikin during the civil war. In 1918, the Bishop of
reestablished the patriarchate and elected the metropoli- Ufa made xenophobic and anti-Bolshevik speeches and
tan Tikhon as patriarch.* [30] rallied the people to the White cause in 1918. The Arch-
bishop of Ekaterinburg organized protest demonstrations
In November 1917, within weeks of the revolution,
when he learned of the Romanov family's execution in
the People's Commissariat for Enlightenment was estab-
July 1918, and he held a victory celebration when Admi-
lished, which a month later created the All-Russian Union
ral Kolchak took the city in February 1919. In both the
of Teachers-Internationalists for the purpose of remov-
Siberian and Ukrainian fronts,“Jesus Christ Regiments”
ing religious instruction from school curricula. In order
 8.3. ANTI-RELIGIOUS CAMPAIGN 1917–1921
, orthodox by Orthodox hiearachs on the scene, aided
White Armies. In December 1918, the priest Georgy
Shavelsky joined the propaganda agency of the White
government in the South.* [38]
This widespread violence by members of the Red Army
against the church was not openly supported by Lenin,
however, in later years high-ranking Soviet officials in-
cluding Emelian Yaroslavsky claimed central responsibil-
ity for these killings.* [39] They justified the violence by
revising history and declaring that the church had been
actively fighting against them.* [39]
The church had expressed its support to General Ko-
rnilov's counter-revolutionary coup attempt, assisted the
rebellions of Kerensky and Krasnov, and had called on
believers to fight against the new state, and even to shed
blood in fighting against it. There was Tikhon's appeal
“To the Orthodox People”in which he presented Tikhon's
call for believers to be willing even to give up their lives
as martyrs in the effort to preserve their religion (“It is
better to shed one’s blood and to be awarded martyr’s
crown than to let the enemies desecrate Orthodox faith,”
said the Appeal.* [33])
Most of the clergy reacted toward the Russian Revolu-
tion with open hostility. During the Civil War, many
representatives of the Russian orthodox clergy collabo-
rated or had sympathies with the White Armies and for-
eign invading armies, hoping for a restoration of the pre-
revolutionary regime.* [40] The church had expressed its
support to General Kornilov's counter-revolutionary coup
attempt. The church adopted the Enactment on Legal
Status of the Church in Russia which tried to vindicate
the privileges that the church had enjoyed for centuries
under the old regime. The Orthodox Church, said the
document,“holds the pre-eminent public and legal posi-
tion in Russian state among other denominations”.* [33]
Tikhon anathematised the Soviet government and called
on believers to fight against it and its decrees. The church
leadership openly urged fighting against Soviet Govern-
ment in its appeal entitled “To the Orthodox People”.
“It is better to shed one’s blood and to be awarded mar-
tyr’s crown than to let the enemies desecrate Orthodox
faith,”said the Appeal.* [33]
The church's opposition to the Soviet Government was
part of a general counter-revolutionary movement. In the
first days after the victory of the October armed uprising
in Petrograd, the clergy assisted the rebellion of Keren-
sky and Krasnov as they attempted to overthrow Soviet
power. The activity of the Local Council in Moscow sup-
ported the cadets who had revolted. When the rebels
seized the Kremlin for a time, its cathedrals and bell-
towers were placed at their disposal at once.* [33]
Church resistance was not organized nationally, however,
and Tikhon never gave his blessing to White forces.* [39]
The Patriarch in fact declared his neutrality during the
civil war and attempted to issue instructions to the Rus-
sian orthodox church on political neutrality and disen-
95
gagement.* [41] Propaganda at the time claimed that this
was a camouflage for the church's real position which was
supposedly support for a return of Tsarism* [41]
Furthermore, the fraudulence of later Soviet revisions is
clearly shown through the fact that none of the docu-
mented acts of brutalities against members of the clergy
by the Reds involved anyone who actually took up arms
with the Whites, and only a few of them were cases of
clergy who gave vocal support.* [39] The fraudulence of
such revisionism was shown even further by the fact that
the slicing up of unarmed prisoners, scalping and tortur-
ing believers, shooting priests' wives and children, and
many other such acts recorded in the documented acts of
brutality by the Reds against the Orthodox church dur-
ing the civil war have nothing to do with acting in 'self-
defense'.* [39]
Anti-religious atheistic propaganda was considered to be
of essential importance to Lenin's party from its early pre-
revolutionary days and the regime was quick to create
atheist journals to attack religion shortly after its com-
ing to power. The first operated under the name Revolu-
tion and the Church (Revolustiia i tserkov). It was origi-
nally believed in the ideology that religion would disap-
pear quickly with the coming of the revolution and that
its replacement with atheism would be inevitable. The
leadership of the new state did not take much time, how-
ever, to come to the conclusion that religion would not
disappear on its own and greater efforts should be given
to anti-religious propaganda.* [41]
For this purpose atheistic work was centrally consolidated
underneath the Agitation and Propaganda Department of
the CP Central Committee (Agitprop) in 1920 using the
guidelines of article 13 of the Russian Communist Party
(RCP) adopted by the 8th party congress.
Article 13 stated:* [41]
As far as religion is concerned, the RCP
will not be satisfied by the decreed separa-
tion of Church and State... The Party aims
at the complete destruction of links between
the exploiting classes and... religious pro-
paganda, while assisting the actual liberation
of the working masses from religious prej-
udices and organizing the broadest possible
education-enlightening and anti-religious pro-
paganda. At the same time it is necessary care-
fully to avoid any insult to the believers' feel-
ings, which would lead to the hardening of re-
ligious fanaticism
The article would be very important in anti-religious pol-
icy in the USSR in later years, and its last sentence, which
would be both ignored and recalled back at different point
in Soviet history, would play an important role in later ri-
valries in the power struggles of later years between dif-
ferent Soviet leaders.* [31]
96 CHAPTER 8. PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN THE SOVIET UNION

Public debates were held between Christians and atheists Martsinkovsky was arrested and sent into exile in 1922
after the revolution up until they were suspended in 1929. on account of his preaching that was attracting people to
Among famous participants of these debates included on religion and told he could return in a few years once the
the atheist side, Commissar for Enlightenment Anatoly workers had become wiser (he was in fact never allowed
Lunacharsky.* [42] People would line up for hours in or- to return).* [47]
der to get seats to see them. The authorities sometimes The church allegedly tried to set up free religio-
tried to limit the speaking time of the Christians to ten philosophical academies, study circles and periodicals in
minutes, and on other occasions the debates would be the 1920s, which Lenin met by arresting and expelling
called off at last minute. This may have been a result
all the organizers abroad and shutting down these efforts
of a reportedly high quality of some of the religious de- with force.* [48]
baters. Professor V.S. Martsinkovsky, raised as Ortho-
dox but who had become an evangelical Protestant, was Despite the August 1921 instruction, the state took a very
one of the best on the religious side, and Lunacharsky re- hard line against the Orthodox Church on the pretext
portedly canceled one of his debates with him after hav- that it was a legacy of the Tsarist past (the difference in
ing lost in a previous debate.* [43] On one occasion in practice and policy may have reflected internal disagree-
1921 a large crowd of Komsomol hecklers arrived at one ment among the party leadership). Leon Trotsky wanted
of Martsinkovsky's debates and occupied the two front Patriarch Tikhon to be killed, but Lenin forbade it for
rows. When the leader tried to heckle, he found himself fear it would produce another Patriarch Hermogenes (a
unsupported by his boys, and after wards they told him Patriarch who was killed by the Poles when they occu-
that he was not saying what they were told he was going pied Moscow in 1612).* [49]* [50]
to say.* [43] In order to weaken the Orthodox church, the state sup-
ported a schism called the Renovationist sect, by giving
it legal recognition in 1922 and continuing to terrorize
the old Orthodox as well as deprive it of legal means of
8.4 Anti-religious campaign 1921– existence.* [49] The Patriarch was arrested in 1922 under
1928 thinly veiled criminal proceedings,* [11] and his chancery
was taken over by the Renovationists.* [51] The Renova-
tionists restored a Holy Synod to power, and brought di-
Main article: USSR anti-religious campaign (1921– vision among clergy and faithful.
1928)
In 1922 there was a famine in Russia. Factory and of-
fice workers in 1921 proposed that the church's wealth
The tenth CPSU congress met in 1921 and it passed a res- be used for hunger relief. These proposals were sup-
olution calling for 'wide-scale organization, leadership, ported by some clergymen. But many other priests led by
and cooperation in the task of anti-religious agitation and Tikhon opposed giving any part of the valuables to help
propaganda among the broad masses of the workers, us- the hungry. Tikhon threatened repressions against those
ing the mass media, films, books, lectures, and other de- clergymen and laymen who wanted to give away church
vices.* [44] riches.* [33]
When church leaders demanded freedom of religion un- All-Russia Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR
der the constitution, the Communists responded with ter- decreed on February 26, 1922 that surplus church valu-
ror. They murdered the metropolitan of Kiev and ex- ables should be expropriated in response to the people’
ecuted twenty-eight bishops and 6,775 priests. Despite s requests. Under the decree, part of the gold and silver
mass demonstrations in support of the church, repression articles were to be confiscated from the property placed
cowed most ecclesiastical leaders into submission.* [45] at the disposal of believers by the state free of charge.
In August 1921, a Plenary meeting of the CPSU Central Articles made of precious metals were to be taken away
Committee (the highest leadership of the state) adopted with caution and the clergymen were to be informed in
an 11-point instruction on the interpretation and appli- advance of the procedure and dates for the confiscation.
cation of article 13 (mentioned above). It differenti- It was stipulated that the process of expropriation should
ated between religious believers and uneducated believ- not hinder public worship or hurt the interests of believ-
ers, and allowed the latter to have party membership if ers.* [33]
they were devoted to Communism, but that they should be Soviet police reports from 1922 claim that the peasantry
re-educated to make them atheists. It also called for mod-
(and especially women) considered Tikhon to be a mar-
eration in the anti-religious campaign and emphasized tyr after his arrest over his supposed resistance and that
that the state was fighting against all religion and not sim-
the 'progressive' clergy were traitors to the religion; there
ply individual ones (such as the Orthodox church)* [46] were also rumors circulated that Jews were running the
The public debates began to be suppressed after the 10th Soviet Supreme Church Administration, and for this rea-
congress, until they were formally suspended in 1929 son Lenin forbade Trotsky from involvement with the
and replaced with public lectures by atheists. V. S. campaign, and prevented certain key roles being given to
8.4. ANTI-RELIGIOUS CAMPAIGN 1921–1928 97

those of Jewish descent.* [52] strongly. Lenin called the struggle to disseminate atheism
*
There was bloody incident in a town called Shuia. Lenin 'the cause of our state'. [62]
wrote that their enemies had foolishly afforded them a The government had difficulties trying to implement anti-
great opportunity by this action, since he believed that the religious education in schools, due to a shortage of athe-
peasant masses would not support the church's hold on its ist teachers. Anti-religious education began in secondary
valuables in light of the famine and that the resistance that schools in 1925.
the church offered could be met with retaliation against
The state changed its position on the renovationists and
the clergy.* [50] Otto von Radowitz, the counselor at the began to increasingly see them as an independent threat
German embassy in Moscow, recorded that the campaign in the late 1920s due to their great success in attracting
was a deliberate provocation to get the clergy to react in people to religion.* [63] Tikhon died in 1925 and the So-
order to attack it in response.* [11] viets forbade the holding of patriarchal elections.* [64]
Lenin outlined that the entire issue of the church valuable Patriarchal locum tenens (acting Patriarch) Metropolitan
campaign could be used as a pretext in the public eye to Sergius (Stragorodsky, 1887–1944) issued a declaration
attack the church and kill clergy.* [52] in 1927, accepting the Soviet authority over the church
The sixth sector of the OGPU, led by Yevgeny Tuchkov, as legitimate, pledging the church's cooperation with the
began aggressively arresting and executing bishops, government *
and condemning political dissent within the
priests, and devout worshipers, such as Metropolitan Ve- church. [65]
niamin in Petrograd in 1922 for refusing to accede to He did this in order to secure the survival of the
the demand to hand in church valuables (including sacred church.* [64] Metropolitan Sergius formally expressed his
relics). Archbishop Andronik of Perm, who worked as a “loyalty”to the Soviet government and thereafter re-
missionary in Japan, who was shot after being forced to frained from criticizing the state in any way. This at-
dig his own grave.* [53] Bishop Germogen of Tobolsk, titude of loyalty, however, provoked more divisions in
who voluntarily accompanied the czar into exile, was the church itself: inside Russia, a number of faithful op-
strapped to the paddle wheel of a steamboat and mangled posed Sergius, and abroad, the Russian metropolitans of
by the rotating blades. .* [53] America and western Europe severed their relations with
*
In 1922, the Solovki Camp of Special Purpose, the Moscow. [32]
first Russian concentration camp and a former Orthodox By this he granted himself with the power that he, be-
monastery, was established in the Solovki Islands in the ing a deputy of imprisoned Metropolitan Peter and act-
White Sea.* [54] In the years 1917–1935, 130,000 Rus- ing against his will, had no right to assume according to
sian Orthodox priests were arrested; 95,000 were put to the XXXIV Apostolic canon, which led to a split with the
death, executed by firing squad.* [55] Father Pavel Flo- Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia abroad and
rensky, exiled in 1928 and executed in 1937, was one of the Russian True Orthodox Church (Russian Catacomb
the New-martyrs of this particular period. Church) within the Soviet Union,* [2] as they remained
In the first five years after the Bolshevik revolution, an faithful to the Canons of the Apostles, declaring the part
English journalist estimated that 28 bishops and 1,215 of the church led by Metropolitan
*
Sergius schism, some-
* *
priests were executed. [56] [57] Recently released evi- times coined as sergianism. [30]
dence indicates over 8,000 were killed in 1922 during the Due to this canonical disagreement it is disputed which
conflict over church valuables.* [56] church has been the legitimate successor to the Russian
Specialized anti-religious publications began in 1922, in- Orthodox Church that had existed before 1925.
cluding Yemelyan Yaroslavsky’ s Bezbozhnik, which later In 1927, the state tried to mend the schism by bringing the
formed the basis for the League of the Militant Godless. renovationists back into the Orthodox church, partly so
With the conclusion of the campaign of seizing church that the former could be better controlled through agents
valuables, the terror campaign against the church* [58] they had in the latter.
was called off for a while. The church closings The Komsomol and later LMG would try to implement
ended for a period and abuses were investigated.* [59] the 10th Congress resolution by various attacks, parades,
The propaganda war continue, and public institutions theatrical performances, journals, brochures and films.
worked to purge religious views from intellectuals and The Komsomol would hold crude blasphemous 'Kom-
academia.* [60]* [61] somol Christmases' and 'Komsomol Easters' headed by
The old Marxist assumption that religion would disap- hooligans dressed as orthodox clergy.* [47] The proces-
pear on its own with changing material conditions was sions would include the burning of icons, religious books,
pragmatically challenged as religion persisted. The So- mock images of Christ, the Virgin, etc. The propa-
viet leadership debated how best to combat religion. The ganda campaign, however, was a failure and many peo-
positions ranged from the 'rightist' belief that religion ple remained with their religious convictions. The church
would die on its own naturally with increasing education held its own public events with some success, and well
and the 'leftist' belief that religion needed to be attacked competed with the anti-religious propaganda during these
98 CHAPTER 8. PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN THE SOVIET UNION

years.* [66] employed terror tactics against believers in order to fur-

ther the campaign, while employing the guise of protect-
ing the state or prosecuting law-breakers. The clergy were
attacked as foreign spies and trials of bishops were con-
8.5 Anti-religious campaign 1928– ducted with their clergy as well as lay adherents who were
1941 reported as 'subversive terroristic gangs' that had been
unmasked.* [69] Official propaganda at the time called
for the banishment of the very concept of God from
See also: Society of the Godless and NKVD Order No.
the Soviet Union.* [70] These persecutions were meant
00447
to assist the ultimate socialist goal of eliminating reli-
Main article: USSR anti-religious campaign (1928–
gion.* [70]* [71] From 1932 to 1937 Joseph Stalin de-
1941)
clared the 'five-year plans of atheism' and the LMG was
charged with completely eliminating all religious expres-
The Orthodox church suffered terribly in the 1930s, sion in the country.* [70] Many of these same methods
and many of its members were killed or sent to labor and terror tactics were also imposed against others that
camps. Between 1927 and 1940, the number of Ortho- the regime considered to be its ideological enemies.
dox churches in the Russian Republic fell from 29,584 to
The debate between the ‘rightist’and ‘leftist’sides
fewer than 500. The watershed year was 1929, when So-
of how to best combat religion found some conclusion in
viet policy put much new legislation in place that formed
1930 and after wards, when the state officially condemned
the basis for the harsh anti-religious persecution in the
extremes on both sides. Marxist leaders who took either
1930s.
position on this issue would find themselves attacked by
Anti-religious education was introduced beginning in the a paranoid Stalin who did not tolerate other authorities to
first-grade in 1928 and anti-religious work was intensi- speak as authorities on public policy.* [72]
fied throughout the education system. At the same time,
A lull in the active persecution was experienced in
in order to remove the church's intellectuals and support
1930-33 following Stalin's 1930 article 'Diziness From
official propaganda that only backward people believed in
Success', however, it swept back in fervor again after
God,* [67] the government conducted a massive purge of
wards.* [73]
Christian intellectuals, most of whom died in the camps
or in prison.* [68] In 1934 the persecution of the Renovationist sect began
to reach the proportions of the persecution of the old Or-
The church's successful competition with the ongoing and
thodox church.* [74]
widespread atheistic propaganda, prompted new laws to
be adopted in 1929 on 'Religious Associations' as well as During the purges of 1937 and 1938, church documents
amendments to the constitution, which forbade all forms record that 168,300 Russian Orthodox clergy were ar-
of public, social, communal, educational, publishing or rested. Of these, over 100,000 were shot.* [75] Many
missionary activities for religious believers.* [66] This thousands of victims of persecution became recognized
also prevented, of course, the church from printing any in a special canon of saints known as the “new martyrs
material for public consumption or responding to the crit- and confessors of Russia”.
icism against it. This caused many religious tracts to be A decline in enthusiasm in the campaign occurred in the
circulated as illegal literature or samizdat.* [24] Numer- late 1930s.* [76] The tone of the anti-religious campaign
ous other measures were introduced that were designed changed and became more moderate .* [70] It ended at
to cripple the church, and effectively made it illegal to the outbreak of World War II.
have religious activities of any sort outside of liturgical
services within the walls of the few churches that would Official Soviet figures reported that up to one third of ur-
remain open, and even these would be subject to much in- ban and two thirds of rural population still held religious
terference and harassment. Catechism classes, religious beliefs by 1937. However, the anti-religious campaign
schools, study groups, Sunday schools and religious pub- of the past decade and the terror tactics of the militantly
lications were all illegal and/or banned. atheist regime, had effectively eliminated all public ex-
pressions of religion and communal gatherings of believ-
The League of the Militant Godless (LMG), under ers outside of the walls of the few churches that still held
Yemelyan Yaroslavsky, was the main instrument of the services.* [77] This was accomplished in a country that
anti-religious campaign and it was given special powers only a few decades earlier had had a deeply Christian pub-
that allowed it to dictate to public institutions through- lic life and culture that had developed for almost a thou-
out the country what they needed to do for the cam- sand years.
paign.* [42]
After 1929 and through the 1930s, the closing of
churches, mass arrests of the clergy and religiously ac-
tive laity, and persecution of people for attending church
reached unprecedented proportions.* [2]* [66] The LMG
8.6. WORLD WAR II RAPPROCHEMENT 99

8.6 World War II rapprochement function. The Moscow Theological Academy Seminary,
which had been closed since 1918, was re-opened.
The USSR annexed new territories including Eastern Many surviving clergy could return from camps or pris-
Poland, the baltic republics and a portion of Finland in ons, although a significant number (especially those who
1939-1940. Anti-religious work in these territories was did not recognize Sergii's 1927 loyalty pledge) remained
lax in comparison with the rest of the country, which as a and were not allowed to return unless they renounced
whole experienced a decline in persecution after the an- their position. Some clergy that had not recognized the
nexations. The regular seven-day work week was brought 1927 pledge, such as Bishop Afanasii (Sakharov), recog-
back in 1940. nized the validity of the new election and even encour-
Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, and many aged those in the underground church to do so as well,
churches were re-opened under the German occupation. but were not allowed to return from exile despite this.
Stalin ended the anti-religious campaign in order to rally Even after the rapprochement, there was still use of ter-
the country and prevent a large base of Nazi support ror tactics in some cases. After the Red Army recaptured
(which existed in some areas in the early stages of the in- occupied territories, many clergy in these territories were
vasion). In September 1941, three months after the Nazi arrested and sent to prisons or camps for very long terms,
attack, the last antireligious periodicals were shut down, allegedly for collaboration with the Germans, but effec-
officially because of a paper shortage.* [78] Churches tively for their rebuilding of religious life underneath the
were re-opened in the Soviet Union and the League of the occupation.* [85]
Militant Godless (LMG) was disbanded.* [79] Emelian
For example, Riga priest Nikolai Trubetskoi (1907–
Yaroslavsky, the leader and founder of the LMG, who
1978) lived under the Nazi occupation of Latvia, and
had led the entire national anti-religious campaign in the
when the Germans retreated out of Latvia in 1944, he es-
1930s, found himself writing an article in praise of Or-
caped out of a German evacuation boat and hid behind to
thodox Christian Fyodor Dostoyevsky for his alleged ha-
await the Red Army, but he was arrested by the NKVD
tred of the Germans.* [80]
and sentenced to ten years of hard labor for collabora-
The German forces, while allowing much greater reli- tion with the enemy. This was because under the occu-
gious tolerance, attempted to sever the Orthodox church's pation he had been a zealous pastor and had done very
loyalties to the Patriarch in Moscow during the occupa- successful missionary work. In reference to missionary
tion, sometimes with threats. Ukrainian Banderist nation- work in the occupied territory near Leningrad he wrote
alist partisans killed a number of clergy under the occupa- 'We opened and re-consecrated closed churches, carried
tion who retained loyalty to the Patriarch. The Germans, out mass baptisms. It's hard to imagine how, after years
while allowing the reopening of churches and religious of Soviet domination, people hungered after the Word of
life in the occupied region, did not allow for seminaries God. We married and buried people; we had literally no
to reopen due to the occupation objective of eliminating time for sleep. I think that if such a mission were sent
education for the Slavic peoples, which would be reduced today [1978] to the Urals, Siberia or even the Ukraine,
to no more than the first two primary school grades.* [81] we'd see the same result.'.* [86]
Joseph Stalin revived the Russian Orthodox Church to in- Metropolitan Iosif (Chernov) (1893–1975), the Bishop
tensify patriotic support for the war effort and presented of Taganrog before the War, had spent nine years in So-
Russia as a defender of Christian civilization, because viet prisons and camps by the time Germans occupied
he saw the church had an ability to arouse the people the city. He used the opportunity of the occupation to
in a way that the party could not and because he wanted very actively revive church life and suffered threats from
western help.* [5] On September 4, 1943, Metropolitans the Nazis for remaining loyal to the Patriarch in Moscow.
Sergius (Stragorodsky), Alexius (Simansky) and Nicholas After the Nazis retreated, he was sentenced to eleven
(Yarushevich) were officially received by Soviet leader years of hard labor in Eastern Siberia for reviving church
Joseph Stalin who proposed to create the Moscow Patri- life. He was released in 1955.* [87] Archbishop Veni-
archate. They received permission to convene a coun- amin (1900–1976) of Poltava lived in the territory that
cil on September 8, 1943, that elected Sergius Patriarch belonged to Poland from 1921 to 1939. He was con-
of Moscow and All Russia.* [82] The church had a pub- secrated a bishop in 1941 just before the invasion, and
lic presence once again and passed measures reaffirm- he suffered some pressure from the occupying forces to
ing their hierarchical structure that flatly contradicted the break relations with the Patriarch in Moscow, but he re-
1929 legislation and even Lenin's 1918 decree. The of- sisted. After the Germans retreated he was arrested and
ficial legislation was never withdrawn, however, which is imprisoned for twelve years in the Kolyma camps, from
suggestive that the authorities did not consider that this which experience he never physically recovered and lost
tolerance would become permanent.* [83] This is consid- all of his hair.
ered by some a violation of the XXX Apostolic canon, as
These mass arrests were echoed in territories that were
no church hierarch could be consecrated by secular au-
not even occupied by the Germans. For example, in April
thorities.* [84] A new patriarch was elected, theological
1946 there was a wave of arrests in Moscow of clergy that
schools were opened, and thousands of churches began to
100 CHAPTER 8. PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN THE SOVIET UNION

belonged to Bishop Afanasii's group that had returned to and elsewhere the church's metropolitan Josyf Slipyj and
the official church; they were sentenced to long terms of nine bishops, as well as hundreds of clergy and leading lay
hard labor. Many laity were arrested and imprisoned as activists. While being restricted in the rest of the coun-
well including the religious philosopher SI Fudel; most of try, the Orthodox church was encouraged to expand in
them had already been in prison and few of them would the western Ukraine in order to take away believers from
see freedom until after Stalin died. The spiritual father of the Ukrainian Catholics.* [89]
the group, Fr Seraphim (Batiukov), had died in 1942, but All the above-mentioned bishops and significant part of
his body was dug up and disposed of elsewhere in order to clergymen died in prisons, concentration camps, inter-
prevent pilgrimages to his grave by people who believed
nal exile, or soon after their release during the post-
him to be a saint. Stalin thaw.* [90] The exception was metropolitan Josyf
Slipyj who, after 18 years of imprisonment and perse-
cution, was released thanks to the intervention of Pope
John XXIII, arrived in Rome, where he received the ti-
8.7 Postwar era tle of Major Archbishop of Lviv, and became cardinal
in 1965.* [90] All Eastern-rite monasteries had been shut
See also: Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church down by 1953.* [91]
The Orthodox believers had to fight hard in order to keep
Between 1945 and 1959 the official organization of the the churches that were re-opened during the war, and
church was greatly expanded, although individual mem- some of them were closed by the Council for the Af-
bers of the clergy were occasionally arrested and exiled. fairs of the Orthodox Church, which also tried to prevent
The number of open churches reached 25,000. By 1957 bishops from using disciplinary measures against church
about 22,000 Russian Orthodox churches had become members for immorality.* [92] Local plenipotentiaries of
active. But in 1959, Nikita Khrushchev initiated his the Council for the Affairs of the Orthodox Church used
own campaign against the Russian Orthodox Church and much effort to make it difficult for clergy to protect newly
forced the closure of about 12,000 churches. By 1985, reopened churches (this likely applied to other religions
fewer than 7,000 churches remained active. as well). For example, in 1949, three of the fifty-five
As the Red Army progressively began to push the Ger- churches in the diocese of Crimea were closed, partly per-
man soldiers out of Russia and victory became more cer- haps as a measure to scale down the prestige and achieve-
tain, anti-religious propaganda began to resurrect. The ments of the martyr-Bishop Luka. In order to assist new
Central Committee issued new resolutions in 1944 and closures, a new measure was imposed that allowed for
45 that called for a renewal of anti-religious propaganda. churches to be closed if it had not been served by a priest
For the rest of Stalin's life, however, the propaganda for six months. This new measure, coupled with the post-
was mostly limited to words and its main target was war shortage of clergy caused by the regime (through both
against the Vatican. With the construction of the 'Iron the liquidation or arrests of clergy by the state and the lack
Curtain' across countries with large amounts of Roman of reopenings for seminaries), allowed for many churches
Catholics, this policy was partly meant to isolate the to be closed.
communist countries from the Vatican's influence. Car- The Protestants also saw more tolerance in the post-war
icatures of Pius XII and other RCC bishops depicted period.* [93] The baptists, however, were viewed with
them as war mongers and supporters of police brutali- great suspicion for their active proselytizing and their
ties. This propaganda was accompanied with the liquida- strong foreign ties, especially with the United States* [88]/
tion of Uniate churches (eastern-rite catholic churches) in
Tax exemptions for Monasteries was instituted on August
the Ukraine, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Romania which
29, 1945.
were forcibly merged with the Orthodox church.* [88]
They were given the option of becoming western-rite Stalin's new tolerance for religion was limited, however,
and the state would not tolerate priests who actively pro-
Catholics, but the absence of functioning churches in that
moted the expansion of religion, such as the Sakharovites.
rite except in large cities and dedication to the Byzantine
ritual stopped many from doing so; many who resisted theFor example, in 1945, Bishop Manuil was made head of
official measure were imprisoned. The Lutheran Church the Orenburg Diocese in the Southern Urals where he re-
in the Baltic territories along with the Roman Catholic opened dozens of new parishes, re-lit the fires of faith in
Church were both subject to attacks for what the state many lukewarm people and sparked a religious revival in
the area. Consequently, he was arrested in 1947 and sen-
perceived as loyalties to foreign influences (the Lutherans
tenced to eight years of hard labour.* [87] Dimitri Dudko
in particular were blamed for having open support for the
German conquest.* [88] was arrested for unpublished religious poems, and a group
of Moscow University students that had started a religio-
Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and its clergy became
philosophic study group in the late 1940s were also in-
one of the victims of Soviet authorities in immediate
* famously arrested.* [94] The latter group had started in
postwar time. [32] In 1945 Soviet authorities arrested,
1946-1947 by Ilia Shmain, a 16- to 17-year-old youth
deported and sentenced to forced labor camps in Siberia
8.8. RESUMPTION OF ANTI-RELIGIOUS CAMPAIGN 101

and a student of philology. Shmain had concluded that The USSR Academy of Sciences published its first post-
materialist philosophy was inadequate to explain funda- war atheistic periodical in 1950, but did not follow up
mental existential questions, and he started his club where with a second until 1954.
the group discussed art, philosophy and religion. They On July 7, 1954, the CPSU Central Committee noted that
discussed both eastern religions and Christianity. They the Orthodox church and other Christian sects had suc-
had planned to get baptized when they were arrested on cessfully been attracting many young people with their
January 19, 1949 and then sentenced to 8–10 years of sermons and public activities (which were still techni-
hard labour under the charge of criticizing the teachings cally illegal under the 1929 legislation), and more peo-
of Marxist–Leninism (since they had criticized the athe-
ple were coming to religious services. The Committee
istic aspects of it).* [95] The theological seminary in Sara- therefore called on public institutions to intensify anti-
tov was shut down in 1949.* [96]
religious propaganda. It also called for all school subjects
Administrative decrees and political articles of the crim- to be saturated with atheism and that anti-religious edu-
inal code continued to be used as guises under which an- cation should be enhanced. On November 10, 1954, the
tireligious persecution occurred. Religiously active and Committee issued a contrary resolution (there was a lack
dedicated believers who tried to disseminate their faith of political unity after Stalin's death) that criticized arbi-
were attacked. trariness in the anti-religious campaign, as well as the use
There was little physical attack on the church for the re- of slander, libel and insults against believers.* [100]
mainder of Stalin's lifetime, however, the persecution es- Public institutions, in answer to the July 1954 resolution,
calated in 1947 at which point it was again declared that would begin producing more anti-religious propaganda in
membership in the Komsomol or holding of a teaching the coming years. The Academy of Science in 1957 pub-
position was incompatible with religious belief. Anti- lished its Yearbook of the Museum of History of Reli-
religious propaganda was renewed in the newspapers, but gion and Atheism, and Znanie would begin producing a
with much less strength as it was before. Often the propa- monthly-journal in 1959 called Nauka i religiia (Science
ganda would refrain from mentioning religion specifically and Religion), which would have some resemblance to
and would use some euphemism for it.* [97] the pre-war Bezbozhnik. It grew from 100,000 copies per
issue to 400,000 by the early 1980s, and then declined to
Beginning in 1946, the Soviet press began to criticize pas- *
sive attitudes towards religion, especially in youth orga- 340,000-350,000. [101]
nizations such as the Komsomol and the Pioneers. It crit- The school system would also begin enhancing atheistic
icized public schools where it demanded re-activization materials in its curriculum. For example, one published
of antireligious propaganda on all levels. textbook had the declaration, 'Religion is a fantastic and
In 1947 the All-Union Society for the Dissemination of perverse reflection of the world in man's consciousness....
Political and Scientific Knowledge, Znanie (Knowledge), Religion has become the* medium for the spiritual en-
for short, was established and it effectively inherited the slavement of the masses. [102]
role that had been left behind by the LMG as an anti- The period in the years following shortly after 1954 was
religious propaganda organ.* [4]* [98] It was a much more characterized by much liberalism towards religious belief,
scholarly institution than the LMG, however, and it was but this would come to an end in the late 1950s. The
very diverse such that even religious believers could join church was built up during this period and the number of
it. In 1949 it claimed to have 40,200 full and associate baptisms as well as seminary candidates rose* [103]
members.* [98] The CPSU Central Committee criticized
the organization in 1949 for failing to have enough mem-
bership including particularly scholarly membership, not 8.8 Resumption of anti-religious
paying sufficient attention to atheist propaganda and for
showing insufficient concern for ideological content in its campaign
lectures. The Committee called for it to be transformed
into a mass voluntary organization of Soviet Intelligentsia Main article: USSR anti-religious campaign (1958–
(note: this did not mean people could actually refuse to 1964)
join), it called for it to have more ideological content in
its lectures and that all lectures are to be submitted for
A new period of persecution began in the late 1950s un-
approval prior to delivery.
der Nikita Khrushchev.* [104] The church had advanced
In 1950 it claimed to have 243,000 full and associate its position considerably since 1941, and the government
members with 1800 institutional members.* [98] It would considered it to be necessary to take measures in re-
eventually climb, by 1972, to have 2,470,000 members, sponse.
including 1700 members of the Union and Republican
The two state organizations for overseeing religion in the
Academics of Sciences and 107,000 professors and doc-
country (one for the Orthodox, the other for everyone
tors of sciences; it would run 'Houses of Scientific Athe-
else), changed their functions between 1957 and 1964.
ism' in Soviet cities.* [99]
Originally Stalin had created them in 1943 as liaison bod-
102 CHAPTER 8. PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN THE SOVIET UNION

ies between religious communities and the state, however, in the 1930s. This was a practice of atheist tutors (ap-
in the Khrushchev years their function was re-interpreted pointed by different public institutions including the CP,
as dictatorial supervisors over the religious activities in Komsomol, Znanie and trade unions) visiting known re-
the country.* [105] ligious believers at their homes try to convince them to
New instructions were issued in 1958 attacked the posi- become atheists. In most cases the tutors were work-
tion of monasteries, by placing them under high taxation, mates of the believers. If the believer was not convinced,
cutting their land and working to shut them down in order the tutor would bring it to the attention of their union or
to weaken the church. professional collectives, and the 'backwardness and obsti-
nancy' of the specific believers were presented in public
From 1959 to 1964, the persecution operated on several meetings. If this did not work, administrative harassment
key levels: would follow at work or school, and the believers would
often be subject to lower-paid jobs, blocking of promo-
1. There was a massive closure of churches* [58] tion, or expulsion from college if the believer was in col-
(reducing the number from 22,000 to 7,000 by lege. Teachers commonly physically punished believing
1965.* [106]) schoolchildren.* [109]
2. Closures of monasteries and convents as well as rein- The closure of churches and seminaries was actually re-
forcement of the 1929 legislation to ban pilgrimages ported in the Soviet media as reflecting a natural decline
of people who followed religious faith.
3. Closure of most of the still existing seminaries and
bans on pastoral courses The government in 1961 forbade clergy from applying
any kind of disciplinary measures to the faithful. Priests
4. Banning all services outside of church walls and were turned into the employees of the group of lay mem-
recording the personal identities of all adults re- bers who ‘owned’the parish under the law. The state
questing church baptisms, weddings or funer- attempted to achieve more defections from clergy to athe-
als.* [107] Non-fulfillment of these regulations by ism, although they would have little success.
clergy would lead to disallowance of state registra-
Measures were introduced that interfered with the spiri-
tion for them (which meant they could no longer do
tual life of the church and worked to destroy its financial
any pastoral work or liturgy at all, without special
capacity. Clergy were watched in order to find instances
state permission).
where they could be arrested for breaking the law.
5. The deprivation of parental rights for teaching reli- New public institutions were creating to assist the anti-
gion to their children, a ban on the presence of chil- religious struggle. Laxity in the anti-religious struggle was
dren at church services (beginning in 1961 with the criticized and methodology was discussed in conferences
Baptists and then extended to the Orthodox in 1963) and other means.
and the administration of the Eucharist to children
over the age of four. It is estimated that 50,000 clergy had been executed be-
tween 1917 and the end of the Khrushchev era.* [57] The
6. The forced retirement, arrests and prison sentences number of laity likely greatly exceeds this. Members
to clergymen who criticized atheism* [108] or the of the church hierarchy were jailed or forced out, their
anti-religious campaign, who conducted Christian places taken by docile clergy, many of whom had ties with
charity or who in made religion popular by personal the KGB.
example.* [108]
7. It also disallowed the ringing of church bells and ser-
vices in daytime in some rural settings from May to 8.9 1964–1970s
the end of October under the pretext of field work
requirements.* [108]
After Khrushchev's fall, Soviet writers began to cau-
tiously question the effectiveness of his anti-religious
The government adopted many methods of creating situa- campaign. They came to a general conclusion that it had
tions that allowed for churches or seminaries to be legally failed in spreading atheism, and that it had only antag-
closed (e.g. refusing to give permits for building repair, onized believers as well as pushed them underground,
and then shutting down churches on grounds they were where they were more dangerous to the state. It had
unsafe). also drawn the sympathies of many unbelievers and in-
Anti-religious education and anti-religious propaganda different people. The mass persecutions stopped after
were intensified as well as improved. Stalin’s legacy of Khrushchev, although few of the closed churches would
tolerating the church after 1941 was criticized as a break be re-opened, and the few that did matched those closed
with Lenin. by local authorities.* [110]
In 1960, The Central Committee brought back 'individ- The two main anti-religious serials, Yearbook of the Mu-
ual work' among believers, which was a concept used seum of History of Religion and Atheism and Problems of
8.10. RENEWAL OF PERSECUTION IN 1970S 103

History of Religion and Atheism soon ceased publication. that were printed would come to surpass what it had been
This may have reflected negative attitudes towards such under Khrushchev.* [115] There was not a lull in anti-
dubious scholastic publications among the genuine schol- religious propaganda, therefore, although the party docu-
ars that were part of the institutions that produced these ments of the time used less direct language in criticizing
documents.* [110] religion.* [115]
On November 10, 1964, the Central Committee of the The tone of the anti-religious propaganda was lowered
CPSU made a resolution in which it reaffirmed previ- and became less vicious as it had been in previous years.
ous instructions that actions that offend believers or do This incurred some criticism by Pravda, which editorial-
administrative interference in the church as unaccept- ized about a growing indifference to anti-religious strug-
able.* [111] gle. Znanie was criticized for reducing its volume of anti-
The principle of persecuting religion in order to spread religious lectures.
atheism did not disappear, however, even if the method- The Komsomol was criticized in internal Komsomol and
ology was re-examined after Khrushchev. Many of the in party documents in the 1970s and 1980s for laxity in
secret, unofficial, instructions aimed at suppressing the anti-religious work among youth. The resolution of the
Church were made into official laws during Brezhnev's 15th Komsomol congress in 1966 resolved to create spe-
control, which thereby legally legitimized many aspects cial republican and district Komsomol schools, modeled
of the persecutions. after party schools, as part of the renewal of ideology and
*
One of the early signs of the change in policy were arti- atheism among Soviet youth. [116]
cles in the official press reported that there were millions In December 1971, the 'Philosophic Society of the USSR'
of believers who supported communism, including par- was founded with the aim (rather than pursuing truth) of,
ticularly leftist religious movements in the west and third'an untiring atheistic propaganda of scientific materialism
world (e.g. Liberation theology in Latin America), and and... struggle against the revisionist tolerant tendencies
that all religion should not be attacked.* [112] towards religion, against all concessions to the religious
*
The Academy of Social Sciences of the CPSU Central Weltanschauung. [117] This had followed from a 1967
Committee was handed the function of publishing major CPSU Central Committee resolution.
studies on religion and atheism, which was work previ- While clergy who violated the law could be punished,
ously done by the Academy of Sciences. A new publi- there was never any legal penalty given to secular author-
cation, 'Problems of Scientific Atheism', came to replace ities who violated the Laws on Religious Cults.
'Problems of History and Atheism' in 1966. The new pub- Despite the decline in direct persecution, the Soviet me-
lication was less scholarly than the previous one and con- dia reported in the post-Khrushchev years that religious
tained intellectually cruder criticism of religion. rites (e.g. weddings, baptisms and funerals) were on the
In 1965 the two councils over religious affairs in the coun- decline as well as the actual number of people practic-
try were amalgamated into the Council for Religious Af- ing religion. This was presented as a natural process,
fairs (CRA). This new body was given official legisla- rather than a result of terror, harassment, threats or phys-
tion that gave it dictatorial powers over the administra- ical closures, as had characterized previous anti-religious
tion of religious bodies in the country (previously the work. The quality of the studies that found these figures
two organizations that preceded it used such powers un- was questioned by scholars, including even Soviet schol-
der unofficial instructions). Several years later, V. Furov, ars implicitly.* [112]
the CRA deputy head wrote in a report to the CPSU The Soviet media attempted to popularize KVAT clubs
Central Committee, 'The Synod is under CRA's super- (clubs of Militant Atheism) but they found little success
vision. The question of selection and distribution of its anywhere except Latvia. Similar clubs found some suc-
permanent members is fully in CRA's hands, the candi- cess in the western Ukraine.
dacies of the rotating members are likewise coordinated
beforehand with the CRA's responsible officials. Patri-
arch Pimen and the permanent members for the Synod
work out all Synod sessions' agendas at the CRA offices 8.10 Renewal of persecution in
... and co-ordinate [with us] the final 'Decisions of the
Holy Synod'.* [113] 1970s
The state did not permit the re-opening of seminaries
right through to the end of the 1980s, however, it agreed Main article: USSR anti-religious campaign (1970s–
to allow expansions of the three seminaries and two grad- 1990)
uate academies in the country that were not closed.
The volume of anti-religious propaganda, in lectures, A more aggressive period of anti-religious persecution
books, the press, articles, etc., generally decreased af- began in the mid-1970s, following upon the 1975 amend-
ter 1964.* [114] The circulation, however, of the works ments to the 1929 anti-religious legislation and the 25th
party congress. This resulted from growing alarm over
104 CHAPTER 8. PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN THE SOVIET UNION

indifference, especially among youth, towards the anti- ligion, but was never published for that reason.* [112]
religious struggle, as well as growing influences of the The CC issued another resolution in 1983 that promised
Church. for ideological work against religion to be the top priority
Anti-religious propaganda was intensified. At the same of party committees on all level.* [123]
time, the anti-religious propaganda came to increasingly
The Church and state fought a propaganda battle over the
distinguish between the supposed loyal majority of be- role of the Church in Russia’s history in the years leading
lievers and the enemies of the state who occupied the
up to the 1000th anniversary of Russia’s conversion to
fringes of religion. Priests and bishops who did not com- Christianity.
pletely subordinate themselves to the state and/or who en-
gaged in religious activities outside of the routine perfor- By 1987 the number of functioning churches in the Soviet
mance of religious rites, were considered to be enemies Union had fallen to 6893 and the number of functioning
of the state. Bishops criticized for 'high religious activity' monasteries to just 18.
were moved around the country. The Council for Reli-
gious Affairs claimed to have gained control of the Patri-
arch's Synod, which was forced to co-ordinate its sessions 8.11 Penetration of churches by So-
and decisions with the CRA.* [118]
viet secret services
The church hierarchy could have no disciplinary pow-
ers. While the state allowed for freedom of sermons and
Main article: Clerical collaboration with Communist
homilies, this freedom was limited in that they could only
secret services
be of an 'exclusively religious character' (in practice this
meant that clergymen who preached against atheism and
the state ideology were not protected).* [119] Lukewarm According to Mitrokhin Archive and other sources, the
clergy were tolerated while clergy with a missionary zeal Moscow Patriarchate has been established on the order
could be deregistered. from Stalin in 1943 as a front organization of NKVD
and later the KGB* [124] All key positions in the Church
People who were more highly educated or who occupied
including bishops have been approved by the Ideologi-
more important positions were subject to harsher harass-
cal Department of CPSU and by the KGB. The priests
ment and punishment than those who were uneducated.
were used as agents of influence in the World Council of
Religious youth at colleges could sometimes be sent to
Churches and front organizations, such as World Peace
psychiatric hospitals on grounds that only a person with a
Council, Cristian Peace Conference, and the Rodina (
psychological disorder would still be religious after going
“Motherland”) Society founded by the KGB in 1975.
through the whole anti-religious education.* [120]
The future Russian Patriarch Alexius II said that Rod-
In 1975 the CRA was given an official legal supervision
ina has been created to “maintain spiritual ties with
role over the state (prior to this it had unofficial control).
our compatriots”as one of its leading organizers. Ac-
Every parish was placed at the disposal of the CRA,* [58]
cording to the archive and other sources, Alexius has
which alone had the power to grant registration. The
been working for the KGB as agent DROZDOV and re-
CRA could arbitrarily decide on the registration of re-
ceived an honorary citation from the agency for a variety
ligious communities, and allow them to worship or not.
of services.* [125] Priests have also recruited intelligence
This policy was accompanied by intimidation, blackmail
agents abroad and spied on Russian emigrant communi-
and threat to the clergy, and as a whole it was meant to
ties. This information by Mitrokhin has been corrobo-
demoralize the Church.* [121]
rated by other sources.* [126]* [127]
The Soviet Constitution of 1977 was sometimes inter-
There were rumours that the KGB infiltration of the
preted by authorities as containing a requirement for par-
clergy even reached the point that KGB agents listened
ents to raise their children as atheists.* [122] It was legally
to confessions.* [128]
possible to deprive parents of their children if they failed
to raise them as atheists, but these legal restrictions were
only enforced selectively when the authorities chose to do
so. 8.12 Glasnost
The methodology of anti-religious propaganda was re-
fined and old methods were criticized, and participants Beginning in the late 1980s, under Mikhail Gorbachev,
were criticized for laxity. The CPSU Central Commit- the new political and social freedoms resulted in many
church buildings being returned to the church, to be re-
tee issued an important resolution in 1979 that called for
stronger anti-religious propaganda. stored by local parishioners. A pivotal point in the history
of the Russian Orthodox Church came in 1988 - the mil-
There were rumours in the late 1970s that a comprehen- lennial anniversary of the Baptism of Kievan Rus'.
sive scientific study was done by Pisarov that blatantly
contradicted the official figures of people abandoning re- The Moscow Patriarchate successfully applied pressure
in order to get revision of some of the anti-religious leg-
8.13. SEE ALSO 105

islation. In January 1981, the clergy were requalified in 8.13 See also
their tax status from being taxed as a private commercial
enterprise (as they were before) to being taxed as equal to • Religion in the Soviet Union
that of medical private practice or private educators. This
new legislation also gave the clergy equal property and in- • USSR anti-religious campaign (1921–1928)
heritance rights as well as the privileges that were granted
to citizens if they were war veterans. The parish lay orga- • USSR anti-religious campaign (1928–1941)
nization of 20 persons who owned the parish was granted
the status of a legal person with its appropriate rights and • USSR anti-religious campaign (1958–1964)
the ability to make contracts (the church had been de-
• USSR anti-religious campaign (1970s–1990)
prived of this status by Lenin in 1918). For the first time
in many years, religious societies could legally own their • Persecution of Muslims in the former USSR
houses of worship. There was still some ambiguity left
in this legislation, however, which allowed room for re- • Soviet anti-religious legislation
interpretation if the state wished to halt 'uncontrolled' dis-
semination of building new churches.* [129] • Red Terror
The religious bodies could still be heavily infiltrated by • History of the Russian Orthodox Church
state agents, due to the power of local governments to re-
ject elected parish officials and install their own people in • Vladimir N. Beneshevich
the lay organization that owned the parish, which meant
that even if they had ownership over their churches, it • Gleb Yakunin
was still effectively in the state's hands. The largest gain
of this new legislation, however, was that children of ten • Dechristianisation of France during the French Rev-
years of age and over could actively participate in reli- olution
gious ritual (e.g. service as acolytes, psalmists, in choirs)
• Cristero War
and that children of any age could be present inside a
church during services as well as receive communion. • War in the Vendée
Professors at theological schools, and all clergy as well as
laity working for the Department of External Ecclesias- • Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church
tical Relations of the Church were taxed similarly to all
• Josyf Slipyj
Soviet employees in recognition of their contribution to
a positive Soviet image abroad. • Museum of Soviet occupation
The state's allowance of expansions to existing seminaries
bore fruit, and by the early 1980s, the student population • Persecution of Christians in Warsaw Pact countries
at these institutions had grown to 2,300 day and extramu-
• Persecutions of the Catholic Church and Pius XII
ral students (it had been 800 in 1964).* [114]
Religious societies were given control over their own bank • Persecution of Muslims
accounts in 1985.
• Sergei Kourdakov
This legislation in the 1980s marked a new attitude of
acceptance towards religion by a state that decided that • New Martyr
the best it could do was simply to minimize what it con-
sidered the harmful impact of religion.* [130] While the • The Rage Against God
state tried to intensify persecution during the 1980s, the
church came to see this increasingly as merely rearguard • Butovo firing range
attacks by an ideologically bankrupt, but still physically • Political repression in the Soviet Union
powerful, enemy. The top party leaders refrained from
direct involvement in the new offensive, perhaps due to • League of Militant Atheists
an uncertainty over their potential success and a desire
to have some manoeuvrabality according to a desire to
avoid antagonzing believers too much on the eve of the
millennial anniversary of Russia's conversion to Chris-
8.14 References
tianity.* [123]
[1] “Soviet Union: Policy toward nationalities and religions
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the government of in practice”. www.country-data.com. May 1989. Re-
Russia to some extent openly embraced the Russian Or- trieved 2014-03-29. Marxism-Leninism has consistently
thodox Church, and there was a renaissance in the num- advocated the control, suppression, and, ultimately, the
ber of the faithful in Russia.* [5] elimination of religious beliefs.
106 CHAPTER 8. PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN THE SOVIET UNION
[2] Daniel, Wallace L. (Winter 2009). “Father Aleksandr
Men and the struggle to recover Russia's heritage”.
Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democrati-
zation (Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Stud-
ies (George Washington University)) 17 (1). ISSN 1940-
4603. Retrieved 2014-03-29. Continuing to hold to one's
beliefs and one's view of the world required the courage to
stand outside a system committed to destroying religious
values and perspectives.
[3] Froese, Paul. "'I am an atheist and a Muslim': Islam, com-
munism, and ideological competition.”Journal of Church
and State 47.3 (2005)
[4] Paul Froese. Forced Secularization in Soviet Russia: Why
an Atheistic Monopoly Failed. Journal for the Scientific
Study of Religion, Vol. 43, No. 1 (Mar., 2004), pp. 35-
50
[5] Haskins, Ekaterina V.“Russia's postcommunist past: the
Cathedral of Christ the Savior and the reimagining of na-
tional identity.”History and Memory: Studies in Repre-
sentation of the Past 21.1 (2009)
[6] ”Estimates of the total number all Christian martyrs in the
former Soviet Union are about 12 million.”, James M. Nel-
son, “Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality”, Springer,
2009, ISBN 0387875727, p. 427
[7] ”In all, it is estimated that some 15 to 20 million Christians
were martyred under the Soviet regime”, David Barrett,
“World Christian Trends”, Pasadena: William Carey Li-
brary, 2001, cited by David Taylor, ”21 Signs of His
Coming: Major Biblical Prophecies Being Fulfilled In
Our Generation”, Taylor Publishing Group, 2009, ISBN
097629334X, p. 220
[8] ”over 20 million were martyred in Soviet prison camps”,
Todd M. Johnson, “Christian Martyrdom: A global de-
mographic assessment“, p. 4
[9] John Shelton Curtis, The Russian Church and the So-
viet State (Boston: Little Brown, 1953); Jane Ellis,
The Russian Orthodox Church: A Contemporary History
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1986); Dim-
itry V. Pospielovsky, The Russian Church Under the So-
viet Regime 1917-1982 (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press,
1984); idem., A History of Marxist-Leninist Atheism and
Soviet Anti-Religious Policies (New York; St. Martin’s
Press, 1987); Glennys Young, Power and the Sacred in
Revolutionary Russia: Religious Activists in the Village
(University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press,
1997); Daniel Peris, Storming the Heavens: The Soviet
League of the Militant Godless (Ithaca: Cornell Univer-
sity Press, 1998); William B. Husband, “Godless Com-
munists”: Atheism and Society in Soviet Russia DeKalb:
Northern Illinois University Press, 2000; Edward Roslof,
Red Priests: Renovationism, Russian Orthodoxy, and Rev-
olution, 1905-1946 (Bloomington, Indiana, 2002)
[10] John Anderson. The Council for Religious Affairs and the
Shaping of Soviet Religious Policy. Soviet Studies, Vol.
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[11] Becker, Winfried. “Diplomats and missionaries: the role
played by the German embassies in Moscow and Rome in
the relations between Russia and the Vatican from 1921
to 1929.”The Catholic Historical Review 92.1 (2006)
[12] Daniel Peris Storming the Heavens: The Soviet League of
the Militant Godless Cornell University Press 1998 ISBN
978-0-8014-3485-3
[13] Antireligioznik (The Antireligious, 1926-41), Dereven-
skii Bezbozhnik (The Godless Peasant, 1928-1932), and
Yunye Bezbozhniki (The Young Godless, 1931-1933).
[14] History of the Orthodox Church in the History of Russian
Dimitry Pospielovsky 1998 St Vladimir's Press ISBN 0-
88141-179-5 pg 291
[15] A History of Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Antire-
ligious Policies, Dimitry Pospielovsky Palgrave Macmil-
lan (December, 1987) ISBN 0-312-38132-8
[16] Daniel Peris Storming the Heavens: The Soviet League of
the Militant Godless Cornell University Press 1998 ISBN
978-0-8014-3485-3
[17] Christ Is Calling You: A Course in Catacomb Pastor-
ship by Father George Calciu Published by Saint Hermans
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[18] John Anderson, Religion, State and Politics in the Soviet
Union and Successor States, Cambridge University Press,
1994, pp 9
[19] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
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[20] Prot. Dimitri Konstantinov, Gonimaia Tserkov' (New
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(London:Macmillan, 1969) chs 4 and 5
[21] Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, The Attitude of the Workers' Party
to Religion. Proletary, No. 45, May 13 (26), 1909.
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[22] John Anderson, Religion, State and Politics in the Soviet
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[23] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
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[24] Father Arseny 1893-1973 Priest, Prisoner, Spiritual Fa-
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[26] A.Ginzbourg, “Only one year”, “Index”Magazine, in
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[27] The Washington Post Anti-Communist Priest Gheorghe
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[49] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 33
[50] Letter from Lenin to Molotov, 1922, webpage: http://
www.ibiblio.org/expo/soviet.exhibit/ae2bkhun.html
[51] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. The Russian Church Un-
der the Soviet Regime, 1917-1983 (Crestwood NY.: St
Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1984) vol. 1 p. 51
[52] Gregory L. Freeze. Counter-Reformation in Russian
Orthodoxy: Popular Response to Religious Innovation,
1922-1925. Slavic Review, Vol. 54, No. 2 (Summer,
1995), pp. 305-339
[53] Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev. A Century of Violence
in Soviet Russia. Yale University Press, 2002. ISBN 0-
300-08760-8 page 156
[54] .
[55] Church Schism & Corruption. Lulu.com. p. 154. ISBN
978-1-4092-2186-9.
[56] Richard Pipes. Russia Under the Bolshevik Regime. Vin-
tage Books, 1994 ISBN 0-679-76184-5 pg 356
[57] Ostling, Richard. “Cross meets Kremlin”TIME Mag-
azine. June 24, 2001. http://www.time.com/time/
magazine/article/0,9171,150718,00.html
[58] Letters from Moscow, Gleb Yakunin and Lev Regelson,
http://www.regels.org/humanright.htm
[59] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 38
[60] Rezolutsiia Obschestva voinvuiushchikh materialistov o
tekushchikh zadachakh obshchestva', Pod znamenem
marxizma., no. 12 (1926) p. 236; 'Ot pravelniia Obshch-
estva voinstvuiuschchikh materialistov-dialektikov'
108 CHAPTER 8. PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN THE SOVIET UNION
[61] Ustav O-va VMD', Pod znamenem marxizma., no. 12
(1928) pp 216-22
[62] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol. 1: A History
of Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 34
[63] Nathaniel Davis, A Long Walk to Church: A Contemporary
History of Russian Orthodoxy, Westview Press, 2003, 7
[64] Letters of Metropolitan Sergii of Vilnius
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Letters_of_Metropolitan_
Sergii_of_Vilnius
[65] Christel Lane (1978). Christian Religion in the Soviet
Union: The Caliphate of Yazid b. Mu'awiyah A.D. 680-
683/A.H. 60-64. SUNY Press. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-4384-
1001-2.
[66] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 41
[67] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 46
[68] N Vozenesensky, 'Imena i sud'by' and 'Materialy k istorii
Akademii nauk', Pamiat', a historical miscellany of samiz-
dat (respectively: no. 1, Moscow, 1976- New York: Kro-
nika Press, 1978; and no. 4, M., 1979 - Paris: YMCA
Press, 1981) pp. 353 and 459.
[69] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 66
[70] Paul Dixon, Religion in the Soviet Union, first published
1945 in Workers International News, and can be found at:
http://www.marxist.com/religion-soviet-union170406.
htm
[71] Wikisource:Letters of Metropolitan Sergii of Vilnius
[72] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 43
[73] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 63
[74] Levitin-Krasnov, Likhie gody (Paris: YMCA Press,
1977) p. 256.
[75] Alexander N. Yakovlev (2002). A Century of Violence in
Soviet Russia. Yale University Press. p. 165. See also:
Richard Pipes (2001). Communism: A History. Modern
Library Chronicles. p. 66.
[76] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 65
[77] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 67
[78] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 2: Soviet An-
tireligious Campaigns and Persecutions, St Martin's Press,
New York (1988) pg 91
[79] Nathaniel Davis, A Long Walk to Church: A Contem-
porary History of Russian Orthodoxy, Westview Press,
2003, 17
[80] 'Fedor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky protiv nemtsev',
Bol'shevik, no. 16 (August 1942) p. 38.
[81] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 2: Soviet An-
tireligious Campaigns and Persecutions, St Martin's Press,
New York (1988) pg 97
[82] name=Lev Regelson. TRAGEDY OF THE RUSSIAN
CHURCH. 1917-1953. Logos.1991. http://regels.org/
Russian-Church-and-Stalin.htm
[83] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 85
[84] http://www.ipc.od.ua/14spravka.html
[85] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 2: Soviet An-
tireligious Campaigns and Persecutions, St Martin's Press,
New York (1988) pg 93
[86] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 2: Soviet An-
tireligious Campaigns and Persecutions, St Martin's Press,
New York (1988) pg 92-93
[87] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 2: Soviet An-
tireligious Campaigns and Persecutions, St Martin's Press,
New York (1988) pg 94
[88] Altnurme, Riho. "'Religious cults', particularly
Lutheranism, in the Soviet Union in 1944-1949.”Trames
6.1 (2002)
[89] Wasyliw, Zenon V.“Orthodox Church divisions in newly
independent Ukraine, 1991-1995.”East European Quar-
terly 41.3 (2007)
[90] The Ukrainian Greek Catholics: A Historical Survey, Reli-
gious Information Service of Ukraine
[91] Tatiana A. Chumachenko. Edited and Translated by Ed-
wad E. Roslof. Church and State in Soviet Russia: Rus-
sian Orthodoxy from World War II to the Khrushchev
years. ME Sharpe inc., 2002 pp 201
 8.14. REFERENCES 109

[92] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in [106] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli- Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 69 cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 83

[93] Altnurme, Riho. "'Religious cults', particularly [107] Christel Lane. Christian religion in the Soviet Union: A
Lutheranism, in the Soviet Union in 1944-1949.”Trames sociological study. University of New York Press, 1978,
6.1 (2002): pp34

[94] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in [108] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 2: Soviet An- Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
tireligious Campaigns and Persecutions, St Martin's Press, Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
New York (1988) pg 94-95 cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 84

[95] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in [109] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 2: Soviet An- Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
tireligious Campaigns and Persecutions, St Martin's Press, Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
New York (1988) pg 96 cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 78

[96] Tatiana A. Chumachenko. Edited and Translated by Ed- [110] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
wad E. Roslof. Church and State in Soviet Russia: Rus- Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
sian Orthodoxy from World War II to the Khrushchev Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
years. ME Sharpe inc., 2002 pp107 cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 98

[97] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in [111] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli- Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 70 cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 97

[112] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in

[98] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 109
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 71
[113] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
[99] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 99
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 72
[114] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
[100] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli- cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 100
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 73
[115] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
[101] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli- cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 106
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 74
[116] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
[102] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli- cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 107
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 75
[117] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
[103] Tatiana A. Chumachenko. Edited and Translated by Ed- Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
wad E. Roslof. Church and State in Soviet Russia: Rus- Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
sian Orthodoxy from World War II to the Khrushchev cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 111
years. ME Sharpe inc., 2002 pp 120 and 127
[118] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
[104] John Anderson, Religion, State and Politics in the Soviet Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Union and Successor States, Cambridge University Press, Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
1994, pp 2 cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 113

[105] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in [119] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli- Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 91 cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) 117-118
 110 CHAPTER 8. PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN THE SOVIET UNION
[120] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 114-115
[121] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 119
[122] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 87
[123] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 125
[124] Christopher Andrew and Vasili Mitrokhin (1999) The
Mitrokhin Archive: The KGB in Europe and the West.
Allen Lane. ISBN 0-7139-9358-8., pages 634-661
[125] The vice-president of Rodina was P.I. Vasilyev, a senior
officer of First Chief Directorate of the KGB. (KGB in
Europe, page 650.)
[126] According to Konstanin Khrachev, former chairman of
Soviet Council on Religious Affairs, “Not a single can-
didate for the office of bishop or any other high-ranking
office, much less a member of Holy Synod, went through
without confirmation by the Central Committee of the
CPSU and the KGB”. Cited from Yevgenia Albats and
Catherine A. Fitzpatrick. The State Within a State: The
KGB and Its Hold on Russia - Past, Present, and Future.
1994. ISBN 0-374-52738-5, page 46.
[127] Putin's Espionage Church, an excerpt from forthcoming
book, “Russian Americans: A New KGB Asset”by
Konstantin Preobrazhensky
[128] Religion in Eastern Europe.”Department of State Bulletin
86 (1986)
[129] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 120
[130] Dimitry V. Pospielovsky. A History of Soviet Atheism in
Theory, and Practice, and the Believer, vol 1: A History of
Marxist-Leninist Atheism and Soviet Anti-Religious Poli-
cies, St Martin's Press, New York (1987) pg 121
8.15 Bibliography
• And God Created Lenin: Marxism vs. Religion in
Russia, 1917-1929. Author : Paul Gabel ISBN 1-
59102-306-8
• Storming the Heavens: The Soviet League of the
Militant Godless Author : Daniel Peris Publisher:
Cornell University Press ISBN 0801434858 ISBN
978-0801434853
• The Plot to Kill God: Findings from the Soviet Ex-
periment in Secularization Author : Paul Froese
Publisher: University of California Press ISBN
0520255291 ISBN 978-0520255296
• Religion and the State in Russia and China: Suppres-
sion, Survival, and Revival Author : Christopher
Marsh ISBN 1441112472 ISBN 978-1441112477
• Russian Society and the Orthodox Church: Reli-
gion in Russia after Communism Author : Zoe
Knox Publisher: Routledge (August 13, 2009)ISBN
0415546168 ISBN 978-0415546164
•“Godless communists": atheism and society in So-
viet Russia, 1917-1932 Author : William Husband
Publisher: Northern Illinois University Press ISBN
0875802575 ISBN 978-0875802572
• Secularism Soviet Style: Teaching Atheism and
Religion in a Volga Republic Author : Sonja
Luehrmann Publisher: Indiana University Press
ISBN 0253356989 ISBN 978-0253356987
• Doubt, Atheism, and the Nineteenth-Century Rus-
sian Intelligentsia Author : Victoria Frede Pub-
lisher: University of Wisconsin Press ISBN
0299284441 ISBN 978-0299284442
• After Atheism: Religion and Ethnicity in Russia
and Central Asia (Caucasus World) Author : David
C. Lewis Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan ISBN
0312226926 ISBN 978-0312226923
• Russian Orthodoxy on the Eve of Revolution Author
: Vera Shevzov Oxford University Press, USA ISBN
0195335473 ISBN 978-0195335477
• The Heart of Russia: Trinity-Sergius, Monasti-
cism, and Society after 1825 Author: Scott M.
Kenworthy Oxford University Press, USA ISBN
9780199736133
• State Secularism and Lived Religion in Soviet Rus-
sia and Ukraine Editor: Catherine Wanner Oxford
University Press USA ISBN 9780199937639
8.16 External links
• Lenin's letter to Molotov on Shuia crisis
• Letters of Metropolitan Sergii of Vilnius
• Butovo site of mass executions of Orthodox Clergy -
One thousand of those killed here are known to have
died for their Orthodox faith.
• Post Soviet challenges for the Russian Orthodox
Church
• Library of Congress articles on the Soviet archives
8.16. EXTERNAL LINKS 111

• Link to Russian Archives

• Н.Е. Емельянов Оценка статистики гонений

на Русскую Православную Церковь (1917–1952
годы)
Chapter 9
Mass graves in the Soviet Union
Mass graves in the Soviet Union were used for the
burial of mass numbers of citizens and foreigners exe-
cuted by the government. The government of the Soviet
Union under Joseph Stalin murdered many of its own citi-
zens and foreigners.* [1] These mass killings were carried
out by the security organisations, such as the NKVD, and
reached their peak in the Great Purge of 1937–38, when
nearly 700,000 were executed by a shot to the base of the
skull. Following the demise of the USSR in 1991, many
of the killing and burial sites were uncovered.
9.1 Soviet repression and terror
Stalin's regime is believed to have caused the deaths of
approximately 20 million people.* [2] Most of them were
Soviet citizens. Some of the more notable mass graves
include:
• Bykivnia – containing an estimated 100,000–
225,000 corpses* [3]* [4]
• Kurapaty – estimations range from 30,000 to
200,000 bodies found* [5]
• Butovo – over 20,000 confirmed killed* [6]
• Communarka - about 10,000 killed * [7]
• Sandarmokh – over 9,000 bodies discovered* [8]
• Kolpashevo - over 1,000 bodies discovered in 1979,
and then disposed of on instruction of the local party
chief.* [9]
Other Stalin-era killing fields have been discov-
ered,* [10]* [11]* [12] one as recently as 2010.* [13] In the
areas near Kiev alone, there are mass graves in Uman,
Bila Tserkva, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr.* [14] Some were
uncovered by the Germans during World War II; Katyn
and Vinnitsa being the most infamous* [15]
In July 2010, a mass grave was discovered at St. Pe-
tersburg, which contained the corpses of 80 military offi-
cers executed during the Bolshevik "Red Terror" of 1918-
21.* [16]
112
9.2 Gallery
• Katyn 1943 exhumation. Photo taken by Polish Red
Cross delegation.
9.3 See also
• Stalinist repressions in Mongolia
• NKVD prisoner massacres
• Dem'ianiv Laz
• Babi Yar
• Drobitsky Yar
• Odessa massacre
• Ponary massacre
• Rumbula massacre
• Simferopol
9.4 References
[1] “Documenting the Death Toll: Research into the Mass
Murder of Foreigners in Moscow, 1937–38” By Barry
McLoughlin, American Historical Association, 1999
[2] Werth, Nicolas; Panné, Jean-Louis; Paczkowski, Andrzej;
Bartosek, Karel; Margolin, Jean-Louis (October 1999),
Courtois, Stéphane, ed., The Black Book of Communism:
Crimes, Terror, Repression, Harvard University Press, p.
4, ISBN 978-0-674-07608-2, hardcover, 858 pp.
[3] “Ukraine reburies 2,000 victims of Stalin's rule”.
Reuters. 27 October 2007
[4] (English) Michael Franklin Hamm (1995). Kyiv. Prince-
ton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-02585-1.
[5] Twentieth Century Atlas - Casualty Statistics - Biggest
Battles and Massacres - Kuropaty
[6] “Former Killing Ground Becomes Shrine to Stalin’s
Victims” by Sophia Kishkovsky, The New York Times,
June 8, 2007
9.4. REFERENCES 113

[7] Спецобъект "Монастырь" izvestia.ru.

[8] “Pictorial essay: Death trenches bear witness to Stalin's

purges” CNN, July 17, 1997

[9] Hochschild, Adam. “The Secret of a Siberian River

Bank”. nytimes.com. New York Times. Retrieved 29
April 2016.

[10] “Mass grave found containing Stalin victims”LA Times-

Washington Post News Service, July 13, 1997

[11] “Mass grave found at Ukrainian monastery”, BBC, July

12, 2002

[12]“Wary of its past, Russia ignores mass grave site”, by Fred

Weir, The Christian Science Monitor, October 10, 2002

[13] Stalin-era mass grave yields tons of bones Reuters. June

9, 2010

[14] Hiroaki Kuromiya, The Voices of the Dead: Stalin's Great

Terror in the 1930s. Yale University Press, December 24,
2007. ISBN 0-300-12389-2 p. 23

[15] Richard Rhodes. Masters of Death: The SS-

Einsatzgruppen and the Invention of the Holocaust.
p. 149: “Vinnitsa had already been brutally purged in
1937 and 1938 by the NKVD. In the early summer of 1943,
with unparalleled audacity, the SS would publicly exhume
the victims of the NKVD killings in Vinnitsa; in three mass
grave sites in an orchard, a Russian Orthodox cemetery and
a public park near the town stadium, the homicide squad
the SS sent from Berlin would find 9,432 bodies, of which
169 were female. With one exception, all the men had been
bound, and most of the victims had been killed with shots
to the head with small-caliber weapons. The victims had
been “enemies of the people,”not specifically Jews, and
included a large number of collective farm workers and
priests. The Nazi authorities would invite forensic experts
from the International Commission of Foreign Medical Ex-
aminers to observe the exhumations, hoping to focus inter-
national attention on the Soviet atrocities comparable with
the attention that followed the discovery earlier in 1943 of
the 1940 Soviet massacre of twelve thousand Polish offi-
cers in the Katyn Forest, 125 miles west of Moscow.”

[16] More 'red terror' remains found in Russia UPI, July 19,
2010.
Chapter 10

Victims of Communism Memorial

For the Czech monument see Memorial to the Victims of law by President Bill Clinton, becoming Public Law 103-
Communism, for the proposed Canadian monument see 199 Section 905. Because of delays in establishing the
Memorial to the Victims of Communism (Ottawa) memorial, the authorization was subsequently extended
through Section 326 of Public Law 105-277, approved
The Victims of Communism Memorial is a memorial
in Washington, D.C. located at the intersection of October 21, 1998, until December 17, 2007. The Vic-
tims of Communism Memorial Foundation has the duty
Massachusetts and New Jersey Avenues and G Street,
NW, two blocks from Union Station and within view of of funding and directing the first stages of planning the
memorial.
the U.S. Capitol.* [1]
The memorial is dedicated “to the more than one hun- In November 2005, the National Capital Planning Com-
dred million victims of communism”. The Victims of mission gave approval to the monument's design. Af-
Communism Memorial Foundation says the purpose of ter raising over US$825,000 for construction and main-
the memorial is to ensure “that the history of commu- tenance costs, the groundbreaking
*
ceremony was held
*
nist tyranny will be taught to future generations.” [2] September 27, 2006. [8]

The Victims of Communism Memorial was dedicated by

President George W. Bush on June 12, 2007,* [3] the 20th
anniversary of President Ronald Reagan's "tear down this 10.3 Dedication ceremony
wall" speech in front of the Berlin Wall.

10.1 Description
The Memorial features a ten-foot (3 m) bronze replica
from photographs, of the Goddess of Democracy, erected
by students during the Tiananmen Square protests of
1989.* [4] The monument's design and the statue are
works of sculptor Thomas Marsh.* [5] He led a project
in 1994, to re-create the Goddess of Democracy in
Chinatown, San Francisco.* [6]* [7] The inscription reads:

(front)To the more than one hundred mil-

lion victims of communism and to those who
love liberty
(rear) To the freedom and independence of
all captive nations and peoples* [4]
10.2 Background
A bill, H.R. 3000, sponsored by Representatives Dana
Rohrabacher and Tom Lantos and Senators Claiborne
Pell and Jesse Helms, to authorize the memorial passed
unanimously on December 17, 1993 and was signed into
U.S. President Bush dedicates the Victims of Communism Memo-
rial
On June 12, 2007, the memorial was officially ded-
icated. Among the hundreds of invited guests were
people from many countries who suffered hardships
under Communist regimes, such as Vietnamese poet
Nguyen Chi Thien, Chinese political prisoner Harry Wu,
Lithuanian anti-communist journalist Nijolė Sadūnaitė
and others.* [9] During the opening ceremony, President
George W. Bush named some of those who suffered from
Communism in anonymity:

114
10.4. CRITICAL REACTION 115

They include innocent Ukrainians starved

to death in Stalin's Great Famine; or Russians
killed in Stalin's purges; Lithuanians and
Latvians and Estonians loaded onto cattle cars
and deported to Arctic death camps of Soviet
Communism. They include Chinese killed in
the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Rev-
olution; Cambodians slain in Pol Pot's Killing
Fields; East Germans shot attempting to scale
the Berlin Wall in order to make it to free-
dom; Poles massacred in the Katyn Forest;
and Ethiopians slaughtered in the "Red Ter-
ror"; Miskito Indians murdered by Nicaragua's
Sandinista dictatorship; and Cuban balseros
who drowned escaping tyranny.* [3]

President Bush also said,“We'll never know the names of

all who perished, but at this sacred place, communism's
unknown victims will be consecrated to history and re-
membered forever. We dedicate this memorial because
we have an obligation to those who died, to acknowledge
their lives and honor their memory.”* [10] Bush equated
communism to the threat of terrorism then facing Amer-
ica: “Like the Communists, the terrorists and radicals
who have attacked our nation are followers of a murder- Statue by Thomas Marsh
ous ideology that despises freedom, crushes all dissent,
has expansionist ambitions and pursues totalitarian aims.”
*
[11]
were many dramatic events. In the capitalist countries,
On the first anniversary, there was another ceremony by many bad things have also happened, but we do not erect
the International Committee for Crimea.* [12] On June monuments to the victims of capitalism.”* [17]
9, 2011, a second commemoration ceremony was held A week after the unveiling of the monument and the
with representatives of ethnic and religious groups who
speeches during the event, Russian President Vladimir
suffered under communist regimes.* [13] Putin responded “We have not used nuclear weapons
against a civilian population. We have not sprayed thou-
sands of kilometers with chemicals, or dropped on a small
10.4 Critical reaction country seven times more bombs than in all the Great Pa-
triotic War.”* [17]
The Chicago Tribune reported the statue drew criticism In China, the PRC Foreign Ministry lodged stern repre-
from the Chinese embassy because the memorial evokes sentations at the United States in response to the inaugura-
the Tiananmen Square protests. The embassy called its tion of the statue. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman
construction an “attempt to defame China.”The chair- said that “there are political forces in the United States
man of the Victims of Communism Memorial Founda- that still think in 'cold war' terms and seek to provoke con-
tion, Lee Edwards, said he was not aware of any official flicts between different ideologies and social systems.”
complaint.* [14] He added that there should be an end by the U.S. of
In response to criticism of China at the dedication cer- “interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, do
emony, a Chinese foreign ministry speaker accused the more to promote dialogue and cooperation.* [18] Russian
US of pushing a “Cold War”thought and meddling in politician and legislator Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the
China's internal affairs, and issued a formal protest.* [15] Communist Party of the Russian Federation said that U.S.
President Bush's appearance before the unveiling of the
Professor Andrei P. Tsygankov of San Francisco State monument was a “clumsy propaganda attempt to divert
University identifies the building of the statue as an ex- the world public opinion's attention from the true, bloody
pression of the anti-Russia lobby in Washington. He iden- crimes of U.S. imperialism in general and the current ad-
tifies it as a revival of Cold War symbolism.* [16] ministration in the White House in particular.”Zyuganov
According to Professor Shi Yinhong of the Center of also added that the monument was inappropriate: “How
American Studies at the People's University of China, the can an American president open it given the blood of
monument was inappropriate: “In the history of social- civilians in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Serbs in Kosovo,
ist countries such as China and the Soviet Union, there Guantanamo Bay, as well as CIA prisons in Eastern Eu-
 116
rope are part of the black list of crimes of the globalists.” [2] “About the Foundation”. Victims of Communism
* Memorial Foundation. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
[19]
In Ukraine, there was a response to open a museum for
U.S. imperialism in Simferopol. Communist Party leader
Leonid Grach stated, "[It] Is our response to George
Bush, who opened the Victims of Communism Memorial
in Washington, and to [pro-Western Ukrainian President]
Viktor Yushchenko, who initiated the construction of the
Museum of Soviet occupation in Kiev.”The museum fo-
cused on the repression of Native Americans, slavery, and
racism. The museum also highlights interventions in for-
eign countries.* [20]
The Communist Party of Canada has made multiple ap- [6] John Quinlan (15 June 2007). “Sioux City native creates
peals to the Canadian federal government requesting that
the ministry of Canadian Heritage deny approval of the
project and withdraw funding, claiming that the campaign [7] John J. Miller (12 June 2007). “The Long Marsh”. Na-
“is intended to intimidate and isolate progressive parties
and movements, and to limit the free expression of ideas”
[8] “Victims of Communism Memorial”. Global Museum
. The party and its leaders have voiced their oppositions
* on Communism. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
since the project's initial proposal in 2009. [21]
10.5 See also
• Anti-communism
• Cold War
• Communist terrorism
• Criticisms of communism
• Criticisms of Communist party rule
• Great Leap Forward
• Great Purge
• Gulag
• History of communism
• List of public art in Washington, D.C., Ward 6
• Mass killings under Communist regimes
• Memorial of the Victims of Communism and of the
Resistance
• Museum of Soviet occupation
• Red Terror
• Reeducation camp
10.6 References
[1]“Victims of Communism Memorial in Washington, D.C.”
. dcMemorials.com. 24 July 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-
25.
CHAPTER 10. VICTIMS OF COMMUNISM MEMORIAL
[3] “President Bush Attends Dedication of Victims of Com-
munism Memorial” (Press release). Office of the Press
Secretary. 12 June 2007. Retrieved 2011-07-25.
[4] Richard P. Poremski (3 July 2007). “Victims of Com-
munism: Memorial”. The Polish Site. Retrieved 2011-
07-26.
[5] “Victims of Communism Memorial, (sculpture)". Smith-
sonian Institution Research Information System. 2007.
Retrieved 2011-07-26.
centerpiece to Victims of Communism Memorial”. Sioux
City Journal. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
tional Review. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
[9] Monika Bončkutė (14 June 2007). “Monumento komu-
nizmo aukoms atidarymo iškilmėse-ir kovotojai už Lietu-
vos laisvę". Lyrtas.com News. Retrieved 2011-07-26.(In
Lithuanian)
[10] Heather Maher (13 June 2007). “U.S.: Bush Dedicates
Memorial To Victims Of Communism”. Radio Free Eu-
rope. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
[11] Fekeiki, Omar (June 13, 2007). “The Toll of Commu-
nism”. The Washington Post. p. C01. Retrieved May 27,
2010.
[12] “The First Anniversary of the Victims of Communism
Memorial”. International Committee for Crimea. 25
June 2008. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
[13] Neil W. McCabe (7 June 2011). “Victims of Commu-
nism Remembered at June 9 Wreath Laying”. Human
Events. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
[14] Falk, Leora (June 12, 2007). “New DC memorial dedi-
cated to communism's victims”. Chicago Tribune.
[15] “China blasts Bush tribute to victims of communism”.
Reuters. 13 June 2007. Retrieved 2011-07-26.
[16] Andrei P. Tsygankov. Russophobia: anti-Russian lobby
and American foreign policy. Macmillan, 2009. p.55
[17] "Вести Недели : США диктуют условия". vesti7.ru.
Retrieved 17 April 2015.
[18] “Xinhua - English”. xinhuanet.com. Retrieved 17 April
2015.
[19] "Новости NEWSru.com :: Зюганов назвал
Буша символом государственного терроризма".
newsru.com. Retrieved 17 April 2015.
[20] Sputnik (21 August 2007).“Ukraine's Communists open
museum for U.S. imperialism victims”. rian.ru. Re-
trieved 17 April 2015.
[21] http://communist-party.ca/statement/1997
10.7. EXTERNAL LINKS 117

10.7 External links

• Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation

• VOCMF Global Museum on Communism

• Quin Hillyer,“The Victims of Communism Memo-
rial”, The American Spectator, June 8, 2007

• Philip Kennicott, “The Meaning of a Marker For

100 Million Victims”, The Washington Post, June
13, 2007
• Bill Van Auken, “Bush, Democrats resurrect an-
ticommunism in service of US “war on terror”",
World Socialist Website, June 24, 2007

• Thomas Marsh website

Coordinates: 38°53′54.56″N 77°0′43.39″W /

38.8984889°N 77.0120528°W
Chapter 11
Anti-communist mass killings
Anti-communist mass killings are the political mass
murders of communists, alleged communists, or their
alleged supporters, by people, political organizations or
governments opposed to communism. The Communist
movement has faced opposition since it was founded, and
this opposition has sometimes been organized and vio-
lent.
11.1 Argentina
Main article: Dirty War
From 1976 to 1983, the military dictatorship of Ar-
gentina (known as the National Reorganization Process)
organized the arrest and execution of between 9,000 and
30,000 civilians suspected of being Communists or oth-
erwise having leftist sympathies. Children of the victims
were sometimes given a new identity and forcibly adopted
to childless military families. This period of state terror-
ism is known as the Dirty War.* [1]* [2] Held to account
in the 2000s, the perpetrators of the killings argued that
their actions were a necessary part of a “war”against
Communism.* [3]
11.2 El Salvador
11.2.1 1932 Salvadoran peasant massacre
In 1932, a communist-led insurrection against the govern-
ment of Maximiliano Hernández Martínez was brutally
suppressed, resulting in the death of 30,000 Salvadoran
peasants.* [4]
11.2.2 Salvadoran Civil War
The Salvadoran Civil War (1979–1992) was a conflict
between the military-led government of El Salvador and
a coalition of five left-wing guerrilla organizations known
collectively as the Farabundo Martí National Liberation
Front (FMLN). A coup on October 15, 1979 led to the Whenever the Nazis occupied a new territory, members
killings of anti-coup protesters by the government as well of communist, socialist, or anarchist groups were nor-
118
as anti-disorder protesters by the guerrillas, and is widely
seen as the tipping point toward civil war.* [5]
By January 1980, the left-wing political organizations
united to form the Coordinated Revolutionaries of the
Masses (CRM). A few months later, the left-wing armed
groups united to form the Unified Revolutionary Direc-
torate (DRU). It was renamed the FMLN * [6] following
its merger with the Communist Party in October 1980.
The full-fledged civil war lasted for more than 12 years
and saw extreme violence from both sides. It also in-
cluded the deliberate terrorizing and targeting of civil-
ians by death squads, the recruitment of child soldiers,
and other violations of human rights, mostly by the mili-
tary.* [7] An unknown number of people “disappeared”
during the conflict, and the UN reports that more than
75,000 were killed.* [8] The United States contributed to
the conflict by providing large amounts of military aid to
the government of El Salvador during the Carter* [9] and
Reagan administrations.
11.3 Germany
11.3.1 Nazi Germany
German communists, socialists and trade unionists were
among the earliest domestic opponents of Nazism* [10]
and were also among the first to be sent to concentration
camps. Hitler claimed that communism was a Jewish ide-
ology which the Nazis termed "Judeo-Bolshevism". Fear
of communist agitation was used as justification for the
Enabling Act of 1933, the law which gave Hitler his orig-
inal dictatorial powers. Hermann Göring later testified
at the Nuremberg Trials that the Nazis' willingness to re-
press German communists prompted President Paul von
Hindenburg and the German elite to cooperate with the
Nazis. The first concentration camp was built at Dachau,
in March 1933, to imprison German communists, social-
ists, trade unionists and others opposed to the Nazis.* [11]
Communists, social democrats and other political prison-
ers were forced to wear a red triangle.
11.6. SPAIN
mally to be the first persons detained or executed. Ev- 11.6 Spain
idence of this is found in Hitler's infamous Commissar
Order, in which he ordered the summary execution of all
political commissars captured among Soviet soldiers, as 11.6.1 White Terror
well as the execution of all Communist Party members in
German held territory.* [12]* [13] Einsatzgruppen carried Main article: White Terror (Spain)
out these executions in the east.* [14]
11.4 Indonesia
11.4.1 Killings of 1965–66
Main article: Indonesian killings of 1965–66
The Indonesian killings of 1965–66 were a violent anti-
Communist purge following an abortive coup in the
Indonesian capital of Jakarta. Conventional estimates
of the number of people killed by the Indonesian secu-
rity forces over the course of this period run at between
500,000 and 1,000,000.* [15]
The killings started in October 1965 in Jakarta, spread
to Central and East Java and later to Bali, and smaller
outbreaks occurred in parts of other islands,* [16] no-
tably Sumatra. As the Sukarno presidency began to un-
ravel and Suharto began to assert control following the
coup attempt, the PKI's upper national leadership was
hunted and arrested with some summarily executed; the
airforce in particular was a target of the purge. PKI
chairman, Dipa Nusantara Aidit, had flown to Central
Java in early October, and where the coup attempt had
been supported by leftist officers in Yogyakarta, Salatiga,
and Semarang.* [17] Fellow senior PKI leader, Njoto, was 11.7 Taiwan
shot around 6 November, Aidit on 22 November, and
First Deputy PKI Chairman, M.H. Lukman, was killed
shortly after.* [18]
11.5 Korea
During the Korean War, thousands of communists and
suspected communist sympathizers were killed as what
came to be known as Bodo League massacre. Estimates
of the death toll vary. According to Prof. Kim Dong-
Choon, Commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, at least 100,000 people were executed on
suspicion of supporting communism;.* [19] In the south-
eastern city of Ulsan, hundreds of people were massa-
cred by the South Korean police during the early months
of the Korean War between 1950 and 1953. 407 civil-
ians were executed without trial in July and August 1950
alone. On 24 January 2008, the former President of Ko-
rea Roh Moo-hyun apologized for the mass killings.
119
In Spain, White Terror refers to the atrocities commit-
ted by the Nationalist movement during the Spanish Civil
War and during Francisco Franco's dictatorship.* [20]
Most historians agree that the death toll of the White Ter-
ror was higher than that of the Red Terror. While most
estimates of the Red Terror range from 38,000* [21] to
55,000,* [22] most of the estimates of the White Terror
range from 150,000* [23] to 400,000.* [24]
Concrete figures do not exist, as many Communists and
Socialists fled Spain after losing the Civil War. Further-
more, the Francoist government destroyed thousands of
documents relating to the White Terror* [25]* [26]* [27]
and tried to hide the executions of the Republi-
cans.* [28]* [29] Thousands of victims of the“White Ter-
ror”are buried in hundreds of unmarked common graves,
more than 600 in Andalusia alone.* [30] The largest com-
mon grave is that at San Rafael cemetery on the outskirts
of Malaga (with perhaps more than 4,000 bodies).* [31]
The Association for the Recovery of Historical Memory
(Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histor-
ica or ARMH)* [32] says that the number of disappeared
is over 35,000.* [33]
Main article: White Terror (Taiwan)
Tens of thousands of people, labelled as communist sym-
pathizers and spies, were killed by the government of
Chiang Kai-shek during the White Terror (Chinese: 白
色恐怖; pinyin: báisè kǒngbù) in Taiwan, a violent sup-
pression of political dissidents following the February 28
Incident in 1947.* [34] Protests erupted on 27 February
1947 following an altercation between a group of To-
bacco Monopoly Bureau agents and a Taipei resident,
with protestors calling for democratic reforms and an end
to corruption. The Kuomintang regime responded by us-
ing violence to suppress the popular uprising. Over the
next several days, the government-led crackdown killed
several thousand people, with estimates generally setting
the death toll somewhere between 10,000 to 30,000 or
more.* [35]* [36] From 1947 to 1987, around 140,000
Taiwanese were imprisoned, of whom about from 3,000–
4,000 were executed, for their alleged opposition to the
Kuomintang regime.* [37]
 120
11.8 Thailand
The Thai military government and its Communist Sup-
pression Operations Command (CSOC), helped by army,
police and paramilitary vigilantes, reacted with drastic
measures to the insurgency of the Communist Party of
Thailand during the 1960s and 70s. The anti-communist
operations peaked between 1971 and 1973, during the
rule of Field Marshal Thanom Kittikachorn and Gen-
eral Praphas Charusathien. According to official figures,
3,008 suspected communists were killed during this pe-
riod throughout the country.* [38] Alternative estimates
are much higher. These civilians were usually killed with-
out any judicial proceedings.
A prominent example are the so-called “Red Drum”or
“Red Barrel”killings of Lam Sai, Phatthalung Province,
Southern Thailand. There, more than 200 civilians* [38]
(informal accounts speak of up to 3,000)* [39]* [40] who
were accused of helping the communists were burned in
red 200-litre oil drums – sometimes after having been
killed to dispose of their bodies, and sometimes burned
alive.* [40] The incident was never thoroughly investi-
gated and none of the perpetrators was brought to jus-
tice.* [41]
After three years of civilian rule following the October [9] Uppsala Conflict Data Program Conflict Encyclopedia, El
1973 popular uprising, at least 46 leftist students and
activists who had gathered on and around Bangkok's
Thammasat University campus were massacred by police
and right-wing paramilitaries on 6 October 1976. They
had been accused of supporting communism. The mass
killing followed a campaign of violently anti-communist
propaganda by right-wing politicians, media and cler-
ics, exemplified by the Buddhist monk Phra Kittiwuttho's [10] Non-Jewish Resistance, Holocaust Encyclopedia, United
claim that killing communists were not sinful.* [42]* [43]
11.9 See also
• Operation Condor
• Guatemalan Civil War
• Salvadoran Civil War
• Mass killings under Communist regimes
• Frijoles y fusiles
• The Cheju Massacre
• White Terror (Spain)
• White Terror (disambiguation)
11.10 References
[1] Anderson, Jon Lee (March 14, 2013).“Pope Francis and
the Dirty War”. New Yorker.
CHAPTER 11. ANTI-COMMUNIST MASS KILLINGS
[2] Goldman, Francisco (March 19, 2012). “Children of the
Dirty War”. New Yorker.
[3] McDonnell, Patrick (August 29, 2008). “Two Argen-
tine ex-generals guilty in 'dirty war' death”. Los Angeles
Times.
[4] Cold War's Last Battlefield, The: Reagan, the Soviets, and
Central America by Edward A. Lynch State University of
New York Press 2011, page 49
[5] Wood, Elizabeth (2003). Insurgent Collective Action and
Civil War in El Salvador. Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-
sity Press.
[6] Uppsala Conflict Data Program Conflict Encyclopedia, El
Salvador, In Depth: Negotiating a settlement to the con-
flict, http://www.ucdp.uu.se/gpdatabase/gpcountry.php?
id=51&regionSelect=4-Central_Americas#, viewed on
May 24, 2013
[7] Larsen, Neil (2010).“Thoughts on Violence and Moder-
nity in Latin America”. In Grandin & Joseph, Greg &
Gilbert. A Century of Revolution. Durham & London:
Duke University Press. pp. 381–393.
[8] “Report of the UN Truth Commission on El Salvador”
United Nations, 1 April 1993
Salvador, In Depth: Negotiating a settlement to the con-
flict, http://www.ucdp.uu.se/gpdatabase/gpcountry.php?
id=51&regionSelect=4-Central_Americas#, “While
nothing of the aid delivered from the US in 1979 was
earmarked for security purposes the 1980 aid for security
only summed US$6,2 million, close to two-thirds of the
total aid in 1979”, viewed on May 24, 2013
States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.
[11]“Horrors of Auschwitz”, Newsquest Media Group News-
papers, 27 January 2005
[12]“The war that time forgot”, The Guardian, 5 October
1999
[13] Commissar Order
[14] Peter Hitchens, The Gathering Storm, 9 April 2008
[15] Friend (2003), p. 113.
[16] Cribb (1990), p. 3.
[17] Vickers (2005), p. 157.
[18] Ricklefs (1991), p. 288; Vickers (2005), p. 157
[19] “Khiem and Kim Sung-soo: Crime, Concealment and
South Korea”. Japan Focus. Archived from the original
on 2008-10-07. Retrieved 11 August 2008.
[20] Beevor, Antony. The Battle for Spain; The Spanish
Civil War 1936–1939 (Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 2006),
pp.89–94.
[21] Beevor, Antony. The Battle for Spain; The Spanish Civil
War 1936–1939. Penguin Books. 2006. London. p.87
11.10. REFERENCES 121

[22] Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. Penguin Books. [41] Tyrell Haberkorn (2013). Getting Away with Murder in
London. 2001. p.900 Thailand. pp. 186–187.

[23] Casanova, Julían; Espinosa, Francisco; Mir, Conxita;
Moreno Gómez, Francisco. Morir, matar, sobrevivir. La
violencia en la dictadura de Franco. Editorial Crítica.
Barcelona. 2002. p.8
[24] Richards, Michael. A Time of Silence: Civil War and
the Culture of Repression in Franco's Spain, 1936-1945.
Cambridge University Press. 1998. p.11
[25] Preston, Paul. The Spanish Civil War. Reaction, revolution
& revenge. Harper Perennial. 2006. London. p.316
[42] Chris Baker; Pasuk Pongphaichit (2009). A History of
Thailand (Second ed.). Ocford University Press. pp.
191–194.
[43] Thongchai Winichakul (2002). Remembering/Silencing
the Traumatic Past: The Ambivalent Memories of the Oc-
tober 1976 Massacre in Bangkok. Cultural Crisis and So-
cial Memory: Modernity and Identity in Thailand and Laos
(Routledge). p. 244.

[26] Espinosa, Francisco. La justicia de Queipo. Editorial

Crítica. 2006. Barcelona. p.4

[27] Espinosa, Francisco. Contra el olvido. Historia y memoria

de la guerra civil. Editorial Crítica. 2006. Barcelona.
p.131

[28] Fontana, Josep, ed. España bajo el franquismo. Editorial

Crítica. 1986. Barcelona. p.22

[29] Espinosa, Francisco. La justicia de Queipo. Editorial

Crítica. 2006. Barcelona. pp.172–173

[30] Moreno Gómez, Francisco. 1936: el genocidio franquista

en Córdoba. Editorial Crítica. Barcelona. 2008. p.11

[31] The Olive Press

[32] “Opening Franco's Graves”, by Mike Elkin Archae-

ology Volume 59 Number 5, September/October 2006.
Archaeological Institute of America

[33] Silva, Emilio. Las fosas de Franco. Crónica de un de-

sagravio. Ediciones Temas de Hoy. 2006. Madrid. p.
110

[34] Rubinstein, Murray A. (2007). Taiwan: A New His-

tory. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe. p. 302. ISBN
9780765614957.

[35] 傷亡人數與人才斷層. TaiwanUS.net (in Chinese). Re-

trieved 2008-09-24.

[36] Durdin, Tillman (March 29, 1947). “Formosa killings

are put at 10,000”. New York Times. Archived from the
original on 24 April 2006. Retrieved 2006-04-22.

[37] Huang, Tai-lin (20 May 2005). “White Terror exhibit

unveils part of the truth”. Taipei Times.

[38] Jularat Damrongviteetham (2013). Narratives of the“Red

Barrel”Incident: Collective and Individual Memories in
Lamsin, Southern Thailand. Oral History in Southeast
Asia: Memories and Fragments (Palgrave Macmillan). p.
101.

[39] Tyrell Haberkorn (2013). Getting Away with Murder in

Thailand: State Violence and Impunity in Phatthalung.
State Violence in East Asia (University Press of Kentucky).
p. 186.

[40] Matthew Zipple (2014).“Thailand’s Red Drum Murders

Through an Analysis of Declassified Documents”(PDF).
Southeast Review of Asian Studies 36: 91.
 Chapter 12

Revolutionary terror

Revolutionary terror (also referred to as Revolutionary and Communism, 1920) Trotsky emphasized that "...the
terrorism, or a reign of terror)* [1]) refers to the institu- historical tenacity of the bourgeoisie is colossal... We are
tionalized application of force to counterrevolutionaries, forced to tear off this class and chop it away. The Red
particularly during the French Revolution from the years Terror is a weapon used against a class that, despite being
1793 to 1795.* [2]* [3] The term Communist terrorism doomed to destruction, does not want to perish.”.* [8]
has also been used to describe the revolutionary terror,
On the other hand, they opposed individual terror, which
from the Red Terror in the Russian Soviet Federative has been used earlier by the People's Will organization.
Socialist Republic (RSFSR) to the reign of the Khmer
According to Trotsky, “The damaging of machines by
Rouge,* [4] and others. workers, for example, is terrorism in this strict sense of
In contrast the reactionary terror, such as White Terror, the word. The killing of an employer, a threat to set fire
has been used to subdue revolutions. to a factory or a death threat to its owner, an assassina-
tion attempt, with revolver in hand, against a government
minister—all these are terrorist acts in the full and authen-
tic sense. However, anyone who has an idea of the true
12.1 Revolutionary terror and nature of international Social Democracy ought to know
Marxism that it has always opposed this kind of terrorism and does
so in the most irreconcilable way.”* [9]
In his article, The Victory of the Counter-Revolution in Many later Marxists, in particular Karl Kautsky, criti-
Vienna, Neue Rheinische Zeitung, No. 136, 7 Novem- cized Bolshevik leaders for terrorism tactics. He stated
ber 1848, Karl Marx wrote: “…there is only one means that “among the phenomena for which Bolshevism has
to shorten, simplify and concentrate the murderous death been responsible, Terrorism, which begins with the abo-
throes of the old society and the bloody birth pangs of the lition of every form of freedom of the Press, and ends
new, only one means – revolutionary terrorism* [5] (the in a system of wholesale execution, is certainly the most
term terrorism, here, not to be confused with the modern striking and the most repellent of all”.* [10]
meaning of the term, but rather having the same meaning
as the word terror in the sense in which it is used in this
article).
12.2 Origins, evolution and history
Edvard Radzinsky, a Russian author of popular history
books, in his biography of Joseph Stalin noted that Stalin
German Social Democrat Karl Kautsky traces the ori-
wrote a nota bene —“Terror is the quickest way to new gins of revolutionary terror to the "Reign of Terror" of
society”—beside the above passage in a book by Karl the French Revolution.* [11]* [12] Lenin considered the
Kautsky.* [6]* [7] Jacobin use of terror as a needed virtue and accepted the
Lenin, Leon Trotsky and other leading Bolshevik ideolo- label Jacobin for his Bolsheviks.* [13] This, however, dis-
gists recognized mass terror as a necessary weapon dur- tinguished him from Marx.* [14]
ing the dictatorship of proletariat and the resulting class The deterministic view of history was used by Marx-
struggle. Thus, in his The Proletarian Revolution and the ist regimes to justify the use of terror.* [15] Terrorism
Renegade K. Kautsky (1918), Lenin wrote: “One cannot came to be used by Marxists, both the state and dis-
hide the fact that dictatorship presupposes and implies a sident groups, in both revolution and in consolidation
“condition”, one so disagreeable to renegades [such as of power.* [16] The doctrines of Marxism, Marxism–
Kautsky], of revolutionary violence of one class against Leninism, Maoism and anarchism have all spurred dissi-
another …the “fundamental feature”of the concept of dents who have taken to terrorism.* [17] Marx, except for
dictatorship of the proletariat is revolutionary violence.” a brief period in 1848 and within the Tsarist milieu, did
Similarly, in his book "Defence of Terrorism" (Terrorism not advocate revolutionary terror,* [18] feeling it would

122
12.4. SEE ALSO
be counterproductive.* [17] Communist leaders used the
idea that terror could serve as the force which Marx said
was the “midwife of revolution”,* [19] and after World
War I communist groups continued to use it in attempts
to overthrow governments.* [17] For Mao, terrorism was
an acceptable tool.* [20]
After World War II, Marxist–Leninist groups seeking in-
dependence, like nationalists, concentrated on guerrilla
warfare along with terrorism.* [21] By the late 1950s and
early 1960s there was a change from wars of national lib-
eration to contemporary terrorism.* [22] For decades, ter-
rorist groups tended to be closely linked to communist
ideology, being the predominant category of terrorists in
the 1970s and 1980s, but today they are in the minor-
ity,* [23] their decline attributed to the end of the cold
war and the fall of the Soviet Union.* [24]* [25]
12.3 Soviet Union
Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky and other leading
Bolshevik ideologists promulgated mass terror as a neces-
sary weapon during the dictatorship of proletariat and the
resulting class struggle. In his book "Defence of Terror-
ism" Trotsky emphasized that "...the historical tenacity of
the bougeoisie is colossal... We are forced to tear off this
class and chop it away. The Red Terror is a weapon used
against a class that, despite being doomed to destruction,
does not want to perish.”.* [8] On the other hand, they
opposed to individual terror, which has been used earlied
by Russian “People's Will organization. According to
Trotsky, “The damaging of machines by workers, for
example, is terrorism in this strict sense of the word. The
killing of an employer, a threat to set fire to a factory
or a death threat to its owner, an assassination attempt,
with revolver in hand, against a government minister—
all these are terrorist acts in the full and authentic sense.
However, anyone who has an idea of the true nature of
international Social Democracy ought to know that it has
always opposed this kind of terrorism and does so in the
most irreconcilable way.”* [9]
Many later marxists, in particular Karl Kautsky, criti-
cized Bolshevik leaders for terrorism tactics. He stated
that “among the phenomena for which Bolshevism has
been responsible, Terrorism, which begins with the aboli-
tion of every form of freedom of the Press, and ends in a
system of wholesale execution, is certainly the most strik-
ing and the most repellent of all”.* [10] Kautsky recog-
nized that Red Terror represented a variety of terrorism
because it was indiscriminate, intended to frighten the
civilian population, and included taking and executing
hostages. People were executed simply for who they
were, not for their deeds. This and similar types of pro-
nouncements by Communist leaders have led many his-
torians to conclude that despotism, violent persecution,
repression and intolerance were intrinsic drives in Com-
munist regimes.* [26]
123
12.3.1 Internal Soviet terror
Main articles: Collectivization in the Soviet Union, Great
Purge and Population transfer in the Soviet Union
The Soviet collectivization of agriculture was accom-
plished by terror against those peasants that resisted.
The Great Purge refers collectively to several related
campaigns of political repression and persecution in the
Soviet Union orchestrated by Joseph Stalin during the
1930s, which removed all of his remaining opposition
from power.* [27] It involved the purge of the Commu-
nist Party of the Soviet Union and the persecution of un-
affiliated persons, both occurring within a period char-
acterized by omnipresent police surveillance, widespread
suspicion of “saboteurs”, imprisonment, and killings.
In the Western World, this was referred to as “the Great
Terror”.
12.4 See also
• Direct action
• Communist terrorism
• Propaganda of the deed
• Revolutionary Tribunal (disambiguation)
12.5 References
[1] Encyclopædia Britannica (2011). “revolutionary terror-
ism”. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Retrieved 7 April
2011.
[2]“Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy”, by Bar-
rington Moore, Edward Friedman, James C. Scott (1993)
ISBN 0-8070-5073-3, p.101: “Social Consequences of
Revolutionary Terror”
[3] French revolutionary terror was a gross exaggeration, say
Lafayette experts. By Chandni Navalkha. April 28, 2008.
accessed 5-20-2009
[4] BOOK REVIEW Exposition of revolutionary terror. The
Gate, by Francois Bizot. Jul 4, 2003. accessed 5-20-2009
[5] Karl Marx – Friedrich Engels – Werke, Berlin: Dietz Ver-
lag, Vol. V, 1959, pp. 455-7. ; for English translation see
[6] Edvard Radzinsky Stalin: The First In-depth Biography
Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret
Archives, Anchor, (1997) ISBN 0-385-47954-9
[7] Karl Kautsky, Terrorism and Communism (1919), Ch. V.
The book is item F558 O3 D90, one of two books on ter-
ror from Stalin’s private library, seen by Edvard Radzin-
sky (Stalin, 1996, pp. 150, 569).
124 CHAPTER 12. REVOLUTIONARY TERROR

[8]“Black book of Communism”, page 749 [27] Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler: The Age of Social Catastrophe.
By Robert Gellately. 2007. Knopf. 720 pages ISBN 1-
[9] Leon Trotsky (November 1911).“Why Marxists Oppose 4000-4005-1
Individual Terrorism”. Marxists.org.

[10] Karl Kautsky, Terrorism and Communism Chapter VIII,

The Communists at Work, The Terror

[11] Karl Kautsky (1919). “Revolution and Terror”.

Terrorism and Communism. Kautsky said: “It is, in fact,
a widely spread idea that Terrorism belongs to the very
essence of revolution, and that whoever wants a revolution
must somehow come to some sort of terms with terrorism.
As proof of this assertion, over and over again the great
French Revolution has been cited.”(Translated by W.H.
Kerridge)

[12] The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

[13] Schwab, Gail M., and John R. Jeanneney, The French

Revolution of 1789 and its impact, p. 277-278, Green-
wood Publishing Group 1995

[14] Schwab, Gail M., and John R. Jeanneney, The French

Revolution of 1789 and its impact, p. 278, Greenwood
Publishing Group 1995

[15] Chaliand, Gérard and Arnaud Blin, The history of terror-

ism: from antiquity to al Qaeda By, p. 105, University of
California Press, 2007

[16] Martin, Gus, Essentials of Terrorism: Concepts and Con-

troversies, p. 32, Sage 2007

[17] Lutz, James M. and Brenda J. Lutz Global terrorism, p.

134, Taylor & Francis 2008

[18] McLellan, David, The thought of Karl Marx: an introduc-

tion, p. 229, MacMillan

[19] Valentino, Benjamin A. (8 January 2004). Final solutions:

mass killing and genocide in the twentieth century. Cornell
University Press. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-8014-3965-0.

[20] Martin, Gus, Essentials of Terrorism: Concepts and Con-

troversies, p. 52, Sage 2007

[21] Chaliand,Gérard and Arnaud Blin, The history of terror-

ism: from antiquity to al Qaeda By, p. 97, University of
California Press, 2007

[22] Chaliand,Gérard and Arnaud Blin, The history of terror-

ism: from antiquity to al Qaeda By, p. 98, University of
California Press, 2007

[23] Chaliand, Gérard and Arnaud Blin, The history of terror-

ism: from antiquity to al Qaeda By , p. 6, University of
California Press, 2007

[24] Wills, David C., The first war on terrorism: counter-

terrorism policy during the Reagan administration, p.
219, Rowman & Littlefield, 2003

[25] Crozier, Brian, Political victory: the elusive prize of mili-

tary wars, p. 203, Transaction Publishers, 2005

[26] Richard Pipes Communism: A History (2001) ISBN 0-

8129-6864-6, pages 39.
Chapter 13
Crimes against humanity under
Communist regimes
Crimes against humanity have occurred under various
communist regimes. Actions such as forced deportation,
terror,* [1] ethnic cleansing, and the deliberate starvation
of people such as during the Holodomor and the Great
Leap Forward have been described as crimes against hu-
manity.* [2]* [3] In the 2008 Prague Declaration on Eu-
ropean Conscience and Communism it was stated that
crimes committed under communism were often crimes
against humanity, according to the definition developed
in the Nuremberg Trials, and that the crimes commit-
ted under communism and National Socialism were com-
parable.* [4] Very few people have been tried for these
crimes, although Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have
passed laws that have led to the prosecution of several
perpetrators for crimes against the Baltic peoples. They
were tried for crimes committed during the Occupation
of the Baltic states in 1940 and 1941, and during the re-
occupation after the war. There were also trials for at-
tacks by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs
(NKVD) on the Forest Brethren.* [5]
13.1 Cambodia
There is a scholarly consensus that the Cambodian geno-
cide carried out by the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot in
what became known as the killing fields was a crime
against humanity.* [6] Legal scholars Antoine Garapon,
David Boyle and sociologist Michael Mann and profes-
sor of Political Science Jacques Semelin believe the ac-
tions of the Communist Party of Kampuchea are best
described as a crime against humanity rather than geno-
cide.* [7] In 1997 the co prime ministers of Cambodia
sought help from the United Nations in seeking justice
for the crimes perpetrated by the communists during the
years 1975 to 1979. During the month of June that same
year Pol Pot was taken prisoner during an internal strug-
gle within the Khmer Rouge and was offered to the inter-
national community. However, there were no countries
willing to seek his extradition.* [8] The policies enacted
by the Khmer Rouge led to the deaths of one quarter of
the population in just four years.* [9]
125
13.2 Romania
In a speech before Parliament, President of Romania
Traian Băsescu stated that “the criminal and illegiti-
mate former communist regime committed massive hu-
man rights violations and crimes against humanity, killing
and persecuting as many as two million people between
1945 and 1989”* [10]* [11] The speech was based on the
660 page report of a Presidential Commission headed by
Vladimir Tismaneanu, a professor at the University of
Maryland. The report also said that “the regime exter-
minated people by assassination and deportation of hun-
dreds of thousands of people,”and highlighted the Piteşti
Experiment.* [12] Gheorghe Boldur-Lăţescu has also said
that the Piteşti Experiment was a crime against human-
ity,* [13] and Dennis Deletant has described it as
An experiment of a grotesque originality
.... (which) employed techniques of psychi-
atric abuse designed not only to inculcate terror
into opponents of the regime but also to destroy
the personality of the individual. The nature
and the enormity of the experiment ... set Ro-
mania apart from the other Eastern European
regimes.* [14]
13.3 North Korea
Three victims of the Gulag system in North Korea with
the aid of the Citizens Coalition for Human Rights of ab-
ductees and North Korean Refugees have attempted to
bring Kim Jong-il to justice. In December 2010 they
filed charges at The Hague.* [15] The North Korean gu-
lag system has led to an estimated death toll of between
380,000 and over one million which would qualify as ei-
ther genocide or a crime against humanity. The NGO
group Christian Solidarity Worldwide has stated the gulag
system appears to be designed specifically to kill a large
number of the populace who are labelled as enemies or
who have a differing political belief.* [16]
 126 CHAPTER 13. CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY UNDER COMMUNIST REGIMES
13.4 China under Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong was the Chairman of the Chinese Commu-
nist Party, which took control in 1949, until his death
in September of 1976. During this time, he instituted
several reform efforts, the most notable of which were
the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution. In
January of 1958, Mao launched the 5-year plan, the lat-
ter part of which was known as the Great Leap Forward.
The plan was intended to expedite production and heavy
industry as a supplement to economic growth, similar to
the soviet model, and the defining factor behind Mao’s
“Chinese”Marxist policies.
Mao spent ten months of 1958 touring the country in
order to gain support for the Great Leap Forwards and
inspect the progress that had already been made. What
this entailed was the humiliation, public castigation and
torture of all who questioned the leap. The five-year-
plan first instituted the division of farming communi-
ties up into communes The Chinese National Programme
for Agricultural Development(NPAD) began to acceler-
ate their drafting plans for the countries industrial and
agricultural outputs. The draft plans were initially suc-
cessful as the Great Leap Forwards divided up the Chi-
nese workforce and production soared (albeit briefly).
*
[17]Eventually the planners developed even more am-
bitious goals, such as replacing the draft plans for 1962
with those for 1967, and the industries developed sup-
ply bottlenecks and could not meet the growth demands.
Rapid industrial development came in turn with a swelling
of urban populations. In 1959 due to the furthering of
collectivization, heavy industry production and the stag-
nation of the farming industry that did not keep up with
the demands of population growth in combination with
a year of unfortunate weather in farming areas, only 170
million tons of grain were produced, far below what the
population needed. Mass starvation ensued, and was only
made worse by 1960, as even less grain was produced
at 144 million tons. * [18]The government instituted ra-
tioning, but between 1958 and 1962 it is thought that
around 10 million people died of starvation alone. The
famine did not go unnoticed, Mao was fully aware of the
major famine sweeping the countryside but rather than
try to fix the problem, he blamed it on counterrevolution-
aries who were“hiding and dividing grain…”* [19]Mao
even symbolically decided to abstain from eating meat in
honor of those who were suffering.* [19]
Due to the widespread famine across the country there
were many reports of cannibalism and horrific stories in-
cluding that of a farmer from Hunan who was forced to
kill and eat his own child. When questioned, he said he
did it“out of mercy.”* [20]An original death toll estimate
of the whole even ranged from 15-40 million. According
to Frank Dikötter, a chair professor for humanities at the
University of Hong Kong and author of Mao’s Great
Famine, a book detailing the Great leap forward and the
consequences of a strong armed economic reform, the to-
tal death count of the famine between 1958 and 1962 was
upwards of 45 million. Of the death count, 6-8% of those
who were killed prematurely by the government were of-
ten tortured first 2% committed suicide and 5% died in
Mao’s labor camps for those labelled as “enemies of
the people.”* [21]In an article from the New York Times,
Dikötter also references severe punishments for slight in-
fractions such as being buried alive for stealing a handful
of grain or losing an ear and being branded for digging up
a potato.* [22] Higher up the chain of command, a chair-
man in an executive meeting in 1959 expressed apathy to
the widespread suffering “When there is not enough to
eat, people starve to death. It is better to let half of the
people die so that the other half can eat their fill.”* [22]
Despite the major famine and the democide that killed
millions, Mao pushed on with his plans. In 1959, the de-
fense of ministry, Peng Dehuai, suggested that Mao fol-
low a more moderate approach to the Great Leap For-
wards. Mao stripped him of his position and placed him
under house arrest. After this Mao developed a devout
group of high-ranking followers who were afraid of defy-
ing him. This supreme position and the failure to deviate
from a doomed five-year plan ultimately brand Mao as
responsible to the crimes against humanity.
13.5 See also
• Mass killings under Communist regimes
• Communist terrorism
• Camp 22
• Yodok concentration camp
• Comparison of Nazism and Stalinism
13.6 References
[1] Kemp-Welch pp42
13.8. EXTERNAL LINKS 127

[2] Rosefielde pp6 • Karlsson, Klas-Göran. Schoenhals, Michael.

Crimes against humanity under communist regimes
[3] Karlsson pp5
Forum for Living History. 2008. ISBN 978-91-
[4] Arvanitopoulos pp245 977487-2-8
[5] Naimark pp25 • Arvanitopoulos, Constantine. Reforming Europe:
The Role of the Centre-Right Springer 2010. ISBN
[6] Totten pp359
978-3-642-00559-6
[7] Semelin pp344
• Semelin, Jacques Purify and Destroy: The Political
[8] Lattimer pp214 Uses of Massacre and Genocide Columbia Univer-
sity Press (2009) ISBN 978-0-231-14283-0
[9] Jones pp188

[10] Shawl, Jeannie. “Romania president says Communist

regime committed crimes against humanity”. Jurist.
[11] Clej, Petru (18 December 2006). “Romania exposes
communist crimes”. BBC.
[12] Smith, Craig S. (19 December 2006).“Romanian Leader
Condemns Communist Rule”. New York Times. Re-
trieved 12 September 2011.
[13] Boldur-Lăţescu pp22
[14] Deletant, Dennis (1995). Ceauşescu and the Securitate:
coercion and dissent in Romania, 1965–1989. pp. 29–33.
ISBN 978-1-56324-633-3.
[15] “Gulag survivors demand trial of Kim Jong-il for crimes
against humanity”. Asia News. 2 January 2010.
• Lattimer, Mark. Sands, Philippe. (2003) Justice
for Crimes Against Humanity Hart Publishing ISBN
978-1-84113-413-0
• Jones, Adam (2010) Genocide: A Comprehensive In-
troduction Routledge ISBN 978-0-415-48618-7
• Totten, Samuel. Parsons, William S. Charny, Is-
rael W. (2004) Century of genocide: critical es-
says and eyewitness accounts Routledge ISBN 978-
0-415-94430-4
• Naimark, Norman M. {2010} Stalin's genocides
Princeton University Press ISBN 978-0-691-14784-
0

[16] Jones pp216 13.8 External links

[17] Chan, Alfred L. (2001-06-07). Mao's Crusade: Politics
and Policy Implementation in China's Great Leap Forward. • The Global Museum on Communism
OUP Oxford. p. 13. ISBN 9780191554018.

[18] “The Great Leap Forward - History Learning Site”. His-

tory Learning Site. Retrieved 2016-04-14.

[19] Valentino, Benjamin A. (2005-12-08). Final Solutions:

Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20th Century. Cornell
University Press. p. 127-132. ISBN 0801472733.

[20] “A tragic episode of cannibalism during the famine of

the Great Leap Forward (Graphic Content)". China Un-
derground. Retrieved 2016-04-14.

[21] “Synopsis”. www.frankdikotter.com. Retrieved 2016-

04-14.

[22] Dikötter, Frank (2010-10-01). Mao's Great Famine: The

History of China's Most Devastating Catastrophe, 1958-
1962. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 88. ISBN
9780802779281.

13.7 Bibliography
• Kemp-Welch A. Poland under Communism: a
Cold War history Cambridge University Press 2008.
ISBN 978-0-521-71117-3
• Rosefielde, Steven. Red Holocaust Routledge 2009.
ISBN 978-0-415-77757-5
128 CHAPTER 13. CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY UNDER COMMUNIST REGIMES

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The Anome, Ed Poor, Roadrunner, Olivier, Modster, Fred Bauder, Dying, Colipon, WhisperToMe, Wik, DJ Clayworth, Peregrine981,
Shizhao, Wetman, Stewartadcock, Lancemurdoch, Alan Liefting, Everyking, Gracefool, Confuzion, Gazpacho, Miborovsky, Moverton,
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hunter, Hottentot, Theaznlaw, Benjwong, Antilived, Volunteer Marek, Bgwhite, RussBot, John Smith's, Blueaster, Rincewind42, Gaius
Cornelius, Ksyrie, Bachrach44, CharlesZ, Lexicon, Emijrp, SFGiants, Josh3580, Petri Krohn, SmackBot, InverseHypercube, AnonUser,
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Stevenmitchell, Underbar dk, Krashlandon, Gryffon, JorisvS, James A Whitson, GregLondon, IronGargoyle, Hvn0413, Joseph Solis in
Australia, Courcelles, CmdrObot, Lugnuts, DumbBOT, UberScienceNerd, Thegoodson, Ishdarian, Headbomb, DeusMP, Niohe, PCPP,
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soru, Kanguole, Yizhenwilliam, Dwbruhn, Fastily, Addbot, Mortense, SpellingBot, CanadianLinuxUser, Douglas the Comeback Kid, Ar-
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DopefishJustin, Gabbe, Wwwwolf, Ixfd64, Skysmith, Ahoerstemeier, Pjamescowie, Whkoh, Jiang, EdH, Adam Bishop, Colipon, Malco-
hol, WhisperToMe, Dtgm, Tpbradbury, VeryVerily, AnonMoos, Flockmeal, Jamesday, Rschmertz, Robbot, Paranoid, Chris 73, May-
ooranathan, SchmuckyTheCat, Timrollpickering, DocWatson42, Meursault2004, Kuhn3, Spencer195, Everyking, Tablesaw, Gracefool,
Nakosomo, Bobblewik, Chowbok, Confuzion, Formeruser-81, Ran, Houshuang, Kevin B12, Bosmon, Willhsmit, Laca, Kevin Rector, Ra-
tiocinate, Esperant, Jayjg, Rohan nog, Moverton, Naryathegreat, Discospinster, ElTyrant, Rich Farmbrough, Guanabot, Silence, Quistnix,
Bender235, FLafaire, ESkog, Goplat, Violetriga, Fenice, CanisRufus, *drew, Mjk2357, Hayabusa future, Harley peters, Smalljim, Viridi-
tas, Tachitsuteto, Yuje, Bill Conn, SecretAgentMan00, Nsaa, Rolfmueller, Jhd, Alansohn, Hinotori, JanSöderback, BanyanTree, Zxcvbnm,
Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme, Axeman89, Instantnood, Netkinetic, Ultramarine, RyanGerbil10, Hijiri88, Siafu, Bobrayner, FrancisTy-
ers, Mel Etitis, CWH, Temuler, Camw, PatGallacher, OzNoz, TomTheHand, Broquaint, Brentdax, Arsha Nos Mondelle, Privacy, GregorB,
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Globber, Peripatetic, Bhadani, Yamamoto Ichiro, CCRoxtar, Skyfiler, Winhunter, Estrellador*, Vsion, RexNL, Riki, Alphachimp, Jianq,
130 CHAPTER 13. CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY UNDER COMMUNIST REGIMES

Russavia, Benjwong, Chobot, DTOx, Volunteer Marek, Ahpook, Therefore, Vmenkov, YurikBot, Jsolinsky, Scrib, RussBot, 10stone5,
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Thumperward, Kitzke, Tree Biting Conspiracy, Salvor, Xx236, CyberSach, ERobson, D-Rock, Can't sleep, clown will eat me, Cripipper,
Chlewbot, LeContexte, Pax85, Fuhghettaboutit, Cybercobra, Kikodawgzz, Jjfadd, Vina-iwbot~enwiki, Kukini, Ohconfucius, Giovanni33,
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• Soviet war crimes Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_war_crimes?oldid=714711901 Contributors: Edward, Paul Barlow,

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Rosoft, Discospinster, Dbachmann, Bender235, Jpallan, Giraffedata, Free Bear, Antman, Ultramarine, Woohookitty, Xover, JohnC,
BD2412, Rjwilmsi, Koavf, Seraphimblade, Cff12345, Kazak, Yuletide, Navisliburnia, Gringo300, Sonitus, Nekto, Jersey Devil, Light-
sup55, Volunteer Marek, Bgwhite, Wavelength, Ozabluda, Ksyrie, Alex Bakharev, NW036, Jansch~enwiki, Renata3, Molobo, Cæruleum,
Capt Jim, Peoplez1k, Shawnc, Paul Pieniezny, Borisbaran, Victor falk, Children of the dragon, SmackBot, Selfworm, Haymaker, A435(m),
TestPilot, Kim FOR sure, Michael Dorosh, Flamarande, Coolian, Portillo, Hmains, YMB29, Bluebot, Persian Poet Gal, Xx236, Ben-Velvel,
Hongooi, Dr. Dan, Thisisbossi, Nakon, Detruncate, Andreas1968, Salamurai, Stor stark7, Tymek, RASAM, The Frederick, Melody Con-
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mundur, Bogdan~enwiki, Sergey Romanov, Dorftrottel, Nhd~enwiki, Thismightbezach, Nug, SkinnyV, Magnet For Knowledge, Bohemian
1, Flyte35, Rollaround, Parker007, Hjorvar, BlueSeaa, Gibbon2007, Kingsqueeen, Moabit, RobertFilll, C.J. Griffin, Broadbot, JulesVerner,
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there, Solicitr, JohnHistory, Viskonsas, Digwuren, Happysailor, PhoenixAppalachia, Nemda, Cortagravatas, Ptrt, Uppermyhtfb, Sanya3,
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Tomas62, Nejedly, DumnyPolak, Non-Dairy Creamer, Porntani, FrescoBot, Pillcrow, Kierzek, Amherst99, PasswordUsername, ErlichLw,
BenzolBot, A F K When Needed, Nick-bang, Pinethicket, Jonesey95, Pistonsfan231, JamesGrimshaw, My very best wishes, Vrenator,
Mishae, Tbhotch, Sandman888, RjwilmsiBot, QuipQuotch, J36miles, EmausBot, ScottyBerg, Dewritech, Slightsmile, TheXenomorph1,
Antonu, FunkyCanute, Savh, Kravavi, LM2500, Zloyvolsheb, Zap Rowsdower, HammerFilmFan, Labnoor, Shrigley, CatFiggy, Stawiski,
Minhminh284, Slimepot636, ClueBot NG, Catlemur, Elangbuta, MerlIwBot, Helpful Pixie Bot, BG19bot, MrRockchip, Rusty Tonic,
Lynsky123, 220 of Borg, Anonyma Mädel, Morn's Mumak, Wheeke, ArsA-92, Hmabramson, Vanished user lt94ma34le12, Cyberbot
II, SNAAAAKE!!, Bardrick, Stumink, XXzoonamiXX, Pterosaur10, PhoenixRisingXXX, Ekips39, Kiwi228, Бучач-Львів, Monkbot,
Tadeusz Nowak, KH-1, Krishnachaitan, K.e.coffman, BroMagnonMan, Eteethan, MiGR25, Zeke Essiestudy, Proeliator, SSTflyer, Gizzy-
CatBella, Veritas de terra orta est and Anonymous: 205
13.9. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 131

• Persecution of Christians in the Soviet Union Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_in_the_Soviet_Union?

oldid=717327879 Contributors: ‫דוד‬, Pigsonthewing, Altenmann, Tom harrison, Andycjp, DanielDemaret, D6, KillerChihuahua, Ben-
der235, Dennis Brown, ADM, Ianblair23, Firsfron, Woohookitty, Koavf, Ground Zero, Bgwhite, RussBot, Alex Bakharev, Anomie, Dan-
nyno, Sandstein, Otebig, Anonimu, SmackBot, Portillo, Hmains, Chris the speller, Colonies Chris, GoodDay, Vanished User 0001, Love-
Monkey, Evlekis, Arjunsi, Ohconfucius, Scientizzle, Iridescent, Vision Thing, Vanished user 2345, Pseudo-Richard, Neelix, B, DumbBOT,
Mamalujo, Kingstowngalway, Epbr123, Marek69, EdJohnston, Skomorokh, Scythian1, Magioladitis, Frotz, CommonsDelinker, Aleksandr
Grigoryev, Hodja Nasreddin, Ans-mo, AntiSpamBot, Colchicum, Nick Graves, Madhava 1947, Jevansen, Squids and Chips, Flyte35,
C.J. Griffin, Ostap R, Viskonsas, Uwmad, Sanya3, Werldwayd, Vanished user ewfisn2348tui2f8n2fio2utjfeoi210r39jf, Cyfal, Jobas, Im-
ageRemovalBot, ClueBot, EoGuy, Mx3, Utopial, Aprock, DumZiBoT, Jprw, WikHead, Yuvn86, Vestbors, Cody7777777, Drpickem,
Yobot, Fraggle81, Bbb23, AnomieBOT, Ulric1313, LilHelpa, Tiberius Aug, FrescoBot, Surv1v4l1st, Trust Is All You Need, Kwiki, Win-
terst, Jonesey95, Liepaja1941, A8UDI, Bmclaughlin9, Reesorville, My very best wishes, Bgpaulus, Botrempko, Jamesford2007, John of
Reading, GoingBatty, TheSoundAndTheFury, Kobios, Traxs7, Userofsite1, Kiwi128, Saint91, Scythia, Donner60, Smkudelko, Mcc1789,
HandsomeFella, Ad Orientem, ClueBot NG, Delusion23, Very trivial, Helpful Pixie Bot, Lowercase sigmabot, BG19bot, Ewgewg, Bm-
baker88, Pf24karrot, BattyBot, Khazar2, Miron shevchuk, Cerabot~enwiki, Dozoso, PAB1990, Monkbot, Zumoarirodoka, Spiderjerky,
Sajed Mahmud and Anonymous: 76
• Mass graves in the Soviet Union Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_graves_in_the_Soviet_Union?oldid=717798078 Contribu-
tors: Ike9898, HarryHenryGebel, Branddobbe, Altenmann, Wizzy, Woohookitty, Ground Zero, Shell Kinney, SmackBot, Portillo, Hmains,
LoveMonkey, Shiyang, Kanatonian, Joseph Solis in Australia, FairuseBot, WilliamH, PottersWood, Vanjagenije, Bleh999, VolkovBot, C.J.
Griffin, Cortagravatas, Soldelcatalunya~enwiki, Twinsday, Auntof6, Aieff, FOARP, Hobrak, Frongle, Good Olfactory, Addbot, Michael-
wuzthere, Phreed100, Jarble, Legobot II, Paul Siebert, AnomieBOT, Citation bot, J04n, Tobby72, Lackett, Jonkerz, Reaper Eternal,
Fastilysock, Qwen422, Bossanoven, ChuispastonBot, Helpful Pixie Bot, User1961914, Mark Arsten, Hamish59, Abezgauz, EagerTod-
dler39, ArmbrustBot, Mangokeylime, Xx234~enwiki and Anonymous: 18
• Victims of Communism Memorial Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victims_of_Communism_Memorial?oldid=707613175 Con-
tributors: Gabbe, Fifelfoo, Altenmann, Auric, Bethenco, Antandrus, Soman, Klemen Kocjancic, Vecrumba, Aude, Remember, Jonathun-
der, Rjwilmsi, Eoghanacht, TJive, Ground Zero, Wrightbus, Volunteer Marek, Tunafizzle, Gaius Cornelius, R.H.~enwiki, Evrik, Shyam,
D Monack, SmackBot, YellowMonkey, Bluebot, Hongooi, Smallbones, PiMaster3, Kikodawgzz, Ser Amantio di Nicolao, John, Gob-
onobo, Syrcatbot, Midnightblueowl, Sander Säde, Heqs, Vision Thing, Moreschi, Cydebot, M.K, Biruitorul, RevolverOcelotX, Missvain,
James086, Z10x, Monika Bonckute, Turgidson, Nevermore27, Mrmdog, Magioladitis, The Anomebot2, Nat, Kelstonian, Afil, Jerem43,
MartinBot, Wowaconia, CommonsDelinker, Cavszabo, NewEnglandYankee, GrahamHardy, Nug, Moshe-paz, C.J. Griffin, Goldnpuppy,
RUReady2Testify, Likeminas, Ylvapylva, The Four Deuces, Mr. Stradivarius, ClueBot, Icarusgeek, Sevilledade, Mild Bill Hiccup, Sporker,
Another Believer, Ghanadar galpa, DumZiBoT, AgnosticPreachersKid, Addbot, Jangon, Robert The Rebuilder, Lightbot, Zorrobot, Yobot,
FeelSunny, ArthurBot, DirlBot, LilHelpa, Hinr, Teamjenn, MerlLinkBot, RightCowLeftCoast, Surv1v4l1st, Anna Roy, HRoestBot, My
very best wishes, Jonkerz, Lotje, Adi4094, RjwilmsiBot, Alph Bot, EmausBot, Illegitimate Barrister, SporkBot, ClueBot NG, Slowking4,
Frietjes, Helpful Pixie Bot, Cyberbot II, Spirit of Eagle, Μαρκος Δ, AKS.9955, Prinsgezinde, Sophie Moxie and Anonymous: 53
• Anti-communist mass killings Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-communist_mass_killings?oldid=710781836 Contributors:
William Avery, Fifelfoo, Rich Farmbrough, Woohookitty, Lapsed Pacifist, Rjwilmsi, Volunteer Marek, JLaTondre, Nick-D, Hal peridol,
SmackBot, InverseHypercube, Lawrencekhoo, Hmains, Chris the speller, Egsan Bacon, Ohconfucius, Collect, Eastlaw, Staberinde, Bigtime-
peace, PCPP, Magioladitis, MastCell, Asdfg12345, R'n'B, Colchicum, C.J. Griffin, Holothurion, Wikimedes, 1ForTheMoney, Anderssl,
Bilsonius, Rankiri, Interferometrist, Addbot, Simonm223, Lt.Specht, Arbitrarily0, Kurtis, Timurite, Yobot, Paul Siebert, AnomieBOT,
Timmyshin, Srich32977, Guto2003, FrescoBot, Σ, My very best wishes, Sxei, Defender of torch, MyMoloboaccount, DASHBot, John of
Reading, Okip, Claritas, AvicAWB, DrZygote214, Syngmung, EdoBot, Mjbmrbot, TheTimesAreAChanging, XXPowerMexicoXx, RJFF,
Helpful Pixie Bot, BG19bot, Darouet, Mark Arsten, AnieHall, Jackninja5, Zcbeaton, Rakeshwarier, ArmbrustBot, Zozs, The Original Filfi
and Anonymous: 18
• Revolutionary terror Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_terror?oldid=715889121 Contributors: Altenmann, Ve-
crumba, Woohookitty, Igny, Lapsed Pacifist, BD2412, Alex Bakharev, NawlinWiki, Grafen, Petri Krohn, SmackBot, Hmains, Egsan
Bacon, Collect, DumbBOT, Hodja Nasreddin, Nug, BoogaLouie, Eve Teschlemacher, The Four Deuces, JL-Bot, Boneyard90, Addbot,
Queenmomcat, Desyman44, West.andrew.g, Yobot, Paul Siebert, AnomieBOT, Materialscientist, Trust Is All You Need, DarknessShines2,
EmausBot, Dewritech, ZéroBot, Aplex84, Bahudhara, Lovok Sovok, Justus Maximus, Helpful Pixie Bot, Lowercase sigmabot, Chinyin,
Harizotoh9, ChrisGualtieri, Leftpolitik, Sarg Pepper, Charles Essie, Jackninja5, Monkbot, Mangokeylime and Anonymous: 13
• Crimes against humanity under Communist regimes Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimes_against_humanity_under_
Communist_regimes?oldid=715987530 Contributors: Bearcat, Woohookitty, Noetica, Rjwilmsi, GünniX, Reo On, Anetode, Emijrp, Petri
Krohn, Anonimu, SmackBot, Gamnamu, Chris the speller, Smallbones, Ohconfucius, Collect, Venona, Ntsimp, Martin Hogbin, Headbomb,
Fsol, Alexb102072, Nug, The Four Deuces, Jarble, Paul Siebert, AnomieBOT, RjwilmsiBot, John of Reading, Dewritech, Ejensyd, Helpful
Pixie Bot, The Last Angry Man, Darkness Shines, Abezgauz, Pterosaur10, CsDix, Prinsgezinde, Loganallen97 and Anonymous: 7

13.9.2 Images
• File:1957_Mao_Zedong_on_airplane.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/1957_Mao_Zedong_
on_airplane.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://l4065171.blog.163.com/blog/static/1378632172013101715252989/
Original artist: Unknown<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718' title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718'
src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20'
height='11' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x,
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='1050'
data-file-height='590' /></a>
• File:Ambox_important.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Ambox_important.svg License: Public do-
main Contributors: Own work, based off of Image:Ambox scales.svg Original artist: Dsmurat (talk · contribs)
• File:ArkhipelagGulag.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/ArkhipelagGulag.jpg License: CC BY-SA
3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Spiridon Ion Cepleanu
• File:Away_With_Private_Peasants!.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Away_With_Private_
Peasants%21.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Flickr: Away With Private Peasants! Original artist: LSE Library
132 CHAPTER 13. CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY UNDER COMMUNIST REGIMES

• File:Backyard_furnace4.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/Backyard_furnace4.jpg License: Pub-

lic domain Contributors: http://caiquansheng1958.blog.163.com/blog/static/294985242010111291436168/ Original artist: Un-
known<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718' title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718' src='https://upload.
wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20' height='11' srcset='https://
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='1050' data-file-height='590'
/></a>
• File:Backyardfurnace5.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Backyardfurnace5.jpg License: Pub-
lic domain Contributors: http://caiquansheng1958.blog.163.com/blog/static/294985242010111291436168/ Original artist: Un-
known<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718' title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718' src='https://upload.
wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20' height='11' srcset='https://
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='1050' data-file-height='590'
/></a>
• File:Bakunin.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Bakunin.png License: Public domain Contributors:
Sotheby's Original artist: Nadar
• File:Belomorkanal.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Belomorkanal.png License: Public domain Con-
tributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:Berlinermauer.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Berlinermauer.jpg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0
Contributors: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Bethanien06.jpg
Original artist: Noir
• File:Birth_rate_in_China.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Birth_rate_in_China.svg License: CC
BY-SA 4.0 Contributors: Data source: National Bureau of Statistics of China: China Statistical yearbook 2014, chapter 2 Population.
Stats.gov.cn. Original artist: Phoenix7777
• File:Canal_Mer_Blanche.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Canal_Mer_Blanche.jpg License: Public
domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:China.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/China_dragon.svg License: CC BY 3.0 Contributors: Own
work Original artist: Сђіиа
• File:ChoeungEk-Darter-7.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/ChoeungEk-Darter-7.jpg License: CC
BY-SA 2.5 Contributors: English Wikipedia[1] Original artist: Michael Darter
• File:Choeungek2.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Choeungek2.JPG License: Public domain Con-
tributors: English Wikipedia[1]; <http://www.adam-carr.net/travelindex13.html> Original artist: Anonymous
• File:Coat_of_arms_of_the_Soviet_Union.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Coat_of_arms_of_the_
Soviet_Union.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work from Image:Soviet Hammer and Sickle and Earth.svg and Image:Soviet
coat of arms.svg. It was then corrected and is believed to be close to official version, for example, one from the 3rd ed. of the Great Soviet
Encyclopedia, available online here Original artist: Madden, reworked by F l a n k e r
• File:Commons-logo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contribu-
tors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:Communist_star.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8f/Communist_star.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: File:Red star.svg & File:Hammer and sickle.svg (see below) Original artist: Zscout370, F l a n k e r,Penubag
• File:DeadFinnishcivilians1942.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/DeadFinnishcivilians1942.jpg Li-
cense: Public domain Contributors: Picture Archive of the Finnish Defence Forces. Published in 2006 in Helsingin Sanomat see [1]
and [2] Original artist: credited to 'PUOLUSTUSVOIMAT'
• File:Edit-clear.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f2/Edit-clear.svg License: Public domain Contributors: The
Tango! Desktop Project. Original artist:
The people from the Tango! project. And according to the meta-data in the file, specifically:“Andreas Nilsson, and Jakub Steiner (although
minimally).”
• File:Emma_Goldman_seated.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Emma_Goldman_seated.jpg Li-
cense: Public domain Contributors: Library of Congress[1] Original artist: T. Kajiwara (1876–1960)
• File:Engels.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/Engels.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Orig-
inal artist: ?
• File:Fifties_jukebox.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Fifties_jukebox.png License: Public domain
Contributors: Image's page at WP ClipArt Original artist: Paul Sherman
• File:Flag_of_Russia.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f3/Flag_of_Russia.svg License: PD Contributors: ? Origi-
nal artist: ?
• File:Flag_of_the_People'{}s_Republic_of_China.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Flag_of_the_
People%27s_Republic_of_China.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work, http://www.protocol.gov.hk/flags/eng/n_flag/
design.html Original artist: Drawn by User:SKopp, redrawn by User:Denelson83 and User:Zscout370
• File:Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Flag_of_the_Soviet_Union.svg Li-
cense: Public domain Contributors: http://pravo.levonevsky.org/ Original artist: СССР
• File:Flowerpowerportfolio.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Flowerpowerportfolio.jpg License:
Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Rightleftright
• File:Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/48/Folder_Hexagonal_Icon.svg License: Cc-by-
sa-3.0 Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
13.9. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 133

• File:Frenkel2.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/14/Frenkel2.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: [1]

Original artist: Unknown<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718' title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718'
src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20'
height='11' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x,
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='1050'
data-file-height='590' /></a>
• File:GULag_2_Museum_Moscow_Russia.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/GULag_2_Museum_
Moscow_Russia.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Vladimir OKC
• File:Getman_collage.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Getman_collage.jpg License: Attribution Con-
tributors: http://www.jamestown.org/getman_artist.php Original artist: Jamestown Foundation
• File:Goddess_of_Democracy_DC_side.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/Goddess_of_Democracy_
DC_side.jpg License: CC0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Smallbones
• File:Great_Leap_Forward_(Chinese_characters).svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Great_Leap_
Forward_%28Chinese_characters%29.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Self Original artist: White whirlwind
• File:GulagMemorial.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/GulagMemorial.jpg License: CC BY 2.0 Con-
tributors: memorial to the victims of the Gulag Original artist: Jennifer Boyer from Maryland, USA
• File:Gulag_Location_Map.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Gulag_Location_Map.svg License: CC
BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Собственная работа, основанная на материалах справочника «Система исправительно-трудовых лагерей
в СССР», подготовленного правозащитным обществом «Мемориал». Original artist: Antonu
• File:Hourglass_drawing.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/Hourglass_drawing.svg License: Public do-
main Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:HumanRightsLogo.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/HumanRightsLogo.svg License: Copy-
righted free use Contributors: http://humanrightslogo.net/ Original artist: Predrag Stakić, released by http://humanrightslogo.net/
• File:JStalin_Secretary_general_CCCP_1942.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/JStalin_Secretary_
general_CCCP_1942.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Library of Congress [1] Original artist: Reproduction Number: LC-
USW33-019081-C United States. Office of War Information. Overseas Picture Division. Washington Division. Farm Security Ad-
ministration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection.
• File:JStalin_Secretary_general_CCCP_1942_flipped.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/JStalin_
Secretary_general_CCCP_1942_flipped.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
• JStalin_Secretary_general_CCCP_1942.jpg Original artist: JStalin_Secretary_general_CCCP_1942.jpg:
• File:Kalebp_skull.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Kalebp_skull.svg License: CC0 Contributors:
https://openclipart.org/detail/201856/skull Original artist: kalebp
• File:Karl_Marx_001.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Karl_Marx_001.jpg License: Public domain
Contributors: International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam, Netherlands Original artist: John Jabez Edwin Mayall
• File:Katyn_massacre_1.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Katyn_massacre_1.jpg License: Pub-
lic domain Contributors: “Zbrodnia katyńska w świetle dokumentów / z przedm. Władysława Andersa”Original artist:
Unknown<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718' title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718' src='https://upload.
wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20' height='11' srcset='https://
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='1050' data-file-height='590'
/></a>
• File:Katyń,_ekshumacja_ofiar.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Katy%C5%84%2C_ekshumacja_
ofiar.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Zbrodnia katyńska w świetle dokumentów / z przedm. Władysława Andersa. Wiele wydań
przed 1994 Original artist: unknown , Photo of Polish Red Cross delegation
• File:Kolyma_road00.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/Kolyma_road00.jpg License: Public domain
Contributors: Tomasz Kizny, Gulag: Life and Death Inside the Soviet Concentration Camps, ISBN 1552979644 (from Russian wikipedia)
Original artist: Unknown<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718' title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718'
src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20'
height='11' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x,
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='1050'
data-file-height='590' /></a>
• File:LeTrotskyDB_(original).jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/85/LeTrotskyDB_%28original%29.jpg License:
PD-US Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:Lenin.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b9/Lenin.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://
s123.photobucket.com/albums/o298/RedElephantMSU/?action=view&current=Lenin.jpg Original artist: L. Léonidov
• File:Location_map_Washington_DC.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Location_map_
Washington_DC.png License: CC BY-SA 2.0 Contributors: openstreetmap.org Original artist: Dr. Blofeld
• File:Magadan_seen_from_mountain.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/ce/Magadan_seen_from_
mountain.jpg License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Johannes Rohr
• File:Mao_Zedong_portrait.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Mao_Zedong_portrait.jpg License: CC
BY 2.0 Contributors: Intermediate source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/richardfisher/3451116326/ Original artist: Zhang Zhenshi (1914–
1992). Mao Zedong portrait attributed to Zhang Zhenshi and a committee of artists (see [1]).
• File:Marx_Engels_Lenin.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Marx_Engels_Lenin.svg License: CC
BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Jgaray
134 CHAPTER 13. CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY UNDER COMMUNIST REGIMES

• File:Memorial_Moscow(5).jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Memorial_Moscow%285%29.jpg Li-

cense: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Vladimir OKC
• File:Merge-arrow.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Merge-arrow.svg License: Public domain Contrib-
utors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:National_Emblem_of_the_People'{}s_Republic_of_China.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/
National_Emblem_of_the_People%27s_Republic_of_China.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Created an .svg file based on .png
image File:National Emblem of the People's Republic of China.png. Originally uploaded by Avala to English Wikipedia. and also see 国徽
方格墨线图. Original artist: 澳门特别行政区立法会 / Assembleia Legislativa da Região Administrativa Especial de Macau / Legislative
Assembly of the Macau Special Administrative Region
• File:People'{}s_commone_canteen3.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/People%27s_commone_
canteen3.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://caiquansheng1958.blog.163.com/blog/static/294985242010111291436168/
Original artist: Unknown<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718' title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718'
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• File:People_icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/People_icon.svg License: CC0 Contributors: Open-
Clipart Original artist: OpenClipart
• File:Peter_Kropotkin_circa_1900.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Peter_Kropotkin_circa_1900.
jpg License: Public domain Contributors: NYPL Original artist: F. Nadar
• File:PlaqueMemorizingEstonianGovernment.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/
PlaqueMemorizingEstonianGovernment.jpg License: CC-BY-SA-3.0 Contributors: English language Wikipedia Original artist:
Sander Säde (talk).
• File:Portal-puzzle.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fd/Portal-puzzle.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ?
Original artist: ?
• File:President_Bush_dedicates_the_Victims_of_Communism_Memorial.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/5/5d/President_Bush_dedicates_the_Victims_of_Communism_Memorial.jpg License: Public domain Contributors:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/06/images/20070612-2_p061207jb-0169-515h.html Original artist: White House
photo by Joyce N. Boghosian
• File:Question_book-new.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/99/Question_book-new.svg License: Cc-by-sa-3.0
Contributors:
Created from scratch in Adobe Illustrator. Based on Image:Question book.png created by User:Equazcion Original artist:
Tkgd2007
• File:Red_Guards.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Red_Guards.jpg License: Public domain Contrib-
utors: Scan of cover of non-copyright elementary school textbook from Guangxi 1971 Original artist: Villa Giulia
• File:Red_Holocaust_(Jimmy_Fell).JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/Red_Holocaust_%28Jimmy_
Fell%29.JPG License: Copyrighted free use Contributors: Archiv Jimmy Fell Original artist: Jimmy Fell
• File:Red_pog.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0c/Red_pog.svg License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original
artist: ?
• File:Red_stylized_fist.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b6/Red_stylized_fist.svg License: Public domain
Contributors: Own work Original artist: Rafaelgr
• File:Rosa_Luxemburg.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/52/Rosa_Luxemburg.jpg License: Public do-
main Contributors: http://www.marxists.org/francais/img/rosa.jpg Original artist: Unknown<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718'
title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/
Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20' height='11' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/
Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='1050' data-file-height='590' /></a>
• File:Ru200008020027.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Ru200008020027.jpg License: CC BY 2.0
de Contributors: Own work Original artist: Dr. Andreas Hugentobler
• File:SanFranHouses06.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/SanFranHouses06.JPG License: Public do-
main Contributors:
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Original artist: ?
• File:Scale_of_justice_2.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Scale_of_justice_2.svg License: Public do-
main Contributors: Own work Original artist: DTR
• File:Sending_officials_to_the_countryside.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Sending_officials_to_
the_countryside.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: 《中國攝影藝術選集》(1959) p9 Original artist: 赵仰山
• File:Shack_from_Gulag_-_Museum_of_the_Occupation_of_Latvia.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/
commons/8/88/Shack_from_Gulag_-_Museum_of_the_Occupation_of_Latvia.JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work
Original artist: Pudelek (Marcin Szala)
• File:Soviet_Order_1945-00.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d5/Soviet_Order_1945-00.png License:
Public domain Contributors: German military archive Original artist: Unknown<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718'
title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/
Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20' height='11' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/
Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='1050' data-file-height='590' /></a>
13.9. TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES 135

• File:Soviet_invasion_on_Poland_1939.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8a/Soviet_invasion_on_

Poland_1939.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Unknown Original artist: Published by TASS
• File:Speaker_Icon.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Speaker_Icon.svg License: Public domain Con-
tributors: No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims). Original artist: No machine-readable
author provided. Mobius assumed (based on copyright claims).
• File:Symbol-hammer-and-sickle.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Symbol-hammer-and-sickle.svg
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• File:Symbol_book_class2.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Symbol_book_class2.svg License: CC
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• File:Symbol_list_class.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/db/Symbol_list_class.svg License: Public domain Con-
tributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:Symbol_template_class.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5c/Symbol_template_class.svg License: Public
domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:Talkessel_von_Werchojansk.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Talkessel_von_Werchojansk.
JPG License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Becker0804
• File:The_Commissar_Vanishes_2.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/The_Commissar_Vanishes_
2.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.tate.org.uk/tateetc/issue8/erasurerevelation.htm Original artist: Un-
known<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718' title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718' src='https://upload.
wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20' height='11' srcset='https://
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/40px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 2x' data-file-width='1050' data-file-height='590'
/></a>.
• File:The_fence_at_the_old_GULag_in_Perm-36.JPG Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/The_fence_at_
the_old_GULag_in_Perm-36.JPG License: CC BY-SA 3.0 Contributors: Own work Original artist: Gerald Praschl
• File:Transpolar_Railway_between_Salekhard_and_Nadym.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/
Transpolar_Railway_between_Salekhard_and_Nadym.jpg License: GFDL Contributors: ru:Файл:Перегон Салехард-Надым.jpg
Original artist: ru:Участник:ComIntern
• File:Tree-Sparrow-2009-16-02.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/Tree-Sparrow-2009-16-02.jpg Li-
cense: CC BY-SA 2.5 Contributors: File:Tree-Sparrow.jpg Original artist: Andreas Trepte
• File:Unbalanced_scales.svg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Unbalanced_scales.svg License: Public do-
main Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:V.M._Doroshevich-Sakhalin._Part_I._Prisoners_on_Steamship_of_Voluntary_Fleet.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.
org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/V.M._Doroshevich-Sakhalin._Part_I._Prisoners_on_Steamship_of_Voluntary_Fleet.png License: Public
domain Contributors: Page 13 of part II of Vlas Mikhailovich Doroshevich «Sakhalin (Katorga)», Moscow. Sytin publisher, 1905. Original
artist: Uncredited photographer
• File:Victims_of_Soviet_NKVD_in_Lvov_,June_1941.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/
Victims_of_Soviet_NKVD_in_Lvov%2C_June_1941.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: Jerzy Węgierski “Lwów
pod okupacją sowiecką" ( "Lviv under Soviet occupation”) Warszawa 1991, ISBN 83-85195-15-7 Original artist: Un-
known<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718' title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718' src='https:
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srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x,
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data-file-height='590' /></a>
• File:Vinnycia16.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f5/Vinnycia16.jpg License: Public domain Contribu-
tors: Crime of Moscow in Vynnytsia. Ukrainian Publication of the Ukrainian American Youth Association, Inc. New York. 1951 Original
artist: Ukrainian American Youth Association
• File:Vorkuta_r.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Vorkuta_r.jpg License: CC BY 2.5 Contributors:
Own work Original artist: Anton Obolensky
• File:Voroshilov,_Molotov,_Stalin,_with_Nikolai_Yezhov.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
9/91/Voroshilov%2C_Molotov%2C_Stalin%2C_with_Nikolai_Yezhov.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http:
//www.tate.org.uk/tateetc/issue8/erasurerevelation.htm Original artist: Unknown<a href='//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4233718'
title='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/
Wikidata-logo.svg/20px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png' width='20' height='11' srcset='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/
thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/
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• File:World_energy_intensity_by_region_1970-2025.png Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/World_
energy_intensity_by_region_1970-2025.png License: Public domain Contributors: ? Original artist: ?
• File:Xinyang_working_at_night.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Xinyang_working_at_night.jpg
License: Public domain Contributors: http://www.yhcqw.com/html/cqb/2008/49/08491617J4I6I6125I6E99HHJAADBG4.html
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data-file-height='590' /></a>
136 CHAPTER 13. CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY UNDER COMMUNIST REGIMES

• File:Yagoda_kanal_Moskva_Volga.jpg Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Yagoda_kanal_Moskva_

Volga.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://visualrian.ru/ru/site/gallery/index/id/8001/context/%7B%22orderby%
22%3A%22earliest%22%2C%22q%22%3A%22%5Cu0445%5Cu0440%5Cu0443%5Cu0449%5Cu0435%5Cu0432%22%
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tle='wikidata:Q4233718'><img alt='wikidata:Q4233718' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/
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thumb/f/ff/Wikidata-logo.svg/30px-Wikidata-logo.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/ff/
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13.9.3 Content license

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