Communism – A Terrorist Ideology

Communism – a concept introduced to the world by the Karl Marx. It aimed at seizing power from the bourgeoisie, that is the capitalists or the 'so called’ exploiters and forming a government for the proletariat, or the wage workers who are exploited. Although sounds interesting in theory, it has constantly given contradictory outcomes.

From the ideation of wanting to support the proletariat to somehow the implementation being killing and increasing the sufferings of the same proletariat, communism has always gotten lost in translation. Still spoken with regards to greatness, Communism has never given its supposed results to date; whether it be the past populous country of communism, the Soviet Union or the current populous communist country, China.

Communist leaders like Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong were the reason for the deaths of the masses. Millions were killed under the name of ‘revolution,’ and for having a difference of opinion with the leaders and their ideologies.

The Communist government of Joseph Stalin in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), ended up slaughtering an outrageous number of lives. Under Stalin’s reign around 50 million people were killed, this figure excludes the 20 million people who were killed in World War II. Amongst the 50 million, 25 million people were the needy farmers who were killed as a result of a campaign raging against them in the 1930s.

Protests were made against the immoral and unnecessary mass killings but the voices were silenced and the state's own citizens were openly abused; Men and women were shot down, millions were starved, and large number of people were abducted from their homes and forced to work at labour camps in the remote areas.

Many Communists who had joined Stalin’s campaigns to eliminate the ‘enemies’ saw the campaign in its true form, became horrified, and began to withdraw. Some went mad while others, including Stalin’s wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva committed suicide.

This violence also started spreading in Eastern Europe after Russia’s capture of it preceding World War II. Protests were organized in different parts of the captured Europe; in 1953, 0.2 million workers in eastern Berlin stood against communist dictatorship, in 1956, workers in Poland refused to work under the rule of the USSR, in the same year Hungarian student community conducted a huge protest movement, and in 1968, the entire population of Czechoslovakia participated in the movement against the ruling Communists.

The countries did not receive any assurance from Russia but instead their voices were brutally crushed and more soldiers were deployed towards the nations.

Like Stalin, Mao Zedong was also on the path of following violent communism which led to the death of up to 45 million people in China. The Great Leap Forward was an economic and social campaign launched by Mao aimed at turning the agrarian economy of China into an industrial economy for faster development.

The poorly planned transition caused one of the largest famines in human history and resulted in the death of millions. Mao knew his policies would bring resistance, and to eradicate this opposition in 1957 he welcomed people into expressing their opinions.

Citizens, experts and opposition started openly criticizing the government’s policies through speeches and articles and blamed the government for the misery of the rural farmers. After some time, these voices were suppressed by Mao, curbing the open resistance. ‘The Cultural Revolution’ launched by Mao killed off the rest of the opposition. Many people were arrested and sent to remote areas to perform forced hard labour.

Communism in India is a topic not discussed enough. Many citizens are still blind followers of Marx, dreaming of throwing away an elected government and establishing a ‘people’s government,’ not knowing the previous extent of violence communism has caused in the country.

Through a series of articles concerning the book ‘Communist Terrorism,’ we will be attempting to increase your knowledge of Communism extremism and what results it gave in India and our neighbouring country, Nepal.

Countries like India, Nepal, Colombia, Ethiopia, and many others have fallen victim to the ideologies of communism. In our nation Communism was introduced by the communist leaders to remove the powerful bourgeoisie and establish a government for the exploited people of the society.

However, the intention became just a slogan and the movement’s aim turned towards hating on matters related to ‘Indianness’ (including religion, faith, and traditions), torturing the same exploited and suffering persons, and forcing them to join the so-called communism ‘cause.’ Records state fifty-five districts in the nine states of India have been affected by communist terrorism, the states include Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

The movement of Communism in India for the people later turned into a movement to seize power and dominate the people. Dismayed by the movement’s turn of events, a founder of the Naxal Party (Marxist-Leninist), Sushitlal Roy Chaudhary had even stated ‘Built on armed struggle, this party has now become a terrorist party.’

According to the official reports, the Communist Party of both India and Nepal are backed by terrorist organizations in Pakistan and are also provided funds by neighbouring country China, to support the motive of attacking the nation and disrupting the peace within it.

After the independence, the state had yet to establish itself as a capable government, and the delay in this was leading to public unrest. The discontentment of people paved the way for communists to manipulate the citizens into joining their organization.

The villagers used to join the communist movement at that time due to three reasons – the state’s lack of control over the areas and no resources being provided to the villagers, the anger of locals due to the disinterest of the government in their areas, and the selfishness of the people.

This selfishness later turned into regret as the Communists became worse than the government. The government did nothing and showed disinterest but the Communists showed extreme interest and tortured the public into joining hands with them under the guise of their cause.