Communism is the radical left ideology grounded in Marxism, a theory created by Karl Marx in the 19th century. It was later implemented by dictators in several countries throughout the world. Communism is responsible for mass genocide and some of the worst human rights violations the world has ever experienced.

MYTH: Communism was not responsible for the deaths of over 100 million people.

REALITY: That’s most likely false. Estimates have the death toll somewhere between 65 million and 170 million people in the 20th century alone. Research by both R.J. Rummel and Stéphane Courtois has an estimated death toll of over 100 million. Below are the countries by death toll (I will display both the low end and the high end)—

LAOS: 45,000 to 50,000 people were killed by communism between 1963 and 1975.

SOMALIA: 50,000 to 200,000 people were killed by communism between 1987 and 1989.

VIETNAM: 242,000 to 922,000 people were killed by communism between 1945 and 1956.

ETHIOPIA: 500,000 to 750,000 people were killed by communism between 1976 and 1978.

AFGHANISTAN: 562,000 to 2,000,000 people were killed by communism between 1979 and 1989.

NORTH KOREA: 710,000 to 3,500,000 were killed by communism between 1948 and 1987.

CAMBODIA: 1,500,000 to 3,000,000 people were killed by communism between 1975 to 1979.

RUSSIA/SOVIET UNION: 20,844,000 to 78,087,000 were killed by communism between 1917 and 1987.

CHINA: 40,000,000 to 80,000,000 people were killed by communism between 1949 and 1976.

SOURCES

Valentino, B. (2005). Final Solutions: Mass Killing and Genocide in the 20th Century. Cornell University Press. ISBN 9780801472732.

Courtois Stéphane, & Kramer, M. (2004). The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression. Harvard University Press.

Publisher. (n.d.). Communist Dictatorship in Laos (1975-present). Communist Crimes. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://communistcrimes.org/en/countries/laos

Strauss, V., & Southerl, D. (1994, July 17). How many died? new evidence suggests far higher numbers for the victims of Mao Zedong’s era. The Washington Post. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/07/17/how-many-died-new-evidence-suggests-far-higher-numbers-for-the-victims-of-mao-zedongs-era/01044df5-03dd-49f4-a453-a033c5287bce/

Edwards, L. (2010, February 2). The legacy of Mao Zedong is Mass Murder. The Heritage Foundation. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://www.heritage.org/asia/commentary/the-legacy-mao-zedong-mass-murder

Satter, D. (2017, November 6). 100 years of communism-and 100 million dead. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/100-years-of-communismand-100-million-dead-1510011810

Rummel, R. J. (1997). Statistics Of North Korean Democide Estimates, Calculations, And Sources. Statistics of Democide. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from https://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/SOD.CHAP10.HTM