Oct 24, 2017 the black book of communism, the authoritative reference source for the deadly statistics of communism, conservatively estimates that soviet communism lead to the deaths of 20 million human beings. Death estimates vary widely, depending on the definitions of deaths included. According to the black book of communism, the number of people killed by the communist governments estimated amounts to an excess of 94100 million. Totalitarianisms central feature is a state that desires total control and assumes the right to impose that control at any cost. This number is accumulated from more than 10 different nations and various movements around the world. Yet austere though this inventory is, its cumulative impact is overwhelming. Jan 05, 2020 excerpts from the the black book of communism. The black book of communism, a set of academic essays on mass killings under communist regimes, details crimes, terror, and repression from russia in 1917 to afghanistan in 19893940 courtois claims an association between communism and criminalitycommunist regimes turned mass crime into a fullblown system of government41and says that this criminality lies at the level of ideology rather than state practice. By stephane courtois, nicolas werth, jeanlouis panne, andrzej paczkowski, karel bartosek, and jeanlouis margolin.
The black book of communism stephane courtois, nicolas. But is also presents many facts and historical events regarding communism. The black book of communism, while some of its claims have been disputed is nevertheless the source of material for any anticommunist, and should be mandatory reading for anybody to. Sep 05, 2017 this book is a must read and discusses many scholarly issues regarding the nature of totalitarianism, communism and fascism. The black book of communism gives a balance sheet of our present knowledge of communisms human costs, archivally based where possible, and otherwise drawing on the best secondary works, and with due allowance for the difficulties of quantification. Communism may be in its death throes but its many innocent victims require an eternal voice of which this is part. Stephane courtois, nicholas werth, jean louis panne, andrzej paczkowski, karol bartosek, jeanlouis margolin. The black book of communism came up with a smaller total of 4 million for the holodomor, and 2 million for dekulakization, as well as a total communist death toll of 94 million smack dab in the middle of the 85100 million death toll estimate in the summary, broken down as follows. No matter what, when someone talks about communism being bad, they always bring up their ace in the holethe black book of communism. The book was originally published in 1997 in france under the title le livre noir du communisme. By stephane courtois, nicolas werth, jeanlouis panne, andrzej paczkowski. The black book of communism, a set of academic essays on mass killings. The leading ideological cause of death in the 20th. According to stephane courtois, the editor in chief of the black book of communism, the leading mass murderer is pol pot, whose attempt to communize cambodia resulted in the deaths of one fourth.
The black book of communism harvard university press. The black book of communism, a postmortem of communist atrocities compiled by european and american academics in 1997, concluded that. The bogus black book of communism the black book of communism is a collection of rightwing essays published in france in 1997, and subsequently translated. The black book of communism lawrence persons battleswarm blog. There is a muchlauded black book of communism, but no such comprehensive indictment of the colonial record.
Crime, terror, repression stephane courtois, nicolas werth, jeanlouis panne, andrzej paczkowski, karel bartosek, jeanlouis margolin, harvard university press, cambridge, massachusetts, london, england 1999 many archives and witnesses prove conclusively that. Jan 01, 2001 black book puts to rest the odious fiction that has softened communisms image for so long. An 800page compendium of the crimes of communist regimes worldwide, recorded and analyzed in ghastly detail by a team of scholars. Full text of the black book of communism see other formats. Bolton calls for black book on chinas atrocious conduct. Jan 20, 2018 claiming that communism or socialism could possibly work better at alleviating poverty seems absurd from that one statistic alone, but theres also the vast number of deaths from hunger under communism the black book of communism estimates 11 million in the soviet union alone, in certain cases leading people as far as cannibalism. The black book of communism harvard university press is the bible of the anticommunist movement. If we use the high estimate for leopolds reign and include the high estimates of deaths from the world wars not included in the holocaust, which we have already factored into this, we arrive somewhere around a towering 180 million, which dwarfs the black book of communisms claim that communism was responsible for 94 million deaths. Nov 22, 2017 the bogus black book of communism the black book of communism is a collection of rightwing essays published in france in 1997, and subsequently translated into english and published by harvard. The black book of communism the barbaric gentleman. The book is often cited as an academic work proving the barbarism of communism. So many people in our country are ignorant of these things and they need to be informed so we dont buy into the propaganda and repeat the.
And the work about totalitarian imprisonment systems, the gulag archipelago by solzhenitsyn 3 vol. This international bestseller plumbs archives in the former soviet bloc to reveal the actual, practical accomplishments of communism around the world. In the chapter devoted to that brutal dictatorship, he gives more detailed estimates. This bloody orgy was a pure exercise in class genocide, asserts stephane courtois, the extrotskyite editor of the black book and historian of the french communist party, a reign of political carnage of planetary dimensions, a massacre designed to create a moral society through the extermination of the impure, through the silencing of any. Quoting survivors, escapees, and what little information had been published in the soviet press, the black book of communism. At the beginning of the book, tbboc figures in 2 million deaths due to north korean communism. Us govt and media whitewash nazi holocaust citing debunked.
Aug 24, 2017 the black book of communism alleges that communism killed 94 million people during the 20th century. The black book of communism debunked the black book of communism is a collection of rightwing essays published in france in 1997, and subsequently translated into english and published by harvard university press in 1999. Crimes, terror, repression is a book which describes a history of repression s, both political and civilian, by communist state s, including extrajudicial executions, deportation s, and artificial famine s. What americans must know about socialism the heritage. The more than 100 million deaths that communism caused. The black book of communism, an 800page collection of essays about the human toll exacted by communist regimes in the twentieth century, reaches a much simpler conclusion. Is it true that communism has killed 100 million people. As an ideology in the 20th century, only atheistic communism, with its murder and mass killings, are responsible for more deaths and violence than any religion or political system.
The black book of communism, the seminal harvard university press work, which specialized in trying to get accurate data on the enormous volume of deaths produced by communist tyrants, states that. Crimes, terror, repression 1997, approximately 100 million 94 million deaths have resulted from communism over its 85 year history. Claiming that communism or socialism could possibly work better at alleviating poverty seems absurd from that one statistic alone, but theres also the vast number of deaths from hunger under communism the black book of communism estimates 11 million in the soviet union alone, in certain cases leading people as far as cannibalism. Its figures for deaths under communism are probably the most cited of any other work on the topic. The black book of communism, the authoritative reference source for the deadly statistics of communism, conservatively estimates that soviet communism lead to the deaths of 20 million human beings. Crimes, terror, repression is a 1997 book by stephane courtois, nicolas werth, andrzej paczkowski and several other. If we use the high estimate for leopolds reign and include the high estimates of deaths from the world wars not included in the holocaust, which we have already factored into this, we arrive somewhere around a towering 180 million, which dwarfs the black book of communism s claim that communism was responsible for 94 million deaths. This book is a must read and discusses many scholarly issues regarding the nature of totalitarianism, communism and fascism. In late 1997 a leading french publishing house, robert laffont, published le livre noir du communisme the black book of communism, an 850page book of scholarly essays that collectively provide a history of communism in the 20th century. The authors show how and why, wherever the ideology of communism was established, it quickly led to crime, terror, and repression. To put this in perspective, 20 million is roughly the entire current population of the state of new york. Attempting the impossible calculating capitalisms death. Crimes, terror, repression is a book which describes a history of repressions, both political and civilian, by communist states, including genocides, extrajudicial executions, deportations, and artificial famines.
Black book puts to rest the odious fiction that has softened communisms image for so long. The black book of communism, written by stephane courtois has been called into question on multiple different grounds. Milne argues that if the soviets are considered responsible for deaths caused by famine in the 1920s and 1930s, then britain would be responsible for as many as 30 million deaths in india from famine during the 19th century, lamenting. Peasants often resisted communism more fervently than any group. Jun 27, 2017 there is a famous book, the black book of communism, which claims to total up all the deaths communism responsible for. Myst2014 favorite favorite favorite favorite december 26, 2012 subject. This number is accumulated from more than 10 different nations and various movements around the. Oct 28, 2017 the black book of communism, a postmortem of communist atrocities compiled by european and american academics in 1997, concluded that the human cost of genocides, extrajudicial executions. The book was originally published in 1997 in france under the title, le livre noir du communisme. Many mass killings occurred under 20thcentury communist regimes. The breakdown of the number of deaths is given as follows. While there have been other attempts to count up the number of deaths that can be attributed to capitalism to counter the figures presented in the black book of communism as well other places, most noteably, determinatenegations list and the castroists list, neither critique the methodology used by the the supporters of the omg.
Jan 25, 2017 according to stephane courtoiss the black book of communism, communism is responsible for 100 million deaths, a number total that far exceeds nazism, which left 16 million dead and it. Crimes, terror, repression harvard university press, cambridge 1999, pp. This international bestseller plumbs archives in the former soviet bloc to reveal the actual, practical accomplishments of communism around. Some critics have objected to the books depiction of communism and nazism as being similar, others have criticized the approach the book takes to assigning blame of deaths, and still others, most notably j. Crimes, terror, repression is a 1997 book by stephane courtois, nicolas werth, andrzej paczkowski and several other european academics documenting a history of political repressions by communist states, including genocides, extrajudicial executions, deportations, killing populations in labor camps and artificially created famines. Dec 04, 2006 the black book of communism, a set of academic essays on mass killings under communist regimes, details crimes, terror, and repression from russia in 1917 to afghanistan in 19893940 courtois claims an association between communism and criminalitycommunist regimes turned mass crime into a fullblown system of. We need the equivalent of the black book of communism to document for history the almostincalculable human cost chinas atrocious behavior on coronavirus, he said in a series of tweets. Nevetheless, the book, published in paris in 1927, was one of the first to describe the soviet unions earliest political prisons, located on the solovetsky islands in the white sea. Some critics have objected to the book s depiction of communism and nazism as being similar, others have criticized the approach the book takes to assigning blame of deaths, and still others, most notably j. Crimes, terror, repression is a book which describes a history of repressions, both political and civilian, by communist states, including extrajudicial executions, deportations, and artificial famines.
The black book of communism crimes, terror, repression stephane courtois nicolas werth jeanlouis panne andrzej paczkowski karel bartosek jeanlouis margolin harvard university press cambridge, massachusetts london, england 1999 translated by jonathan murphy and mark kramer. The black book of communism begins to show us that totalitarianism is totalitarianism, whether we call it fascist, communist or some other name. This supposed number comes from the highest possible estimate by roderick macfarquhars book. Crimes, terror, repression jeanlouis panne, andrzej paczkowski, karel bartosek, jeanlouis margolin, nicolas werth. The revelations of the book will doubtless come as a surprise to those who have somehow managed to remain unaware of the. The black book at last breaks the silence over the horrors of communism, ryan writes, the silence of people who are simply baffled by the spectacle of so much absolutely futile, pointless and inexplicable suffering. The contributors to the book include some of the finest scholars from both east and west, who have drawn extensively on new archival findings.
The black book of communism, while some of its claims have been disputed is nevertheless the source of material for any anticommunist, and should be mandatory reading for anybody to the right of karl marx. Crimes, terror, repression 1997, approximately 100 million 94 million deaths have resulted from communism over its 85 year history this includes 20 million deaths in the soviet union alone from causes such as. Crimes, terror, repression is a 1997 book by stephane courtois, nicolas werth, andrzej paczkowski and several other european academics documenting a history of political repressions by communist states, including genocides, extrajudicial executions, deportations, killing populations in labor camps and artificially. In total, this is not far short of 100 million deaths at the hands of a single ideology. Why my communist critics are wrong capital research center. Crimes, terror, repression jeanlouis panne, andrzej paczkowski, karel bartosek, jeanlouis margolin, nicolas werth, stephane courtois, mark kramer, jonathan murphy, mark kramer on. Maos great leap forward needed only two years to destroy tens of millions of peasants.
This would include, the already mentioned black book of communism. This is odd, because capitalism has been around longer than communism, has been more powerful, and has controlled more of the world, and the world was. It includes two of some of the most populated nations on earth china and the soviet union. Incredibly, the crimes of communism have yet to receive a fair and just assessment from both historical and moral viewpoints. Crimes, terror, repression according to stephane courtois, writing in the introduction to the black book of communism. Thiessen sourced his downplaying of nazi crimes and hyping of those of communism from the black book of communism. There is a famous book, the black book of communism, which claims to total up all the deaths communism responsible for strangely, there is no black book of capitalism this is odd, because capitalism has been around longer than communism, has been more powerful, and has controlled more of the world, and the world was hardly a utopia before communism. As an aside, my personal view is that the nazi holocaust of the jews was the greatest single crime of the modern era, while communism was the greatest criminal system. The black book of communism alleges that communism killed 94 million people during the 20th century. In total the entire black book details 100 million deaths by communism, most of that supposedly caused by the great leap forward. Crimes, terror, repression by stephane courtois isbn. But dont let that fool you, this book is one of the most historically inaccurate books about communism one can come across. Black and red when modern conservatives associate activists of color with communism, theyre drawing on a racist history that goes back over 100 years. This book is one of the first attempts to study communism with a focus on its criminal dimensions, in both the central regions of communist rule and the farthest reaches of the globe.