Essay:Anticommunism Kills

This is a list about killings that were motivated by anticommunism. It does not include killings incidentally carried out by anticommunists (e.g. the Italo‐Ethiopian War). Despite its name, anticommunism normally affects not only communists but all other socialists as well, and often even just anybody sympathetic to socialism. Sometimes it also affects ethnicities, such as Chinese people, Jews, Mayans, and Serbs. As such, the actual tendency of the victims here is of minor relevance; what matters the most is the perpetrators’ motivations or causes.

Most of these killings were done directly; head‐to‐head. The only exceptions are fourfold: deaths caused by imperialist blockades or sanctions such as those on the RSFSR (1918–1921), Leningrad (early 1940s), the Republic of Cuba (1990s), the Republic of Iraq (1990s), the DPRK (1990s), and the FRY (1990s); deaths caused by explosives that detonated later than anticipated; deaths linked to nuclear weapons testing in the Cold War‐era United States; and deaths linked to comprehensive ‘decommunization’ programmes that antisocialists imposed on Easterners. Even if these indirect causes were subtracted, the total would still be well over fifty million. The total itself is composed using only the minimum of every statistic (with the exception of the disputable case of the Gulf Wars). Unspecified amounts, uncited guesses, and millions of hypothetical beings are excluded from this calculation.

1871, Paris: 18,000–30,000.

1873–1875, Spanish Republic: ‘at least several thousand’.

At least 10 of these were in Alcoy during 1873.

1878, Berlin: 1–2.

1880s, Poland: 7.

1887, Chicago: 4–5.

1891, Clichy: 1.

1892, Montbrison: 1.

1892, Poland: 46.

1894, Paris: 2.

1896, Montjuïc Castle: 5.

1897, Vergara: 1.

1905–1910, Russian Empire: over 15,000.

About 100 of these were in Warsaw during 1905.

151–200 were in Łódź during 1905.

Possibly 400 of these were in Moscow during 1905.

1906, Cananea: 13.

1906, Poland: 16.

1907, Kingdom of Romania: 419–11,000.

1909, Barcelona: 104–600.

1910s–1930s, Kingdom of Italy: over 3,000.

41 of these were in Albona during 1921.

4 of these were (desperate and rightfully frustrated) socialists killed for attempted magnicide.

11 were in Turin during 1922.

5 were in San Giovanni in Fiore during 1925.

1911, Empire of Japan: 12.

1911, Sidney Street: 2.

1912, Lawrence: 2.

1916, Dublin: 16.

1916, Everett: 5.

1917, Wahnerheide: 2.

1917–1923, Russia: 9,000,000.

Over 1,000,000 of these were the direct result of civil warfare; 1,000 were in Peregonovka during 1919 and 516 were in Russian Turkestan during 1917–1934. An additional 20,000–300,000 of these were killed as part of the White Terror.

1917–1923, Spain: 200.

1917–1923, United States of America: ∼165.

1917, Butte: 1.

1919, Centralia: 1.

1918, Finland: 32,500.

1918, Vyborg: 1,200.

1918–1919, Hungary: 11,666.

1918–1919, Neocolonial Republic (Cuba): 7.

1918–1923, German Empire: thousands.

1,000–1,500 of these were in Berlin during 1919.

12 were in Perlach during 1919.

Over 1,000 were in Ruhr during 1920.

At least 354 were during 1920–1922.

24 were in Hamburg during 1923.

1919, Buenos Aires: 700.

1919, Latvia: thousands.

300 of these were in Mitau.

3,000 of these were in Riga.

1919–1921, Hungary: 500–5,000.

1920s, Clevelândia: at least 6.

1920s, Kingdom of Spain: over 100.

1920–1922, Patagonia: 300–1,500.

1921, Black Sea: 15.

1922, Estonia: 1.

1923, Bulgaria: 841.

1923, Empire of Japan: 6,000–10,000.

1923, Kraków: 18–30.

1924, Estonia: 301.

1924, Tatarbunary: unknown.

1925, Halle (Saale): 6.

1926, Lithuania: 4.

1927, Charlestown (Boston): 2.

1927–1950, China: millions.

300–10,000 of these were in Shanghai during 1927.

500 were in Huichang during the same year.

800 were in a region west of Nanch’ang during the same year.

2,000 were on their way to Canton during the same year.

4,000–15,000 were in Canton (Guangzhou) during the same year.

300,000 were in south central China during 1928.

143 were in Inner Manchuria during 1929.

Over 1,000 were at Ching Kang Shan during the same year.

About 4,000 were in the Kiangsi Province during 1931, and 10,000 later in the same year.

1,000,000 were the fault of the Kuomintang and occurred during 1933–1934.

8,000 were at Kuangch’ang during 1934.

∼100,000 were during 1934–1937.

584,267–900,000 were in China & Burma during 1937–1945.

2,700,000 were due to the ‘Three Alls Policy’ enacted during the same period.

1928, Ciénaga: 47–3,000.

1929, Berlin: 33.

1929, Lupeni: 16–58.

1930s–1970s, Dominican Republic: 50,000.

3,000 of these were during 1960.

1930s–1990s, Guatemala: 100,000–200,000.

At least 42,275 of these deaths had racial motivations and occurred during 1981–1983.

1930, German Reich: 5.

1931, Ådalen: 5.

1931, Argentina: 4.

1931, Vallenar: at least 21.

1932, El Salvador: 30,000.

1932, German Reich: several.

1932, People’s Republic of Mongolia: 1,800.

1932, Trujillo: 1,000–5,000.

1932–1939, Manchuria, Mongolia, & Primorsky Krai: 32,000.

236 of these were near Lake Khasan during 1938.

9,868 were near the Khalkha River during 1939.

1933, Casas Viejas: 26.

1933, Grivița: 7.

1933–1945, German Reich: over 200,000.

4 of these were in Altona during 1933.

At least 22 of these were near Danzig during 1943–1945.

1934, Asturias: over 1,700.

1934, Minneapolis: 2.

1934, Paris: unknown. (Nine?)

1934, Ránquil: 477.

1934, San Francisco: 2–9.

1934, Toledo: 2.

1935, Recife & Rio de Janeiro: at least 119.

1936–1939, Spain: 275,000–305,000.

White Terror: 150,000–400,000.

1937, Chicago: at least 10.

1938, Sudetenland: unknown.

1939, Kresy: 1,475–5,327.

1939–1940, East Finland: 126,875–167,976.

1939–1975, Kingdom of Spain: 30,000–200,000.

At least 2,166 of these were killed for violently resisting the régime.

1940s, Malaysia & Singapore: about 50,000.

1940s–1950s, the Philippines: 9,695.

1940s–1956, the Baltic: 18,562.

1940–1942, Mauthausen: 4,761–6,784. (An additional 200 ‘Red Spaniards’ died in other camps.)

1940–1944, France: at least 30,000.

1941, Vallée-aux-Loups: 2.

1941 (unknown locations): 8.

1944, Tulle: 213.

1944, Oradour-sur-Glane: 642.

1940–1944, Norway: scores.

At least 35 were saboteurs.

20–23 were members of the Communist Central Committee.

1941–1945, Yugoslavia: 245,549.

1941, Kraljevo: around 2,000.

1941, Kragujevac: 2,778–2,794.

1941–1945, antisemitism in Europe: 5,290,000–6,200,000.

1941–1945, Eastern Front: 26,600,000–42,700,000.

About 123 of these were in Liepāja during 1941.

13,000–16,000 of these were in or near Daugavpils during 1941–1943.

1942, Leusderheide: 25.

1942–1944, Albania: unknown. (Likely somewhere in the thousands.)

107 of these were in Borovë during 1943.

Scores (possibly 127) were in Tirana during 1944.

1942–1954, Central Luzon: over 109.

1943, Leusderheide: 12.

1943–1957, U.P.A. operations in the Eastern Bloc: scores of thousands.

40,000 of these were Soviet soldiers, and 22,400 were socialist officials and civilians.

1944, Ardeatine: 335.

1944, Marzabotto: 770.

1944–1945, Czechoslovakia: 304–608.

1944–1950s, Greece: 38,000–38,839.

1944, Athens: 28.

1944–1963, Poland: more than 15,000. (Both the London Polish Government and the Home Army were antidemocratic and violently Judeophobic. In no meaningful way were they opposed to all of fascism; at best they were simply anti‐German.)

2,000 of these were specifically during 1945–1946, and 79 were in Białystok Voivodeship during 1946. About 32,400 were the fault of the U.P.A. and occurred during 1945–1948.

1945, Hiroshima & Nagasaki: 129,000–226,000.

1945, South Korea: 100,000.

1946, Hrubieszów: unknown. (Maybe in the dozens.)

1946, Punnapra & Vayalar: ∼1,000.

1946, Santiago: 6.

1946–1953, French Indochina: 175,000–300,000.

1947, Taiwan: 35,000.

18,000–28,000 of these were during the February 28 incident alone.

1947–1960s, Romanian People’s Republic: unknown.

1948, Java: ∼12,000.

1948–1988, Burma: over 60,000.

1962, Rangoon University: at least 15.

1986–1987, Shan State: at least 200.

1948, Kingdom of Iraq: 300–400.

1948–1960, Malaysia: 10,698.

1948–1949, Jeju Island: over 12,360.

1948, South Jeolla Province: 439–2,000.

1949, Mungyeong: 86–88.

1949–1976, global C.I.A. operations: over 1,000,000.

2,000–4,000 of these were Cubans.

1950s, Germany: more than 1.

1950s, Sendai: 4.

1950s–1960s, People’s Republic of China: ∼41,000.

1950s–1970s, Cambodia & Laos: over 2,500,000.

More than 19 of these were in Cambodia during 1967–1968.

At least 500,000 were due to aerial warfare during 1965–1973.

1974–1997, Laos: over 460,000. (An annual minimum of twenty thousand.)

1950s–1980s, Republic of Cuba: ∼1,000–20,000.

158 of these were during 1981.

1960, Havana: 75.

1961, Bay of Pigs: 161–176.

1950s–2000s, Haiti: scores of thousands.

30,000–100,000 of these were during 1957–1986.

3,000–4,000 were during 1986–1990s.

Over 8,000 were during 2004–2005.

1950, Taiwan: several.

1950–1953, Korea: 1,800,000–4,500,000.

100,000–200,000 of these died in the Bodo League massacre of 1950, 163–400 in Nogeun-ri during the same year, and 150–153 in Gyeonggi-do during the same.

1951, Iran: ∼100.

1951–1973, conterminous United States: 340,000–460,000.

1953, Ossining: 2.

∼1951, Europe: ‘hundreds’.

1953, Tehran: ∼300.

1954, Tōkyō: 1.

1954–1962, Algeria: 141,000–300,000.

1955, off Great Natuna Islands: 16.

1955, Sevastopol: 608.

1955–1975, Vietnam: 3,000,000–5,100,000.

14 of these were North Koreans killed during 1967–1969.

20,587–40,994 were in South Vietnam during 1968–1971.

1955–2003, Sudan: ∼2,000,000.

1956, Hungary: 3,000.

1957–1979, Iran: ‘thousands’.

1958, Lebanon: 1,000.

1959, Seoul: 1.

1959, Mosul: unknown. (Likely in the hundreds.)

1959, Tibet: 2,000.

1960s, United States of America: at least 16.

1960s, Republic of Indonesia: 500,000–3,000,000.

1960s–1970, Eritrea: over one thousand.

946 of these were during 1967.

200 were in Besik‐Dira.

700 were in Ona.

1960s–1980s, Korean Peninsula: hundreds.

Approximately 180 were in Seoul during 1960.

13 of these were in the DPRK during 1964.

397 were at the Korean Demilitarized Zone during 1966–1969.

20 were in the DPRK during 1967.

28–29 were somewhere near the DMZ during 1968.

110–113 were in the Republic of Korea during the same year.

3 were in Kumchon during 1970.

3 were in Gangwon-do during 1976.

1 was at the Korean Demilitarized Zone during 1979.

144–2,000 were at Kwangju during 1980.

3 were at the Han River during the same year.

1 was at Gangwon-do during 1981.

3 were at the Imjin River during the same year.

1 was on the east coast during 1982.

3 were during 1984.

2 were during 1987.

1960s–1980s, the Philippines: 100,000.

At least 3,257 of these have been confirmed as extrajudicial.

1960s–1990, Nicaragua: 25,000–100,000.

Over 3,000 of these were in the mountains east of Matagalpa during the 1970s.

1960s–1991, Ethiopia: unknown.

1960s–1992, Angola: 300,000–1,500,000.

2,016–15,000 of these were Cubans, and 54 were Soviets.

1960s–1992, Mozambique: over 1,000,000.

1960s–1994, South Africa: about 7,200.

1960s–present, Congo: 3,000,000–4,000,000.

60,000–70,000 of these were in Congo-Léopoldville during 1964.

1960s–present, Colombia: over 67,000.

11,484 of these were since 2004 alone.

1960, Hibiya Hall: 1.

1960–1963, Ecuador: at least 5.

1960–1965, Peru: unknown.

1961–1964, Brazil: several.

2 of these were at Recife during 1964.

2–3 were in Rio de Janeiro during the same year.

2 were in Minas Gerais during the same year.

1962, Charonne: 9.

1962–1970, North Yemen: 26,000.

1962–1990, Sarawak: 400–500.

1963, Republic of Iraq: 1,600–5,000.

1963–1966, Malay Peninsula: 590.

1963–1967, Aden Protectorate: 382.

1963–1974, Guinea‐Bissau: over 6,000.

1963–1976, Dhofar: over 433.

1964, Neshoba County: 3.

1964–1967, Bolivia: 42–54.

1967, Catavi: 87.

1964–1979, Rhodesia: over 10,000.

1964–1982, United Mexican States: over 3,000.

5 of these were in San Miguel Canoa during 1968.

At least 300 were at the Plaza de las Tres Culturas during the same year.

At least 30 were in Guerrero during 1970–1975.

1965–1990, Thailand: thousands.

133 of these were during 1965–1967.

3,008 were during 1971–1973.

40 were during 1976.

310 were during 1980.

1966, El Salvador (Chile): 8.

1966, Ghana: 20–1,600.

1966–1967, Macau: 8.

1966–1990, South West Africa: over 11,335.

1966–1998, Northern Ireland: 368.

1967, Hong Kong: 26–51.

1968, France: 5.

1968–1989, Malaysia: 212.

1969, Puerto Montt: 10.

1969–1990s, Panama: 500–4,000.

1992: ‘hundreds’.

1970s–1980s, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay, & Uruguay: 13,000–80,000.

At least 13 of these were in Ezeiza during 1973.

9,089–43,000 of these were in Argentina during 1974–1983.

400 of these were in Bolivia during the 1970s, and 58 specifically were during 1970.

3,000–20,000 of these were in Chile during the 1970s–1990.

1970s–1980s, Southern Cone: ‘tens of thousands’. (An additional one hundred thousand to one hundred fifty thousand suffered torture.)

1970s–1980s, Italian Republic: at least 301.

1970s–1984, Grenada: 277.

1970s–1992, Afghanistan: 500,000–1,800,000.

1970s–1994, Republic of El Salvador: 70,000–75,000.

50–100 of these were at the National Hospital Rosales during 1975.

18–24 were at the San Salvador Cathedral during 1979.

300–600 were in Chalatenango during 1980.

800–1,200 were in El Mozote during 1981.

Over 200 were in El Calabozo during 1982.

1970s–1999, East Timor: 200,000–230,000.

1970, Río Piedras: 1.

1970, Kent State: 4.

1970, East Los Angeles: 4.

1971, West Pakistan: 300,000–3,000,000. (An additional eight to ten million fled.)

1972, Bosnia‐Herzegovina: 13.

1975–1990, France & Spain: 66.

1975–present, Socialist Republic of Vietnam: over 42,000.

1976, Barbados: 73.

1976, Montejurra: 2.

1976–1980, Republic of Turkey: 2,109.

34–42 of these were in Taksim Square during 1977.

1977, Atocha (Madrid): 5.

1978, Guyana: over 900.

1979, Yemen: hundreds.

1979, Greensboro (North Carolina): 5.

1979–1981, Iran: 4,000.

1981, Tehran: 50.

1980s, Honduras: 400.

1980–present, Peru: over 20,458.

123 of these were in Putis during 1984.

47–74 of these were in Accomarca during 1985.

Over 133 of these were in Peruvian prisons during 1986.

15 of these were in Barrios Altos during 1991.

9 of these were in the Santa Province during 1992.

10 of these were in La Cantuta during 1992.

1982, Chad: 40,000.

1982, Beirut: 4,000–5,000.

1982, West Beirut: 450–3,500.

1983–1984, Belgium: ‘several’.

1985, Philadelphia: 11.

1987, Lieyu: 19.

1987, Ouagadougou: 13.

1988, Islamic Republic of Iran: 2,800–30,000.

1989, Beijing: at least 23.

1989, Republic of Venezuela: 200–600.

1989, Romania: more than 2.

1990s, Republic of Cuba: at least 47,000.

1990s–2000s, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea: 1,000,000–3,000,000.

1990s–2000s, Eastern Bloc: 1,000,000–10,000,000.

500–1,052 were in Moscow during 1993.

At least 32 (out of maximum of 96) were confirmed as homicides against journalists in the Russian Federation, 1 of which was in Chechnya’s capital during 1993, 7 somewhere in Russia’s during the same year, 5 somewhere during 1994, 9 during 1995, another 7 during the same year, 1 during 1998, and 2 during 1999.

1990s–2000s, Yugoslavia: 107,000.

44 of these were in Slovenia during 1991.

8,106 were in Croatia during 1991.

1,103 were in Vukovar during 1991.

At least 11,702 were in Kosovo during 1998–1999, of which 300 were officials that the KLA killed and 1,008 that the NATO killed. About 1,730–3,500 of them were non‐Albanian civilians, 8,661 were Albanians who either died or went missing, and 3 were in a Chinese embassy (allegedly mistaken for a Yugoslav arms agency).

At least 12 were killed in magnicides during 1997–2000.

1990s–present, Republic of Iraq: over one million. (If applicable. See citation below.)

700,000 of these were during the 1990s.

654,000–1,000,000 were between 2003 and the present.

1990, Baku: 21–29.

1992, Cheorwon: maybe 3.

1992–present, Northeast India: at least 8,530.

1994, Yemen: unknown. (Likely in the hundreds.)

1994–present, Chiapas: over 51.

1997, Acteal: 45.,

1995, Imjin River: 1.

1996, Gangneung: 13.

1996, Nepal: 8,000–12,000.

1997–present, India: 3,402–4,041.

At least 905 were specifically since 2009.

1997, Albania: 2,000.

1999, Northern Limit Line: unknown. (Allegedly 17–30.)

20th century, Federal Republic of Germany: over 20.

1971–1979: 9–14.

2000s–present, Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela: dozens of thousands.

300 of these were in the countryside during 2001–2006.

7–12 of these were in El Silencio during 2002.

At least 9 of these were during 2013.

At least 16 of these were during 2014.

At least 55 of these were during 2017.

40,000 were during 2017–2018.

Possibly 14 or so of these were during 2019.

2001, East China Sea: 15.

2001–2010, the Philippines: 1,200.

2002, Northern Limit Line: unknown. (Allegedly 13.)

2009, off the coast of Daecheong Island: 1–10.

2011, Libya: 30,000–100,000.

2011, Oslo & Utøya: 77.

2011–present, Syria: over 6,000.

2017, City of Charlottesville: 1.

2017, Calabarzon: 15.

2018, Republic of Nicaragua: at least 44.

2019, Republic of Ecuador: 9.

2019, Republic of Chile: 24.

2019, Plurinational State of Bolivia: 33.

2019, Mariano Montilla barracks: 1.

Total: no less than 66,560,646.

Pessimistic estimate (all maxima added together): ∼111,641,814.