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Communist terrorism isterrorism perpetrated by individuals or groups which adhere tocommunism andideologies related to it, such asMarxism–Leninism,Maoism, andTrotskyism. Historically, communist terrorism has sometimes taken the form ofstate-sponsored terrorism, supported bycommunist nations such as theSoviet Union,[1][2]China,[2]North Korea[2] andDemocratic Kampuchea.[3] In addition,non-state actors such as theRed Brigades, theFront Line and theRed Army Faction have also engaged in communist terrorism.[4][5] These groups hope to inspirethe masses to rise up and start arevolution to overthrow existing political and economic systems.[6] This form of terrorism can sometimes be called red terrorism orleft-wing terrorism.[7]
The end of theCold War and thedissolution of the Soviet Union have been credited with leading to a notable decline in this form of terrorism.[8]
In the 1930s, the term "communist terrorism" was used by theNazi Party in Germany as part of apropaganda campaign to spread fear of communism. The Nazis blamed communist terrorism for theReichstag fire, which they used as an excuse to push through legislation removing personal freedom from German citizens.[9][failed verification][10] In the 1940s and 1950s, variousSoutheast Asian countries, such as thePhilippines andVietnam, witnessed the rise of communist groups engaging in terrorism. John Slocum claimed that communists in present-dayMalaysia used terrorism to draw attention to their ideological beliefs,[11] but Phillip Deery countered that the Malaysian insurgents were called communist terrorists only as part of a propaganda campaign.[12]
In the 1960s, theSino–Soviet split led to a marked increase in terrorist activity in the region.[13] That decade also saw various terrorist groups commencing operations in Europe, Japan, and theAmericas.Yonah Alexander deemed these groups Fighting Communist Organizations (FCOs),[14][15] and says they rose out of thestudent union movement protesting against theVietnam War. InWestern Europe, these groups' actions were known as Euroterrorism.[16] The founders of FCOs argued that violence was necessary to achieve their goals, and that peaceful protest was both ineffective and insufficient to attain them.[17][18] In the 1970s, there were an estimated 50Marxist or Leninist groups operating in Turkey, and an estimated 225 groups operating in Italy. Groups also began operations in Ireland and the United Kingdom.[19] These groups were deemed a major threat byNATO and the Italian, German, and British governments.[20] Communist terrorism did not enjoy full support from all ideologically sympathetic groups. TheItalian Communist Party, for example, condemned such activity.[21]
WhileVladimir Lenin systematically denounced the terrorism practiced by theSocialist Revolutionaries, he also supported terror as a tool, and considered mass terror to be a strategic and efficient method for advancing revolutionary goals.[22] According toLeon Trotsky, Lenin emphasized the absolute necessity of terror and as early as 1904, Lenin said, "Thedictatorship of the proletariat is an absolutely meaningless expression withoutJacobin coercion."[23] In 1905, Lenin directed members of theSt. Petersburg "Combat Committee" to commit acts ofrobbery,arson, and other terrorist acts.[24]
Not all scholars agree on Lenin's position towards terrorism. Joan Witte contends that he opposed the practice except when it was wielded bythe party and theRed Army after 1917.[24] She also suggests that he opposed the use of terrorism as a mindless act but endorsed its use in order to advance the communist revolution.[24] Chaliand and Blin contend that Lenin advocated mass terror but objected to disorderly, unorganized, or petty acts of terrorism.[22] According to Richard Drake, Lenin had abandoned any reluctance to use terrorist tactics by 1917, believing that all resistance to communist revolution should be met with maximum force. Drake contends that the terrorist intent in Lenin's program was unmistakable, as acknowledged by Trotsky in his bookTerrorism and Communism: a Reply, published in 1918.[25] In the book, Trotsky provided an elaborate justification for the use of terror, stating "The man who repudiates terrorism in principle, i.e., repudiates measures of suppression and intimidation towards determined and armed counterrevolution, must reject all ideas of the political supremacy of the working class and its revolutionary dictatorship."[23] Trotsky's justification largely rests on a criticism of the usage of the term "terrorism" to describe allpolitical violence on behalf of theLeft, but not equally vicious political violence carried out byliberal orreactionary factions.[26] Scholars on the Left argue that while it is a matter of historical record that communist movements did at times employ violence, the label of "terrorism" is disproportionately used inWestern media sources to refer to all political violence employed by the left, while similarly violent tactics employed by the United States and its allies remain unscrutinized.[27][28]
TheSt Nedelya Church assault on 16 April 1925 was committed by a group from theBulgarian Communist Party. They blew up the roof of theSt Nedelya Church inSofia,Bulgaria. 150 people were killed and around 500 were injured.
TheCambodian genocide committed by theKhmer Rouge, which led to the death of an estimated 1.7 million to 2.5 million people has been described as an act of terrorism by Joseph S. Tuman.[29]
Benjamin A. Valentino has estimated that the atrocities committed by both theNationalist government and theChinese Communist Party during theChinese Civil War resulted in the death of between 1.8 million and 3.5 million people between 1927 and 1949.[30]
In the late 1960s, Japanese communistFusako Shingenobu formed the militantJapanese Red Army terrorist group. Their goal was to start a worldwide communist revolution through the use of terrorism.[31] They committed multiple embassy attacks, airplane hijackings, bombings and taking hostages. They were responsible for the1972 Lod Airport Massacre, in which 26 people were killed and 79 injured.[32] In 1988, members of the JRA detonated acar bomb outside of a USO recreational facility in Naples which killed 4 Italian civilians, 1 U.S. Servicewoman, and injured 15 other people.[33]
Members of the JRA merged with members of the Revolutionary Left Faction to form theUnited Red Army, which became known for theAsama-Sansō incident, a weeklong standoff with the police after the group had murdered fourteen of its own members.[34]
Shining Path was founded in 1969 by Maoist philosophy professorAbimael Guzmán as a split from the Peruvian Communist Party. In 1980 when the Peruvian government held elections for the first time in 12 years, Shining Path rejected participation instead declaring a guerrilla war against the government, perpetrating "assassinations, bombings, beheadings and massacres",[35] including theTarata bombing and1983 Lucanamarca massacre. Guzmán was arrested in 1992 and sentenced to life in prison on charges of aggravated terrorism and murder. Another communist terrorist group,Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, gained notoriety aftertaking hostages at the Japanese Embassy of Peru which lead to a 126-day stand off with Peruvian authorities.
The Shining Path is regarded as aterrorist organization by Peru, Japan,[36] the United States,[37] theEuropean Union,[38] and Canada,[39] all of whom consequently prohibit funding and other financial support to the group.
TheNew People's Army founded in 1969 has been described as the third largest terrorist group operating in the Philippines. The group carried out attacks between 1987 and 1992 before entering ahiatus. Between 2000 and 2006, they carried out an additional 42 attacks.[40] The NPA is designated as a terrorist group by The Philippines,[41] The United States,[42] The European Union,[43] and New Zealand.[44]
Theassassination of Jerzy Popiełuszko was committed by four secret agents fromSecurity Service, who were disguised as the traffic police in 19 October 1984, to cause fear of the majority of Poles in order for them to stop attending mass in Poland. It involved not only homicide but kidnapping of Father Jerzy, as well as the assault andattempted murder of his driver, Waldemar Chrostowski.
InRhodesia (renamedZimbabwe in 1980), during theBush War of the 1970s, guerrillas operating in the country were considered communist terrorists by the government. The organisations in question received war materiels and financial support from numerous communist countries, and they also received training in several of those same countries, including the Soviet Union, China andCuba. Both guerrilla armies involved in the war—theZimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) of theZimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), and theZimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) attached to theZimbabwe African National Union (ZANU)—were initially based in theLusaka area ofZambia, so as to be within striking distance of Rhodesia.[45] ZANU and ZANLA moved their bases toMozambique'sTete province around 1972, and based themselves there until the war's end in 1979. ZIPRA remained based in Zambia. In line with theMaoist ideology professed by its parent organisation, ZANU, ZANLA used Chinese Maoist tactics to great effect, politicising the rural population and hiding amongst the locals between strikes.[46] While ZIPRA conducted similar operations to a lesser extent, most of its men made up a conventional-style army in Zambia, which was trained by Cuban and Soviet officers to eventually overtly invade Rhodesia and openly engage in combat against theRhodesian Security Forces. This ultimately never happened.[47]
After theRussian Revolution in 1917, the use of terrorism to subdue people characterized the new communist regime.[48] HistorianAnna Geifman stated that this was "evident in the regime's very origins." An estimated 17,000 people died as a result of the initial campaign of violence known as theRed Terror.[49] Lenin stated that his "Jacobian party would never reject terror, nor could it do so", referring to theJacobianReign of Terror of 1793–1794 as a model for theBolshevikRed Terror.[50]Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of theCheka (the Sovietsecret police), widely employed terrorist tactics, especially against peasants who refused to surrender their grain to the government.[51] Upon initiating theNew Economic Policy (NEP) Lenin stated, "It is a mistake to think the NEP has put an end to terrorism. We shall return to terrorism, and it will be an economic terrorism".[52]
During theapartheid era inSouth Africa, the government under theAfrikanerNational Party deemed theANC and its military wing,Umkhonto we Sizwe, communist terrorists.[53] As a result, a series of laws were introduced by the government, such as the Suppression of Communism Act, which defined and banned organizations and people that the government considered communist. In 1967 the government promulgated the Terrorism Act, which made terrorist acts a statutory crime and implementedindefinite detention against those who were captured.[53]
During World War II the communistViet Minh fought aguerrilla campaign led byHo Chi Minh against the Japanese occupation forces and, following Japan's surrender, against theFrench colonial forces. This insurgency continued until 1954 as the Viet Minh evolved into the Viet Cong (VC), which fought against both theSouth Vietnamese government and American forces.[54] These campaigns involved terrorism resulting in the deaths of thousands.[55][56] Although anarmistice was signed between the Viet Minh and the French forces in 1954, terrorist actions continued.[57] Carol Winkler has written that in the 1950s, Viet Cong terrorism was rife in South Vietnam, with political leaders, provincial chiefs, teachers, nurses, doctors, and members of the military being targeted. Between 1965 and 1972, Viet Cong terrorists had killed over 33,000 people and abducted a further 57,000.[58][59] Terrorist actions inSaigon were described by Nghia M. Vo as "long and murderous." In these campaigns, South Vietnamese prime ministerTrần Văn Hương was the target of anassassination attempt; in 1964 alone, the Viet Cong carried out 19,000 attacks on civilian targets.[60]
Historian and former U.S. State Department analystDouglas Pike has called theMassacre at Huế one of the worst communist terrorist actions of the Vietnam War.[61] Estimates of the losses in the massacre have been cited as high as 6,000 dead.[62][63] TheUnited States Army recorded as killed "3800 killed in and around Huế, 2786 confirmed civilians massacred, 2226 civilians found in mass graves and 16 non Vietnamese civilians killed."[64] While some historians have claimed that the majority of these deaths occurred as the result of US bombing in the fight to retake the city, the vast majority of the dead were found inmass graves outside the city.[65] Benjamin A. Valentino has estimated a total death toll of between 45,000 and 80,000 people between 1954 and 1975 from VC terrorism.[30]
Douglas Pike also described theĐắk Sơn massacre, in which the Viet Cong usedflamethrowers against civilians in Đắk Sơn, killing 252, as a terrorist act.[66] In May 1967, Tran Van-Luy reported to theWorld Health Organization "that over the previous 10 years Communist terrorists had destroyed 174 dispensaries, maternity homes and hospitals."[67] Ami Pedahzur has written that "the overall volume and lethality of Viet Cong terrorism rivals or exceeds all but a handful (e.g.Algeria,Sri Lanka) of terrorist campaigns waged over the last third of the twentieth century,"[68] and that the VC usedsuicide terrorism as a form ofpropaganda of the deed.[69] Arthur J. Dommen has written that the majority of those killed due to VC terrorism were civilians, caught in ambushes as they traveled on buses, and that the group burnt down villages and forcibly conscripted members.[70]
It's close to a historical universal that the term "terror" is used for their terror against us [the USA] and our clients, not our terror against them. Heads of states can qualify as "terrorists," when they are official enemies.
In May 1948, Arendt denounced the 'development of totalitarian methods' in Israel, referring to 'terrorism' and the expulsion and deportation of the Arab population. Only three years later, no room was left for criticism directed against the contemporary West.
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