Stalin and Mao

Sandeep had a write-up on Stalin dated October 24, 2005. An earlier posting of his highlights Nehru's high regard for the Soviet leader, notwithstanding Stalin's sordid human rights record. To illustrate, I rely on conservative estimates derived from Soviet census figures and the unexplained excess deaths in a ten year period relative to other periods.

The April 13, 1998 edition of Time Magazine mentions that Stalin killed between 15 to 20 million Soviet citizens. Zbigniew Brzezinski, one time National Security Adviser and Professor at Columbia University, estimates that between 20 and 25 million persons died due to Stalinist labor camps, executions and the forced collectivization of agriculture. The Encyclopedia Britannica cites Roy Medvedev to reckon that 20 million died under Stalin due to labor camps, executions and famine. Robert Conquest in his "The Great Terror: A Re-assessment" claimed that 20 million individuals perished under Joseph Stalin. These are conservative figures and other estimates of Stalinist deaths are considerably higher.

Now to Mao Ze Dong. Varnam had a valuable read on him on October 25. Agence France Presse in its report dated September 25, 1999 cites Stephane Courtois to estimate that at least 44.5 million individuals were killed under Mao. The July 17, 1994 edition of the Washington Post cited the University of Shanghai Journal to estimate 40 million deaths under Mao. Zbigniew Brzezinski reckoned that 29 million deaths could be attributed to Mao. Once again, these are estimates at the lower end of the spectrum. What is undeniable is that Marxism killed millions and represented the worst episode in 20th century history.