Sustaining relevance through democratic means, does Indian Left still romanticize murder, slavery in Soviet bloc, China?

By Hemantkumar Shah* 

The history of the 20th century is stained with the blood of millions who fell victim to communist regimes. In the name of revolution, anti-capitalism, and the pursuit of economic equality or socialism, countries like China, Russia, and many in Eastern Europe endured ruthless communist dictatorships. These regimes carried out mass killings, threw dissenters into prisons, and crushed personal freedoms — yet the Left, particularly in India, continues to ignore or rationalize this violent legacy.

It’s astonishing how the Left turns a blind eye to the atrocities committed under communist rule while fiercely opposing American and European capitalism or India’s version of capitalism and Hindu casteism. Their moral outrage is oddly selective — directed at Western democratic systems, but conspicuously silent about the brutality of regimes they ideologically support.

Consider these facts:

Between 1921 and 1953 in the Soviet Union, over 800,000 dissenters were executed. Another 1.3 to 1.7 million died in forced labor camps modeled on Hitler’s concentration camps. Nearly 390,000 peasants were killed outright. Joseph Stalin, who ruled for three decades, left behind a legacy of fear and mass repression.

In China, during the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1969, Mao Zedong's regime killed around 1.6 million people under the banner of ideological purification.

Eastern European countries — Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, and more — were virtually enslaved by Soviet Russia until 1991. Isn’t Putin’s war on Ukraine today yet another attempt to reimpose that same imperial domination?

In Hungary, when people rose against communist dictatorship in 1956, Soviet forces killed 2,500 protestors and injured 20,000. Around 200,000 Hungarians had to flee their homeland.

In 1968, when citizens of Czechoslovakia non-violently protested against communist rule, the Soviet Union again deployed troops to crush their freedom, effectively re-enslaving the people.

These are just some examples. According to several neutral estimates, communist regimes across the globe have killed close to 100 million people and imprisoned millions more.

Critics of capitalism argue — with some validity — that it exploits people indirectly. But communist dictatorships didn’t just exploit — they killed, openly and brutally. They tolerated no dissent. What’s happening in China even today? Where are the voices of Indian leftists when it comes to China’s ongoing suppression of basic freedoms?

If we are to condemn autocracy, we must do so consistently. What about the authoritarian rule in Sunni Saudi Arabia in the name of religion? Or the repression in Shia Iran? Afghanistan is an even darker chapter. None of these can or should be justified, no matter their ideological or theological pretext.

Indian leftists and communists must not forget: their political relevance in Kerala, Tripura, and West Bengal was gained and sustained through democratic means — not through revolution or dictatorship. That’s the gift of India's capitalist democracy — it allowed communist parties to rise to power through elections.

Those who read Soviet Nobel laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s works know that the cruelty of Soviet leaders was often no less than Hitler’s. The brutalities of the gulags expose the hollowness of the communist dream.

The Yugoslav writer Milovan Djilas, once a close aide of Tito, powerfully exposed the hypocrisy of communist elites in his landmark book The New Class. He argued that under communism, it is the communists themselves who become the new class of exploiters. It’s a book the Left ought to have the courage to read.

This is not to say that capitalism is inherently better or more desirable than communism. But the key difference is this: capitalist democracies still allow freedom of speech and expression — a liberty that is systematically crushed under communist dictatorships. That freedom matters. Because in a democracy, I can at least live as a human being, not a number in a prison camp. I can speak my mind, criticize the government, and still remain free.

That’s why preserving democracy is the only real solution. Not romanticizing communism. Not turning away from the horrors committed in its name. The only guiding principle must be the rejection of violence, injustice, and slavery — in every form, no matter the ideology. Human freedom must always remain our highest value.

Some of my friends get angry when I use terms like “communist dictatorship.” Ironically, it is their criticism that has inspired me to write this piece. I sincerely thank them. If they now choose to look away when they see me, so be it.

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*Senior economist based in Ahmedabad