Communist terrorism
Communist terrorism is terrorism perpetrated by individuals or groups which adhere to communism and ideologies related to it, such as Marxism–Leninism, Maoism, and Trotskyism. Historically, communist terrorism has sometimes taken the form of state-sponsored terrorism, supported by communist nations such as the Soviet Union, China, North Korea and Democratic Kampuchea. In addition, non-state actors such as the Red Brigades, the Front Line and the Red Army Faction have also engaged in communist terrorism. These groups hope to inspire the masses to rise up and start a revolution to overthrow existing political and economic systems. This form of terrorism can sometimes be called red terrorism or left-wing terrorism.
The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union have been credited with leading to a notable decline in this form of terrorism.
History
In the 1930s, the term "communist terrorism" was used by the Nazi Party in Germany as part of a propaganda campaign to spread fear of communism. The Nazis blamed communist terrorism for the Reichstag fire, which they used as an excuse to push through legislation removing personal freedom from German citizens. In the 1940s and 1950s, various Southeast Asian countries, such as the Philippines and Vietnam, witnessed the rise of communist groups engaging in terrorism. John Slocum claimed that communists in present-day Malaysia used terrorism to draw attention to their ideological beliefs, but Phillip Deery countered that the Malaysian insurgents were called communist terrorists only as part of a propaganda campaign.In the 1960s, the Sino–Soviet split led to a marked increase in terrorist activity in the region. That decade also saw various terrorist groups commencing operations in Europe, Japan, and the Americas. Yonah Alexander deemed these groups Fighting Communist Organizations, and says they rose out of the student union movement protesting against the Vietnam War. In Western Europe, these groups' actions were known as Euroterrorism. 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. In the 1970s, there were an estimated 50 Marxist or Leninist groups operating in Turkey, and an estimated 225 groups operating in Italy. Groups also began operations in Ireland and the United Kingdom. These groups were deemed a major threat by NATO and the Italian, German, and British governments. Communist terrorism did not enjoy full support from all ideologically sympathetic groups. The Italian Communist Party, for example, condemned such activity.
Background
While Vladimir Lenin systematically denounced the terrorism practiced by the Socialist Revolutionaries, he also supported terror as a tool, and considered mass terror to be a strategic and efficient method for advancing revolutionary goals. According to Leon Trotsky, Lenin emphasized the absolute necessity of terror and as early as 1904, Lenin said, "The dictatorship of the proletariat is an absolutely meaningless expression without Jacobin coercion." In 1905, Lenin directed members of the St. Petersburg "Combat Committee" to commit acts of robbery, arson, and other terrorist acts.Not all scholars agree on Lenin's position towards terrorism. Joan Witte contends that he opposed the practice except when it was wielded by the party and the Red Army after 1917. 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. Chaliand and Blin contend that Lenin advocated mass terror but objected to disorderly, unorganized, or petty acts of terrorism. 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 book Terrorism and Communism: a Reply, published in 1918. 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." Trotsky's justification largely rests on a criticism of the usage of the term "terrorism" to describe all political violence on behalf of the Left, but not equally vicious political violence carried out by liberal or reactionary factions. 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 in Western 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.
Examples
Bulgaria
The St Nedelya Church assault on 16 April 1925 was committed by a group from the Bulgarian Communist Party. They blew up the roof of the St Nedelya Church in Sofia, Bulgaria. 150 people were killed and around 500 were injured.Cambodia
The Cambodian genocide committed by the Khmer 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.China
Benjamin A. Valentino has estimated that the atrocities committed by both the Nationalist government and the Chinese Communist Party during the Chinese Civil War resulted in the death of between 1.8 million and 3.5 million people between 1927 and 1949.Japan
In the late 1960s, Japanese communist Fusako Shingenobu formed the militant Japanese Red Army terrorist group. Their goal was to start a worldwide communist revolution through the use of terrorism. They committed multiple embassy attacks, airplane hijackings, bombings and taking hostages. They were responsible for the 1972 Lod Airport Massacre, in which 26 people were killed and 79 injured. In 1988, members of the JRA detonated a car bomb outside of a USO recreational facility in Naples which killed 4 Italian civilians, 1 U.S. Servicewoman, and injured 15 other people.Members of the JRA merged with members of the Revolutionary Left Faction to form the United Red Army, which became known for the Asama-Sansō incident, a weeklong standoff with the police after the group had murdered fourteen of its own members.
Peru
was founded in 1969 by Maoist philosophy professor Abimael 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", including the Tarata bombing and 1983 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 after taking hostages at the Japanese Embassy of Peru which lead to a 126-day stand off with Peruvian authorities.The Shining Path is regarded as a terrorist organization by Peru, Japan, the United States, the European Union, and Canada, all of whom consequently prohibit funding and other financial support to the group.