Communist terrorism

Leon Trotsky, a major theoretician of Communism, has stated, "The damaging of machines by workers, for example, is terrorism in this strict sense of the word. The killing of an employer, a threat to set fire to a factory or a death threat to its owner, an assassination attempt, with revolver in hand, against a government minister—all these are terrorist acts in the full and authentic sense. However, anyone who has an idea of the true nature of international Social Democracy ought to know that it has always opposed this kind of terrorism and does so in the most irreconcilable way."^[7]

History and ideology of Communist terrorism

Origin of Communist terrorism

German Social Democrat Karl Kautsky and other authors trace the origins of Communist terrorism to the "Reign of Terror" of the French Revolution.^[4]^[8] Others emphasize the role of Russian revolutionary movements of the 19th century, and especially Narodnaya Volya ("People's Will") and the Nihilist movement, which included several thousand followers. "People's Will" organized one of the first political terrorism campaign in history.^[9] In March 1881, it assassinated the Emperor of Russia Alexander II, who twenty years earlier had emancipated the Russian serfs.^[10]

Important ideologists of these groups were Mikhail Bakunin and Sergey Nechayev, who was described in Fyodor Dostoevsky's novel "The possessed".^[10]. Nechaev argued that the purpose of revolutionary terror in not to gain a support of masses, but to the contrary, inflict misery and fear on the common population. He said:

A revolutionary "must infiltrate all social formations including the police. He must exploit rich and influential people, subordinating them to himself. He must aggravate the miseries of the common people, so as to exhaust their patience and incite them to rebel. And, finally, he must ally himself with the savage word of the violent criminal, the only true revolutionary in Russia".^[10] "The Revolutionist is a doomed man. He has no private interests, no affairs, sentiments, ties, property nor even a name of his own. His entire being is devoured by one purpose, one thought, one passion - the revolution. Heart and soul, not merely by word but by deed, he has severed every link with the social order and with the entire civilized world; with the laws, good manners, conventions, and morality of that world. He is its merciless enemy and continues to inhabit it with only one purpose - to destroy it."

Other authors emphasize importance of Marxist ideology. According to Marx, "There is only one way to shorten and ease the convulsions of the old society and the bloody birth pangs of the new - revolutionary terror" ^[10] Historian Edvard Radzinsky noted that Joseph Stalin wrote a nota bene "Terror is the quickest way to new society" beside this passage in a book by Marx^[10] Historian Richard Pipes said that despotism and violence were the intrinsic properties of every Communist regime in the world ^[9] He also argued that Communist terror follows from Marxism teaching that considers human lives as expendable material for construction of the brighter future society. He cited Marx who once wrote that "The present generation resembles the Jews whom Moses led through the wilderness. It must not only conquer a new world, it must also perish in order to make a room for the people who are fit for a new world" ^[9]

Terror campaigns within the Soviet Union

After the October Revolution Bolsheviks began the campaign of Red Terror. According to Marxist Karl Kautsky, "Among the phenomena for which Bolshevism has been responsible, Terrorism, which begins with the abolition of every form of freedom of the Press, and ends in a system of wholesale execution, is certainly the most striking and the most repellent of all".^[11]

Kautsky recognized that Red Terror represented a variety of terrorism because it was indiscriminate, intended to frighten the civilian population, and included taking and executing hostages. People were executed simply for who they were, not for their deeds. Martin Latsis, chief of the Ukrainian Cheka explained in newspaper "Red Terror":

Promotion of terrorist organizations by Communist states

Later on, Soviet secret services worked to establish a network of terrorist front organizations and have been described as the primary promoters of terrorism worldwide.^[13] ^[14]^[15] According to Ion Mihai Pacepa, General Aleksandr Sakharovsky from the First Chief Directorate of the KGB once said: "In today’s world, when nuclear arms have made military force obsolete, terrorism should become our main weapon."^[16] He also claimed that "Airplane hijacking is my own invention". In 1969 alone, 82 planes were hijacked worldwide by the KGB-financed Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).^[16] George Habash, who worked under the KGB's guidance,^[17] explained: "Killing one Jew far away from the field of battle is more effective than killing a hundred Jews on the field of battle, because it attracts more attention."^[16]

Lt. General Ion Mihai Pacepa described the operation "SIG" (“Zionist Governments”) that was devised in 1972, to turn the whole Islamic world against Israel and the United States. KGB chairman Yury Andropov allegedly explained to Pacepa that "a billion adversaries could inflict far greater damage on America than could a few millions. We needed to instill a Nazi-style hatred for the Jews throughout the Islamic world, and to turn this weapon of the emotions into a terrorist bloodbath against Israel and its main supporter, the United States."

The leader of the PLO, Yasser Arafat, established close collaboration with the Romanian Securitate service and the Soviet KGB in the beginning of the 1970s.^[20] The secret training of PLO guerrillas was provided by the KGB.^[21] However, the main KGB activities and arms shipments were channeled through Wadie Haddad of the DFLP organization, who usually stayed in a KGB dacha BARVIKHA-1 during his visits to Russia. Led by Carlos the Jackal, a group of PFLP fighters accomplished a spectacular raid the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries office in Vienna in 1975. Advance notice of this operation "was almost certainly" given to the KGB.^[22]

A number of notable operations have been conducted by the KGB to support international terrorists with weapons on the orders from the Soviet Communist Party, including:

Preparations for terrorism and sabotage operations against Western countries

Large-scale sabotage operations have been prepared by the KGB and GRU against the United States, Canada and Europe, according to the Mitrokhin Archive, ^[26], GRU defectors Victor Suvorov^[27] and Stanislav Lunev, and former SVR officer Kouzminov ^[28]. Among the planned operations were the following:

According to Lunev, a probable scenario in the event of war would be poisoning of Potomac River with chemical or biological weapons, "targeting the residents of Washington DC" ^[13] He also noted that it is "likely" that GRU operatives have placed already "poison supplies near the tributaries to major US reservoirs." ^[36]. That was confirmed by Alexander Kouzminov who was responsible for transporting dangerous pathogens from around the world for Russian program of biological weapons in the 1980s and the beginning of 1990s. He described a variety of biological terrorism acts that would be carried out on the order of Rissian President in the event of hostilities, including poisoning public drinking-water supplies and food processing plants. ^[37]

US Congressman Curt Weldon supported claims by Lunev but noted that Lunev had "exaggerated things" according to the FBI. ^[38] Searches of the areas identified by Lunev - who admits he never planted any weapons in the US - have been conducted, "but law-enforcement officials have never found such weapons caches, with or without portable nuclear weapons."^[39]

State terrorism and its death toll

Stéphane Courtois’ The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression notes that communism killed between 85 million and 100 million people in the last century. Communism, as Courtois and his fellow historians establish, killed with brutal efficiency: approximately 65 million in China under Mao Zedong, 25 million in Bolshevik and Stalinist Russia, 2 million in Cambodia, and millions of others in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America. Courtouis notes that this shockingly soaring count of the dead was accomplished by mass murders, town burnings, planned famines and other ruthlessly conceived methods. ^[40]

Shining Path

FARC

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is a Marxist/Leninist organization in Colombia which has employed vehicle bombings, gas cylinder bombs, killings, landmines, kidnapping, extortion, hijacking, as well as guerrilla and conventional military. The United States Department of State includes the FARC-EP on its list of foreign terrorist organizations, as does the European Union. FARC has It funds itself principally through extortion, kidnapping and their participation in the illegal drug trade.^[45]^[46] Many of their fronts have also overrun and massacred small communities in order to silence and intimidate those who do not support their activities, enlist new and underage recruits by force, distribute propaganda and, more importantly, to pillage local banks. Businesses operating in rural areas, including agricultural, oil, and mining interests, were required to pay "vaccines" (monthly payments) which "protected" them from subsequent attacks and kidnappings. An additional, albeit less lucrative, source of revenue was highway blockades where guerrillas stopped motorists and buses in order to confiscate jewelry and money. An estimated 20-30 percent of FARC combatants are under 18 years old, with many as young as 12 years old, for a total of around 5000 children. ^[47]), Children who try to escape the ranks of the guerrillas are punished with torture and death.^[47]^[48]

Communist Party of the Philippines

The Communist Party of the Philippines and it's armed wing, the New People's Army (CPP/NPA) is a paramilitary group fighting for communist revolution in the Philippines. It was formed on March 29, 1969. The Maoist NPA fights a "protracted people's war" as the military wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). The NPA is classified as a terrorist organization by the Philippine Government, the US, EU and other countries. The NPA's targets often include politicians, military, police, criminals, landlords, business owners and occasionally U.S. agents in the Philippines. In its Second Rectification Movement, the group conducted a purge killing thousands of partisans and members on accusations of being deep penetration agent by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine intelligence community. Former NPA fighter Robert Francis Garcia chronicled the wild murders in his book To Suffer Thy Comrades and organized the Peace Advocates for Truth, Healing and Justice (PATH), a group composed of survivors of the "purges" and the families of victims and their friends and supporters.

November 17

Revolutionary Organization 17 November(also known as 17N or N17) is Marxist terrorist organization formed in 1973 in Greece and believed by many to be have been disbanded in 2002 after the arrest and trial of a number of its members. During its heyday, the urban guerrilla group assassinated 23 people in 103 attacks on U.S., diplomatic and Greek targets. Greek authorities believe spin-off terror groups are still in operation, including Revolutionary Struggle, the group that allegedly fired a rocket propelled grenade at the U.S. Embassy in Athens in January 2007.

Revolutionary People's Liberation Party/Front

ETA

Revolutionary Nuclei

Revolutionary Nuclei is a Marxist-Leninist group in Greece, formed in 1995. The group is on the U.S.Department of State's list of designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations and appears on the list of terror organisations of the European Union.

May 19th Communist Movement

The May 19 Communist Organization, also referred to as the May 19 Communist Coalition, was a US-based, self-described revolutionary organization formed by splintered-off members of the Weather Underground. The group was originally known as the New York chapter of the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee (PFOC), an organization devoted to legally promoting the causes of the Weather Underground. Its name was derived from the birthdays of Ho Chi Minh and Malcolm X. The May 19 Communist Organization was active from 1978 to 1985.

In 1981 Kathy Boudin, together with several members of the Black Liberation Army, participated in a robbery of a Brinks armored car at the Nanuet Mall, near Nyack, New York. Upon her arrest, Boudin was identified as a member of the May 19 Communist Organization. From 1982 to 1985, a series of bombings were ascribed to the group.

By May 23, 1985, all members of the group had been arrested, with the exception of Elizabeth Duke, who remains a fugitive. At a 1986 trial, six group members were tried and convicted of multiple counts of domestic terrorism.

Red Army Faction (RAF)

The Red Army Faction operated from the 1970s to 1998, committing numerous crimes, especially in the autumn of 1977, which led to a national crisis that became known as "German Autumn". It was responsible for 34 deaths, including many secondary targets such as chauffeurs and bodyguards, and many injuries in its almost 30 years of existence.

Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist

The Communist Party of Nepal has been responsible for hundreds of attacks on government and civilian targets. After the UPF's Maoist wing (CPN-M) performed poorly in elections and was excluded from the election of 1994. The Maoists then turned to insurgency in order to overthrow Nepal's monarchy, parliamentary democracy and change Nepalese society, including a purge of the nation's elite class, a state takeover of private industry, and collectivization of agriculture. ^[49]^[50]

In Nepal attacks against civilian populations occurred as part of Maoist strategy - Amnesty International states:

Until recently, the Maoist insurgency has been fighting against the Royal Nepalese Army and other supporters of the monarchy.

Malayan Races Liberation Army

The Malayan Races Liberation Army (MRLA) was the name given by British security forces to a combatant in the Malayan Emergency, an insurrection and guerrilla war against the British and Malayan administration from 1948-1960 in what is now Malaysia.

MRLA is actually a mistranslation from Chinese, which the organization's leader Chin Peng has corrected to Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA). It was a guerrilla force created by the Malayan Communist Party and, to some extent, led and dominated by overseas Chinese communists.

The MNLA was a successor of the Malayan People's Anti-Japanese Army, another guerrilla force which the British had secretly trained and equipped with arms during World War II in the fight against the Japanese Occupation. The Communist Party, which had been banned in the pre-war years, was thereafter granted legal recognition by the British after the war as a reward for its wartime effort, but had secretly kept some of the MPAJA's weapons for future use.

The MCP used violence to support its union organisation, and the British used restrictions, including banishing key communist leaders not born locally, to restrict the MCP. This mutual antagonism climaxed with MCP plans for revolt in 1948, which the British pre-empted by declaring a state of emergency in June 1948.

Defeated in the first Malayan emergency (1948-1960) in the Malayan jungles, and outwitted in Singapore politics by nationalist politician Lee Kuan Yew, by the mid-1960s it was fragmented. a small group of insurgents continued to operate from the Malaysian-Thailand border, until they signed a peace agreement with the Thai and Malaysian Governments in December 1989.

This allowed some of the remaining MCP members to settle in 'Peace Villages' in southern Thailand, others to return to Malaysia. No agreement was signed with Singapore, and Secretary-General Chin Peng (in office 1947 to present) has subsequently been denied the right to return to Malaysia.

Communist Party of India (Maoist) and Naxalites

The Naxalite extremist Communist terror groups in India have effectively taken over large parts of the rural regions of the country in recent years. Advocating a violent, revolutionary Maoist ideology, they and their associates in the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and People's War are regarded as India's biggest and most pernicious security threat.^[52]. Naxalite Communists have engaged in numerous terrorist attacks and human rights violations in India's "Red Corridor" (the regions in India that they have taken over)^[53]^[54].

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