20 Years ago...

[AngusJS]

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

But when it comes to mass murders, human rights abuses, and general maltreatment of one's own populace, nobody beats the Stalinists. Not even the Nazis.
At least the Chinese were nice enough to wait for students to protest before killing them. Soviet academia was afforded no such luxury, and joined tens of millions in the Gulag, where they pretty much all died of exposure or starvation or being worked to death. The lucky hundreds of thousands were just shot, or hanged.

I think the Khmer Rouge was the worst of all. Even while millions of Soviet citizens were being sent off to the gulags, for most people, life went on. Compare that to Cambodia, where the entire population was forced into communes, where you could be killed for wearing glasses (because that meant you were an intellectual), and where 20% of the population was executed or starved to death.

[UnderseaLcpl]

Originally Posted by AngusJS

I think the Khmer Rouge was the worst of all. Even while millions of Soviet citizens were being sent off to the gulags, for most people, life went on. Compare that to Cambodia, where the entire population was forced into communes, where you could be killed for wearing glasses (because that meant you were an intellectual), and where 20% of the population was executed or starved to death.

I tend to lump the Khmer Rouge in with Stalinists, but you're absolutely right, that was a nightmare regime if there ever was one.