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==Usage of the term== |
==Usage of the term== |
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In the 1930`s the term was used by the [[Nazi Party]] in Germany as part of a propaganda effort to create fear of communism. The Nazi`s blamed communist terrorism for the [[Reichstag Fire]] and used this as an excuse to push through legislation which removed personal freedom from all citizens.<ref name="Conway John S.">Conway p17</ref><ref name="Gadberry, Glen W.">Gadberry p7</ref> In |
In the 1930`s the term was used by the [[Nazi Party]] in Germany as part of a propaganda effort to create fear of communism. The Nazi`s blamed communist terrorism for the [[Reichstag Fire]] and used this as an excuse to push through legislation which removed personal freedom from all citizens.<ref name="Conway John S.">Conway p17</ref><ref name="Gadberry, Glen W.">Gadberry p7</ref> In the 1940`s and 1950`s in various [[Southeast Asia|Southeast Asian]] countries such as Malaya, The Philippines and Vietnam, communist groups began to conduct terrorist operations. In the 1960`s the [[Sino–Soviet split]] also lead to a marked increase in terrorist activity in the region. <ref name="Weinberg, Leonard">Weinberg p14</ref> |
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In the late 1960`s in [[Europe]], [[Japan]] and in both [[North America|north]] and [[South America]] various terrorist organizations began operations. These groups |
In the late 1960`s in [[Europe]], [[Japan]] and in both [[North America|north]] and [[South America]] various terrorist organizations began operations. These groups which were named the Fighting Communist Organizations (FCO)<ref name="Alexander Yonah 1">Alexander p16</ref><ref name="Harmon, Christopher C.">Harmon p13</ref> rose out of the [[Protests of 1968|student union movement]] which was at that time protesting against the [[Vietnam War]]. In western Europe these groups actions were known as Euroterrorism.<ref name="Harmon, Christopher C. 2">Harmon p58</ref> The founders of the FCO argued that it would take violence to achieve their idealistic goals and that legitimate protest was both ineffective and insufficient to attain them. <ref name="C. J. M. Drake 2">Drake p102</ref><ref name= Enders Walter. Sandler Todd.> Sandler p10</ref> In the 1970`s there were an estimated 50 Marxist/Leninist groups operating in [[Turkey]] and an estimated 225 in Italy. Groups also began operations in [[Ireland]] and [[Great Britain]].<ref name="Alexander Yonah 2">Alexander pp51-52</ref> These groups were seen as a major threat by [[NATO]] and also by the Italian, German and British governments.<ref name="Paoletti, Ciro">Paoletti p202</ref> |
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==Communist Terrorism in the Vietnam War== |
==Communist Terrorism in the Vietnam War== |
Revision as of 14:56, 27 March 2011
Part of a series on |
Terrorism |
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Communist terrorism is the term which has been used to describe acts of violence committed by groups who subscribe to a Marxist/Leninist or Maoist ideology. These groups hope that through these actions they will inspire the the masses to rise up and overthrow the existing political and economic system.[1] In recent years, there has been a marked decrease in such terrorism, which has been substantially credited to the end of the Cold War and the fall of the U.S.S.R.[2] However, at its apogee, communism was argued by some to be the major source of international terrorism (whether inspired by the ideology or supported by its states).[3]
Usage of the term
In the 1930`s the term was used by the Nazi Party in Germany as part of a propaganda effort to create fear of communism. The Nazi`s blamed communist terrorism for the Reichstag Fire and used this as an excuse to push through legislation which removed personal freedom from all citizens.[4][5] In the 1940`s and 1950`s in various Southeast Asian countries such as Malaya, The Philippines and Vietnam, communist groups began to conduct terrorist operations. In the 1960`s the Sino–Soviet split also lead to a marked increase in terrorist activity in the region. [6]
In the late 1960`s in Europe, Japan and in both north and South America various terrorist organizations began operations. These groups which were named the Fighting Communist Organizations (FCO)[7][8] rose out of the student union movement which was at that time protesting against the Vietnam War. In western Europe these groups actions were known as Euroterrorism.[9] The founders of the FCO argued that it would take violence to achieve their idealistic goals and that legitimate protest was both ineffective and insufficient to attain them. [10]Cite error: The <ref>
tag has too many names (see the help page). In the 1970`s there were an estimated 50 Marxist/Leninist groups operating in Turkey and an estimated 225 in Italy. Groups also began operations in Ireland and Great Britain.[11] These groups were seen as a major threat by NATO and also by the Italian, German and British governments.[12]
Communist Terrorism in the Vietnam War
In the 1950`s communist terrorism was rife in South Vietnam with political leaders, provincial chiefs, teachers, nurses, doctors and members of the military being targeted. Between 1965 and 1972 terrorists had killed over thirty three thousand people and abducted a further fifty seven thousand. [13] In Saigon terrorist actions have been described as "long and murderous" The firing of automatic weapons, planting bombs and throwing grenades were the tactics used. The prime minister of the time Tran Van Huong was shot in an attempted assassination. [14]
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1e/Infant_victim_of_Dak_Son_massacre.jpg/100px-Infant_victim_of_Dak_Son_massacre.jpg)
The Massacre at Huế has been described as one of the worst communist terrorist actions during the Vietnam War. [15] with some estimates saying up to 5000 dead. [16] The United States Army recorded as killed, "3800 killed in and around Huế, 2786 confirmed civilians massacred, 2226 civilians found in mass graves and 16 non Vietnamese civilians killed. [17] Some apologists have claimed the majority of deaths were caused by US bombing in the fight to retake the city, however the vast majority of dead were found in Mass Graves outside the city.[16]
Historian Douglas Pike has also described as a terrorist act the Dak Son Massacre. On December 6 1967 the Viet Cong used Flame throwers on civilians in the village of Dak Son killing 252 with the majority of those burnt alive being women and children.[18] In May, 1967 Dr. Tran Van-Luy informed the World Health Organisation "that over the previous 10 years Communist terrorists had destroyed 174 dispensaries, maternity homes and hospitals"[19]
Communist Terrorism in the Soviet Union
In 1917 after the Russian Revolution one of the main features of the new communist regime was the use of terrorism to subdue the populace, the use of terrorism has been described as "evident in the regimes very origins" by historian Anna Geifman. Historian W. J. Stankiewicz has also stated
"The USSR’s resort to terrorism signalized an abandonment of the long-standing fiction that Communism is part of the movement of ‘history’; that in order to win, it does not need any special measures. When terrorism is defined as ‘active measures’ that can and ‘ought’ to be part of the policy of a Communist State, we see a shift to a frank acceptance by Communist ideologues that their system is based on power not reason or the forces of
history".[20]
Vladimir Lenin stated that his “Jacobian party would never reject terror, nor could it do so", and that they used the Jacobian Reign of Terror of 1793-1794 as a model for their own Red Terror.[21] Felix Dzerzhinsky founder of the Cheka used terrorist actions against all classes of people, though the peasants were heavily targeted due to their refusal to give excessive amounts of grain to the government. [22] Upon founding the New Economic Policy(NEP) Lenin stated, "It is a mistake to think the NEP has put an end to terrorism. We shall return to terrorism, and it will be an economic terrorism" One such result of this type of terrorism was the Holodomor, in which an estimated four to ten million people starved to death. [23]
Also described as an act of communist terrorism by historian Robert G. Moeller was the deaths of an estimated one million Prisoners of war at the hands of the Soviet regime. They had been used as slave labour and worked to death.[24] The attacks on the Catholic church in the occupied eastern European nations have also been described as a terrorist act. [25]
See also
References
- ^ C. J. M. Drake page 19
- ^ David C. Wills page 219
- ^ Brian Crozier page 203
- ^ Conway p17
- ^ Gadberry p7
- ^ Weinberg p14
- ^ Alexander p16
- ^ Harmon p13
- ^ Harmon p58
- ^ Drake p102
- ^ Alexander pp51-52
- ^ Paoletti p202
- ^ Carol Winkler page 17
- ^ Nghia M. Vo pages 28/29
- ^ Michael Lee Lanning page 185
- ^ a b T. Louise Brown page 163
- ^ Charles A. Krohn page 126
- ^ Michael Lee Lanning page 185-186
- ^ Rigal-Cellard page 229
- ^ W. J. Stankiewicz page 225
- ^ Marcus C. Levitt page 152-153
- ^ Richard W. Mansbach page 336
- ^ David Schmidtz page 191
- ^ Moeller page 33
- ^ Zugger page 444
Bibliography
- C. J. M. Drake. Terrorists' target selection. Palgrave Macmillan. 5 February 2003. ISBN 978-0312211974
- David C. Wills. The First War on Terrorism: Counter-terrorism Policy During the Reagan Administration. Rowman & Littlefield 28 August 2003. ISBN 978-0742531291
- Brian Crozier. Political victory: the elusive prize of military wars. Transaction Publishers 31 May 2005. ISBN 978-0765802903
- Conway John S.The Nazi Persecution of the Churches, 1933-1945 Regent College Publishing. 1 April 2001. ISBN 978-1573830805
- Gadberry, Glen W. Theatre in the Third Reich, the prewar years: essays on theatre in Nazi Germany Greenwood. 30 March 1995. ISBN 978-0313295164
- Weinberg, Leonard. Political parties and terrorist groups. 2nd Revised Edition. 6 November 2008. Routledge. ISBN 978-0415775366
- Enders Walter. Sandler Todd. The political economy of terrorism November 14 2005. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521851008
- Alexander Yonah. Europe's red terrorists: the fighting communist organizations. October 1, 1992. Routledge. ISBN 978-0714634883
- Paoletti, Ciro (30 December 2007). A military history of Italy. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 978-0275985059.
- Harmon, Christopher C. Terrorism Today Routledge 2nd edition. 18 Octtober 2007. ISBN 978-0415773003
- Carol Winkler. In the name of terrorism: presidents on political violence in the post-World. State University of New York Press Illustrated edition. 3 November 2005. ISBN 978-0791466179
- Nghia M. Vo. The bamboo gulag: political imprisonment in communist Vietnam. McFarland & Company 31 December 2003. ISBN 978-0786417148
- Michael Lee Lanning, Dan Cragg. Inside the VC and the NVA: the real story of North Vietnam's armed forces. 1st edition. Texas A & M University Press 15 August 2008. ISBN 978-1603440592
- T. Louise Brown, War and aftermath in Vietnam. Routledge. 2 May 1991. ISBN 978-0415014038
- Bernadette Rigal-Cellard. La guerre du Vietnam et la société américaine. Presses universitaires de Bordeaux. 1991. ISBN 978-2867811227
- Forest, James J. F. Countering Terrorism and Insurgency in the 21st Century Praeger 6/30/2007 ISBN 978-0-275-99034-3
- Christopher Lawrence Zugger. The forgotten: Catholics of the Soviet empire from Lenin through Stalin. Syracuse University Press. 31 May 2001. ISBN 978-0815606796
Further reading
- Deletant, Dennis (1999) Communist Terror in Romania, C. Hurst & Co, ISBN 1850653860
- Adelman, Jonathan (1984) Terror and Communist Politics: The Role of the Secret Police in Communist States, Westview Press, ISBN 0865312931
- Evgeni Genchev (2003) Tales from the Dark: Testimonies about the Communist Terror, ACET 2003, ISBN 9549320014