Up to 100 million dead · still active today
The Communist Record
A clear, sourced account of the ideology, the regimes it produced, the scale of the killing, why the economics fail — and how the same claims still travel.
Executions, engineered famines, camps — 20th century
China, Vietnam, Laos, Cuba, North Korea
Most of them in the People’s Republic of China
Income per person. Same people, two systems.
In 30 seconds
The record at a glance
Scholarly estimates put communist regimes’ 20th-century death toll at roughly 94–100 million.
Black Book of Communism; Rummel
The Great Leap Forward (1958–62) is the deadliest famine on record: 30–45 million people.
Frank Dikötter, Mao’s Great Famine
The Khmer Rouge killed about a quarter of Cambodia in under four years.
Black Book of Communism; ECCC
Up to 18 million people passed through the Soviet Gulag.
Anne Applebaum, Gulag
South Korea’s income per person is on the order of twenty times North Korea’s — one people, two systems.
World Bank / historical estimates
After China restored market incentives in 1978, on the order of 800 million people left extreme poverty.
World Bank
“Scholarly estimates put communist regimes’ 20th-century death toll at roughly 94–100 million.”
How to read this
Three ways in
New here
The narrative
Origins, then the century in order, then the case files. About an hour if you don’t wander.
Begin with ideologyThe scale
The numbers
Deaths by regime and method, then the economic comparisons that make the body count intelligible.
Open the human costToday
What remains
Five ruling parties, Western organizations, and the cultural strategy that outlived the wall.
See modern risksContents
Chapters
- 01Origins & IdeologyHow Marx and Engels built a theory of history — and how Lenin turned it into a machine for seizing power.9 min
- 02Historical TimelineFrom a pamphlet in 1848 to five states still ruled by communist parties. The century, in order.12 min
- 03Major RegimesOne-party states that abolished private property produced a repeating pattern: shortage, famine, and police power.14 min
- 04The Human CostScholarly estimates put the 20th-century toll at roughly 94–100 million — executions, engineered famines, camps, deportations.8 min
- 05AtrocitiesBeyond body counts: documented methods of the Cheka, the Holodomor, the Gulag, and later industrial killing.10 min
- 06Why It FailsThe famines and empty shelves were not accidents of personality. They follow from the ideology’s economic and political design.10 min
- 07Modern RisksWhen factory revolution failed in the West, the strategy shifted to culture, education, and institutions.9 min
- 08Current GroupsParties and caucuses that still argue for collective ownership, planning, and the replacement of capitalism.7 min
- 09SourcesThe books, archives, and datasets behind every number and quotation in this app.4 min