Le livre noir du communisme

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When first published in France in 1997, this work ignited significant controversy that persists today. Some contributors distanced themselves from chief editor Stéphane Courtois's assertion that Communism, in all its forms, is morally equivalent to Nazism. Courtois argued that both totalitarian systems excelled at killing rather than governing. The book documents the extensive death toll attributed to Communism: 25 million in Russia during the Bolshevik and Stalinist periods, around 65 million in China under Mao Zedong, 2 million in Cambodia, and millions more across Africa, Eastern Europe, and Latin America—an astonishingly high number of victims. Courtois contends that this inclination toward violence is not accidental but a fundamental aspect of a philosophy aimed at eliminating class distinctions by erasing the classes themselves and the individuals within them. The contributors meticulously detail Communism's crimes, moving through various countries and revolutions, presenting figures that may ignite debate among scholars and ideologues alike. Courtois also provocatively suggests that those who view figures like Lenin, Trotsky, and Ho Chi Minh favorably are unwittingly endorsing a deadly ideology that, despite its global decline, still retains followers. This thought-provoking work of history and social criticism deserves widespread readership and discussion.