Talk:Mass killings under communist states

Where is "Mass killings under capitalist regimes?" as a counterbalance to this innately biased article? ~2026-12587-04 (talk) 00:21, 26 February 2026 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Mass killings under capitalist regimes (2nd nomination). Capitalism btw isn't a form of regime. It's an economic system practiced by various types of regimes, including Communist ones. TFD (talk) 01:10, 26 February 2026 (UTC)

• Just chiming in, as someone who frequently converses (and argues, though not always) with a number of Communists and as someone who has actually read Das Kapital and other works by Marx and who identifies as a socialist, that TFD's comment is accurate.

The reason this article exists is because there is academic study of the topic of mass killings under communist regimes as a whole, so we have sources that can be used to tie together sources about specific mass killings under various communist regimes and the mass killings committed by specific communist regimes into an article.

We do not have such sources about 'capitalist regimes'. We have sources about individual mass killings under various 'capitalist regimes', and we have sources about the mass killings committed by specific 'capitalist regimes', but we have no sources which bring all of those killings under a single banner, the way we do with the topic of this article. Combining the sources we do have in a way that reliable sources do not represents WP:SYNTH and is not acceptable.

I would also add that 'capitalist regime' is a highly imprecise descriptor. When one says 'communist regime', we know something about the nature of the political system in place; namely that it administers the means of production in a centralized and planned manner. Which means it will have all of the necessary features to do so. We learn something about the nature of that regime when we call it communist.

So when we say 'capitalist regime', we know nothing about it except that it probably lacks such features (though capitalist economies are not entirely immune to central planning). Compare Communist state and Capitalist state for more information on this. ᛗᛁᛟᛚᚾᛁᚱPants Tell me all about it. 14:15, 26 February 2026 (UTC)

"Mass killings under communist regimes occurred through a variety of means during the 20th century, including executions, famine, deaths through forced labour, deportation, starvation, and imprisonment. Some of these events have been classified as genocides or crimes against humanity. Other terms have been used to describe these events, including classicide, democide, red holocaust, and politicide. The mass killings have been studied by authors and academics and several of them have postulated a potential link between the killings and the perpetrators' status as communist states." Red Holocaust? WP:EDITORIAL and WP:LABEL: Wikipedia policies explicitly state that articles should not use "value-laden labels" or editorializing rhetoric. "Red Holocaust" is not a neutral, descriptive term; it is an emotionally charged political label that appropriates the Shoah. WP:UNDUE (Undue Weight): Placing a highly contested, polemicised, weaponised term in the lead paragraph right next to universally recognized legal concepts like "genocide" or "crimes against humanity" gives extreme undue weight to a minority, sensationalist, *biased* viewpoint. And "Estimates of individuals killed range from a low of 10–20 million to as high as 148 million." is a range that goes beyond reasonable bounds. WP:FRINGE and WP:FALSEBALANCE: Wikipedia policy dictates that we must not present fringe, extreme outlier theories as if they have equal standing with mainstream academic consensus. A figure of 148 million requires relying on heavily criticized methodologies (such as counting theoretical unborn populations from demographic deficits). Presenting 148 million as a valid endpoint of a "normal" range violates WP:FALSEBALANCE. Also, a 'Low of 10-20 million' would be criticised as a range anywhere else. the Low is clearly 10 million. Parksind01 (talk) 21:26, 1 May 2026 (UTC)