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A1: This article exists because so far there has been no consensus to delete it. The latest AfD (2021) said that the Wikipedia editing community has been unable to come to a consensus as to whether "mass killings under communist regimes" is a suitable encyclopaedic topic. Six discussions to delete this article have been held, none of them resulting in a deletion:
Q2: Why isn't there also an article for "Mass killings under _________ regimes"? Isn't this title biased?
A2: Each article must stand on its own merits, as justified by its sources. The existence (or not) of some other similar article does not determine the existence of this one, and vice versa. Having said that, there are other articles such as
Anti-communist mass killings and
Genocide of indigenous peoples which also exist. This article has a
descriptive title arrived at by consensus in November 2009.
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Under the section entitled "Debate over famines", it is implied that this is an actual argument:
Historian Jon Wiener and journalist and Labour aide Seumas Milne, have criticized the emphasis on communism when assigning blame for famines. In a 2002 article for The Guardian, Milne mentions "the moral blindness displayed towards the record of colonialism", and he writes: "If Lenin and Stalin are regarded as having killed those who died of hunger in the famines of the 1920s and 1930s, then Churchill is certainly responsible for the 4 million deaths in the avoidable Bengal famine of 1943." Milne laments that while "there is a much-lauded Black Book of Communism, [there exists] no such comprehensive indictment of the colonial record." Weiner makes a similar assertion while comparing the Holodomor and the Bengal famine of 1943, stating that Winston Churchill's role in the Bengal famine "seems similar to Stalin's role in the Ukrainian famine." Historian Mike Davis, author of Late Victorian Holocausts, draws comparisons between the Great Chinese Famine and the Indian famines of the late 19th century, arguing that in both instances the governments which oversaw the response to the famines deliberately chose not to alleviate conditions and as such bear responsibility for the scale of deaths in said famines. Economic anthropologist Jason Hickel and Dylan Sullivan suggest that the number excess deaths during the apex of British colonialism in India rise to around 100 million, which is greater than all the famine deaths that have been attributed to communist governments combined.
Now, it's difficult to say if either these arguments are bad arguments, or just not arguments at all. Obviously, bad-but-relevant arguments are indeed necessary; it's wrong to remove cited arguments just because you believe they are bad. But these arguments are so distant from the point - that, in debating famines, one must employ the logical fallacy that the British also caused famines (extreme whataboutism) - that we ought to consider if these arguments are really arguments at all; i.e., hardly relevant to "debate over famines" because there is no commentary on the communist countries at all, only that other empires did worse. Zilch-nada ( talk) 22:51, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
It's probably good to explore the differences between where the initiatives of a Communist regime and commmunism-related initiatives were a major cause of the deaths vs. those other types of deaths where the main assertion is failure to help. But giving all of this space to an obviously biased writer who is basically just making a whataboutism talking point rather than undertaking such an analysis is IMO a bad way to approach this and not good content for the article. Sincerely, North8000 (
talk) 13:14, 4 January 2024 (UTC)
is itself a whataboutism response to the the Holocaust"?
In this case Mcukr argues that communism is inherently homocidal" - no it doesn't. It analyses the excess deaths - particularly mass killings, for supposedly systemic reasons under "communist" regimes. This article discusses the importance of "communism" in such regimes that committed mass killings, offering opinions both for and against its importance; you are clearly of the latter opinion, but it's just that - an opinion; only one side of the story.
yet followers of other ideologies act in the same way given the same circumstances" is a particularly clear example of parrotting your own opinion. Cite your sources. What is even more pathetic is that you suggest that this article as a whole is unjust because you agree with only one side of the opinions presented in this article. Zilch-nada ( talk) 11:51, 29 January 2024 (UTC)
A comparison of the healthiness of Coke and Pepsi for example would be misleading if information was provided for only one product" - what a juvenile analogy. This article is about mass killings under communist regimes, not about comparisons between capitalism and communism. Additionally, the paragraph I picked out from Milne et. al does not refer specifically to "capitalism", but "colonialism" as a cause for Bengal famine etc. So your notion of a binary in this debate is likewise completely OR. Zilch-nada ( talk) 11:56, 29 January 2024 (UTC)
And of course the academic community rejects this type of logic and there is no literature that tries to tie Communist mass killings together in the same way that Holocaust studies tie together Nazi mass killings." - Communist mass killings are tied together by proponents of the notion of MKUCR. Hence, this article.
...in the same way that Holocaust studies tie together Nazi mass killings"; uh..., because Communism is an ideology spanning dozens of state ideologies historically, whereas Nazism refers almost entirely to a single state? Many academics do "tie Communist mass killings together"; hence this article. Zilch-nada ( talk) 12:14, 29 January 2024 (UTC)
The death toll is inaccurate. 2601:541:700:5050:C5B9:8747:70F6:B8DD ( talk) 03:31, 26 January 2024 (UTC)
The map of the current and former communist states for some reason has Ukraine and a couple of states next to it are connected to Russia. If its a map from a certain time period, then putting that time period under the photo would make sense to avoid confusion. However, looking at this map without context, it doesn't really make sense. Is this a mistake? RadioactiveRadiant ( talk) 21:23, 10 February 2024 (UTC)
This is the
talk page for discussing improvements to the
Mass killings under communist regimes article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject. |
Article policies
|
Find sources: Google ( books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
Warning: active arbitration remedies The contentious topics procedure applies to this article. This article is related to Eastern Europe or the Balkans, which is a contentious topic. Furthermore, the following rules apply when editing this article:
Editors who repeatedly or seriously fail to adhere to the purpose of Wikipedia, any expected standards of behaviour, or any normal editorial process may be blocked or restricted by an administrator. Editors are advised to familiarise themselves with the contentious topics procedures before editing this page. |
Discussions on this page often lead to previous arguments being restated. Please read recent comments, look in the archives, and review the FAQ before commenting. |
Frequently asked questions This section is here to provide answers to some questions that have been previously discussed on this talk page.
Note: This FAQ is only here to let people know that these points have previously been addressed, not to prevent any further discussion of these issues. To view an explanation to the answer, click the [show] link to the right of the question. General Concerns and Questions Q1: Why does this article exist?
A1: This article exists because so far there has been no consensus to delete it. The latest AfD (2021) said that the Wikipedia editing community has been unable to come to a consensus as to whether "mass killings under communist regimes" is a suitable encyclopaedic topic. Six discussions to delete this article have been held, none of them resulting in a deletion:
Q2: Why isn't there also an article for "Mass killings under _________ regimes"? Isn't this title biased?
A2: Each article must stand on its own merits, as justified by its sources. The existence (or not) of some other similar article does not determine the existence of this one, and vice versa. Having said that, there are other articles such as
Anti-communist mass killings and
Genocide of indigenous peoples which also exist. This article has a
descriptive title arrived at by consensus in November 2009.
|
Due to the editing restrictions on this article, a subpage has been created to serve as a collaborative workspace or dumping ground for additional article material. |
This
level-5 vital article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's
content assessment scale. It is of interest to multiple WikiProjects. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Index |
This page has archives. Sections older than 7 days may be automatically archived by Lowercase sigmabot III when more than 3 sections are present. |
Under the section entitled "Debate over famines", it is implied that this is an actual argument:
Historian Jon Wiener and journalist and Labour aide Seumas Milne, have criticized the emphasis on communism when assigning blame for famines. In a 2002 article for The Guardian, Milne mentions "the moral blindness displayed towards the record of colonialism", and he writes: "If Lenin and Stalin are regarded as having killed those who died of hunger in the famines of the 1920s and 1930s, then Churchill is certainly responsible for the 4 million deaths in the avoidable Bengal famine of 1943." Milne laments that while "there is a much-lauded Black Book of Communism, [there exists] no such comprehensive indictment of the colonial record." Weiner makes a similar assertion while comparing the Holodomor and the Bengal famine of 1943, stating that Winston Churchill's role in the Bengal famine "seems similar to Stalin's role in the Ukrainian famine." Historian Mike Davis, author of Late Victorian Holocausts, draws comparisons between the Great Chinese Famine and the Indian famines of the late 19th century, arguing that in both instances the governments which oversaw the response to the famines deliberately chose not to alleviate conditions and as such bear responsibility for the scale of deaths in said famines. Economic anthropologist Jason Hickel and Dylan Sullivan suggest that the number excess deaths during the apex of British colonialism in India rise to around 100 million, which is greater than all the famine deaths that have been attributed to communist governments combined.
Now, it's difficult to say if either these arguments are bad arguments, or just not arguments at all. Obviously, bad-but-relevant arguments are indeed necessary; it's wrong to remove cited arguments just because you believe they are bad. But these arguments are so distant from the point - that, in debating famines, one must employ the logical fallacy that the British also caused famines (extreme whataboutism) - that we ought to consider if these arguments are really arguments at all; i.e., hardly relevant to "debate over famines" because there is no commentary on the communist countries at all, only that other empires did worse. Zilch-nada ( talk) 22:51, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
It's probably good to explore the differences between where the initiatives of a Communist regime and commmunism-related initiatives were a major cause of the deaths vs. those other types of deaths where the main assertion is failure to help. But giving all of this space to an obviously biased writer who is basically just making a whataboutism talking point rather than undertaking such an analysis is IMO a bad way to approach this and not good content for the article. Sincerely, North8000 (
talk) 13:14, 4 January 2024 (UTC)
is itself a whataboutism response to the the Holocaust"?
In this case Mcukr argues that communism is inherently homocidal" - no it doesn't. It analyses the excess deaths - particularly mass killings, for supposedly systemic reasons under "communist" regimes. This article discusses the importance of "communism" in such regimes that committed mass killings, offering opinions both for and against its importance; you are clearly of the latter opinion, but it's just that - an opinion; only one side of the story.
yet followers of other ideologies act in the same way given the same circumstances" is a particularly clear example of parrotting your own opinion. Cite your sources. What is even more pathetic is that you suggest that this article as a whole is unjust because you agree with only one side of the opinions presented in this article. Zilch-nada ( talk) 11:51, 29 January 2024 (UTC)
A comparison of the healthiness of Coke and Pepsi for example would be misleading if information was provided for only one product" - what a juvenile analogy. This article is about mass killings under communist regimes, not about comparisons between capitalism and communism. Additionally, the paragraph I picked out from Milne et. al does not refer specifically to "capitalism", but "colonialism" as a cause for Bengal famine etc. So your notion of a binary in this debate is likewise completely OR. Zilch-nada ( talk) 11:56, 29 January 2024 (UTC)
And of course the academic community rejects this type of logic and there is no literature that tries to tie Communist mass killings together in the same way that Holocaust studies tie together Nazi mass killings." - Communist mass killings are tied together by proponents of the notion of MKUCR. Hence, this article.
...in the same way that Holocaust studies tie together Nazi mass killings"; uh..., because Communism is an ideology spanning dozens of state ideologies historically, whereas Nazism refers almost entirely to a single state? Many academics do "tie Communist mass killings together"; hence this article. Zilch-nada ( talk) 12:14, 29 January 2024 (UTC)
The death toll is inaccurate. 2601:541:700:5050:C5B9:8747:70F6:B8DD ( talk) 03:31, 26 January 2024 (UTC)
The map of the current and former communist states for some reason has Ukraine and a couple of states next to it are connected to Russia. If its a map from a certain time period, then putting that time period under the photo would make sense to avoid confusion. However, looking at this map without context, it doesn't really make sense. Is this a mistake? RadioactiveRadiant ( talk) 21:23, 10 February 2024 (UTC)