Hitler is blamed for the Holocaust, which killed 6 million Jews. But not many know, as per “The Black Book of Communism” nearly 94 million people have been killed by Communists > 15 times the people killed during Holocaust. Hence, communism is more evil than anything else human race has seen.

In this article, we will discuss 3 aspects:

  1. In what conditions do Communists grab power along with examples?
  2. How to prevent Communist takeovers? “prevention is better than Cure“.
  3. Why Kerala and WB were taken over by communists and how countries like Thailand are threatened?

First Question: “in what conditions do communists grab power”

As per Karl Marx, Communism will come first in industrialized and capitalist societies. But as we see, the Communism has never been strong in capitalist countries like US or UK or France. Yes, there was a chance for communists to overrun France in 1871, but after democracy was established, there was never ever any communist revolution in France. In my view, communists have grabbed power in a “combination” of below conditions.

  1. Where level of industrialization was low: Russia, China were mainly agrarian countries when communists seized power. US, UK, etc. were never threatened by communists.
  2. Corruption is very high: Corruption was very high Commies took over: Russia and China. Same was the case with Nepal.
  3. No democracy (dictators rule with iron hand): Czar and Czarina were ruling Russia with an iron hand and were suppressing even peaceful protests mercilessly. Nepal became communist when the King was behaving like a dictator and dismissing any elected Govt which was not favorable to him. What happened? Communists took advantage of the discontent and grabbed power.
  4. Most important, When the rulers are going through a weak time: The communists overran Russia in 1917, when Russia was being battered heavily by the Germans in WW 1. Same is the case with China, China became communist immediately after WW 2. In Nepal, communists overran few years after the massacre of the royal family.

Second, how to prevent communist takeovers?

  1. Democracy – Communist takeovers of a democratic society is extremely rare. We have seen, even during weakest times of democracies like say UK, US, France there was absolutely no communist uprisings. Even if UK/Belgium have monarchs their power was limited.
  2. Corruption under control: Corruption, monopoly and cartelization should be kept in control as far as possible. Communists have always used this plea to grab power.
  3. Capitalism: If an economy is industrialized, then communist take overs become impossible. More matured Capitalism is, lesser is the prospect for communists.

If we have democracy and honest rulers, even if a society is going through a bad time, communist takeovers wont occur.

Third, Why Kerala and West Bengal became communist and why is Thailand threatened?

  1. When Kerala became communist Hindu temples and Monasteries owned huge swathes of land. The communists came to power with the promise that the land of Hindu religious institutions would be distributed among people which they did, and became very popular and are still in power. We see that Hindus in Kerala are the most “liberal”.
  2. West Bengal became communist when large swathes of land were owned by landowners. The communists promised land reforms (which they did) and due to that they remained in power for > 30 years.
  3. Nepal became communist as the King was ruling with an iron hand, dismissed elected Prime ministers at will. The people get fed up, communists used this as a plea and came to power.
  4. Why Thailand is threatened? The King is extremely corrupt (same situation as China). His image is also spoilt because of his multiple concubines (just like Russia’s Czarina) and extravagance. He is ruling country with little regards to the democratic institutions(like Nepal, Russia). Communists may use this an opportunity to dislodge the monarchy and grab power with Chinese support.

Summarizing, Communists have grabbed power only when there is a dictatorial/repressive/corrupt govt, the society is least industrialized and the ruling dictatorship is going through a weak phase. The best antidote to communism is democracy, capitalism (industrialization) and clean governance. If these 3 are present, communists will never come to power.

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