Ryli Dunlap
1 min readOct 24, 2024

Capitalism has killed plenty, especially if you count all the genocides and colonization of imperialism. It is estimated that the colonization of the Americas alone wiped out approximately 55 million people.

On the other hand, a lot of the fearmongering about the evils of Communism is pro-capitalist propaganda that has been wildly exaggerated. For example, the "Black Book of Communism" has been widely criticized for sloppy and even comical methods to reach a desired target of claiming 100 million deaths. For example, every Nazi soldier that died on the Eastern Front was counted as a 'victim of communism', which - considering it was Nazi Germany that invaded the USSR - is rather ridiculous

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClLKm8Q8Pns&t=504s

Anyways, I'd advised against claiming that "capitalism has never killed anyone"... that's a rather absurd claim. Capitalism can be just as fanatical and tyrannical as any other regime.

For example, look at the bloody regime of Augusto Pinoche in Chile, that turned the national stadium in Santiago into a death camp, among many other horrors. He came to power in a US-backed coup that overthrew a democratically-elected socialist candidate and was backed by the US throughout his rule. He was even advised by Milton Friedman and the 'Chicago Boys' who used his regime as a testing ground for their 'shock therapy' policies before going on to eventually advise Reagan.

Many bloody regimes have been backed by US imperialism and capitalism. Genocide, murder and corruption/mismanagement leading to the collapse of basic services and famine is not solely a 'Communist' phenomena.

Sign up to discover human stories that deepen your understanding of the world.

Free

Distraction-free reading. No ads.

Organize your knowledge with lists and highlights.

Tell your story. Find your audience.

Membership

Read member-only stories

Support writers you read most

Earn money for your writing

Listen to audio narrations

Read offline with the Medium app

Ryli Dunlap
Ryli Dunlap

Written by Ryli Dunlap

Aspiring writer. Recovering programmer. Many opinions — some unpopular. I unload them here. Blog: https://pontifi.co Dance/Music: https://rylito.com

No responses yet

Write a response