Wikipedia may delete entry on ‘mass killings’ under communism due to claims of bias

A Wikipedia entry detailing “mass killings under Communist regimes” faces being removed from the platform due to concerns over bias.

The page outlining the deaths of millions in one-party states such as the Soviet Union and China has been flagged for deletion, with some users responsible for maintaining the site taking issue with blaming mass murder on Communism.

The dedicated entry lists the actions of figures like Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot, and Kim Jong Il.  It has been accused of putting forward a biased “anti-Communist” point of view, and site administrators will decide whether it should be removed. A heading on Wikipedia’s article on mass killing under Communsit regimes currently states “The neutrality of this article is disputed”, and “this article is being considered for deletion in accordance with Wikipedia’s deletion policy”.

The page mentions crimes against humanity including Stalin’s man-made famine in the Ukraine, the Great Purge, the killing of kulaks (prosperous peasants).  Also included are Mao’s policies and the Killing Fields of Cambodia, whilst excess deaths under regimes in Cuba, Yugoslavia, Romania, East Germany and North Korea are also cited, with numerous sources provided.

The proposed deletion of the page of crimes under Communism has been criticised, with Cambridge historian Prof Robert Tombs arguing that downplaying the connection between genocide and ideology would also prevent the teaching of crimes under Facsism and colonialism.

He said: “This is morally indefensible, at least as bad as Holocaust denial, because ‘linking ideology and killing’ is the very core of why these things are important. I have read the Wikipedia page, and it seems to me careful and balanced, therefore attempts to remove it can only be ideologically motivated – to whitewash Communism. Already, this appalling history is downplayed: in Britain, schoolchildren are much more likely to study the Third Reich than the Soviet Union.”

Cliff May, director of the Federation for the Defense of Democracies, said: “The Communist regimes of the world – the Soviet Union, the Peoples Republic of China, Cambodia, North Korea and others – murdered more than 100 million people. Those who attempt to erase this long and terrible history of criminality should be seen as accomplices after the fact, paving the way for more tyranny in the future.”