The Khmer Rouge bashed babies’ skulls into trees, shot just about everyone who could read, deliberately killed people in the Killing Fields and concentration camps.
The Shining Path boiled babies alive, hung dogs on lampposts, (I think) did school shootings.
Most other communist movements, like the Bolsheviks, the CPC, the Viet Cong were a lot more tame and connected with the people.
I haven’t even seen that many ultras advocating for this level of violence by these dogmatic bastards.
What the f*ck caused all this ultra violence to happen?
There’s some sort of mysticism/religiousness involved in this kind of movements, when, under different words, call for holy wars and pray to some deification of some tradition or romantic views of the past under the rules of a hierophant.
While this connection is loose, and I don’t have direct evidence (while I think some will have, actually), and this is speculative… The behavior of this groups pretty much parallels groups under “divine authority” of cults and warlords in the pasts, where expansionism was enforced physically under conquest, including but not limiting to the Roman Empire, the Crusades, the Old Testament, etc.
Also, specifically referring to Golden Path, the laborers movements are very, very tied to traditionalism and reactionary behaviors heavily influenced by the Catholic Church, having very critical and urgent contradictions.
And this appeal to traditions, is the prime reason of barbarities commited by the khmers. NO, I’m not saying that per se, traditions = Pol Pot, you know what I’m trying to say. Yes, trying to protect traditions at all costs is reactionary, even if our identity is based on them, we know this already.