Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Follies

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Estimates of deaths associated with the Bolsheviks vary widely depending on the scope, methodology, and definitions used. The Russian Civil War (1917–1922) alone is estimated to have caused up to 10 million deaths, mostly civilians, due to combat, famine, disease, and repression by all sides. The Red Terror, a campaign of political repression officially declared in 1918, targeted perceived enemies of the state. Estimates for executions during this period range from 50,000 to over 2 million, with some historians like Sergei Volkov suggesting higher figures based on broader interpretations of Bolshevik repressive policies.

Under later Soviet rule, particularly during Stalin's era (1924–1953), deaths resulted from executions, forced labor in the Gulag system, famines (such as the Holodomor), deportations, and dekulakization. Archival research indicates approximately 799,000 executions (1921–1953), around 1.5–1.7 million Gulag deaths (1931–1953), and hundreds of thousands more from other policies. Some broader estimates, such as those cited by the Hudson Institute, attribute no fewer than 20 million Soviet deaths to regime repression and its direct consequences.

Higher figures—such as 60 or 66 million—are found in polemical or ideological sources but exceed mainstream scholarly consensus. These totals often combine direct killings with indirect deaths from war, famine, and policy failures across decades. Academic historians emphasize that while the death toll under Bolshevik and Soviet rule was immense, exact numbers remain debated due to differing methodologies, incomplete records, and political interpretations.

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