183-476: Communist terrorism is terrorism perpetrated by individuals or groups which adhere to communism and ideologies related to it , such as Marxism–Leninism , Maoism , and Trotskyism . Historically, communist terrorism has sometimes taken the form of state-sponsored terrorism , supported by communist nations such as the Soviet Union , China, North Korea and Kampuchea . In addition, non-state actors such as
366-426: A Tito–Stalin split , which marked the beginning of international sectarian division within the world communist movement. After Stalin's death, Nikita Khrushchev rose to the top post by overcoming political adversaries, including Lavrentiy Beria and Georgy Malenkov , in a power struggle. In 1955, Khrushchev achieved the demotion of Malenkov and secured his own position as Soviet leader. Early in his rule and with
549-519: A campaign against religion was waged in which the Russian Orthodox Church , which had long been a political arm of Tsarism before the revolution, was ruthlessly repressed, organized religion was generally removed from public life and made into a completely private matter, with many churches, mosques and other shrines being repurposed or demolished. The Soviet Union was the first to warn of the impending danger of invasion from Nazi Germany to
732-454: A communist rebellion in 1948 , as well as the failed coup attempt in 1965 . However, under the leadership of D. N. Aidit , the PKI was transformed into a legal party operating openly within the country and rejected armed struggle. The alleged coup attempt culminated in a violent anti-communist purge and a subsequent regime change into a right-wing military dictatorship following the purges. In
915-675: A cult of personality . Collective leadership split power between the Politburo , the Central Committee, and the Council of Ministers to hinder any attempts to create a one-man dominance over the Soviet political system. By contrast, Stalin's period as leader was characterized by an extensive cult of personality . Regardless of leadership style, all political power in the Soviet Union was concentrated in
1098-558: A Menshevik ("minority") and Bolshevik ("majority") faction; the latter, led by Vladimir Lenin , is the direct ancestor of the CPSU and is the party that seized power in the October Revolution of 1917. Its activities were suspended on Soviet territory 74 years later, on 29 August 1991, soon after a failed coup d'état by conservative CPSU leaders against the reforming Soviet president and party general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev . The CPSU
1281-419: A Reply , published in 1918. In the book, Trotsky provided an elaborate justification for the use of terror, stating "The man who repudiates terrorism in principle, i.e., repudiates measures of suppression and intimidation towards determined and armed counterrevolution, must reject all ideas of the political supremacy of the working class and its revolutionary dictatorship." Trotsky's justification largely rests on
1464-603: A criticism of the usage of the term "terrorism" to describe all political violence on behalf of the Left , but not equally vicious political violence carried out by liberal or reactionary factions. Scholars on the Left argue that while it is a matter of historical record that communist movements did at times employ violence, the label of "terrorism" is disproportionately used in Western media sources to refer to all political violence employed by
1647-527: A damaging peace to end the war with the Germans in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and transferring estates and imperial lands to workers' and peasants' soviets. In this context, in 1918, RSDLP(b) became All-Russian Communist Party (bolsheviks). Outside of Russia, social-democrats who supported the Soviet government began to identify as communists, while those who opposed it retained the social-democratic label. In 1921, as
1830-516: A divine duty with no consideration for political efficacy―their aim is transcendental and "holy terror" constitutes an end in itself. Hoffman's concept has since been taken up and developed by a number of other writers, including Walter Laquer, Steven Simon and Daniel Benjamen, and rebranded as the "New Terrorism". Arguably, the first organization to use modern terrorist techniques was the Irish Republican Brotherhood , founded in 1858 as
2013-519: A higher participation rate. An organized opposition was established within the legislature under the name Inter-Regional Group of Deputies by dissident Andrei Sakharov . An unintended consequence of these reforms was the increased anti-CPSU pressure; in March 1990, at a session of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union , the party was forced to relinquish its political monopoly of power, in effect turning
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#17330850544682196-744: A human face ", all non-conformist reform attempts in the Soviet Union were stopped. During his rule, Brezhnev supported détente , a passive weakening of animosity with the West with the goal of improving political and economic relations. However, by the 25th Congress held in 1976, political, economic and social problems within the Soviet Union began to mount, and the Brezhnev administration found itself in an increasingly difficult position. The previous year, Brezhnev's health began to deteriorate. He became addicted to painkillers and needed to take increasingly more potent medications to attend official meetings. Because of
2379-599: A marked increase in terrorist activity in the region. That decade also saw various terrorist groups commencing operations in Europe, Japan, and the Americas . Yonah Alexander deemed these groups Fighting Communist Organizations (FCOs), and says they rose out of the student union movement protesting against the Vietnam War . In Western Europe , these groups' actions were known as Euroterrorism. The founders of FCOs argued that violence
2562-594: A military response and welcomed it as a provocation that would result in more Muslims fight the United States. Some commentators believe that the resulting anger and suspicion directed toward innocent Muslims living in Western countries and the indignities inflicted upon them by security forces and the general public also contributes to radicalization of new recruits. Despite criticism that the Iraqi government had no involvement with
2745-568: A nationalist military coup which received supported from Germany and Italy, in 1939 the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact with Germany, later jointly invading and partitioning Poland to fulfil a secret protocol of the pact, as well as occupying the Baltic States, this pact would be broken in June 1941 when the German military invaded the Soviet Union in the largest land invasion in history, beginning
2928-585: A notable decline in this form of terrorism. In the 1930s, the term "communist terrorism" was used by the Nazi Party in Germany as part of a propaganda campaign to spread fear of communism. The Nazis blamed communist terrorism for the Reichstag fire , which they used as an excuse to push through legislation removing personal freedom from German citizens. In the 1940s and 1950s, various Southeast Asian countries, such as
3111-457: A number of reformers, including Yegor Ligachev , Nikolay Ryzhkov , and Mikhail Gorbachev , to important positions. He also supported a crackdown on absenteeism and corruption. Andropov had intended to let Gorbachev succeed him in office, but Konstantin Chernenko and his supporters suppressed the paragraph in the letter which called for Gorbachev's elevation. Andropov died on 9 February 1984 and
3294-554: A particular cause and many of the most deadly operations in recent times, such as the September 11 attacks , the London underground bombing , 2008 Mumbai attacks and the 2002 Bali bombings were planned and carried out by a close clique, composed of close friends, family members and other strong social networks. These groups benefited from the free flow of information and efficient telecommunications to succeed where others had failed. Over
3477-560: A readership of 320,000. This was roughly halved after the repression of the Bolsheviks following the July Days demonstrations so that even by the end of August, the principal paper of the Bolsheviks had a print run of only 50,000 copies. Despite this, their ideas gained them increasing popularity in elections to the soviets. The factions within the soviets became increasingly polarized in the later summer after armed demonstrations by soldiers at
3660-491: A religious agenda. Before 2000, it was nationalist separatist terrorist organizations such as the IRA and Chechen rebels who were behind the most attacks. The number of incidents from nationalist separatist groups has remained relatively stable in the years since while religious extremism has grown. The prevalence of Islamist groups in Iraq , Afghanistan , Pakistan , Nigeria and Syria is
3843-545: A revolutionary Irish nationalist group that carried out attacks in England. The group initiated the Fenian dynamite campaign in 1881, one of the first modern terror campaigns. Instead of earlier forms of terrorism based on political assassination, this campaign used timed explosives with the express aim of sowing fear in the very heart of metropolitan Britain , in order to achieve political gains. Another early terrorist-type group
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#17330850544684026-402: A similarly proletarian relationship to their labor through the policies of collectivization , which turned feudal-style farms into collective farms which would be in a cooperative nature under the direction of the state. These two shifts changed the base of Soviet society towards a more working-class alignment. The plan was fulfilled ahead of schedule in 1932. The success of industrialization in
4209-402: A single, all-encompassing, legally binding, criminal law definition of terrorism. These difficulties arise from the fact that the term "terrorism" is politically and emotionally charged. The international community has instead adopted a series of sectoral conventions that define and criminalize various types of terrorist activities. Counterterrorism analyst Bruce Hoffman has noted that it
4392-452: A speech titled " The Personality Cult and its Consequences ". Despite delegates to Congresses losing their powers to criticize or remove party leadership, the Congresses functioned as a form of elite-mass communication . They were occasions for the party leadership to express the party line over the next five years to ordinary CPSU members and the general public. The information provided
4575-412: A strategic tool to influence decision makers. By targeting densely populated public areas such as transportation hubs, airports, shopping centers, tourist attractions, and nightlife venues, terrorists aim to instill widespread insecurity, prompting policy changes through psychological manipulation and undermining confidence in security measures. The terms "terrorist" and "terrorism" originated during
4758-437: A successful high-profile attack. The attacks prompted some criticism from domestic and international observers regarding perceived injustices in U.S. foreign policy that provoked the attacks, but the larger practical effect was that the United States government declared a War on Terror that resulted in substantial military engagements in several Muslim-majority countries. Various commentators have inferred that al-Qaeda expected
4941-669: A tactic because it can: Attacks on "collaborators" are used to intimidate people from cooperating with the state in order to undermine state control. This strategy was used in Ireland, in Kenya , in Algeria and in Cyprus during their independence struggles. Stated motives for the September 11 attacks included inspiring more fighters to join the cause of repelling the United States from Muslim countries with
5124-476: A terrorist act. In May 1967, Tran Van-Luy reported to the World Health Organization "that over the previous 10 years Communist terrorists had destroyed 174 dispensaries, maternity homes and hospitals." Ami Pedahzur has written that "the overall volume and lethality of Viet Cong terrorism rivals or exceeds all but a handful (e.g. Algeria , Sri Lanka ) of terrorist campaigns waged over the last third of
5307-470: A universally accepted, legally binding definition. Title 18 of the United States Code defines terrorism as acts that are intended to intimidate or coerce civilians or government. The international community has been slow to formulate a universally agreed, legally binding definition of this crime, and has been unable to conclude a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism that incorporates
5490-522: Is designated as a terrorist group by The Philippines, The United States, The European Union, and New Zealand. In Rhodesia (renamed Zimbabwe in 1980), during the Bush War of the 1970s, guerrillas operating in the country were considered communist terrorists by the government. The organisations in question received war materiels and financial support from numerous communist countries, and they also received training in several of those same countries, including
5673-511: Is not only individual agencies within the same governmental apparatus that cannot agree on a single definition of terrorism; experts and other long-established scholars in the field are equally incapable of reaching a consensus. In 1992, terrorism studies scholar Alex P. Schmid proposed a simple definition to the United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) as "peacetime equivalents of war crimes", but it
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5856-506: Is politically charged and over-simplified. The underlying historical assertions have received less critical attention. According to The Oxford Handbook on the History of Terrorism : Since the publication of Rapoport's article, it has become seemingly pre-requisite for standard works on terrorism to cite the three case studies and to reproduce uncritically its findings. In lieu of empirical research, authors tend to crudely paraphrase Rapoport and
6039-405: Is reviving in new and unusual forms". He is the first to propose that religious doctrines were more important than political rationales for some terrorist groups. Rapoport's work has since become the basis of the model of "New Terrorism" proposed by Bruce Hoffman and developed by other scholars. "New Terrorism" has had an unparalleled impact on policymaking. Critics have pointed out that the model
6222-509: Is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war against non-combatants . There are various different definitions of terrorism , with no universal agreement about it. Different definitions of terrorism emphasize its randomness , its aim to instill fear , and its broader impact beyond its immediate victims. Modern terrorism, evolving from earlier iterations, employs various tactics to pursue political goals, often leveraging fear as
6405-470: Is usually accompanied by anti-government sentiments. Adherents of Christian Identity are not connected with specific Christian denominations , and they believe that whites of European descent can be traced back to the " Lost Tribes of Israel ". Adherents have committed hate crimes , bombings and other acts of terrorism, including the Centennial Olympic Park bombing . Its influence ranges from
6588-406: The 11th Congress , the 3rd Statute was adopted with only minor amendments being made. New statutes were approved at the 17th and 18th Congresses respectively. The last party statute, which existed until the dissolution of the CPSU, was adopted at the 22nd Congress. General Secretary of the Central Committee was the title given to the overall leader of the party. The office was synonymous with
6771-497: The 1977 Soviet Constitution , which had previously granted the CPSU a monopoly over the political system. The party's main ideology was Marxism–Leninism . The party was outlawed under Russian President Boris Yeltsin 's decree on 6 November 1991, citing the 1991 Soviet coup attempt as a reason. The party started in 1898 as part of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party . In 1903, that party split into
6954-530: The CPSU Moscow City Committee . On 13 March 1988, Nina Andreyeva , a university lecturer, wrote an article titled " I Cannot Forsake My Principles ". The publication was planned to occur when both Gorbachev and his protege Alexander Yakovlev were visiting foreign countries. In their place, Yegor Ligachev led the party organization and told journalists that the article was "a benchmark for what we need in our ideology today". Upon Gorbachev's return,
7137-582: The Central Auditing Commission were approved beforehand by the Politburo and the Secretariat. A Congress could also provide a platform for the announcement of new ideological concepts. For instance, at the 22nd Congress , Khrushchev announced that the Soviet Union would see " communism in twenty years "— a position later retracted. A Conference, officially referred to as an All-Union Conference,
7320-598: The Civil War was drawing to a close, Lenin proposed the New Economic Policy (NEP), a system of state capitalism that started the process of industrialization and post-war recovery. The NEP ended a brief period of intense rationing called " war communism " and began a period of a market economy under Communist dictation. The Bolsheviks believed at this time that Russia, being among the most economically undeveloped and socially backward countries in Europe, had not yet reached
7503-605: The Cold War . In Europe, Yugoslavia , under the leadership of Josip Broz Tito , acquired the territory of Trieste , causing conflict both with the Western powers and with the Stalin administration who opposed such a provocative move. Furthermore, the Yugoslav communists actively supported the Greek communists during their civil war , further frustrating the Soviet government. These tensions led to
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7686-480: The Communist International (Comintern). A central tenet of Leninism was that of the vanguard party. In a capitalist society, the party was to represent the interests of the working class and all of those who were exploited by capitalism in general; however, it was not to become a part of that class. Lenin decided that the party's sole responsibility was to articulate and plan the long-term interests of
7869-515: The European Union , and Canada, all of whom consequently prohibit funding and other financial support to the group. The New People's Army (NPA) founded in 1969 has been described as the third largest terrorist group operating in the Philippines. The group carried out attacks between 1987 and 1992 before entering a hiatus . Between 2000 and 2006, they carried out an additional 42 attacks. The NPA
8052-534: The February Revolution , the first phase of the Russian Revolutions of 1917, the party worked underground as organized anti-Tsarist groups. By the time of the revolution, many of the party's central leaders, including Lenin, were in exile. After Emperor Nicholas II (1868–1918, reigned 1894–1917) abdicated in March 1917, a republic was established and administered by a provisional government , which
8235-618: The Great Patriotic War . The Communist International was dissolved in 1943 after it was concluded that such an organization had failed to prevent the rise of fascism and the global war necessary to defeat it. After the 1945 Allied victory of World War II , the Party held to a doctrine of establishing socialist governments in the post-war occupied territories that would be administered by communists loyal to Stalin's administration. The party also sought to expand its sphere of influence beyond
8418-873: The Hamas Charter 's apparent advocacy of genocidal aspirations . In the periods of 1994–1996 and 2001–2007, Hamas orchestrated a series of suicide bombings , primarily directed at civilian targets in Israel, killing over 1,000 Israeli civilians. Five of the terrorist groups that have been most active since 2001 are Hamas, Boko Haram , al-Qaeda , the Taliban and ISIL . These groups have been most active in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria. Eighty percent of all deaths from terrorism occurred in these five countries. In 2015 four Islamic extremist groups were responsible for 74% of all deaths from Islamic terrorism: ISIS , Boko Haram,
8601-697: The Jacobian Reign of Terror of 1793–1794 as a model for the Bolshevik Red Terror . Felix Dzerzhinsky , founder of the Cheka (the Soviet secret police ), widely employed terrorist tactics, especially against peasants who refused to surrender their grain to the government. Upon initiating the New Economic Policy (NEP) Lenin stated, "It is a mistake to think the NEP has put an end to terrorism. We shall return to terrorism, and it will be an economic terrorism". During
8784-498: The Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazi groups to the anti-government militia and sovereign citizen movements . Terrorist acts frequently have a political purpose based on self-determination claims, ethnonationalist frustrations, single issue causes (like abortion or the environment), or other ideological or religious causes that terrorists claim are a moral justification for their violent acts. Individuals and groups choose terrorism as
8967-539: The Massacre at Huế one of the worst communist terrorist actions of the Vietnam War. Estimates of the losses in the massacre have been cited as high as 6,000 dead. The United States Army recorded as killed "3800 killed in and around Huế, 2786 confirmed civilians massacred, 2226 civilians found in mass graves and 16 non Vietnamese civilians killed." While some historians have claimed that the majority of these deaths occurred as
9150-457: The Minister of Defence , each with highly contrasting visions for the future direction of the country. Trotsky sought to implement a policy of permanent revolution , which was predicated on the notion that the Soviet Union would not be able to survive in a socialist character when surrounded by hostile governments and therefore concluded that it was necessary to actively support similar revolutions in
9333-1263: The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in pre-war Poland , the Shining Path in Peru under Alberto Fujimori , the Kurdistan Workers Party when Turkey was ruled by military leaders and the ANC in South Africa. According to Boaz Ganor, "Modern terrorism sees the liberal democratic state, in all its variations, as the perfect launching pad and a target for its attacks. Moreover, some terrorist organizations—particularly Islamist-jihadist organizations—have chosen to cynically exploit democratic values and institutions to gain power and status, promote their interests, and achieve internal and international legitimacy". Jihadist militants have shown an ambivalent view towards democracy, as they both exploit it for their ends and oppose it in their ideology. Various quotes from jihadist leaders note their disdain for democracy and their efforts to undermine it in favor of Islamic rule. Democracies, such as Japan,
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#17330850544689516-747: The Palestinian airplane hijackings in 1970 and the 1975 Dutch train hostage crisis . Specific political or social causes have included: Causes for right-wing terrorism have included white nationalism , ethnonationalism , fascism, anti-socialism, the anti-abortion movement , and tax resistance . Sometimes terrorists on the same side fight for different reasons. For example, in the Chechen–Russian conflict secular Chechens using terrorist tactics fighting for national independence are allied with radical Islamist terrorists who have arrived from other countries. Various personal and social factors may influence
9699-585: The Philippines and Vietnam , witnessed the rise of communist groups engaging in terrorism. John Slocum claimed that communists in present-day Malaysia used terrorism to draw attention to their ideological beliefs, but Phillip Deery countered that the Malaysian insurgents were called communist terrorists only as part of a propaganda campaign. In the 1960s, the Sino–Soviet split (between two communist states) led to
9882-593: The Red Brigades , the Front Line and the Red Army Faction have also engaged in communist terrorism. These groups hope to inspire the masses to rise up and start a revolution to overthrow existing political and economic systems. This form of terrorism can sometimes be called red terrorism or left-wing terrorism . The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union have been credited with leading to
10065-655: The Rhodesian Security Forces . This ultimately never happened. After the Russian Revolution in 1917, the use of terrorism to subdue people characterized the new communist regime. Historian Anna Geifman stated that this was "evident in the regime's very origins." An estimated 17,000 people died as a result of the initial campaign of violence known as the Red Terror . Lenin stated that his "Jacobian party would never reject terror, nor could it do so", referring to
10248-401: The Southern Poverty Law Center released a report on domestic terrorism in the United States. The report (titled The Age of the Wolf ) analyzed 62 incidents and found that, between 2009 and 2015, "more people have been killed in America by non-Islamic domestic terrorists than jihadists ." The "virulent racist and antisemitic " ideology of the ultra-right wing Christian Identity movement
10431-403: The St. Petersburg "Combat Committee" to commit acts of robbery , arson , and other terrorist acts. Not all scholars agree on Lenin's position towards terrorism. Joan Witte contends that he opposed the practice except when it was wielded by the party and the Red Army after 1917. She also suggests that he opposed the use of terrorism as a mindless act but endorsed its use in order to advance
10614-453: The United States and other Western European powers and unaddressed inefficiencies in the economy, led to stagnant economic growth under Alexei Kosygin , and further with Leonid Brezhnev and growing disillusionment. After the younger, vigorous Mikhail Gorbachev assumed leadership in 1985 (following two short-term elderly leaders, Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko , who quickly died in succession), rapid steps were taken to transform
10797-540: The University of Maryland, College Park , has recorded more than 61,000 incidents of non-state terrorism, resulting in at least 140,000 deaths between 2000 and 2014. Various organizations have used terrorism to achieve their objectives. These include left-wing and right-wing political organizations, nationalist groups , religious groups , revolutionaries , and ruling governments . In recent decades, hybrid terrorist organizations have emerged, incorporating both military and political arms. The term "terrorism" itself
10980-409: The apartheid era in South Africa , the government under the Afrikaner National Party deemed the ANC and its military wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe , communist terrorists. As a result, a series of laws were introduced by the government, such as the Suppression of Communism Act, which defined and banned organizations and people that the government considered communist. In 1967 the government promulgated
11163-403: The "trust in cadres" policy implemented by his administration, the CPSU leadership evolved into a gerontocracy . At the end of Brezhnev's rule, problems continued to amount; in 1979 he consented to the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan to save the embattled communist regime there and supported the oppression of the Solidarity movement in Poland. As problems grew at home and abroad, Brezhnev
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#173308505446811346-474: The 16th century has also been described as a reign of terror. The terms "terrorism" and "terrorist" gained renewed currency in the 1970s as a result of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Basque separatist group, ETA , and the operations of groups such as the Red Army Faction . Leila Khaled was described as a terrorist in a 1970 issue of Life magazine. A number of books on terrorism were published in
11529-427: The 1970s. The topic came further to the fore after the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings and again after the 2001 September 11 attacks and the 2002 Bali bombings . No definition of terrorism has gained universal agreement. Challenges emerge due to the politically and emotionally charged nature of the term, the double standards used in applying it, and disagreement over the nature of terrorist acts and limits of
11712-442: The 19th Conference in 1988, the Politburo alongside the Secretariat controlled appointments and dismissals nationwide. In the post-Stalin period, the Politburo controlled the Central Committee apparatus through two channels; the General Department distributed the Politburo's orders to the Central Committee departments and through the personnel overlap which existed within the Politburo and the Secretariat. This personnel overlap gave
11895-411: The Brezhnev period saw the rise of neo-Stalinism . While Stalin was never rehabilitated during this period, the most conservative journals in the country were allowed to highlight positive features of his rule. At the 23rd Congress held in 1966, the names of the office of First Secretary and the body of the Presidium reverted to their original names: General Secretary and Politburo, respectively. At
12078-445: The British researcher of Russian affairs, Archie Brown , the democratization of the Soviet Union brought mixed blessings to Gorbachev; it helped him to weaken his conservative opponents within the party but brought out accumulated grievances which had been suppressed during the previous decades. In reaction to these changes, a conservative movement gained momentum in 1987 in response to Boris Yeltsin 's dismissal as First Secretary of
12261-430: The CPSU General Secretary a way of strengthening his position within the Politburo through the Secretariat. Kirill Mazurov , Politburo member from 1965 to 1978, accused Brezhnev of turning the Politburo into a "second echelon" of power. He accomplished this by discussing policies before Politburo meetings with Mikhail Suslov , Andrei Kirilenko , Fyodor Kulakov , and Dmitriy Ustinov among others, who held seats both in
12444-432: The CPSU and independent candidates. Other organized parties were not allowed. The CPD was elected in 1989 ; one-third of the seats were appointed by the CPSU and other public organizations to sustain the Soviet one-party state . The elections were democratic, but most elected CPD members opposed any more radical reform. The elections featured the highest electoral turnout in Russian history; no election before or since had
12627-402: The CPSU launched the August 1991 coup , which overthrew Gorbachev but failed to preserve the Soviet Union. When Gorbachev resumed control (21 August 1991) after the coup's collapse, he resigned from the CPSU on 24 August 1991 and operations were handed over to Ivashko. On 29 August 1991 the activity of the CPSU was suspended throughout the country, on 6 November Yeltsin banned the activities of
12810-435: The CPSU's demise, the Communist Parties of the Union Republics became independent and underwent various separate paths of reform. In Russia, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation emerged and has been regarded as the inheritor of the CPSU's old Bolshevik legacy into the present day. The origin of the CPSU was in the Bolshevik faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). This faction arose out of
12993-431: The Communist Party dictation in order to develop the necessary conditions for socialism to become a practical pursuit in the economically undeveloped country. In 1929, as Joseph Stalin became the leader of the party, Marxism–Leninism , a fusion of the original ideas of German philosopher and economic theorist Karl Marx , and Lenin, became formalized by Stalin as the party's guiding ideology and would remain so throughout
13176-694: The French Revolution of the late 18th century but became widely used internationally and gained worldwide attention in the 1970s during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, the Basque conflict and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict . The increased use of suicide attacks from the 1980s onwards was typified by the 2001 September 11 attacks in the United States. The Global Terrorism Database , maintained by
13359-469: The Great Purge. According to party rules, the Central Committee was to convene at least twice a year to discuss political matters—but not matters relating to military policy. The body remained largely symbolic after Stalin's consolidation; leading party officials rarely attended meetings of the Central Committee. The Central Auditing Commission (CAC) was elected by the party Congresses and reported only to
13542-703: The JRA detonated a car bomb outside of a USO recreational facility in Naples which killed 4 Italian civilians, 1 U.S. Servicewoman, and injured 15 other people. Members of the JRA merged with members of the Revolutionary Left Faction to form the United Red Army , which became known for the Asama-Sansō incident , a weeklong standoff with the police after the group had murdered fourteen of its own members. Shining Path
13725-526: The Kerensky led provisional government's legitimacy. The provisional government, insistent on maintaining the universally despised war effort on the Eastern Front because of treaty ties with its Allies and fears of Imperial German victory , had become socially isolated and had no enthusiastic support on the streets. On 7 November (25 October, old style), the Bolsheviks led an armed insurrection, which overthrew
13908-541: The Kerensky provisional government and left the soviets as the sole governing force in Russia. In the aftermath of the October Revolution , the soviets united federally and the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , the world's first constitutionally socialist state, was established. The Bolsheviks were the majority within the soviets and began to fulfill their campaign promises by signing
14091-619: The Middle East. Their activities in Lebanon during the 1980s garnered support among local Shiites , leading to the rise of smaller terrorist groups, notably the Islamic Jihad . Hamas , the main Islamist movement in the Palestinian territories , was formed by Palestinian imam Ahmed Yassin in 1987. Some scholars, including constitutional law professor Alexander Tsesis , have voiced concerns over
14274-476: The Politburo and faced few constraints from party leaders. In the summer of 1990 the party convened the 28th Congress . A new Politburo was elected, previous incumbents (except Gorbachev and Vladimir Ivashko , the CPSU Deputy General Secretary) were removed. Later that year, the party began work on a new program with a working title, "Towards a Humane, Democratic Socialism". According to Brown,
14457-450: The Politburo and the Secretariat. Mazurov's claim was later verified by Nikolai Ryzhkov , the Chairman of the Council of Ministers under Gorbachev. Ryzhkov said that Politburo meetings lasted only 15 minutes because the people close to Brezhnev had already decided what was to be approved. The Politburo was abolished and replaced by a Presidium in 1952 at the 19th Congress. In the aftermath
14640-426: The Politburo did during the post-Stalin era, serving as the party's governing body. However, as the membership in the Central Committee increased, its role was eclipsed by the Politburo. Between Congresses, the Central Committee functioned as the Soviet leadership's source of legitimacy. The decline in the Central Committee's standing began in the 1920s; it was reduced to a compliant body of the Party leadership during
14823-427: The Secretariat by the plenums of the Central Committee. In between Central Committee plenums, the Politburo and the Secretariat were legally empowered to make decisions on its behalf. The Central Committee or the Politburo and/or Secretariat on its behalf could issue nationwide decisions; decisions on behalf of the party were transmitted from the top to the bottom. Under Lenin, the Central Committee functioned much as
15006-541: The September 11 attacks, Bush declared the 2003 invasion of Iraq to be part of the War on Terror. The resulting backlash and instability enabled the rise of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and the temporary creation of an Islamic caliphate holding territory in Iraq and Syria, until ISIL lost its territory through military defeats. Attacks used to draw international attention to struggles that are otherwise unreported have included
15189-555: The Social Defense Against Anarchists , the first international conference against terrorism . According to Bruce Hoffman of the RAND Corporation , in 1980, 2 out of 64 terrorist groups were categorized as having religious motivation while in 1995, almost half (26 out of 56) were religiously motivated with the majority having Islam as their guiding force. Depending on the country, the political system, and
15372-585: The Soviet Union ( CPSU ), at some points known as the Russian Communist Party , All-Union Communist Party and Bolshevik Party , and sometimes referred to as the Soviet Communist Party ( SCP ), was the founding and ruling political party of the Soviet Union . The CPSU was the sole governing party of the Soviet Union until 1990 when the Congress of People's Deputies modified Article 6 of
15555-416: The Soviet Union , the banning of the party by later last RSFSR President Boris Yeltsin and subsequent first President of the successor Russian Federation . A number of causes contributed to CPSU's loss of control and the dissolution of the Soviet Union during the early 1990s. Some historians have written that Gorbachev's policy of " glasnost " (political openness) was the root cause, noting that it weakened
15738-420: The Soviet Union into a liberal democracy . The CPSU's demise began in March 1990, when state bodies eclipsed party elements in power. From then until the Soviet Union's disestablishment, Gorbachev ruled the country through the newly created post of President of the Soviet Union . Following this, the central party apparatus did not play a practical role in Soviet affairs. Gorbachev had become independent from
15921-570: The Soviet Union led Western countries, such as the United States , to open diplomatic relations with the Soviet government. In 1933, after years of unsuccessful workers' revolutions (including a short-lived Bavarian Soviet Republic ) and spiraling economic calamity, Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, violently suppressing the revolutionary organizers and posing a direct threat to the Soviet Union that ideologically supported them. The threat of fascist sabotage and imminent attack greatly exacerbated
16104-448: The Soviet Union was stagnating but was stable and might have continued largely unchanged into the 21st century if not for Gorbachev's reforms. Gorbachev conducted a significant personnel reshuffling of the CPSU leadership, forcing old party conservatives out of office. In 1985 and early 1986 the new leadership of the party called for uskoreniye ( Russian : ускоре́ние , lit. 'acceleration'). Gorbachev reinvigorated
16287-838: The Soviet Union, China and Cuba . Both guerrilla armies involved in the war—the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) of the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), and the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) attached to the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU)—were initially based in the Lusaka area of Zambia , so as to be within striking distance of Rhodesia. ZANU and ZANLA moved their bases to Mozambique 's Tete province around 1972, and based themselves there until
16470-669: The Taliban, and al-Qaeda, according to the Global Terrorism Index 2016. Since approximately 2000, these incidents have occurred on a global scale, affecting not only Muslim-majority states in Africa and Asia, but also states with non-Muslim majority such as United States , United Kingdom , France , Germany , Spain , Belgium , Sweden , Russia , Australia , Canada , Sri Lanka , Israel , China , India and Philippines . Such attacks have targeted both Muslims and non-Muslims, however
16653-585: The Task Force staff. The Task Force defines terrorism as "a tactic or technique by means of which a violent act or the threat thereof is used for the prime purpose of creating overwhelming fear for coercive purposes". It classified disorders and terrorism into seven categories: Other sources have defined the typology of terrorism in different ways, for example, broadly classifying it into domestic terrorism and international terrorism , or using categories such as vigilante terrorism or insurgent terrorism. Some ways
16836-618: The Terrorism Act, which made terrorist acts a statutory crime and implemented indefinite detention against those who were captured. During World War II the communist Viet Minh fought a guerrilla campaign led by Ho Chi Minh against the Japanese occupation forces and, following Japan's surrender, against the French colonial forces. This insurgency continued until 1954 as the Viet Minh evolved into
17019-500: The United Kingdom, the United States , Israel , Indonesia , India , Spain , Germany , Italy and the Philippines , have all experienced domestic terrorism. While a democratic nation espousing civil liberties may claim a sense of higher moral ground than other regimes, an act of terrorism within such a state may cause a dilemma: whether to maintain its civil liberties and thus risk being perceived as ineffective in dealing with
17202-682: The Viet Cong (VC), which fought against both the South Vietnamese government and American forces. These campaigns involved terrorism resulting in the deaths of thousands. Although an armistice was signed between the Viet Minh and the French forces in 1954, terrorist actions continued. Carol Winkler has written that in the 1950s, Viet Cong terrorism was rife in South Vietnam, with political leaders, provincial chiefs, teachers, nurses, doctors, and members of
17385-533: The aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis , Khrushchev's position within the party was substantially weakened. Shortly before his eventual ousting, he tried to introduce economic reforms championed by Evsei Liberman , a Soviet economist, which tried to implement market mechanisms into the planned economy. Khrushchev was ousted on 14 October 1964 in a Central Committee plenum that officially cited his inability to listen to others, his failure in consulting with
17568-555: The age—such as the invention of dynamite, which they were the first anarchist group to make widespread use of —enabled them to strike directly and with discrimination. In 1920 Leon Trotsky wrote Terrorism and Communism to justify the Red Terror and defend the moral superiority of revolutionary terrorism . The assassination of the Empress of Austria Elisabeth in 1898 resulted in the International Conference of Rome for
17751-600: The already existing tensions within the Soviet Union and the Communist Party. A wave of paranoia overtook Stalin and the party leadership and spread through Soviet society. Seeing potential enemies everywhere, leaders of the government security apparatuses began severe crackdowns known as the Great Purge . In total, hundreds of thousands of people, many of whom were posthumously recognized as innocent, were arrested and either sent to prison camps or executed. Also during this time,
17934-553: The article was discussed at length during a Politburo meeting; it was revealed that nearly half of its members were sympathetic to the letter and opposed further reforms which could weaken the party. The meeting lasted for two days, but on 5 April a Politburo resolution responded with a point-by-point rebuttal to Andreyeva's article. Gorbachev convened the 19th Party Conference in June 1988. He criticized leading party conservatives—Ligachev, Andrei Gromyko and Mikhail Solomentsev . In turn, conservative delegates attacked Gorbachev and
18117-417: The assumed relevance of "Thuggee" to the study of modern terrorism is taken for granted. Yet the significance of the article is not simply a matter of citations―it has also provided the foundation for what has become known as the "New Terrorism" paradigm. While Rapoport did not suggest which late 20th century groups might exemplify the implied recurrence of "holy terror", Bruce Hoffman, recognized today as one of
18300-417: The call of the Bolsheviks and an attempted military coup by commanding Gen. Lavr Kornilov to eliminate the socialists from the provisional government. As the general consensus within the soviets moved leftward, less militant forces began to abandon them, leaving the Bolsheviks in a stronger position. By October, the Bolsheviks were demanding the full transfer of power to the soviets and for total rejection of
18483-574: The close, party-to-party relations that he wanted. While the Thaw reduced political oppression at home, it led to unintended consequences abroad, such as the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and unrest in Poland, where the local citizenry now felt confident enough to rebel against Soviet control. Khrushchev also failed to improve Soviet relations with the West, partially because of a hawkish military stance. In
18666-530: The communist revolution. Chaliand and Blin contend that Lenin advocated mass terror but objected to disorderly, unorganized, or petty acts of terrorism. According to Richard Drake, Lenin had abandoned any reluctance to use terrorist tactics by 1917, believing that all resistance to communist revolution should be met with maximum force. Drake contends that the terrorist intent in Lenin's program was unmistakable, as acknowledged by Trotsky in his book Terrorism and Communism:
18849-667: The death of an estimated 1.7 million to 2.5 million people has been described as an act of terrorism by Joseph S. Tuman. Benjamin A. Valentino has estimated that the atrocities committed by both the Nationalist government and the Chinese Communist Party during the Chinese Civil War resulted in the death of between 1.8 million and 3.5 million people between 1927 and 1949. The Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) had been engaged in what perceived as an act of terrorism during
19032-651: The dissolution of the governing structures of the CPSU and the governing structures of its republican organization—the Communist Party of the RSFSR. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russian adherents to the CPSU tradition, particularly as it existed before Gorbachev, reorganized themselves within the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF). Today a wide range of parties in Russia present themselves as successors of CPSU. Several of them have used
19215-409: The end of his life, Lenin warned of the danger that the party could be taken over by bureaucrats, by a small clique, or by an individual. Toward the end of his life, he criticized the bureaucratic inertia of certain officials and admitted to problems with some of the party's control structures, which were to supervise organizational life. The Congress, nominally the highest organ of the party,
19398-466: The fundamental problems of the Soviet economy. The standard of living for ordinary citizens did increase; 108 million people moved into new housing between 1956 and 1965. Khrushchev's foreign policies led to the Sino-Soviet split , in part a consequence of his public denunciation of Stalin. Khrushchev improved relations with Josip Broz Tito 's League of Communists of Yugoslavia but failed to establish
19581-496: The greatest support within the party, and Trotsky, who was increasingly viewed as a collaborator with outside forces in an effort to depose Stalin, was isolated and subsequently expelled from the party and exiled from the country in 1928. Stalin's policies henceforth would later become collectively known as Stalinism . In 1925, the name of the party was changed to the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), reflecting that
19764-567: The highest body. Because the Central Committee met twice a year, most day-to-day duties and responsibilities were vested in the Politburo , (previously the Presidium), the Secretariat and the Orgburo (until 1952). The party leader was the head of government and held the office of either General Secretary , Premier or head of state , or two of the three offices concurrently, but never all three at
19947-466: The international community. The Western powers, however, remained committed to maintaining peace and avoiding another war breaking out, many considering the Soviet Union's warnings to be an unwanted provocation. After many unsuccessful attempts to create an anti-fascist alliance among the Western countries, including trying to rally international support for the Spanish Republic in its struggle against
20130-416: The late 1960s, Japanese communist Fusako Shingenobu formed the militant Japanese Red Army terrorist group. Their goal was to start a worldwide communist revolution through the use of terrorism. They committed multiple embassy attacks, airplane hijackings, bombings and taking hostages. They were responsible for the 1972 Lod Airport Massacre , in which 26 people were killed and 79 injured. In 1988, members of
20313-529: The leader of the Soviet Union after Joseph Stalin's consolidation of power in the 1920s. Stalin used the office of General Secretary to create a strong power base for himself. The office was formally titled First Secretary between 1953 and 1966. The Political Bureau (Politburo), known as the Presidium from 1952 to 1966, was the highest party organ when the Congress and the Central Committee were not in session. Until
20496-651: The left, while similarly violent tactics employed by the United States and its allies remain unscrutinized. The St Nedelya Church assault on 16 April 1925 was committed by a group from the Bulgarian Communist Party (BCP). They blew up the roof of the St Nedelya Church in Sofia , Bulgaria . 150 people were killed and around 500 were injured. The Cambodian genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge , which led to
20679-419: The local party committee, the local party committee elected the regional committee, the regional committee elected the Central Committee, and the Central Committee elected the Politburo, Orgburo, and the Secretariat. Lenin believed that the party needed to be ruled from the center and have at its disposal power to mobilize party members at will. This system was later introduced in communist parties abroad through
20862-552: The main driver behind these trends. The emergence of Hezbollah in 1982 marked a pivotal moment in terrorism's history. The Shiite Islamist group, rooted in Lebanon , drew inspiration from the Iranian Revolution and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini 's teachings , responding to the 1982 Lebanon War . Beyond pursuing revolutionary goals, Hezbollah members were deeply concerned about the social conditions of Shiite communities across
21045-566: The majority affect Muslims themselves. Terrorism in Pakistan has become a great problem. From the summer of 2007 until late 2009, more than 1,500 people were killed in suicide and other attacks on civilians for reasons attributed to a number of causes—sectarian violence between Sunni and Shia Muslims ; easy availability of guns and explosives; the existence of a " Kalashnikov culture"; an influx of ideologically driven Muslims based in or near Pakistan , who originated from various nations around
21228-613: The members of the Presidium, his establishment of a cult of personality, his economic mismanagement, and his anti-party reforms as the reasons he was no longer fit to remain as head of the party. He was succeeded in office by Leonid Brezhnev as First Secretary and Alexei Kosygin as Chairman of the Council of Ministers . The Brezhnev era began with a rejection of Khrushchevism in virtually every arena except one: continued opposition to Stalinist methods of terror and political violence. Khrushchev's policies were criticized as voluntarism, and
21411-537: The military being targeted. Between 1965 and 1972, Viet Cong terrorists had killed over 33,000 people and abducted a further 57,000. Terrorist actions in Saigon were described by Nghia M. Vo as "long and murderous." In these campaigns, South Vietnamese prime minister Trần Văn Hương was the target of an assassination attempt; in 1964 alone, the Viet Cong carried out 19,000 attacks on civilian targets. Historian and former U.S. State Department analyst Douglas Pike has called
21594-486: The more advanced capitalist countries. Stalin, however, argued that such a foreign policy would not be feasible with the capabilities then possessed by the Soviet Union and that it would invite the country's destruction by engaging in armed conflict. Rather, Stalin argued that the Soviet Union should, in the meantime, pursue peaceful coexistence and invite foreign investment in order to develop the country's economy and build socialism in one country . Ultimately, Stalin gained
21777-565: The name "CPSU". However, the CPRF is generally seen (due to its massive size) as the heir of the CPSU in Russia. Additionally, the CPRF was initially founded as the Communist Party of the Russian SFSR in 1990 (sometime before the abolition of the CPSU) and was seen by critics as a "Russian-nationalist" counterpart to the CPSU. The style of governance in the party alternated between collective leadership and
21960-517: The necessary conditions of development for socialism to become a practical pursuit and that this would have to wait for such conditions to arrive under capitalist development as had been achieved in more advanced countries such as England and Germany. On 30 December 1922, the Russian SFSR joined former territories of the Russian Empire to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), of which Lenin
22143-460: The occupied territories, using proxy wars and espionage and providing training and funding to promote communist elements abroad, leading to the establishment of the Cominform in 1947. In 1949, the communists emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil War , causing an extreme shift in the global balance of forces and greatly escalating tensions between the communists and the Western powers, fueling
22326-465: The oppressed classes. It was not responsible for the daily grievances of those classes; that was the responsibility of the trade unions . According to Lenin, the party and the oppressed classes could never become one because the party was responsible for leading the oppressed classes to victory. The basic idea was that a small group of organized people could wield power disproportionate to their size with superior organizational skills. Despite this, until
22509-416: The organization of the CPSU. Democratic centralism is an organizational principle conceived by Lenin. According to Soviet pronouncements, democratic centralism was distinguished from " bureaucratic centralism", which referred to high-handed formulae without knowledge or discussion. In democratic centralism, decisions are taken after discussions, but once the general party line has been formed, discussion on
22692-506: The party Congress. It had about as many members as the Central Committee. It was responsible for supervising the expeditious and proper handling of affairs by the central bodies of the Party; it audited the accounts of the Treasury and the enterprises of the Central Committee. It was also responsible for supervising the Central Committee apparatus, making sure that its directives were implemented and that Central Committee directives complied with
22875-692: The party Statute. The Statute (also referred to as the Rules, Charter and Constitution) was the party's by-laws and controlled life within the CPSU. The 1st Statute was adopted at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party —the forerunner of the CPSU. How the Statute was to be structured and organized led to a schism within the party, leading to the establishment of two competing factions; Bolsheviks (literally majority ) and Mensheviks (literally minority ). The 1st Statute
23058-421: The party ideology, adding new concepts and updating older ones. Positive consequences of this included the allowance of "pluralism of thought" and a call for the establishment of "socialist pluralism" (literally, socialist democracy). Gorbachev introduced a policy of glasnost ( Russian : гла́сность , meaning openness or transparency ) in 1986, which led to a wave of unintended democratization. According to
23241-574: The party in Russia and Gorbachev resigned from the presidency on 25 December; the following day the Soviet of Republics dissolved the Soviet Union. On 30 November 1992, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation recognized the ban on the activities of the primary organizations of the Communist Party, formed on a territorial basis, as inconsistent with the Constitution of Russia , but upheld
23424-598: The party's control over society. Gorbachev maintained that perestroika without glasnost was doomed to failure anyway. Others have blamed the economic stagnation and subsequent loss of faith by the general populace in communist ideology. In the final years of the CPSU's existence, the Communist Parties of the federal subjects of Russia were united into the Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). After
23607-653: The personal choice of whether to join a terrorist group or attempt an act of terror, including: A report conducted by Paul Gill, John Horgan and Paige Deckert found that for "lone wolf" terrorists: Ariel Merari , a psychologist who has studied the psychological profiles of suicide terrorists since 1983 through media reports that contained biographical details, interviews with the suicides' families, and interviews with jailed would-be suicide attackers , concluded that they were unlikely to be psychologically abnormal. In comparison to economic theories of criminal behaviour, Scott Atran found that suicide terrorists exhibit none of
23790-451: The populace. To avoid detection, a terrorist will look, dress, and behave normally until executing the assigned mission. Some claim that attempts to profile terrorists based on personality, physical, or sociological traits are not useful. The physical and behavioral description of the terrorist could describe almost any normal person. The majority of terrorist attacks are carried out by military age men, aged 16 to 40. Groups not part of
23973-418: The popularity of their program, notably calling for an immediate end to the war, land reform for the peasants, and restoring food allocation to the urban population. This program was translated to the masses through simple slogans that patiently explained their solution to each crisis the revolution created. Up to July, these policies were disseminated through 41 publications, Pravda being the main paper, with
24156-411: The problem; or alternatively to restrict its civil liberties and thus risk delegitimizing its claim of supporting civil liberties. For this reason, homegrown terrorism has started to be seen as a greater threat, as stated by former CIA Director Michael Hayden. This dilemma, some social theorists would conclude, may very well play into the initial plans of the acting terrorist(s); namely, to delegitimize
24339-464: The program reflected Gorbachev's journey from an orthodox communist to a European social democrat . The freedoms of thought and organization which Gorbachev allowed led to a rise in nationalism in the Soviet republics, indirectly weakening the central authorities. In response to this, a referendum took place in 1991 , in which most of the union republics voted to preserve the union in a different form . In reaction to this, conservative elements within
24522-564: The propaganda tactics used by terrorists. Some security organizations designate these groups as violent non-state actors . A 2007 study by economist Alan B. Krueger found that terrorists were less likely to come from an impoverished background (28 percent versus 33 percent) and more likely to have at least a high-school education (47 percent versus 38 percent). Another analysis found only 16 percent of terrorists came from impoverished families, versus 30 percent of male Palestinians, and over 60 percent had gone beyond high school, versus 15 percent of
24705-532: The reformers. According to Brown, there had not been as much open discussion and dissent at a party meeting since the early 1920s. Despite the deep-seated opposition to further reform, the CPSU remained hierarchical; the conservatives acceded to Gorbachev's demands in deference to his position as the CPSU General Secretary. The 19th Conference approved the establishment of the Congress of People's Deputies (CPD) and allowed for contested elections between
24888-523: The remaining poor. The combination of these tensions led the party leadership to conclude that it was necessary for the government's survival to pursue a new policy that would centralize economic activity and accelerate industrialization. To do this, the first five-year plan was implemented in 1928. The plan doubled the industrial workforce, proletarianizing many of the peasants by removing them from their land and assembling them into urban centers. Peasants who remained in agricultural work were also made to have
25071-403: The republics outside of Russia proper were no longer part of an all-encompassing Russian state. The acronym was usually transliterated as VKP(b), or sometimes VCP(b). Stalin sought to formalize the party's ideological outlook into a philosophical hybrid of the original ideas of Lenin with orthodox Marxism into what would be called Marxism–Leninism . Stalin's position as General Secretary became
25254-492: The rest of its existence. The party pursued state socialism , under which all industries were nationalized, and a command economy was implemented. After recovering from the Second World War , reforms were implemented which decentralized economic planning and liberalized Soviet society in general under Nikita Khrushchev . By 1980, various factors, including the continuing Cold War , and ongoing nuclear arms race with
25437-409: The result of US bombing in the fight to retake the city, the vast majority of the dead were found in mass graves outside the city. Benjamin A. Valentino has estimated a total death toll of between 45,000 and 80,000 people between 1954 and 1975 from VC terrorism. Douglas Pike also described the Đắk Sơn massacre , in which the Viet Cong used flamethrowers against civilians in Đắk Sơn, killing 252, as
25620-466: The revolution towards the transformation of the ongoing war into a war of the working class against capitalism. The rebellion proved not yet to be over, as tensions between the social forces aligned with the soviets (councils) and those with the provisional government now led by Alexander Kerensky (1881–1970, in power 1917), came into explosive tensions during that summer. The Bolsheviks had rapidly increased their political presence from May onward through
25803-455: The right to self-determination . Harvard law professor Richard Baxter , a leading expert on the law of war, was a skeptic: "We have cause to regret that a legal concept of 'terrorism' was ever inflicted upon us. The term is imprecise; it is ambiguous; and above all, it serves no operative legal purpose." Different legal systems and government agencies employ diverse definitions of terrorism, with governments showing hesitation in establishing
25986-525: The same time. The party leader was the de facto chairman of the CPSU Politburo and chief executive of the Soviet Union. The tension between the party and the state ( Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union ) for the shifting focus of power was never formally resolved. After the founding of the Soviet Union in 1922, Lenin had introduced a mixed economy , commonly referred to as the New Economic Policy , which allowed for capitalist practices to resume under
26169-658: The secular Irgun were among the Zionist groups labelled as terrorist organisations by the British authorities and United Nations , for violent terror attacks against Britons and Arabs. Another extremist group, the Lehi , openly declared its members as "terrorists". Historian William Cleveland stated many Jews justified any action, even terrorism, taken in the cause of the creation of a Jewish state. In 1995, Yigal Amir assassinated Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin . For Amir, killing Rabin
26352-600: The socially dysfunctional attributes—such as fatherless, friendless, jobless situations—or suicidal symptoms. By which he means, they do not kill themselves simply out of hopelessness or a sense of 'having nothing to lose'. Abrahm suggests that terrorist organizations do not select terrorism for its political effectiveness. Individual terrorists tend to be motivated more by a desire for social solidarity with other members of their organization than by political platforms or strategic objectives, which are often murky and undefined. Michael Mousseau shows possible relationships between
26535-497: The split between followers of Julius Martov and Vladimir Lenin in August 1903 at the Party's second conference. Martov's followers were called the Mensheviks (which means minority in Russian); and Lenin's, the Bolsheviks (majority). (The two factions were in fact of fairly equal numerical size.) The split became more formalized in 1914, when the factions became named the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks), and Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Mensheviks). Prior to
26718-428: The start of his premiership, Kosygin experimented with economic reforms similar to those championed by Malenkov, including prioritizing light industry over heavy industry to increase the production of consumer goods. Similar reforms were introduced in Hungary under the name New Economic Mechanism ; however, with the rise to power of Alexander Dubček in Czechoslovakia, who called for the establishment of " socialism with
26901-469: The state and cause a systematic shift towards anarchy via the accumulation of negative sentiments towards the state system. The perpetrators of acts of terrorism can be individuals, groups, or states. According to some definitions, clandestine or semi-clandestine state actors may carry out terrorist acts outside the framework of a state of war. The most common image of terrorism is that it is carried out by small and secretive cells , highly motivated to serve
27084-721: The state apparatus of in opposition to the state are most commonly referred to as a "terrorist" in the media. According to the Global Terrorism Database, the most active terrorist group in the period 1970 to 2010 was Shining Path (with 4,517 attacks), followed by Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), Irish Republican Army (IRA), Basque Fatherland and Freedom (ETA), Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Taliban , Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , New People's Army , National Liberation Army of Colombia (ELN), and Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Israel has had problems with religious terrorism even before independence in 1948. During British mandate over Palestine ,
27267-457: The subject must cease. No member or organizational institution may dissent on a policy after it has been agreed upon by the party's governing body; to do so would lead to expulsion from the party (formalized at the 10th Congress ). Because of this stance, Lenin initiated a ban on factions , which was approved at the 10th Congress. Lenin believed that democratic centralism safeguarded both party unity and ideological correctness. He conceived of
27450-446: The support of several members of the Presidium, Khrushchev initiated the Thaw , which effectively ended the Stalinist mass terror of the prior decades and reduced socio-economic oppression considerably. At the 20th Congress held in 1956, Khrushchev denounced Stalin's crimes, being careful to omit any reference to complicity by any sitting Presidium members. His economic policies, while bringing about improvements, were not enough to fix
27633-412: The system after the events of 1917 when several socialist parties "deformed" themselves and actively began supporting nationalist sentiments. Lenin intended that the devotion to policy required by centralism would protect the parties from such revisionist ills and bourgeois deformation of socialism. Lenin supported the notion of a highly centralized vanguard party, in which ordinary party members elected
27816-452: The terrorism practiced by the Socialist Revolutionaries , he also supported terror as a tool, and considered mass terror to be a strategic and efficient method for advancing revolutionary goals. According to Leon Trotsky , Lenin emphasized the absolute necessity of terror and as early as 1904, Lenin said, "The dictatorship of the proletariat is an absolutely meaningless expression without Jacobin coercion." In 1905, Lenin directed members of
27999-414: The time in history, the types of terrorism are varying. In early 1975, the Law Enforcement Assistant Administration in the United States formed the National Advisory Committee on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals. One of the five volumes that the committee wrote was titled Disorders and Terrorism , produced by the Task Force on Disorders and Terrorism under the direction of H. H. A. Cooper, Director of
28182-407: The top executive position within the party, giving Stalin significant authority over party and state policy. By the end of the 1920s, diplomatic relations with Western countries were deteriorating to the point that there was a growing fear of another allied attack on the Soviet Union. Within the country, the conditions of the NEP had enabled growing inequalities between increasingly wealthy strata and
28365-410: The tottering Soviet economic system in the direction of a market economy once again. Gorbachev and his allies envisioned the introduction of an economy similar to Lenin's earlier New Economic Policy through a program of " perestroika ", or restructuring, but their reforms, along with the institution of free multi-candidate elections led to a decline in the party's power, and after the dissolution of
28548-479: The twentieth century," and that the VC used suicide terrorism as a form of propaganda of the deed . Arthur J. Dommen has written that the majority of those killed due to VC terrorism were civilians, caught in ambushes as they traveled on buses, and that the group burnt down villages and forcibly conscripted members. Terrorism Terrorism , in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term
28731-443: The type of economy within a country and ideology associated with terrorism. Many terrorists have a history of domestic violence. Terrorism is most common in nations with intermediate political freedom, and it is least common in the most democratic nations. Some examples of terrorism in non-democratic nations include ETA in Spain under Francisco Franco (although the group's activities increased sharply after Franco's death),
28914-424: The typology of terrorism may be defined are: According to the Global Terrorism Index by the University of Maryland, College Park , religious extremism has overtaken national separatism and become the main driver of terrorist attacks around the world. Since 9/11 there has been a five-fold increase in deaths from terrorist attacks. The majority of incidents over the past several years can be tied to groups with
29097-508: The war's end in 1979. ZIPRA remained based in Zambia. In line with the Maoist ideology professed by its parent organisation, ZANU, ZANLA used Chinese Maoist tactics to great effect, politicising the rural population and hiding amongst the locals between strikes. While ZIPRA conducted similar operations to a lesser extent, most of its men made up a conventional-style army in Zambia, which was trained by Cuban and Soviet officers to eventually overtly invade Rhodesia and openly engage in combat against
29280-460: The world and the subsequent war against the pro-Soviet Afghans in the 1980s which blew back into Pakistan; the presence of Islamist insurgent groups and forces such as the Taliban and Lashkar-e-Taiba. On July 2, 2013, in Lahore , 50 Muslim scholars of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) issued a collective fatwa against suicide bombings, the killing of innocent people, bomb attacks, and targeted killings declaring them as Haraam or forbidden. In 2015,
29463-437: The world's leading terrorism experts, did not hesitate to do so. A decade after Rapoport's article. Hoffman picked up the mantle and taking the three case studies as inspiration, he formulated a model of contemporary "holy terror" or, as he defined it, "terrorism motivated by a religious imperative". Completely distinct from "secular terrorists", Hoffman argued that "religious terrorists" carry out indiscriminate acts of violence as
29646-517: The years, much research has been conducted to distill a terrorist profile to explain these individuals' actions through their psychology and socio-economic circumstances. Some specialists highlight the lack of evidence supporting the idea that terrorists are typically psychologically disturbed. The careful planning and detailed execution seen in many terrorist acts are not characteristics generally associated with mentally unstable individuals. Others, like Roderick Hindery, have sought to discern profiles in
29829-402: Was Narodnaya Volya , founded in Russia in 1878 as a revolutionary anarchist group inspired by Sergei Nechayev and " propaganda by the deed " theorist Carlo Pisacane . The group developed ideas—such as targeted killing of the 'leaders of oppression', which were to become the hallmark of subsequent violence by small non-state groups, and they were convinced that the developing technologies of
30012-404: Was a collective body elected at the annual party congress . It was mandated to meet at least twice a year to act as the party's supreme governing body. Membership of the Central Committee increased from 71 full members in 1934 to 287 in 1976. Central Committee members were elected to the seats because of the offices they held, not on their personal merit. Because of this, the Central Committee
30195-402: Was a communist party based on democratic centralism . This principle, conceived by Lenin, entails democratic and open discussion of policy issues within the party, followed by the requirement of total unity in upholding the agreed policies. The highest body within the CPSU was the Party Congress , which convened every five years. When the Congress was not in session, the Central Committee was
30378-453: Was a modern phenomenon until David C. Rapoport published his seminal article Fear and Trembling: Terrorism in Three Religious Traditions in 1984. Rapoport proposed three case studies to demonstrate "ancient lineage" of religious terrorism, which he called "sacred terror": the "Thugs" , the Assassins and the Jewish Sicarii Zealots . Rapoport argued religious terrorism has been ongoing since ancient times and that "there are signs that it
30561-435: Was an exemplary act that symbolized the fight against an illegitimate government that was prepared to cede Jewish Holy Land to the Palestinians. Members of Kach , a Jewish ultranationalist party, employed terrorist tactics in pursuit of what they viewed as religious imperatives. Israel and a few other countries have designated the party as a terrorist group. Communist Party of the Soviet Union The Communist Party of
30744-402: Was arrested in 1992 and sentenced to life in prison on charges of aggravated terrorism and murder. Another communist terrorist group, Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement , gained notoriety after taking hostages at the Japanese Embassy of Peru which lead to a 126-day stand off with Peruvian authorities. The Shining Path is regarded as a terrorist organization by Peru, Japan, the United States,
30927-405: Was at this time in exile in Switzerland where he, with other dissidents in exile, managed to arrange with the Imperial German government safe passage through Germany in a sealed train back to Russia through the continent amidst the ongoing World War . In April, Lenin arrived in Petrograd (renamed former St. Petersburg ) and condemned the provisional government, calling for the advancement of
31110-404: Was based upon Lenin's idea of a centralized vanguard party. The 4th Congress , despite a majority of Menshevik delegates, added the concept of democratic centralism to Article 2 of the Statute. The 1st Statute lasted until 1919 when the 8th Congress adopted the 2nd Statute. It was nearly five times as long as the 1st Statute and contained 66 articles. It was amended at the 9th Congress . At
31293-413: Was commonly considered an indicator for Sovietologists to study the strength of the different institutions. The Politburo was elected by and reported to the Central Committee. Besides the Politburo, the Central Committee also elected the Secretariat and the General Secretary —the de facto leader of the Soviet Union. In 1919–1952, the Orgburo was also elected in the same manner as the Politburo and
31476-433: Was convened between Congresses by the Central Committee to discuss party policy and to make personnel changes within the Central Committee. 19 conferences were convened during the CPSU's existence. The 19th Congress held in 1952 removed the clause in the party's statute which stipulated that a party Conference could be convened. The clause was reinstated at the 23rd Congress, which was held in 1966. The Central Committee
31659-416: Was convened every five years. Leading up to the October Revolution and until Stalin's consolidation of power, the Congress was the party's main decision-making body. However, after Stalin's ascension, the Congresses became largely symbolic. CPSU leaders used Congresses as a propaganda and control tool. The most noteworthy Congress since the 1930s was the 20th Congress, in which Khrushchev denounced Stalin in
31842-405: Was elected leader. On 9 March 1923, Lenin suffered a stroke, which incapacitated him and effectively ended his role in government. He died on 21 January 1924, only thirteen months after the founding of the Soviet Union, of which he would become regarded as the founding father. After Lenin's death, a power struggle ensued between Joseph Stalin , the party's General Secretary , and Leon Trotsky ,
32025-429: Was founded in 1969 by Maoist philosophy professor Abimael Guzmán as a split from the Peruvian Communist Party. In 1980 when the Peruvian government held elections for the first time in 12 years, Shining Path rejected participation instead declaring a guerrilla war against the government, perpetrating "assassinations, bombings, beheadings and massacres", including the Tarata bombing and 1983 Lucanamarca massacre . Guzmán
32208-420: Was general, ensuring that party leadership retained the ability to make specific policy changes as they saw fit. The Congresses also provided the party leadership with formal legitimacy by providing a mechanism for the election of new members and the retirement of old members who had lost favor. The elections at Congresses were all predetermined and the candidates who stood for seats to the Central Committee and
32391-457: Was increasingly ineffective in responding to the growing criticism of the Soviet Union by Western leaders, most prominently by US Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan , and UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher . The CPSU, which had wishfully interpreted the financial crisis of the 1970s as the beginning of the end of capitalism, found its country falling far behind the West in its economic development. Brezhnev died on 10 November 1982, and
32574-409: Was largely dominated by the interests of the military, former nobility, major capitalists business owners and democratic socialists. Alongside it, grassroots general assemblies spontaneously formed, called soviets , and a dual-power structure between the soviets and the provisional government was in place until such a time that their differences would be reconciled in a post-provisional government. Lenin
32757-629: Was necessary to achieve their goals, and that peaceful protest was both ineffective and insufficient to attain them. In the 1970s, there were an estimated 50 Marxist or Leninist groups operating in Turkey, and an estimated 225 groups operating in Italy. Groups also began operations in Ireland and the United Kingdom. These groups were deemed a major threat by NATO and the Italian, German, and British governments. Communist terrorism did not enjoy full support from all ideologically sympathetic groups. The Italian Communist Party , for example, condemned such activity. While Vladimir Lenin systematically denounced
32940-454: Was not accepted. In 2006, it was estimated that there were over 109 different definitions of terrorism. Early published studies like Paul Wilkinson considered terrorism a product of 19th-century revolutionary politics. Technological developments like the pistol and dynamite made possible the relentless onslaught of successful attacks and assassinations that shook the 19th-century. Scholars of terrorism had largely assumed that terrorism
33123-426: Was originally used to describe the actions of the Jacobin Club during the " Reign of Terror " in the French Revolution . "Terror is nothing other than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible", said Jacobin leader Maximilien Robespierre . In 1795, Edmund Burke denounced the Jacobins for letting "thousands of those hell-hounds called Terrorists ... loose on the people" of France. John Calvin 's rule over Geneva in
33306-437: Was succeeded by Yuri Andropov on 12 November. Andropov, a staunch anti-Stalinist, chaired the KGB during most of Brezhnev's reign. He had appointed several reformers to leadership positions in the KGB, many of whom later became leading officials under Gorbachev. Andropov supported increased openness in the press, particularly regarding the challenges facing the Soviet Union. Andropov was in office briefly, but he appointed
33489-533: Was succeeded by Chernenko. The elderly Cherneko was in poor health throughout his short leadership and was unable to consolidate power; effective control of the party organization remained with Gorbachev. When Chernenko died on 10 March 1985, his succession was already settled in favor of Gorbachev. The Politburo did not want another elderly and frail leader after its previous three leaders, and elected Gorbachev as CPSU General Secretary on 11 March 1985, one day after Chernenko's death. When Gorbachev acceded to power,
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