Every time someone dares to critique capitalism, someone inevitably lobs the same tired grenade: “What about the 100 million people killed by communism?”
It’s a rhetorical nuke meant to shut down debate. And like most nukes, it leaves behind more smoke than substance.
Let’s unpack it.
First, the death tolls often cited (Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc.) come from sources like The Black Book of Communism, which bundle together famines, wars, executions, and sometimes even natural disasters under the label of “communist killings.” By that logic, capitalism is responsible for every death under every U.S.-backed dictatorship, every colonial empire, every war for resources, and every child who dies because their parents couldn’t afford insulin.
Want to play that game? Fine. Let’s talk:
Colonialism under capitalism killed tens of millions — India under British rule, Congo under Belgium, the Americas under British conquest.
The Atlantic slave trade was a capitalist enterprise. Tens of millions died or were enslaved for profit.
Modern capitalism kills 8 million people every year from poverty-related causes like hunger, unsafe water, and lack of healthcare. Quietly. Systemically.
If we’re comparing body counts, capitalism is still actively killing.
Authoritarianism is not socialism.
The atrocities committed by Stalin or Mao were products of totalitarian regimes — not the idea of socialism. If we’re blaming socialism for every tyrant who used the label, then we have to blame capitalism for Pinochet, Hitler (who privatized heavily), and every U.S.-armed strongman from Latin America to the Middle East.
It’s not the label that matters — it’s the structure of power.
Socialism, at its core, is about democratic control of the economy. It’s about prioritizing people over profit. When done right, it looks like universal healthcare, strong labor rights, public ownership of essential services, and economic dignity for all.
That’s not a death camp. That’s a lifeline.
There’s the “Freedom” myth of Capitalism.
The defenders of capitalism always fall back on the idea of “freedom” — the freedom to start a business, chase your dreams, and become the next Jeff Bezos.
But for most people, capitalism means the freedom to work 60 hours a week and still not afford rent. The freedom to die if you can’t pay for insulin. The freedom to drown in debt because you got sick or went to college. Capitalism promises opportunity, but mostly delivers exhaustion.
And let’s be real: billionaires don’t get rich by working hard. They get rich by owning things other people work hard to maintain.
Karl Marx didn’t create the Soviet Union. He didn’t build gulags. He sent his life writing about a world where ordinary people could live without being exploited. The fact that authoritarian regimes warped his ideas doesn’t erase the truth of what he fought for anymore than capitalist’s crimes erase the concept of free markets.
The irony? Under capitalism, Marx’s grave now charges admission. Even in death, the system tried to make a profit off of him.
Socialism doesn’t need to be perfect to be better. Capitalism isn’t judged by Stalin. Why should socialism be?
If you’re tired of a system where billionaires fly to space while kids go hungry, maybe it’s time to stop fear the word socialism and start fearing the status quo.
Sisyphus Shrugged 
The British East India company, the Dutch East India Company, the enslaving of Africa, the opium wars, the colonisation of the Americas and Australia and on and on and on. Then there is murders from withholding medicine – capitalism at it’s finest, can’t afford insulin – you’ll just have to die then.
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Exactly. It’s wild how people act like capitalism only started in the 20th century with Apple and Starbucks, forgetting it was built on slavery, colonization, and resource theft. The same system, just shinier branding now.
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I really don’t see much difference – an I’m not being glib – between feudalism and capitalism, we are allowed to buy more things from our owners now and people have a month they can travel in but you have to come back to the farm to work for his lordship after that.
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None of that is true socialism or communism goes way beyond just control of resources. It reaches in to all aspects of your life, removing all individual inalienable rights.
Throughout the history of communism & socialism, the underlying thread has been forced servitude or death.
Both are the root of slavery, from Egypt to modern day China..
While capitalism doesn’t create equal outcomes, it does preserve inalienable rights.
I think you need to revisit the Declaration of Independence & follow the history of mankind before you make statements that hold no water
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Actually, socialism isn’t about removing rights. It’s about expanding them. Having healthcare, housing, and food security aren’t privileges; they’re the foundations of freedom. What good are “inalienable rights” iif you can’t afford to live?
The “forced servitude or death” narrative comes from authoritarian regimes that hijacked socialist language while keeping old hierarchies intact. That’s like blaming Jesus for the Inquisition.
As for capitalism preserving rights, it preserves them for those who can pay for them. Under capitalism, your freedom depends on your bank account. Under socialism, the goal is to make sure everyone actually gets to use the rights they’re told they have.
Socialism doesn’t remove rights, it makes them real. You can’t be truly free if you’re drowning in debt, can’t afford healthcare, or have to choose between rent and food.
Authoritarian regimes weren’t socialist; they were state-capitalist dictatorships hiding behind red flags. Blaming socialism for them is like blaming democracy for every coup done in its name.
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So, you think that government should control every aspect of your life just so the outcome is what you deem fair?
Why is there food disparity? Because government controls your ability to grow or harvest your own food. Through laws that control gardens, hunting & fishing, who you can purchase your food from. All those laws & regulations didn’t come from capitalism, they came from socialist.
Housing, well government laws & regulation around use, building codes & billions of acres of government owned land are the primary issues around housing. All brought to you by socialist, not capitalist.
Healthcare, you do understand that it was socialist that ran non profit Catholic hospitals out of business & ended the law that required at least one non profit hospital to be in every town. All because 99.9% of them were operate by a religion.
Again socialism isn’t about freedom but about power & control of the population of a society
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That’s not what socialism is. Socialism isn’t about government control of everything. It’s about democratic control of the things that actually matter: housing, healthcare, food, and work. It’s about shifting power from a handful of billionaires and corporate boards to the people who make society function. The point isn’t to create a bigger state, it’s to make sure ordinary people have a say in the systems that shape their lives.
The food disparity you mention isn’t caused by socialism; it’s caused by corporate monopolies. Capitalist agribusinesses patent seeds, buy up farmland, and lobby for laws hat crush small farmers and drive up prices. That’s not worker control, that’s capitalism protecting its profits. The same goes for housing. Speculation and rent-seeking by private developers — not building codes — are why we have millions of empty luxury units and millions of homeless people.
As for healthcare, it wasn’t “socialists” who destroyed nonprofit hospitals, it was the for-profit insurance industry. Decades of privatization and corporate mergers turned care into a business. The U.S. has the most privatized healthcare system in the developed world and the worst outcomes. That’s not a coincidence.
The truth is, capitalism already controls people’s lives: where they live, how long they work, whether they can afford to eat or see a doctor. Under socialism, the goal is the opposite: to free people from economic coercion. You can’t talk about freedom when most people are one paycheck away from disaster. Real freedom means security, and that’s exactly what socialism aims to provide.
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