Why did communist regimes generate terror and violence on such a massive scale?
An adapting concept of "enemy" came to include not only surviving remnants of the old pre-revolutionary elites but also, and more surprisingly, high-ranking members and longtime supporters of their respective communist parties who had allegedly been corrupted by bourgeois ideas. Refracted through the lens of Marxist thinking, these people became class enemies who had betrayed the revolution and were engaged in a vast conspiracy, often linked to foreign imperialists, to subvert the socialist enterprise and restore capitalism. Additionally, large-scale purges took place in light of these fears, including the Terror in the Soviet Union and the Cultural Revolution in China.
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