Comparing Mao to Hitler

[Brad De Long]

>At 16:14 01/06/99 -0400, you wrote:
>
><large snip>
>
>>But on the question of Mao's alleged murder of 30 million of his fellow
>>citizens, the problem is a matter of logic rather than the mere absence
>>of evidence.
>>
>>Henry C.K. Liu
>>
>>
>
>
>It is problematic copying material from discussion on one list to another,
>and I cannot remember whether Brad de Long is on this list, and he may not
>consider it appropriate to pursue the question here, which certainly looks
>ahistorical to me.
>
>I recollect a book was published in about '97 presenting the case
>apparently pretty authoritatively, and I spent 10 minutes fingering it
>before deciding not to buy. It seemed to me inevitable that these ideas
>would circulate into academia and be regarded as received wisdom until they
>could be refuted.
>
>I have not read the extracts that Henry has posted in detail but I do agree
>it is a question of logic and approach as well as of clarifying facts.
>
>There have been famines in Cuba and in North Korea. Famines are actually a
>normal phenomenon of history in many human societies, depending also on
>climate.
>
>Chris Burford

Not in the twentieth century they aren't.

Go read Amartya Sen's "Poverty and Famines : An Essay on Entitlement and
Deprivation." Then come back and talk...