Crimes of Communism examines how communist ideology was defined, implemented, and defended across diverse twentieth-century settings. Beginning with Marxism, Leninism, and the Bolshevik seizure of power, the course traces the institutions and practices of repression established under Lenin and expanded under Stalin, including political terror, collectivization, famine, deportation, religious persecution, and the gulag. It then compares communist consolidation and resistance across Eastern Europe, China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. Further lessons extend the analysis to Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Angola, Mozambique, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Peru, showing how local conflicts interacted with party centralization, forced relocation, prison systems, civil war, and mass displacement. The course also considers the Comintern’s pursuit of world revolution, Soviet espionage, communist support for terrorism, and the persistence and revision of communist movements after 1991. Throughout, it emphasizes comparison among regimes, regions, policies, and documented human consequences.