三年困难时期
Marxist–Leninist states enforced collectivisation and made widespread use of forced labour in labour camps such as the Soviet gulags and Chinese laogai. Although some non-communist states used forced labour, what was different, according to Robert Service, was "the dispatch of people to the camps for no reason other than the misfortune of belonging to a suspect social class." According to Pons, this was justified by Marxist–Leninist ideology and seen as a means of "redemption". According to Service, their economic policies are blamed for causing major famines such as the Holodomor and Great Chinese Famine. Scholars disagree on the Holodomor genocide question and Nobel laureate Amartya Sen puts the Great Chinese Famine in a global context, arguing that lack of democracy was the major culprit and comparing it to other famines in capitalist countries.