Already Shining Path members had decimated the interior of the country, their terror sparking a brutal government response, which was characterized by a wanton disregard for the rule of law or basic human rights, and whose victims, once again, were primarily the rural and indigenous poor.

This is probably the worst thing about communists. Because they regard any shred of civilised behaviour as a weakness to exploit, they invariably draw an excessive response that harms those they claim they wish to protect.

The truth is, of course, that living workers aren't of all that much interest to any communist.

Dead ones, though ... those can be turned into martyrs, and those martyrs can be used to create even more dead workers, to be made into yet more martyrs.

That's all communists seem to know.