This paper investigates if specific communist rebel leader experiences can increase the likelihood of violence against civilians. The initial theory is that in conjunction a university education, a lack of combat experience, and a conflict duration of over 10 years will be sufficient to explain violence against civilians. Some support for this is found through a Qualitative Comparative Analysis as the rebel leader lacking combat experience in conjunction with a conflict duration of over 10 years sufficiently explains over half of the occurrences of violence against civilians committed by communist rebel groups between 1989-2011.