I just don't think Communism of any kind is good for the world. The pitch of promising things that destroy people's incentives has never worked out. Lies have to be told in order to for that kind of a society, then when 60% of the population objects, the liars have to kill them.
Communism is a failed system that puts power in the hands of groups who must be protected on all sides. The only way that can be accomplished cheaply is to kill people. That's what the Soviet Socialists did, that's what the Chinese did under Mao.
The dead people never come back to complain. Liars really don't want to deal with the realists in society, so that's what it comes down to.
The Soviet Union officially abandoned socialism in 1921 when Lenin instituted the New Economic Policy allowing for taxation, local trade, some state capitalism... and extreme profiteering. Later that year, he purged 259,000 from the party membership and therefore purged them from voting (shades of the US election of 2000!) and fewer and fewer people were involved in making decisions.
Socialism is liberal. More people (preferably everyone) have some say in how the economy works. Democracy is liberal. More people (preferably everyone) have some say in how the government works. "Democracy," said Marx, "is the road to socialism." He was wrong about how economics and politics interact, but he did see their similar underpinnings.
Communism is conservative. Fewer and fewer people (preferably just the Party Secretary) have any say in how the economy works. Republicans are conservative. Fewer and fewer people (preferably just people controlling the Party figurehead) have any say in how the government works. The conservatives in the US are in the same position as the communists in the 30s, and for the same reason: Their revolutions failed spectacularly but they refuse to admit what went wrong.
While not all conservatives are authoritarians; all highly authoritarian personalities are political conservatives.
Robert Altmeyer - The Authoritarians
