Would you rather live in a Fascist, or Communist society?

[Ecthy]

Those kind of "communists" tend to be anti-semitic because they think they have to be anti-US and, due to being pacifists most of the time (which is nonsensical concerning their ideology) also pro-Israel.

Back in the ol' days Israel was also considered an enemy of the pro-peace side of the curtain

[Spiffor]

Communism, even when thinking about the horrors made in its name in the "communist" regimes.

Hardcore fascism à la Hitler is less terrible than hardcore 'communism' à la Stalin / Mao. Hitler simply hadn't enough time to destroy everything he would have wanted to. Besides, even the master race of Germany wasn't living as well as the Yanks here think. Had the economic **** hit the fan before the end of nazism (nazis were terrible at economy, and were taking way too much debt), you can be sure most Germans would have lived a horrible life, politically as well as financially

Softcore fascism à la Pinochet / Franco is much worse than softcore 'communism' à la Tito / Castro. Individual opposition in the latter is made possible as long as the individual makes sure his opposition will have no result (i.e it is OK to criticize in front of the TV, but nothing more), and personal freedom are less restricted in softcore 'communist' regimes, which results in fewer murders.
Not to mention that softcore fascist regimes promote an extreme bigotry, which already makes me sick at the level America is experiencing now (very lw level compared to what you find in fascism).

[Ecthy]

what about softcore communism à la Erich

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Ecthelion
what about softcore communism à la Erich

Better Honecker than Pinochet, clearly. But to be sure, I wouldn't enjoy being ruled by Erich one bit.
At least, he had less delusions of grandeur than Ceausescu... This guy somtimes tortured Romanians randomly for his little pleasure. But in his case, you can hardly talk about a communist or fascist or whatever dictatorship. The most accurate way to describe Ceausescu is Ubu-like dictatorship

[Ecthy]

he was shot

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Spiffor
Communism, even when thinking about the horrors made in its name in the "communist" regimes.

What's with the quotes around the word communist?

[Az]

"IRANIAN PROTESTS ARE NOT PRO-BUSH "



God forbid they applaud the Iranian protest, because that might bee seen as "groveling before the imperialist scum". So they concentrate their attention on the fact that they're not pro-bush.

Btw, I haven't seen anything anti-semitic, *Eif*. Or even Anti-Israeli. ( I probably wasn't searching too well ).

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
What's with the quotes around the word communist?

The "communist" regimes were a twisted version of the ideals of communism, while fascist regimes did correspond to the ideals of fascism, that is order, discipline, and strong undisputed leaders.

The nazi totalitarianism would deserves quotes if it was described as "fascist", however, because it was much, much more than simple fascism. Especially since it was too much in favour of societal change to be in accordance with the deep societal conservatism / reactionarism which underlies fascism.

[Velociryx]

Wouldn't matter. I'd be dead in either one for being a "subversive."

-=Vel=-

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Spiffor
The "communist" regimes were a twisted version of the ideals of communism,

I find that doubtful at least in the case of Lenin and the "soft core" commie states you cited earlier.

[*End Is Forever*]

Btw, I haven't seen anything anti-semitic, *Eif*.

In the same way you now don't find anything openly racist on the BNP website...

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
I find that doubtful at least in the case of Lenin and the "soft core" commie states you cited earlier.

Communism is about the liberation of the working class. Softcore "communist" dictatorships hence don't correspond to the true meaning of communism. Communism requires the workers to have a say in their destiny, and not to be alienated by a new class of rulers once the old class (the bourgeois) are out.

It hasn't happened yet, except maybe in the Kibbutsim. I don't know about Latin America though.

[Ecthy]

and maybe some Martian cultures...

[BeBMan]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
What's with the quotes around the word communist?

Well, according to their own ideology states like the USSR and the entire eastern block weren´t communist. Communism was seen as a class-less society which could only be build in the future (after the evil capitalists are defeated everywhere by the global proletarian revolution )

USSR and the rest described themselves as "Socialist", but had leading communist parties. I was quite surprised when I read the first time that Western European states are labeled as "socialist" (when they actually had/have capitalism with social-democratic governments) while the USSR etc. used the same term to describe itself.

[Velociryx]

So...in other words, we should treat it pretty much the same way as Transporters and Warp Drive.

Good sci-fi material, but not too useful in the real world....

-=Vel=-