Maybe if people with your ideology only make things that harm you it's an opportunity to reflect.
this post was submitted on 15 Aug 2026
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If communism is a failed system, why does the HS keep going after communist places? Surely they're not a threat right? π€
What does "the HS" mean here?
Should have been "US" but my phone had other plans.
...must be that dang communism again π€£
Because there are no communist places. There are places where the ruling class plays pay lip service to the idea, but in reality they aren't communist. And the US tends to just ignore real implementations of socialism round the world.
There are socialist countries. The idea that communist parties can get by with simple lip service ignores how socialist countries actually function.
Socialism and communism are 2 different things. Just because some country hangs the word socialist in their name doesn't mean that they are. North Korea comes to mind. And lip service it is. After the revolution and they have executed all the bougie people, the strongest leader consolidates their power and bans all opposition parties. And even anyone who might pose a serious threat is in danger of death or imprisonment. See: Lenin and Mao for the 2 biggest examples.
Soviet Russia fell into a straight up dictatorship and well, Communist China doesn't even bother to hide that it isn't anymore. And neither government allows for much in the way of opposition then and now.
The socialist countries I can think of, like the Nordic countries, allow for open political elections and other parties to exist and participate in government. And they gracefully share and relinquish power if they lose an election. And interestingly enough, they don't feel the need to brag about their socialism either. They just are.
The DPRK is a socialist country, not because they claim to be, but because public ownership is the principal aspect of its economy, and the working classes control the state. The WPK did not ban all other political parties, in fact the Chongdoist Chongu Party and the Korean Social Democratic Party both have a small number of seats in the Supreme People's Assembly.
The USSR was not a dictatorship, either. Soviet elections had some of the highest rates of turnouts in the world, around 85%, and had recall elections at all levels. What the Soviet Union had was the dictatorship of the proletariat, in other words non-proletarian classes were stripped of political power. Same with the PRC, which enjoys a populace that believes themselves to be extremely democratic:
Communism is a fully collectivized mode of production and distribution, in classless society. No socialist country has made it to communism yet, because communism itself requires incredibly highly developed productive forces and global socialism before it can be established. Communism is not "extreme" socialism, nor is it "antidemocratic" socialism.
When you call imperialist social democracies like the Nordic countries "socialist," you are confusing welfare capitalism for socialism. In the Nordics, the working classes get a large share of the spoils of western imperialism, while capitalists continue to dominate the economy and the state. Nordic welfare depends not on an internally socialist economy, but instead on financial domination and extraction of the global south.
Further, you are confusing liberal democracy for democracy in general. The western model of democracy is just one of many, and it's the one best suited to maintaining capitalist control. This is why socialist countries have established more cohesive, comprehensive, and participatory government systems at all levels than capitalist countries have.
The Nordic countries don't brag about socialism because they aren't socialist in any capacity, and simply forced the inherent problems with capitalism onto the global south, rather than dealing with them domestically.
Allende, Lumumba, Sankara and Castro would disagree with you.
Allende was president for about 3 years and committed suicide in office. Either it was a Russian style suicide of convenience or he was unfit anyway. So one cannot say if he would have gracefully given up his power or not. But, historically the odds are not so good.
Lumumba was assassinated 3 years into his presidency. So enough people disagreed with him evidently.
And Castro refused to relinquish office until he died of old age. Much like a king wouldn't you say?