this post was submitted on 04 May 2026
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I love communism and I think all these countries' systems are trash.
I don't think you can have communism with a hierarchical, centralized government or authoritarianism.
I also think the US has systematically undermined or simply overthrown every legitimate attempt to work socialism into communism, leaving only examples that morons can point at as proof that it wouldn't work.
So if you see someone defending communism and you think they're defending those authoritarian regimes, then your problem is you. If you honestly see people saying those regimes are great then they're probably tankies and you can safely ignore them and disregard this entire comment.
Even from that perspective, don't you see how having "illegitimate" socialist countries makes it easier for "legitimate" attempts to survive?
The US can't effectively sanction countries if those countries have the option of just taking their business to China. A multipolar world allows smaller countries a greater degree of freedom to experiment with different systems because they have options of who to turn to for trade and security, while in a unipolar world the US could just impose whatever conditions they want because they're the only option.
Communism, at least in the Marxist understanding, is essentially a fully collectivized mode of production and distribution. It will necessarily have administration as is required for mass production, and this entails hierarchy and centralization. Socialism is "authoritarian" in that the working classes use the state against capitalists and fascists, but this is a requirement for building communism, which is stateless, classless, and moneyless. It's no coincidence that the overwhelming majority of communists support the PRC, Vietnam, Laos, DPRK, Cuba, and former USSR, as these are all states where socialism has been established.
It's less that the US Empire has successfully overthrown 100% of legitimate attempts, and more that it has tried to overthrow every attempt and has succeeded in some cases and failed in others. Communists are not "morons" for supporting the success stories of socialism.
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