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> Communism is a very vicious ideology which leaves no room for any type of dissent. Looks like you have no idea what communism really is.

• pmden 10y ago
  On the contrary, he knows exactly what communism is. He's just mistakenly ascribed the realities of communism to the ideology. Even then, I suspect this is all semantics and he doesn't actually think Marx was advocating despots and totalitarian rule.
• dorfsmay 10y ago
  Part of the communist rhetoric is that complete free speech is not good. But before judging that aspect of communism, remember that it's other type of regime apply the same restrictions, and indeed communism was illegal in the U.S. at some point.
  • cloverich 10y ago
    When I first started learning about communism (college really) I went in thinking this. But I recall eventually thinking that if the mantra of communist revolution was a forceful overthrow of existing government -- by definition not the will of the (majority) people - then a ban on the parties (public) existence was justified. Do you agree with the premise and if so does it affect the equality of your comparison at all (the free speech restrictions)?
    • dorfsmay 10y ago
      It is different in the sense that restricting free speech is part of the communist theory/ideal, while not a requirement from capitalism. Was the restriction on communism inth U.S. in the 50s the will of the majority of the people? My point was, restricting free speech is indeed part of communism, but be careful before judging the system in relations to other systems based on that small piece of information. It's easy to start spewing "communism = evil" because we've been told so many times, and just use any small piece of information to justify our position, rather than having a hard look, not only at communism, but all the systems in place, both their theory and applications.
    • eli_gottlieb 10y ago
      >But I recall eventually thinking that if the mantra of communist revolution was a forceful overthrow of existing government -- by definition not the will of the (majority) people - then a ban on the parties (public) existence was justified. Do you agree with the premise and if so does it affect the equality of your comparison at all (the free speech restrictions)? Depends. Is your country trying to restrict even democratic socialists, respectful of human rights, from operating openly? Does your country use infiltration and assassination to grind its Left into dust? If so, you may just have to deal with the tankie communists.
  • tomp 10y ago
    > complete free speech is not good That's more of a general European rhetoric. We (unfortunately) don't have free speech even in democratic capitalism!
• psyc 10y ago
  Americans in general are not capable of discussing communism without conflating interface with implementation.