How does that work when (Marxist) communism is a democratic ideology? In fact, most communists (and some political philosophers) hold that capitalism and democr

How does that work when (Marxist) communism is a democratic ideology? In fact, most communists (and some political philosophers) hold that capitalism and democracy are incompatible. Leninism is (in theory, maybe not in practice!) also democratic, and anti-Stalinist forms of communism are too. >but because it tends to produce human rights respecting outcomes From the communist's point of view, they agree with this - communist movements until shortly after the second world war stressed non-involvement and the illegitimacy of "bourgeois democracy". The communists contend that the mixture of capitalism and democracy does not yield human-respecting outcomes, even if they may produce outcomes that correspond to the liberal conception of human rights. If there is no space to disagree with liberalism - from its economics (capitalism) to its conception of human freedom (the rights system and the law of the state), where does that leave us? I think it results in dogmatism and ideological conformity. Liberalism and capitalism should be able to withstand criticism and rhetoric without banning such criticism because of the symbols used to represent it. And it really is just criticism - these people are trying to get elected.