Andrea_Chenier wrote:The crimes committed by capitalist regimes are on record, too.
Well yes, you don't need to be a capitalist or a communist to commit crimes. Or don't commit crimes. Just saying that communism started as a revolution to make things better but soon turned into a totalitarian cruel monstrosity itself. A class book example of the saying "the road to hell is often paved with good intentions". That's on record. Sure you can add other monstrosities and atrocities committed and enabled by various other ideologies and totalitarian regimes.
I find it just amusing when people still walk around with banners promoting Communism as the cure for humanity. Or other petty fundamentalist ideologies that supposedly will fix everything like free market
fundamentalism. Or Anarachist fundamentalists who blame Capitalism without much critical and informed thinking.
In the end, in my view, we better focus what are the new or emerging
monopolies. The inbreeding oligarchy of big business, banking and power politics come to mind. Or the emergence of new bureaucratic monopolies like the EU.
What does that change about social progress achieved through Communism? Did the 68 uprisings have nothing to do with the geopolitical presence of Communism in your book? Did emancipation of women, formation of unions, establishment of social security and more or less human work conditions have nothing to do with the history of Communism and socialist worker's struggle?
The social struggles you refer to were fought not thanks to Communism at all. They were and would be fought anyways and by many different people. Also, here in the Netherlands, socialist parties quickly lost interest in
Communism after it became clear that the Communist party in the USSR started behave like a genuine, power hungry and cruel dictatorship itself. Other communist regimes in the world exhibited same obnoxious behavior. Fortunately that did not deter many people from continue fighting for social and political reform, strong labor unions, human rights and democracy. While at the same time embracing a free market economy as the best medicine against poverty. Supporting womens rights and education in poor countries does much more good than promoting old dreams like Communist paradise.