7 Huge Misconceptions About Communism (and Capitalism)

[JHB]

38. If you want to fight that fight, I'll leave you to it

I understand the distinction you're making, but in terms of American politics I think it's irrelevant. The word "communism" is almost exclusively associated with the governments that claimed it as their guiding principle, all of which were oppressive police states controlled by a small circle or singular strongmen who can and did order mass murder to consolidate and hold power. They bore more resemblance to theocracies or monopolies with the logos switched than to what was envisioned by anyone I've ever talked to who could be characterized as an anti-state communist.

That's what the word is associated with: Stalinism and Maoism. You may consider that unfair, but it's the overwhelming reality when talking to a general audience. Trying to pry what you may see as communism's good name from those is, IMO, a battle on par with prying the simple geometric symbols of the swastika away from its association with the Nazis. You may technically be right, but I simply don't see the value of that fight when the same points can be made in other ways, and in fact that imagery can be used against them by mocking them with it.