So the take-away is that socialism wouldn’t be so bad - if it were not for the prisons?
I suggest a lot of those people were merely fans of their nation, and not communism. And they were also probably looking back at the pre-war world and remembering life before 100,000 were murdered and half the women in the country were raped.
Not sure but I would guess they look at Poland, or Hungaria, and wish they survived the end of the warsaw Pact in that manner, not so much wishing they were marxist.