[Revolting cat!]

Communism in Europe is only 15 years behind us, and yet we never, NEVER (I shout), hear about the Communist murderers, but Nazis? Comrade, we will be hearing about Nazi war criminals hiding somewhere out there 50 years from now. Ah, but Communists meant well, didn't they?

[Sam Gamgee]

I understand clearly the point you and others are making on this point. And it is a great point to make. For some weird reason we have arrived in the Western World to think Fascism is bad, Socialism is good – when really they are simply factions of the same belief system. One reason this is so is that the generation that fought Hitler were largely a generation that embraced socialism. Many of them were elated when the Fascists and Communists made a pact to divide Poland. Only after Hitler’s betrayal did they come to demonize Fascism – and perhaps make their distinction between National Socialism and “pure” Socialism. So there is a anti-Fascist bias in our striving for international justice. It explains why Pinochet was destroyed, but Castro will die of old age.

I think what is particularly disgusting about Hitler’s followers is they not only sought to eliminate political opponents, as Stalin did, but were obsessed with racial purity. They followed the logical conclusion of eugenics to its very end. I admit we can argue until the cows come home who were the worse villains.