[SAJ]

Good point. It was, after all, the German Communists who popularised the left-right dichotomy between themselves and the NSDAP in the 1920s and 1930s. NSDAP, being fiercely nationalistic and allowing the continued ownership of some types of private property -- both anathema to the Communists -- was pinned with the label 'rightist', later to become 'right-wing'. The Nazis and Communists had so much in common that the Reds chose this dichotomy as the principal means of distinguishing themselves from the Nazis. Poor choice, at least in terms of results; the wonder is that this type of labelling has persisted in the decades since.

The Communists were, as ever, absolutist totalitarians; the Nazis were surely strongly authoritarian, but not quite totalitarian. Religions, for example (except Judaism, of course), were neither banned outright nor particularly persecuted, save when a cleric would speak out against Nazism.

[chopperman]

It’s easier for a Communist country to flip and become a Fascist one instead of a Democracy. This is what I think has happened in China and Russia.

[MrEdd]

The Communists were, as ever, absolutist totalitarians; the Nazis were surely strongly authoritarian, but not quite totalitarian. Religions, for example (except Judaism, of course), were neither banned outright nor particularly persecuted, save when a cleric would speak out against Nazism.

On the contrary many Christians could and did find themselves interned very quickly for teaching out of the old testament, or for teaching of Herod's evil in the Christmas story. Religion was tolerated only as long as they accepted government approved doctrines. Read about Dietrich Bonhoffer, among many, many people whose shortened lives disprove your statement