[Simon Foxx]

Repectfully disagree. Rhetoric does not always equal reality. Franco was a fascist. But he was the farthest thing from a communist you can find. Mussollini indeed came from a leftist socialist background (and his rhetoric reflected it as he wanted to appeal to the left). But he was no commie (in terms of being anti-religion and anti-capitalism).

Suppression of political dissent is the one area where the commies and fascists were similar, however. Of that there is no doubt.

So if I accepted that I would have no political voice, would I rather live in a place that allowed me to make a living, worship in peace, and keep a significant portion of the fruits of my labor - or one that kept me working as basically a slave, persecuted me if I tried to worship, and kept me poor?

As I said - that's a no-brainer.

[Olog-hai]

You offer nothing in the way of proof, with equal due respect.

Mussolini’s declaration of the nonexistence of God as a fascist is proof that he remained a communist till the end. There is no difference in the way he manipulated the “workers” either, promising “social justice”, “true equality” and wealth redistribution.

And with respect to Franco, he was more resistant to getting away from socialistic economic policies than other former Axis nations, particularly in response to being left out of the Marshall Plan. He finally relented in 1958, but before that, Spain remained quite backward.

Red China’s current economic practices echo that of Lenin’s New Economic Policy and also those of Mussolini and the NSDAP. This is reflected not only in what I quoted from the Communist Manifesto and Principles of Communism, but also when Khrushchev talked of “many different paths to socialism”. Not a new idea at all.