this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2025
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The problem is not the communist utopia, is how the means to build it will always end up in a totlitarian police state. Because we can't have nice things.
This is just a red scare caricature of socialist societies from the perspective of capitalists. For the working classes, socialism has brought dramatic increases in freedom and democratization.
So I will admit that I am ignorant of a method of attaining Communism that isn't at the end of a rifle, and thus authoritarian by nature (and fully accept that, to a degree, Capitalism is also at the end of a gun, but typically less overt, or often directed without instead of within). The only nations I've seen flying the red flag have appeared highly authoritarian (and I'm not going to get drawn into a "USSR and PRC aren't/weren't authoritarian, and DPRK is actually a utopia!" discussion, so if that's the direction this is going, let me know and I'll politely see my way out).
I've seen in the lower comments that Socialism would be used as a gateway to Communism, but I am unclear about the transition from "everybody's basic needs are met via taxation and distribution" to "personal property is abolished" (as I understand Communism to mean, please correct me if I'm wrong). Plenty of European countries have had (for the west), strong seemingly socialist systems, but they don't seem to be deliberately angling toward Communism, for example.
So I'm curious what this peaceful Capitalist to Communist timeline would look like.
The problem here is your understanding of socialism. European countries such as Denmark, Sweden, and Norway (etc.) have not had socialism. They have had social democracy, capitalism with social safety nets.