Memes

A very low bar that Fidel soars over without even getting close. Even Gaddafi and Assad are better than every US President lmao

Jimmy Carter?

The fact that you think Trotsky would've been less authoritarian than Stalin betrays that you don't know shit about him yourself.

Tankies forget that anything that isn't stalinism is also considered socialist

Why would you defend a guy who ordered deaths alongside Lenin then immediately left and cozied up to 1920s American fascism to make books about "The Betrayed Revolution" because he didnt get his share?

Trotsky was a socialist. After his defection, he did next to nothing to advance socialism, only to passively denounce the closest thing the world had then to a Socialist Order. And he did this by going to their enemies, objectively the least socialist-tolerant bloc on Earth. Archetypal example of a self-centered "leftist" who folds inward and exclusively talks about their own life/'persecution' after one falling-out with the organized left. Look at Trotskyists nowadays and tell me they aren't walking parodies who talk like Broadway characters. It says a lot abt how off-kilter you have to be to throw yourself behind Trotsky's weirdo 'cause'

EDIT: To be clear, while I havent seen much of his work, I respect parts of his legacy. I'm sure there's a lot of insight in his writing - reading criticism from a seasoned former Bolshevik is interesting, and the perspective is useful for making sense of the wider movement. I also understand he was under a lot of personal pressure at the time he fled the USSR. Despite any merit Stalin showed in WW2 or the Union's massive industrialization effort, it must've seemed unfair to many party members that he was chosen to succeed Lenin (not sure of specifics on that event). I'd even say his assassination wasn't necessary, and the graphic details aren't something I take pride in. However, at the end of the day Trotsky's decision to defect was a net negative for socialism in the early 20th century. He should've tried to be a different kind of conscientious objector, not a voice of anti-Soviet dissent.

Cuba is an interesting one.

The problems with Cuba are political prisoners and their handling of AIDS. And a huge chunk of issues intertwined with the trade embargo.

As with all nations, it could be better, but it's far from the worst nation in the world.

Instead, they offer vague statements about how the workers themselves will directly own and control the means of production and will arrive at their own solutions through creative struggle.

No, it's pretty simple. It's called "profit sharing" where workers get the lions share of profits. It's more realistic than alternatives in a country that thinks Joe Biden is a communist.

Ah yes, the tyranny of small differences. Let us tear each other apart over this trifling distinction.

Fact; fascism falls under the larger umbrella of authoritarianism.