Just had this sent to me from a socialist friend of mine ( what do you guys think?)
For those who are willing to listen:
There are two foundational grounds to established nations: Political systems and Economical systems.
The United States for example has a Democratic Political system and a Capitalistic economy. Russia had a political system rooted in Dictatorship who practiced Communism. So every time people hear communism, they directly associate it with Dictatorship. Economic systems and Political systems are independent of each other, however they are integrated so tightly that people often blend the two into one. Now please, hear me out. Had the US wanted to, they technically could have a Democratic society with a Communistic economy. Would there be mass murders and would the economy collapse? Probably not. The economy may have significant set backs but no murder and destruction as one typically thinks. The cause of destruction in Russia and most communistic countries were rooted in the dictatorship, not communism.
Fun fact: The 'Red Scare' (U.S fear of Russia) was not a result of the government, but rather the corporations who were afraid of losing their money. They invested in propaganda to scare people away from the idea communism.. and clearly, it worked