The problem with that (I mean, other than the purges and brutal repression) is that that kind of authoritarian political structure doesn't make any sense with the economic model. If the economy is intended to be ruled by the people as a whole, as opposed to those few who are talented or lucky enough to grab the most power…doesn't that really sound like the economic equivalent of democracy?

George Orwell's "Homage To Catalonia" is a really interesting read, and I highly recommend it. He fought in the Spanish Civil War on the side of the anarcho-syndicalists, who were effectively "communists" with the most egalitarian, non-hierarchical political structure conceivable. Even their army wasn't particularly hierarchical. In the end, the Communist Party undermined them, because the purpose of the Communist Party was to promote Stalin's interests–and what a swell guy he turned out to be–not the interests of the locals, or of international communism.

Obviously, there's a whole separate discussion to be had about whether communism reduces efficiency to the point that everyone is worse off, and thus is unworkable from a practical standpoint, but I think many of the critiques of communism are really critiques of totalitarianism.

I spent 3 years in Vietnam in the mid-80's. Till that point in time, I was intrigued by socialism/capitalism. After living there, and spending time with a lot of East Europeans, I quickly realized that Communism was Utopia.

Life as a foreigner was wonderfully comfortable. Healthcare was good, education was of good quality, but there was a lot missing.

The constantly tapped phones, disappearing people (we knew one personally), the lack of ability to say what you wanted. Decisions about your future being made by the government when you were very young, and so on and so forth. No surprise that people came and asked you for help leaving all the time.

This was 20 years ago and things have changed a lot, but give me the chaos of democracy and capitalism any day. I don't like the thought of decisions being made for me by anyone else.

If China had not opened up and given people capitalist money-making power, the system would have collapsed by now, at least in the big urban centers. Even today, with China as successful as it is, I would take India over China 100 times out of 100. I don't need permission from anyone to live my life, nor worry about writing what I want.