re: #670 Walter L. Newton

I am not pointing out anything else but: socialism does not lead to totalitarianism.

That depends on who defines the term “Socialism”. I assume you are using the definitions as used by Western European Social Democratic parties. In which case, you are correct: none of those countries became totalitarian communist dictatorships.

However, the USSR self-described their political/economic system as “Socialism”. They saw the USSR as a stage in the economic development towards the ultimate goal of “Communism”. In Marxists theory, the dictatorship of the proletariat ruled during the Socialist phase. Eventually, as society progressed toward pure Communism, the state was supposed to “wither away”. In that sense, utter nonsense as it turns out, the final Communist phase would be completely un-totalitarian. That this transformation has never occurred in any Marxist state is a big proof of the failure of Marxist ideology.