After seeing a megathread praising Mao Zedong, an actual mass killer, and a post about a guy saying “99% of westerners are 100000000000% sure they know what happened in ‘Tiny Man Square’ […] the reasons for this are complex and involve propaganda […],” I am genuinely curious what leads people to this belief system. Even if propaganda is involved when it comes to Tiananmen Square, it doesn’t change the atrocities that were/are committed everywhere else in China.
I am all for letting people believe what they want but I am lost on why one would deliberately praise any authoritarian system this hard.
Can someone please help me understand why this is such a large and prominent community? How have these ideals garnered such a following outside of China?
EDIT: Thank you to everyone who has responded! This thread has been very insightful :)


While partially correct, that isn’t what Marxists have tried to do, except for “Marxists” like the Shining Path that see no success. Further, the majority of the planet is still capitalist, absolutely, and Marx would agree. It doesn’t look the same as it did in Marx’s time, but that was Marx’s entire philsophy, one of permanent change propelled by contradictions - dialectical materialism.
The problem with this paragraph is that it isn’t true. Outside of fringe movements like the Gonzaloite Shining Path of Peru, communists have never done this kind of “grind through the proletariat to eventually get to the bourgeoisie” schtick you claim they have. Not in Russia, China, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, Korea, or even Venezuela and Nicaragua. You’ve invented this.
More fanfiction. Socialist states aren’t “end states,” merely the solidified socialist state building towards communism. Not only have they brought dramatic uplifting of the working classes and democratization of their economies (ie, not at all what you describe), but these are part of an ever-changing process of resolving contradictions that continues even into communism. Your inclusion of the “middle class,” ie petite bourgeoisie, as something to uphold is also distinctly anti-Marxist, calling into question the validity of your understanding of Marx.
They did, in Russia, China, Cuba, Vietnam, Korea, etc. Whether it be from capitalism internally, or from being colonized or imperialized externally, revolution hasn’t been forced by communists. Communists have steered real movements towards definite, organized directions, yes, which is fully in line with Marxism. You’re painting a picture of a vibes-based spontaneous adoption of socialism, which is anti-Marxist.