Skinow, have you asked him what he thought? Got any links to his biography or something? It looked to me as though expansionism and totalitarianism weren't anywhere near his ideology: <Ol' Gorby was very proud of being the "President" of the mighty USSR, and he did not give up the idea of running an expansionist empire because of humanistic reasons. He was issued a challenge he couldn't meet, and he decided -- if you can't beat them, join them. The rest is history - Perestroika acquired an uncontrollable momentum of its own... etc.
Gorby still believes in Communism, even today. >
Gorby is in good company with about 70% of the population of the USA and 80% of NZers who also believe in communism. Have a look at Ron Paul's vote. Act and Libertarianz are near-zero in NZ.
Of course, they don't call it that in the USA or NZ, but communism is what it is when the state owns, controls, regulates, confiscates, redistributes, throw eminent domain around, treats people as chattels and all the rest of it. It's now socialism and it's rampant around the world, with welfarism spreading quickly too.
Communism doesn't need to be non-democratic. Communism is about communal ownership of property.
Mqurice |
