western marxism does place a lot of emphasis on democratizing everything, but I just think it’s not that hard to imagine that someone might have a bit of an authoritarian streak, even if they want the best for everyone. in fact wanting the best for everyone can probably justify a lot of ugly (“necessary”) ideas. also with the way the west treats socialist, communist and marxist leaders it’s not that difficult to fall into almost a left fascism, certainly a cult of personality. marxists are made into these highly alien beings, and maybe you like aliens. plus, marxist leaders were charismatic philosophers, and those are sometimes likeable traits.

(sorry about the first sentence and the insinuation that other regions might see marxism differently. it’s a knee jerk reaction to the recent citizen lab news about china’s persecution of uyghur muslims and my inability to reconcile the supposed “people-centred development” and democracy of china with this and other very real atrocities, even if I must admit that technically uyghurs are the most likely to commit terrorism in china. but also I think terrorism is mostly just very desperate political expression. I don’t know much at all about uyghurs, or tibet, or taiwan, but china’s handling of those cases does not make me optimistic about socialism with chinese characteristics, even if everything else I’ve heard sounds great.)