[Blunderov] Hmm. I'm not keen on relativism. By this standard one can say of the Nazis that they were better than the Communists because the Nazi body count was lower.   


I certainly agree that these are very different beasts and that comparisons between them are prone to be difficult. But frankly, I'm somewhat bemused by why you find the idea that Communism proved more destructive than fascism (or that the Nazis were better than the Communists to use your phrasing) quite so outlandish that you appear to have phrased it as an inconceivable idea. Of course, communism did endure for much longer than Nazism and accordingly had much more time to do damage. But it does seem to me that there is an important issue at stake, namely that there is a form of holocaust denial that pertains to communism and its atrocities. Bear in mind that it wasn't until 1968 and Robert Conquest's The Great Terror documented the extent of what had happened and even now the names of Stalin's gulags are largely unknown when compared to Auschwitz, Treblinka or Dachau.

And what is one to say of China? That it is a triumph of Capitalism or a triumph of Communism?  If the Chinese have any relativists amongst their number they might well argue that the sacrifices of the Cultural Revolution were "worth it" considered against the prosperity and cultural/economic dominance that now prevails.


Hmm, I'm sure they would and do, just as many Turks deny the Armenian genocide and many Russians still yearn for Uncle Joe. But frankly, it's very difficult to see how any substantial argument can be advanced for the great leap forward laying any foundations for China's current growth.
 

Taxonomy is a tricky thing. And anyone who performed such an accounting would be likely to discover nothing more useful than their own historical preconceptions it seems to me.


Quite possibly but I would have to again suggest that you give every impression of regarding fascism as beyond the pale as a de facto statement while considering that equivalent statements regarding communism to be at risk of generalisation. Which seems equally subject to historical preconceptions to me.