“Idiots” don’t become formidable heads of state for decades, nor do they write lengthy economic analyses stacked from top to bottom with citations. Good grief, I detest Mussolini and disagree with him on almost everything, but summarizing him as a “sociopathic idiot” simply isn’t accurate. If that were true, nobody would have to worry about him. Conversely, neither would he nor other anticommunists have to worry about Marx if that applied to him.

As for why some communists accuse their opponents of being fascists… gee, I don’t know. Maybe if you stopped heroizing antisemites, carelessly honoring Axis collaborators, and supporting neofascists like Azov, communists would give you a break? Who knows.