Communism allowed, nazism not?

[Raf Zar]

First, I am sorry for a provocative title, but I'm confused with the rules of these boards. Can somebody explain to me why communist symbolism is allowed here (I mean users avatars with soviet flags), while You cannot put for example nazi swastikas? No I'm not a nazi supporter, but to be honest, all nazi symbolism is connected with war and genocide, and with communism should be exactly the same. That system killed tens of millions (estimated from 50 to 100 mln) people in the whole world, much much more than Hitler did.

I mean, I really like these boards, and appreciate that there are so many creative, cordial and history-oriented people, but it is nothing but hipocrisy. Of course this is not the only place where the problem seems to be ignored...

I hope this is a proper place for such a topic.
Regards.

 

[Cloudbusting]

First, I am sorry for a provocative title, but I'm confused with the rules of these boards. Can somebody explain to me why communist symbolism is allowed here (I mean users avatars with soviet flags), while You cannot put for example nazi swastikas? No I'm not a nazi supporter, but to be honest, all nazi symbolism is connected with war and genocide, and with communism should be exactly the same. That system killed tens of millions (estimated from 50 to 100 mln) people in the whole world, much much more than Hitler did.

I mean, I really like these boards, and appreciate that there are so many creative, cordial and history-oriented people, but it is nothing but hipocrisy. Of course this is not the only place where the problem seems to be ignored...

I hope this is a proper place for such a topic.
Regards.

It has something to do with the nazy symbol being illegal in many countries, while the communist one isn't. I think its explained better than that in rule #8 of the forum rules if you want to check.

 

[AndrewT]

Exactly. It is flat-out illegal in Germany to use Nazi symbols such as the swastika, outside of serious histories and documentaries.

 

[s1234567890m]

They once changed the communist FTM icon, so its a sad star instead

 

[DanubianCossak]

First of all its nowhere near the same.

Second i consider myself a communist, and i see very little in common with the system that automatically gets labeled as "communist" (thus evil) such as the one that we had in Soviet Union and other places that people like to label.

Third fact (that everyone sane will agree upon) is that national socialism is evil. It produced OFFICIAL STATE policies that led to organized systematic termination of people based on ethnicity.

Fourth fact, despite you hating on communism i cannot agree that what happened in SU (and other places) is a.) same thing (by scale) b.) or by the way it happened (political enemies vs systematic destruction of people).

Fifth as just as it is to throw the "g" word in context related to Nazi Germany, its unfair to do the same in case of SU, since no leader of SU was ever found guilty of anything similar by the international court of law (or whatever), which happened to Nazi remains (apart from those who were really smart and needed back home, on both sides, to build rockets etc, ofc).

Sixth the Soviet regime ended because its people wanted it to end. Regime in Germany changed only because they lost a war (and no its not the same as losing "the cold war", not by a long shot).

Seventh Nazism is evil and all Nazis should be shot on sight, but then again thats just my opinion.

 

[Mihail]

First of all its nowhere near the same.

Second i consider myself a communist, and i see very little in common with the system that automatically gets labeled as "communist" (thus evil) such as the one that we had in Soviet Union and other places that people like to label.

Third fact (that everyone sane will agree upon) is that national socialism is evil. It produced OFFICIAL STATE policies that led to organized systematic termination of people based on ethnicity.

Fourth fact, despite you hating on communism i cannot agree that what happened in SU (and other places) is a.) same thing (by scale) b.) or by the way it happened (political enemies vs systematic destruction of people).

Fifth as just as it is to throw the "g" word in context related to Nazi Germany, its unfair to do the same in case of SU, since no leader of SU was ever found guilty of anything similar by the international court of law (or whatever), which happened to Nazi remains (apart from those who were really smart and needed back home, on both sides, to build rockets etc, ofc).

Sixth the Soviet regime ended because its people wanted it to end. Regime in Germany changed only because they lost a war (and no its not the same as losing "the cold war", not by a long shot).

Seventh Nazism is evil and all Nazis should be shot on sight, but then again thats just my opinion.

Yeah that sums it up and to add to the fact everyone born before 1991 from the former USSR and some after still have soviet passports like myself and that the hammer and sickle are still symbols in useage.

 

[RedRalphWiggum]

Without getting into my own views on either symbol, generally speaking the hammer and sickle is considered nowhere near as offensive as a swastika in most western European countries, and in most eastern Europeans ones too when you think about it. In any case, from a commercial POV I can see why Paradox wants to keep on the right side of Germans laws on this.

 

[Kurt_Steiner]

This topic arises from time to time, like a bad joke. We should create a sticky thread explaining this. It would save time, at least.

 

[Lord Finnish]

Swastika is illegal because they lost the war. Because Communists were on the winning side they have the inherent right to portray their symbols even if their ideology is responsible for ten times the deaths Nazism is.

 

[Darkrenown]

No.

 

[AndrewT]

This is getting too personal and opinionated, and the OP's question has been well answered. So closing.

 

[podcat]

Swastika is illegal because they lost the war. Because Communists were on the winning side they have the inherent right to portray their symbols even if their ideology is responsible for ten times the deaths Nazism is.

yeah, if germany had won the war I'm pretty sure there would be swastikas all over the forum, and other places too.