Trump versus Clinton?

[Thumpalumpacus]

The idea that the Soviet public, who after all overthrew the communist regime, were brainwashed is silly. It's true that they were subject to propaganda and indoctrination, but that doesn't mean that they believed what they were told, say, about a "worker's paradise" -- they were the ones, after all lining up for three hours to get bread.

Then the question is who really actually believes in a communist utopia? Considering the reeducation and work through labor camps, maybe the ruling party, but I seriously question why a poor person would still desire such a life based on lies.

How many actually do, and how many are born into it?

But your notion that the populations of former Communist countries were brainwashed is nonsense.The numbers of East Germans who died trying to get West demonstrate otherwise. The popularity of Solzhenitsyn in samizdat in the Communist days shows otherwise. The revolutions of 1989 show otherwise.