Quote:1. Man is not a machine.
Man is a producing machine. He literally produces the world around him.
Quote:2. Capitalists are not a monolith.
I agree. Marx described them as a "band of warring brothers". Understanding their factionalism and how their internecine struggles determine events is the beginning of wisdom.
Quote:3. Donald Trump is a sick joke to many capitalists.
Sure.
Quote:4. Communism has a problem with a death count.
State capitalism does, sure. So does liberal capitalism.
Quote:5. Communists have as a whole a bad record with human rights, war, academic freedom, and the environment.
Yes, the Soviets do.
Quote:Can capitalists be horrible people? Sure. But not all of them.
I agree. Marx does not condemn the capitalists on a moral basis. It is entirely possible to be a fundamentally decent and philanthropic person and also a capitalist. Although it is true that most capitalist charity is for tax write offs and, on a higher level, control over social policy.
Quote:...Stalin was a bad man... a very bad man.
I agree. My favorite act of defiance against stalin is when Amadeo Bordiga told him off for not subordinating control of the Soviet Union to the worldwide parties of the Comintern, in keeping with Communist doctrine. And for perpetuating commodity production for exchange and wage labor, i.e. capitalism.