"Communism" is newspeak for Stalinism. The idea is to associate Marxism or Libertarian Communism with Soviet-style quasi-socialistic State Capitalism in the minds of people who don't know any better. Let me reiterate: Stalinism is not Communism. The revolution failed when the soviets (workers' councils) were broken by Lenin and Trotsky.

While I whole-heartedly agree that Stalinism is not representative of communism Wyclef, that makes me wonder about how you came up with your false association of consumerism to capitalism in your node Capitalism Urges You to Define Yourself Through Your Purchases.

However, Stalinism, and all other Marxist forms, is representative of the inherent failure of any attempt to install pure communism. As MaxZ said, the temptations of power and wealth always overpower the cadres, corrupting any idealism they had in the past and screwing up communism into any number of derivatives, such as Stalinism, Maoism or even Khmer Rouge Pol Potism. I don't think there is such a thing as Pol Potism, but remember, the Khmer Rouge who took over Cambodia in the 1960's was originally a Marxist movement.

In conclusion, capitalism >> communism, in quality of governance anyways. That is undeniable.

A Finnish poet Pentti Saarikoski had some great words of wisdom when he put it:

Marx's mistake was Lenin
Lenin's mistake was Stalin
Stalin made no mistakes

Disclaimer: Originally, this was supposed to be ironic.